What was most surprising to me about Andy Zach’s Zombie Turkeys? – that is qualified as an actual adventure story! I wasn’t expecting that. About a quarter way in, when a young reporter gets the assignment to follow a swarm of 10,000 rampaging turkeys into a stretch of unfamiliar woodlands, it actually grabbed my attention while I was driving, and I was scared for the reporter (even without the zombie element, 10.000 turkeys is a LOT, and being a reporter is no protection against 10,000 wild animals).
We get a little bit of everything in this novel. The prologue is very funny. There is plenty of carnage, the author has plenty of fun envisioning industrial scale defenses against zombie turkey hordes. There is nice wish-fulfillment as a small-time newspaper becomes wildly successful reporting on the zombie-turpocalypse. Finally, there is also nice wish-fulfillment as the reporter finds ways to survive, the reporting teams grow and expand, and even as love finds its way into the mix.
Part 2
There are two major comedic set pieces included in the novel: a turkey dinner at the Whitehouse (which had a funny moment (to me), where Michele Obama encourages her children to walk across the backs of the secret service agents, and says something along the lines of “Go ahead sweetheart – that’s what they’re there for.”) The second major comedic piece involves professional sports and fandom – when a zombie horde overruns a stadium, fans compete to see which band of hooligans can kill the greater number of invading turkeys – it is a broad set-piece that gets richer and richer as it plays out.
A book with the title of “Zombie Turkeys” promises light entertainment, and that is delivered. There is more adventure than I expected, and slightly less direct comedy — the characters play their scenes straight. The comedy is in the absurdity of the events (at least for me).
Fans of zombie fiction should definitely give it a try. Graduates of the “Goosebumps” books (and there are a LOT of them) might also really enjoy it. Fun. Gruesome yes, but fun (and very friendly).
Forget New Zombie Turkeys News–Where’s the Free Stuff?
Before we get to the free books, let me mention Rik Ty is the author of Thrill Kings, an exciting SciFi thriller. Here’s the book:
All you have to do is click here. Then you’ll go to my contact page.
Next, enter your email address and say you’d like to subscribe to my blog newsletter.
Or you can click here. Then you’ll go to my homepage. A handy pop-up window will allow you to subscribe to my newsletter.
Then sit back and relax. Month after month, you’ll be entered in my two monthly drawings. One is for a free copy of my book in ebook or paperback format. And the other drawing is for an audiobook of my books.
I’ve already given away my books to thirty-four lucky people! You might be next!
Pro-tip: You can enhance your chances by getting your friends to subscribe. Send me their emails and as they subscribe, I’ll give YOU an extra chance for each one in that month’s drawing!
Who is happy about having the mother in law they have? You definitely will be after this book. A hilarious account of a zombie mother in law with issues. Many, many issues. She tries to blend into the non-zombie population and as long as you don’t upset her (love her Sunday pot roast, hint, hint) things go rather smoothly. Upset her and watch out! Funny, irreverent and in the same vein as his previous book, “Turkey Zombies”. You can’t help laughing! Can’t wait for his next book! Enjoy the read!
But there’s more review goodness!
New Andy Zach Reviews- The Second
Lightning strikes again! Another laughing reader produced this second review. I’ve copied it below My Undead Mother-in-law back cover:
Who hasn’t had mother-in-law issues? Well, what if your mother-in-law was a zombie?
And yet our hero is a zombie avenging evil with her zombie turkeys, bulls, and corgis–all under her command.
Hilarious and heartwarming at the same time. The perfect wedding shower gift for the new bride. Curl up with Andy Zach’s laugh out loud yet poignant newest novel and leave your troubles behind.
I guarantee you’ll be amerced! This should be on the big screen! And if you haven’t read his debut novel Zombie Turkeys, well, what are you waiting for? Don’t bring cranberry sauce this Thanksgiving dinner, bring Zombie Turkeys! They’ll fight over it! Can’t wait for Andy’s next adventure!
Jacqueline Gillam Fairchild–author Estate of Mind, The Scrap Book Trilogy.
The Zombie Turkeys Review You’ve Wanted
You didn’t know it, but you’ve been waiting for this next one.
I am not a zombie fan, but have been known to like turkey especially with stuffing. No seriously, this book is so imaginative and original but I wouldn’t classify it as a novelty book. It is too well written for that. Especially like the author using small towns in central Illinois as sites of the attacks as I am also from central Illinois. This read will put a smile on your face no matter where you live. Looking forward to his next book about mother in laws. His funny, askew view is very entertaining. Enjoy the read!
Maybe you know a friend who hates the zombie genre: give him or her a copy of Zombie Turkeys. This is not the first anti-zombie person to be converted. Let’s make this viral and spread!
The first step in Producing Zombie Turkeys Audiobook is to create your ACX audiobook account and connect it to your published book. For me, it’s my Zombie Turkeys book, the first volume of the Life After Life Chronicles.
Zombie Turkeys print book. Click to download.
Step Two in Producing Zombie Turkeys Audiobook
I then published the audition script for the book, selecting the best sections to show the reader’s capabilities. I put the book out to bid on ACX.
Step Three: Sending the Script
After selecting a voice actor, Phil Blechman, I submitted a contract for the audiobook, and the person agreed.
Here’s Phil’s profile on ACX:
Step Four: Approving the Audiobook
Phil will send me a fifteen-minute sample. After I approve that, he’ll finish the book. That leads us to the final step of the process.
Along the way, I also send him directions on how I want the characters voiced: their accent, tone, and age.
I have over eighty characters in Zombie Turkeys. Of course, some of them die.
Here’s one:
Sam Melvin fighting zombie turkeys from Zombie Turkeys
And here’s another:
Lisa Kambacher with flamethrower fighting Zombie Turkeys
The Final Step: Selling the Zombie Turkeys Audiobook
Here is where you come in: would you want to buy the Zombie Turkeys audiobook? Reply to this post, or contact me, Andy Zach, right here. (Click here)
The audiobook will be for sale exclusively on Amazon.
Kindle edition of “Zombie Turkeys”. Click to download.
Let’s close this post with the latest review of Zombie Turkeys:
Let me start by saying that “Andy Zach” has an unusual sense of humor (or possibly has escaped from a lunatic asylum and is living under an assumed name). I invite you to check out his Amazon author page and read the bio. He’s gone all in on this zombie expert thing (since his parents were zombies) and states that he reanimated dead animals as a child for a science fair. He also currently raises phoenixes as a hobby. One more thing before starting on the story. What is that ‘thing’ on his head in his author picture?
Right off the bat, you have to assume that with a title like “Zombie Turkeys” that this will be a humorous story, yet it unfolds almost like a documentary. I wanted to love it, but something didn’t fully click with me. I did LIKE it, nonetheless. There are some cute running gags about expense accounts and the occasional shift of POV to the head ZT “He felt great. He was full of energy, he had many hens to breed with, and he was the leader of a great flock.” There are plenty of other gags (like ordering a Zombie Turkey killing flamethrower from Amazon Prime) that continue to make things fun, as well as all of the way-out ways they develop to dispatch the undead turkeys.
Zombie Turkeys Review Part 2
The central character is Sam Melvin, a reporter with the tiny local Illinois paper “The Midley Beacon”. Sam becomes an internet sensation by reporting on the Zombie Turkey outbreak. He always manages to be in the right place at the right time to get the story. Sam is a VERY mild-mannered reporter and I found him a little too ‘everyman’. Walter Mitty at least had adventures in his head, Sam seemed to get to the scene MOSTLY in the aftermath of the battle.
Overall, I think it was the characters that left me in the friend-zone with this story. None of them struck me as endearing, which I think could have gone a long way to make this a better story (for me). Perhaps I should also go on the record as stating that I’m not a Zombie Genre fan. Never watched an entire George Romero movie and switched off “The Walking Dead” after 3 episodes. I’m more of a “Shaun of the Dead” and “iZombie” kind of guy.
Before closing, I also have to say that at the end of ZT, there is an opening chapter of Andy’s second book “My Undead Mother-in-law”. I found it interesting enough to put it on my reading list for the future. Maybe I just don’t like turkeys?
If you have an off-beat sense of humor, give Zombie Turkeys a try. It might be right up your alley.
