As a spinoff, and so as to not clog up the Official Zombie Forum Required Reading List thread...

Who has read the Morningstar Strain?

Finished Plague of the Dead last night and started Thunder and Ashes today.

I thought the first one was decent.

This line struck me as funny:

"It was a simple but deadly Ruger Mini-14, a compact civilian carbine that Stiles didn't even remember hearing a bad word spoken about."

Obviously the guy never read some of the ARFCOM opinions.

i've read both of them and actully corresponded via email a couple times with Z.A. Recht. i'll see if i can't find some of the emails or a short review i did of "plauge". also i.i.r.c. Z.A. joined arfcom or said he would if we got a zombie forum started up. i can't and won't start to comment on the mini-14 matter. but i will say that i've been doing a lot of reading lately, and a lot of authors know absolutelly jack shit when it comes to a good base of knowledge on firearms[cough]i love the books but the out of the ashes series has some technical issues, m-60s aren't .60 caliber, m-16s can't be on FA and safe at the same time, guns use mags not clips, etc. etc.[/cough]...

i seem to have deleted all the old emails but nevermind, i found a couple, and here's an a bit of a teaser i ask for concerning the third book:

"No spoilers, but I can give you a few hints.
Remember Sawyer? He's back in force this time around, and bringing some big guns with him.
Some old friends are reunited.
And more than one building will implode.
I can't give away much more than that without spoiling anything, except...wait, yes, one more thing...you know how I have about twenty main characters?
....there won't be nearly that many left by the end. =( That's why I'm calling it "Survivors." No hints as to who lives and who dies, though. None whatsoever.
No ETA on release yet. I'm still writing it. Once it's done, it takes Permuted between 3 to 9 months to edit, format, and get it out on the shelves. I'm plugging away at it though. I'd love to get this trilogy wrapped up. I'm not tired of it or anything! I just can't wait to see all three together on a shelf. =) Z"


and here's the review i wrote for the old thread in the SF fiction and lit section:
""the morningstar strain" saga's first two books "plauge of the dead" and "thunder and ashes" were also both execellent reads, and i'm definatelly looking forward to the third novel in this series as well. i have no e.t.a. yet from author z.a. recht through the couple emails that we have traded as to to when we could expect the next installment. he seems to be a man with a great since of humor at one point in a correspondence i told him he may be the devil, he replied back that infact no, he was not the devil, just one of his drinking buddies!.. in the last email from the mr. recht, he told me he's in the process of writing the third novel entitled "survivors" as of now, and once he's done, it will take between 3 and 9 months for the third installment to hit the shelves, guess i'll just have to wait"...

i'll try and email him again. and see if he'd be interested in joining. ETA: email inbound...
K.

Thanks for the info.

I don't really have any experience on the Mini-14, just know what much of ARF's perception/opinion of it is and thought it funny.

I enjoyed the first book, although there were some parts that were a little off for me.

I am liking what I've read of the second book, and will pick up the third when it comes out.

These are my two newest zombie books and they were a good read.

Come on, Number 3!

it started off good but kinda went south when they were on board the Navy ship.. to me it got kinda lame after that

guess WWZ really ruined it for a lot of other zombie stories for me

the only other really good one i have read is "day by day"by JL Bourne

Got about halfway through the second book yesterday.

I'm liking it a lot better than the first one.

I have a tendency to forgive authors that make gun mistakes or other minor technical mistake.    I have loved these books and can't wait for the third book to come out.

-Arbiter

can't speak for the "mistakes" the characters made, been a while since i read the books, i probably just figured it was a designed folly to advance the stroy as no big mistakes stick out in my head as "why the fuck did they do that?". i did ask z.a. about the repeted use of the term "clip" in the books.

his reply, "Did I use "clip" a lot? As a former soldier myself, I try NOT to use that word. I do still use it reflexively from time to time, however. "

K.