Literature the tie that binds - A guest post by Skid from skidsgig.weebly.com

Dear All,

Little more than 2 weeks after the success of my first guest blog by Marlon Hope (@hope_insight), I have found an absolute gem of a blogger for you all to enjoy. 

I introduced you all to Skid (@SkidsGig) from skidsgig.weebly.com in my last post. He is without doubt the leading light of post zombie apocalypse technology, and I'm delighted that he has written something for us all.

Enjoy!

David

***

Waking up to receive an invitation to be a guest blogger for David Brinson’s blog site was truly one of the most invigorating opportunities I have had in many a day.  I was, to say the least, ecstatic to prove positive my decision to become a professional blogger, and to also be recognized as the leading expert in “post-Zombie Apocalypse Technology applicability”.  Sure, I have many more months, perhaps years, to prove my competence as a professional blogger, but I think in a relatively short time I have validated that I am the leading expert in my field.  Perhaps the only expert in my field.  But, as experts go, it’s been an exhilarating ride to the top so far!


            My first act was to peruse David’s blog site at davidbrinson.blogspot.co.uk.  I have been reading his book for the past week, caught up in the action, suspense and dialogue.  I suspected I would find his postings equally as entertaining and I was not disappointed.  Imagine my exhilaration as I read through the opening paragraph to see that it would be about football!  One of my favorite discussions, this was going to be something I could sink my teeth into. 


            Okay.  Point of order.  Note that David’s blog site ends with “uk.”  And that his book is called “Dead South: The Zombie Apocalypse in London.”  And note that I write with an American accent.  Its safe to assume that UK doesn’t stand for University of Kansas.  All those facts put together add up to one undeniable fact.  It’s a different type of football.


            No worries, though.  I still read on.  And I was fascinated.  The concept of an entire country being behind a national team is foreign to me.  We Yanks do follow almost any and every sport (except cricket, can’t quite figure that one out)  and we will rally behind our teams in international competitions, but the concept of caring for them in the off season doesn’t resonate.  Shortly after any international sporting competition we return to the routine of our seasonal sports, cheering for our regional teams.  Marlon Hope penned a fantastic article, but to be honest my depth of understanding wasn’t enough to be conversant in the topic.  Obviously it will take the U.S. sometime to grasp English football.


            On to the next post!  The Changing Nature of Writing!  And I see quite quickly that Mr. Brinson is also a Lee Child fan!  Well, that makes sense, as Lee Child is a British Author, who has put together a great series of books with the hero Jack Reacher.  Instantly I bond with Mr. Brinson, understanding more about him because of the books he has read and the heroes that he has.  His love of reading good authors, and his effort to hone his own skill are kindred to my own.  As I continue to read, post after post, I am amazed by the parallels between my pursuits and Davids. 


            But I keep coming back to his post on The Changing Nature of Writing.  Something intrigues me.  My favorite author?  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  Edgar Allen Poe.  Edgar Rice Burroughs.  (Two Edgars?  What are the odds.)  Lee Child.  John D. MacDonald (Travis McGee author) and a few others.  Some who will take the effort will begin to see that I favor the classics, with Lee Child being probably the most recent.  But, what makes them favorites?


            Very quickly I determined that David Brinson was my type of author.  The story picked up speed quickly, and there were several layers of characters and plot lines.  For me, being a Sherlock Holmes fan, it was quite enjoyable to find myself back in London, putting the places back in my imagination and watching the action unfold.  Each and every one of my favorite authors has created a hero on a quest to right a wrong or protect the innocent.


            But there is more.  The story of the author has always come into play.  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s rumored practical joke of sending a note to five friends that simply stated, “We are discovered.  Flee now!” and the rumored result that one of his friends did indeed disappear forever, make anything and everything he wrote worth reading.  Before Sir Arthur was “The Father of the Detective Novel” Edgar Allen Poe.  Where did Mr. Poe go to school?  London.


            Edgar Rice Burroughs and John D. MacDonald wrote of amazing heroes.  Mr. Burroughs crafted Tarzan and John Carter.  He created Tarzan!  Lord Greystoke, a British Lord!  Amazing how so many of my literary heroes have had ties to London.


            John D. MacDonald is that exception.  But he followed in their literary footsteps, creating the hero Travis McGee, a “knight errant” who had his cerebral sidekick Meyer as they solved mysteries.  The similarities of him and Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson is not lost on me.


            These authors created heroes, they created environments, they created situations and they created solutions.  They blazed a path of literature that we must not lose.  History shows that these authors struggled to find their way.  John D. MacDonald typed 14 hours a day, losing twenty pounds as he began his career.  Edgar Rice Burroughs was a pencil sharpener wholesaler. A pencil sharpener wholesaler!  I don’t even know what that is!


            So David Brinson has accepted the challenge.  He has created a hero.  He has created an environment.  He has created the situations and their solutions.  But equally important to me his post has demonstrated he has a passion for the art, and I applaud that.


            My path is slightly different.  I will create for you, over time, an environment where when you purchase any bit of technology, you will think to yourself, “I wonder if this will be useful after the Zombie apocalypse.”  You might smile.  You might not buy it.  You might by two of some gadgets.  But it will be worth the laugh. 


            Maybe it will take us years to get together to watch football.  But, the tie that binds is our literature.  And apparently Zombies.  Apparently we have exactly the same views on Zombies. 

“We are discovered!  Flee now!”


Enjoy more from Skid at skidsgig.weebly.com and follow him on twitter @SkidsGig

How we label ourselves

Dear Everyone,

We all love a label, don't we? We love to label ourselves and others. I suppose it makes things easier for us to understand who and where we all fit in the world. But none of us just have one label and we can have multiple labels for different people. In fact, we can also give ourselves lots of different labels too.

I'm a husband, a son, a brother and a friend. I'm also a project manager and an author amongst other things. But these aren't the labels I'm interested in today. No, I want to talk about something else... I want to talk about the national/regional identity label.

Essentially, what label do I give myself when I'm describing myself to somebody new. Somebody from a completely different part of the country or even the world.

Would I tell them I'm a Londoner? That I'm English? That I'm British? Or that I'm European? I'm all of these things, but I suppose it all depends on what the circumstances are.

I'm a Londoner, but London is so big. And I'm from south of the River Thames anyway, so the truth is I'm a south Londoner. And believe it or not there is a big difference! To put it simply, south London is better than north London. But I digress.

I'm also a proud Brit. But Great Britain, has got 4 countries in it. So if I'm honest, I probably identify as being English more. Maybe, it's because I love football, cricket and rugby and the home nations all compete against each other in theses? Perhaps, if I was into tennis or athletics I'd feel slightly more British than I do English? Who knows? Oh yes and one other thing... Every 2 years during the Ryder Cup I'm a European!

So anyway, why am I going on about all of these perfectly plausible labels then? Well it's because of my novel, Dead South, and how different people from around the world see it and in turn me. Dead South is set in south London and quite a few reviews have stated that it has a real south London feel to it. Which is great. That was exactly what I wanted. I wanted to bring the places that I know and love to life and it seems that at least to other people from the UK that I'd done that.

I've been humbled by all of the positivity and well wishes that Dead South has received. At the time of writing this, it has an average of 4.8 stars out of 5 on amazon.co.uk from 50 reviews. I've also received scores of tweets and Facbook messages from lots of people who have enjoyed the book too.

But what about our American cousins? What do they think? Would they be able to get into the story or would it all be a bit too different for them? Would they find the jokes funny? Would they understand that cups of tea and not guns can really solve life's problems? I hoped they would, but I didn't know.

Book sales have been slower in the US, but the people who have read it have responded really positively to it. It's received  5x5 star reviews on amazon.com, but I thought that they could have been ex-pats downloading it and thinking of home. So I wasn't really sure. That was until the other morning when I woke up to the below tweet.

As you can imagine, I was pretty chuffed to see that an American was enjoying it and getting involved in the spirit of it too. That tweet was favorited and retweeted pretty much straight away. I also told anybody who would listen to me about it.

So when I saw the next tweet a day later, I had to pinch myself as I clicked through to the review.

To cut a long story short I was really happy with the review. And by really happy, I mean overjoyed. Now this wasn't only because the reviewer, Skid, said nice things about me and my book, but because he'd clearly put a lot of thought into it. It has depth and is really funny too. In short it is an excellent post. So excellent in fact that I decided to read the rest of his blog.

Skidsgig.weebly.com reviews technology. Skid is an avid techie and has had his finger on the pulse of all new gadgets and devices for over a decade. He wants to help people buy technology that will help them. But he does this with a twist. He throws in a little zombie humour to make it more interesting and also lets you know how the devices will stand up during and after the apocalypse. It is a must read for zombie fans, for people who are looking into purchasing a new piece of kit and also for anybody who just wants to have a bit of fun.

When I saw his blog I immediately asked him to write a guest post for me and I was delighted when he said yes. If it is half as good as I think it will be, we will all be in for a treat. I implore you to check his blog out because it is brilliant.

But before you do; have a read of his Dead South review below.

Until next time.

David

***

Review published on skidsgig.weebly.com on 25/2/15

Every once in a while I will leave the self-appointed task of reviewing gadgets in an effort to discuss something especially thought provoking.  Something monumentally important.  Or at least important to me.  I founded this blog on the basis of reviewing technology in an effort to gauge that gadgets relevance before and after the Zombie Apocalypse, and to date, I think I have been good at discussing several gadgets of relevance.

But what about the Zombies?  Have I neglected their relevance?  I think, to a point, I have.  An outstanding read is the classic book “I am Legend” by Richard Matheson.  (No, not the movie.  Neither the Will Smith version or “The Omega Man”.)  Yes, I know, not Zombies.  Vampires.  But, this book is genius in its approach.  The Vampires have taken over the world and only one human remains.  During daytime he wanders the earth killing sleeping Vampires.  He has become the Vampire “bogeyman.”  And really, you could put any monster into that role with the same results.  A world full of Werewolves, Gargoyles, Swamp Monsters, you name it.  If they were the population and hunted in their sleep, they would fear their manifested bogeyman.

Except Zombies.  This is what makes them unique.  If you populated the entire planet with Zombies, with the exception of one human being, who would roam around during the off hours slaying Zombies, they wouldn’t care.  Nope, not one bit.  No Zombie headlines, no Zombie news reports.  It would go monumentally unnoticed.  And you know why?  Because Zombies are stupid.

I realize that right here I have universally offended all of my Zombie readers, who are now, most likely, dialing up their Zombie lawyers to sue me for insulting them.  But thats a risk I’m willing to take, and I don’t mean it (not really) as an insult.  It’s an observation, and one that’s rarely made in modern Zombie literature.  But occasionally you will come across a great book that approaches Zombies in the classic sense.  A book that is entertaining but also an epic understanding of the post Apocalyptic world of Zombie kind.  

50% through David Brinson’s “Dead South: The Zombie Apocalypse in London” and that’s what I believe I have discovered.  Brilliant in description and character development, I have found myself thoroughly entranced as I flip through the digital pages.  I am not from London, nor have I lived in London, but I have had no problem imagining the environment so eloquently written by Mr. Brinson. 

To be fair, there’s been a slight learning curve as I catch up to the written environment, and I did have to google what a “Mini Metro” looked like.  (Seriously UK readers, that’s not a pretty vehicle!)  But what really separates Mr. Brinson from the average author is his excellent ability to script dialogue. 

I know, I’m not an author.  But I’m an avid reader.  And I know good dialogue.  And he’s done it.  I will admit, as a Yank I have to give Mr. Brinson the advantage, because his country invented the language I have been mangling it for years.  He has taken that advantage and penned an excellent read.

Details?  I’m 50% through, and I don’t want to give away spoilers.  But here’s what I can say - the story revolves around Dean, and his efforts to gather his family and friends to areas of safety during the beginning days of the Zombie Apocalypse.  Dean, as a hero, is perfect.  Quick and deliberate to act, constantly planning his approaches to the Zombie hordes.  There is an abundance of characters, but the book is so well written it is easy to keep them oriented as you read.

There is also an abundance of Zombies.  And, that brings me to my point.  David Brinson writes to the type of Zombie I prefer.  His hero understands that the Zombie is neither fast nor brilliant, and is able to plan effectively around the situations he finds himself in.  This is the situation I think I am easiest able to personify.  I think, in this situation, I could out think a Zombie.  It’d be close, but I think I’m up to that challenge!

I love a good joke.  I love classic Zombie humor.  This excerpt was fantastic, ““Sébastien Loeb, eat your heart out.” (Now before anybody judges me, at the time I had no idea that the nine-time World Rally Champion was indeed eating somebody’s heart out.)”