Heh, sorry about the silly title, but I am very happy right now. I entered a friend of mines contest over on DeviantArt, with this piece, and the closing date was 31st October. Now I never expected to win anything, but I came second! I have never won anything like this before, so I am pretty damn happy!
Works not picked up yet, we are getting barely any calls, last night I didn’t have any calls between 7.30 and 10pm which is when I finished. I guess being paid to do nothing isn’t that bad, but its so boring, time really drags. I ended up reading a book, World War Z (more on that later), even though we arn’t meant to do it, the manager on duty said it was fine, there is no point in doing nothing just in case, something is obviously wrong even if the people dealing with call routing are claiming there isn’t. I hope its better today,the whole thing is putting me in a really bad freaking mood.
Anyway, on to the book I was reading.. World War Z by Max Brooks.
Yes, its a book about zombies, which may make people think of things like thwe old 50’s B movies and the more recent gore fests like Dawn of the Dead and Resident Evil. But this book is totally different. Written in the form of eye-witness accounts gathered by someone writing a report on the Zombie War ten years after the event, the book is horrifying in its realism. You would honestly believe the dead could walk, that the events described in sometime heartbreaking detail are that well written. Rather than a supernatural event, the zombies are the result of a virus that infects its host and turns them into the walking dead in an alarmingly short period of time. Again, its so well written and done in such detail you don’t find the virus that implausable to believe in. The book is gory, I wont deny that, but its not done in a way meant to shock the reader, or give a cheap thrill. Battles against the undead are grim, unglamorous affairs, you can feel the horror of the poor soliders that don’t realise exactly what they are up against until its too late.
I am about half way through the book right now, I have just started the section titled “Turning the Tide”. Without wanting to spoil the book for anyone who wants to read the book (and I recommend that you do), the manner in which the author is handling the difficult subject of necessary sacrifice is wondeful. You don’t sit there thinking “Those bastards” over someone making the tough decisions that had to be made in the war against the seemingly unstoppable undead, you think “How awful for them” as its clear that really its the only way to save humanity.
Not a book to read if you are on a downer, nor if you are weak of stomach, but if you want to read a ‘grown up’ horror novel, then I’d highly recommend this one.
Oh, I also bought the Zombie Survival Guide by the same author, which got me some odd looks at work when I was readign it 
