Kirjailijakuva
6+ teosta 38 jäsentä 10 arvostelua

Tekijän teokset

Associated Works

Merkitty avainsanalla

Yleistieto

Sukupuoli
female
Kansalaisuus
USA
Syntymäpaikka
New Jersey, USA
Ammatit
author

Jäseniä

Kirja-arvosteluja

Review copy

Never Say Die: Stories of the Zombie Apocalypse is a collection where writer, Stevie Kopas, gets to stretch her wings within the zombie sub-genre and manages to deliver 5 unique perspectives on what such an event may bring.

Jack - Jack Abbot has been searching for his sister for a whole year. Much has happened in that time. He's managed to make a new life for himself as part of the New Alliance, a zombie-free zone. He's even gotten married. So when Jack finally finds his sister, Maya, you might think that would be the end of the story, but you'd be wrong. Oh, so wrong. A dark tale well-told.

Gordon & Elena - All children, under the age of twelve, have fallen into some kind of inexplicable coma. What happens net has the 24 hour news outlets speculating. "Terrorism. The Rapture. Aliens. Gamma Ray Burst. Zombies." Through it all, Gordon & Elena are trying to get on with their divorce. A wonderfully inventive twist on the zombie scenario.

Patient 63 - Finally a cure for a disease which has left half the world dead, or worse, infected. Well, maybe not. Proof again that author, Stevie Kopas, really understands the zombie sub-genre. This was my personal favorite in a diverse collection of zombie lit.

Rosie - The zombie apocalypse from a child's point of view with a great opening paragraph. "I'm always really scared when there's a thunderstorm. Usually Mommy or Daddy will sing to me until I fall asleep or until the rain stops, but Daddy tried to hurt me, so Mommy killed him."

Trevor - Trevor works in customer service, a thankless job where customers dish out verbal abuse like it's their God-given right. When things fall apart as a result of the zombie apocalypse, Trevor sees it as an opportunity to exact revenge on some of the worst offenders. Working in the same field, I can't say as I blame him.

If you're looking for a quick zombie fix this Summer, Stevie Kopas has just what you're looking for.

Never Say Die: Stories of The Zombie Apocalypse is currently a Kindle exclusive. If you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited you can read it at no additional charge and if you are an Amazon Prime member you can read it for FREE through the Kindle Owners Lending Library.

Stevie Kopas was born and raised in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. She is the author of The Breadwinner Trilogy. The Breadwinner, Haven, and All Good Things all available from Permuted Press and a series I can heartily recommend.

Stevie currently resides in Panama City Beach, Florida and tries to spend as much time as she can soaking up the sun. She's also the Managing Editor of the website Horror Metal Sounds and a writer for the site. Offline, Stevie is a telecommunications professional.
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FrankErrington | Jul 6, 2016 |
Based on an author's (or narrator's?) post in a Goodreads group, I tried out the sample available of this book on Audible, liked what I heard, and threw caution to the wind and bought it. It is an interesting slant on the ground AMC trod this summer with Fear the Walking Dead: the very beginning of a zombie apocalypse, as people are still standing and watching creatures who used to be friends and family shambling closer and closer, wondering why cousin Jimmy is so pale, and why is he growling … The Undead in this universe were fast and loud and persistent, and I liked that.

Unfortunately, that's about all I liked.

I didn't much care for any of the characters. One main character, the lawyer Sampson, fluctuates between Slimy Lawyer and Put Upon Nice Guy, to the point that I was uncomfortable when another main character who was a teenaged girl met up with him; I kept expecting the scumbag to re-emerge. I will say all the characters were something more than cardboard … it's just that what they were instead was inconsistent and, unfortunately, ultimately unlikeable. Also, not entirely believable: the level of bickering in the middle of a world-ending crisis might, sadly, have been realistic, but it was incredibly annoying to read - - and, also, I find it hard to believe that, coming upon a CVS that had gone unlooted (which is highly improbable, security gate or no security gate), our heroes not only stock up on water and power bars and lighter fluid but … deodorants. And then a while later use up most if not all of that incredibly valuable lighter fluid on something really stupid for which they could have used any number of other accelerants.

I'll come back to the characters.

The narration had some high highs and low lows. The voice of the narrator and those used for male character voices were mostly fine, though it was a little interesting that two of the three black men in the cast of characters were pretty much identical. The women, though … *shudder* In the book, the women, excepting teenaged heroine Veronica, are at best worthless, at worst "batshit crazy" and overall really horrendous. In the narration, they're the epitome of cliché gay caricature voice – terrible.

The language periodically made me twitch: "the people her and her brother had stumbled upon", for example. And the constant use of "lie" as the past tense for … "lie". I thought it was "lied", which made me see faintly red, but I checked Google Books: nope. Bodies lie about, little islands of present tense in the midst of a past tense book. (Along with "squat" as the past tense for "squat".) A few actions like a man placing a bag on his back are described with such gravity and emphasis that they should be significant. (They aren't.) And things like "Ben shared a laugh with himself", or someone's "happy hands"…? No.

Another bit I didn't much like was what seems to be a nastily right-wing stance (referring to the uber-bitch Juliette as a spoiled liberal – which, no).

Going back to that CVS: First of all, CVS in Florida carries booze? Huh. Anyway. The store was described as having no other door than the front entrance. I find it hard to believe there's any public building without a back door, for trash removal and to comply with fire codes if nothing else.

The car name-dropping gets old; I'm not sure why we need to know exactly what everyone drives, except to make occasional points about some characters' wealth and so on.

The cuts in the narrative are sometimes abrupt and confusing – going from talking about Sampson and Moira to a new chapter (hard to distinguish in an audiobook) and "they all" in the first sentence – but here "they" refers to Abe and company; later, a shift in the other direction, from Abe & co to Sampson.

One thing I have to give some credit to the author for: the tale of what happened to Al. It was, at first, nicely handled – by which I mean the story was withheld and and evaded for quite a while, which I at first found irritating but came to appreciate as – at first – a nice bit of storytelling, good suspense-building. However, it stretched out too long, to the point that when some (never all) of the details finally came out I had already pretty much figured out what happened and didn't need to be told. There were a few near misses like that in the storytelling – and inconsistencies, such as Veronica telling the story of how her father was attacked – but not as the father told it. She was not there; she has only what her father related to her. Where did the new details in her version come from?

I wanted to continue liking the book. I would have loved to like it more than the afore-mentioned Fear the Walking Dead, about which I was kind of lukewarm. But "Breadwinner" didn't suffer from comparison – it just suffered from its execution. This wasn't the first time I've had cause to bless Audible's return policy … I wish it would be the last.
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Stewartry | 5 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Oct 28, 2015 |
I received a copy of this book for honest review. 'The Breadwinner' is a zombie apocalypse tale focusing on the stories of three main characters from very different backgrounds.

This story is novella length and split over three parts. This worked really well, making for a gripping read from start to finish as the three character's stories are told. This is a fast-paced book with plenty of suspense, some well twisted shocks and interesting characters in every part. As fun as some of the more unusual characters were, I liked Veronica the most and would want to read more just to find out what she does next! I was rooting for her as soon as she showed up.

The story is only just beginning in this book. I wasn't really sure where the plot was heading with this one but I liked where it ended up. The zombie attacks keep the tension high but the true horror comes from the things these survivors have to do to keep themselves alive and protect those they care most about.

Overall this is an excellent first part to a zombie apocalypse trilogy with well written characters and some truly shocking and horrifying moments. Recommended for fans of horror/zombies/apocalyptic fiction.
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chettsgenie | 5 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Sep 24, 2015 |
ABR's original Haven audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

“Haven” starts with our survivors on a boat floating down the river.
Waking up from a hangover Sampson sees that they are near a fabulous resort. The Emerald City. From the top of one of the buildings there is a flash of light and a figure is waving to them. Minutes later a man runs across the beach and starts a jet ski. He heads toward them and when close enough he calls out.

Gary, a business man from England, was stranded when the virus hit. His wife died after being bitten and so did all the others who were hiding in his building. He has been living in the Emerald City resort condo units ever since. Using a jet ski he goes out on the river to met them. He invites Sampson, Veronica, Andrew, Clyde, Juliette and Ben to join him on the 24th floor. He has plenty of supplies and safe rooms for everyone. They accept. Is Gary what he seems to be or does he have other plans for his new friends?

Lulu and Michelle worked at the Emerald Park shopping mall as hairdressers. After barely escaping their apartment and being chased by zombies, they make it to Emerald Park and their work place. Lulu is very high strung and can’t seen to keep it together. She knows the zombies are attracted to sound but she just can’t help screaming when scared. Michelle, on the other hand, is just the opposite. She is the strong one and will not hesitated to shoot to kill. The more she kills the more she likes it.

They were joined by the mall security guard, Francis. Lulu liked him but Michelle has never cared for him. They are also joined by Desmond and Catherine. Desmond and his wife Catherine are both Doctors who were trapped by their car until Michelle arrived. The five survivors secured the shop and the two adjoining ones. Searched for supplies and settled in.

Three different stories that will become one. The characters are all developing into someone else. None of them are what they were before the virus hit. Lulu is scared out of her mind most of the time. Michelle is the leader of her group but everything is not well. Gary has taken charge of his band, but he does listen to the others. When they merge in to one there will be conflicts and murder. Some will rise to hero status and others will sink to the black depths.

Scott Bernie is the reader for this series and he does a bang up job of it. I just love his Gary voice. He really nails the English accent. All his voices for this series are well done and he can really get into it. Well done Scott.

Audiobook provided for review by the author.
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Merkitty asiattomaksi
audiobibliophile | 1 muu arvostelu | Aug 14, 2015 |

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