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Welcome 2024! 12 Gifts for the 12 Days of Christmas

Zombie Turkeys Laughter 2021 Reviews

Welcome 2024! 12 Gifts for the 12 Days of Christmas. I’m author Andy Zach and I’ve got the latest reviews, free, and discounted books for you! Let’s start with the reviews!

You may be familiar with the 12 days of Christmas song. The actual 12 day festival ran from December 25th to January 6th, also known as Epiphany, when Christians celebrated the appearance of the wise men or magi from the east.

Here’s the song:

12 Days of Christmas

Welcome 2023 – A Partridge in a Pear Tree

What is my writing is like a Partridge in a Pear Tree? How about a turkey in a tree? This excerpt from Zombie Turkeys.

First Draft Complete
Welcome 2024
Zombie Turkeys fly to escape to Zombie Turkey hunters

“Come back for more?  Eat fire and die!”  She sprayed napalm ferociously. It didn’t ignite. The spark ignition failed. Without thinking, she leapt toward the nearest tree, shedding the useless tank with a shrug of her shoulders. In case she needed any additional motivation, the turkeys pecked her butt all the way up.

The turkeys did not give up trying to get her in the tree. They kept flying up and attacking her. She wielded her Bowie knife. That was Rulon’s gift to her. He had it inscribed “To Lashon, from Rulon.” After about ten minutes of fighting them off, her arm was getting tired. She switched to her left arm. She wasn’t particularly dexterous with her left, but she didn’t have to be. Twenty pound turkeys who flew straight at you didn’t require much precision to strike. The most disheartening thing was, she’d stab one through the heart, have it drop fifteen to the ground with a satisfying “Thud!”, and then have it stagger to its feet five minutes later and fly back up fifteen minutes later.

Welcome 2024 – Two Turtledoves

Did you enjoy our free excerpt? Great!

But where can I find two turtledoves in my writing? I don’t have any. But I have two chipmunks from my villain in My Undead Mother-in-law

SciFi Story Fuel My Undead Mother-in-law
Welcome 2024
My Undead Mother-in-law cover.

Hundreds of miles away, Vik Staskas smiled to himself. Nothing like bringing his objects of interest directly into his reach. Vik was not a sentimental man, but he had a fondness for his cyborg chipmunks since they were his first cyborg animals he had created for his Ph.D. A computer chip listened, saw, and transmitted via 4G cell phone network to his cell or the nearest computer screen in his network. While one chipmunk listened above their office, another had chewed a hole in the ceiling and watched them and Lisa’s large computer screen. Vik whimsically named them Alvin and Theodore.

But this free excerpt is not your only gift: Have a free copy of My Undead Mother-in-law! Just click here.

All I ask is that you review the book after you’re done.

And here’s a review for you:
Brad Secrest
 61 reviews

November 21, 2023

Great story! This is a hilarious Superhero Zombie bit of fun. All of the characters are fantastic. You’ll fall in love with at least 10 of them. 🙂 Highly recommended for the humorous sci-fi zombie lover.

Welcome 2024 – Three French Hens

Zombie Detective cover
Zombie Detective cover.

I don’t have three French hens for you either. But I have three detectives in my Zombie Detective novel. And they’re in New York City, so that’s like the ‘French Connection’.

Sorry, that’s the best I can do!

Check out the excerpt:

“I’ll have you meet the detectives on the case.” He pressed his comm. “Tammy? Send in Boxer and Poodles.”

“Your detectives are named Boxer and Poodles?”

“Boxer is his real name. Ted Boxer. ‘Poodles’ is a nickname for Penelope Palmer.”

“I’d think she’d go by ‘Penny.’”

“She hates Penny. Don’t ask her why. Wait till you see her.”

The pair entered. Ted Boxer was a smiling, handsome man in his forties with short blond hair combed back from his forehead. Penelope, or Poodles, was half a head taller than Ted, with long legs and arms and curly hair englobing her head in a sphere of ringlets.

“Boxer, Poodles, this is Sam Melvin. I told you he’d be helping.”

“Pleased to meet you, Sam.” Ted pumped his hand vigorously.

“Likewise.”

Sam looked to Poodles. She had an attractive brown face with a serious, almost stern look.

“I don’t do glad-handing. I don’t like people in general.”

“Uh, OK. So I should call you Poodles?”

“That’s my name.” She looked reproachfully at Sam, like he should know better.

Your other two gifts? Get two discounted books for .99 Zombie Turkeys and Secret Supers

Welcome 2024 – Four Calling Birds

I’ve got four calling birds for you–and a lot more.

In Paranormal Privateers, my zombie turkeys have been weaponized by the undead mother-in-law and used–well, you’ll see in the following excerpt.

SciFi Fuel Paranormal Privateers
The cover of my third novel Paranormal Privateers. Click to get yours.

Looking at Lulu and Sharon, I said, “I’ll take half the animals and go to the left around the main base. You go the other way. Try not to kill anyone unless it’s absolutely necessary. You know how pro-life we are.”

The zombie animals all obeyed human zombies, but not much else. They could follow simple commands: “This way,” “Stop,” “Left,” “Right.” The corgis were the most obedient, the turkeys the least. They knew not to eat people without permission—barely. The bulls followed heel and leg direction like horses—eventually.

The corgis and bulls raced around the compound with us. The zombie turkeys milled outside the walls, eating anyone who sought to flee. As we caught people, I directed them to lay down on the ground and I tied them up with the zip ties I had picked up in the garage. I encountered steady gunfire, but after it proved completely ineffective against us zombies, people just started running. I pursued.

What else do I have for you? How about free audiobooks. Click to get any or all of Zombie Detective, My Undead Mother-in-law, Paranormal Privateers. The offer is good until I run out of free codes for you.

Welcome 2024 – Five Gold Rings!

Do I have five gold rings for you? No, but I have several billion dollars stolen by my criminals in Secret Supers in Space.

Read a little about it in this excerpt:

Welcome 2023

We arrived at the top. “Time to ship out the Supers.” Papa Smith hauled out Aubrey and Jeremy. I unloaded Kayla and Dan. We lined them up on the floor.

“It’d be so easy to eliminate them here.”

“Yes, Loretta, but the consequences will follow us. And there’s no money in it. Think of each of them as a billion dollars.”

“Nice idea, Papa.”

There’s four more gifts with this one!

You can get your free review copy by clicking here.

Get your discounted signed copy by clicking here. Free shipping from the author.

How about a free audiobook or two? Get your Secret Supers in Space by clicking here!! You might as well pick up your free Villain’s Vacation while you’re at it.

Welcome 2024 – Six Geese a-laying!

You might guess that I don’t have geese a-laying, any number. But I do have zombie turkeys laying eggs. In fact, I have a whole sub-plot devoted to it–int two different books.

Let’s give you the Zombie Turkeys excerpt:

“Approximately one hundred fifty thousand domestic turkeys have gone zombie, and approximately one hundred thousand wild turkeys. The National Turkey Institute has bred zombie turkeys and discovered their growth cycle is vastly accelerated. The eggs hatch faster, the poults grow faster and are dangerous within three weeks. There are an estimated one hundred thousand new zombie turkeys added to the flocks ravaging Illinois since the plague began at the beginning of November.

“Furthermore, not only are the zombie turkeys resistant to damage, and not only do they regenerate quickly, but once regenerated, they are two to three times stronger than normal turkeys.

“Citizens are advised to stay within their homes.  Those with bunkers or air raid shelters should stay in them until further notice. Those on the road to Illinois are advised to stop and return home. The Federal government has stopped all road, sea, and air traffic to Illinois. The US Army, Marines and Air Force are currently conducting operations against the zombie turkeys and expect to eliminate them within a week.

Four more gifts Below

Aside from the free excerpt, you can listen to Zombie Turkeys, Zombie Detective, My Undead Mother-in-law, Paranormal Privateers, and Oops! on Audible for free. Be sure to check out my great voice actors, Phil Blechman and others. There’s a link to Audible by each book cover.


Your Thirteenth Literary Gift Andy Zach Newsletter Zombie Detective Audiobook
Audiobook cover – click to listen.

Then we have:

My Undead Mother-in-law


July Joy My Undead Mother-in-law
Click to listen to My Undead Mother-in-law


Welcome 2023
More Good Things

Welcome 2023
Andy Zach Newsletter
Oops! audiobook cover Click to listen now.

Next is Paranormal Privateers Click to listen

After that, you’ve got Oops! Tales of the Zombie Turkey Apocalypse

Six More Days of Gifts to Come

I’ll make another post for the last twelve days of Christmas by Sunday, January 7th, 2024. I have a lot more gifts and discounts for you!

If you have any questions or comments for me, leaven them here.

Buy any of my books directly from me at my store. Click here.

Or buy them from my Square site. Click here.

Finally, you can go to Amazon and get them.

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Advent Day 19 – Discounts and Free Books

Christmas free books!

Advent Day 19 – Discounts and Free Books – “What kind of discounts?” you ask. Let’s start with .99 books.

My first series, ‘The Life After Life Chronicles’ begins with Zombie Turkeys. Turkeys are always good for the holidays. I have people eating zombie turkeys in the book–and vice versa. It’s .99 for a book of laughter at your favorite zombie tropes. See below for some excerpts. Click here to get Zombie Turkeys.

Is that all? Not at all!

My second series I wrote for my disabled daughter Tori who wanted a story with a flying wheelchair. The main hero, Jeremy Gentle, has cerebral palsy and an electric wheelchair like Tori. And he gets telekinesis and can fly in his wheelchair.

That book, Secret Supers is also .99. Click here to get your copy.

Advent Day 19 – More Discounts

Advent Day 19
Chapter 9 icon of Paranormal Privateers

My last blog post told you of Paranormal Privateers, my wild, comical adventure tale of a family of zombies on a superyacht with a letter of marquis from the President to attack all US enemies–with plausible deniability. (See here if you missed it and its excerpt: Imagine You’re a Privateer. What Is It Like?

The point is, this week only this book is .99 on Kindle. Grab it before Christmas! The sale ends 12/23/23.

Advent Day 19 – Free Books


Now we get to the good stuff–free books. I give away audiobooks to my newsletter subscribers. Sign up here! Clickety-click!

But that’s not all! I belong to StoryOrigin and participate in free book giveaways. Don’t miss out!

Advent Day 19

Click here to get your 26 free SciFi books!

Giveaway ends January 10th

Advent Day 19

Click here to get your 61 free SciFi and Fantasy books!

Giveaway ends January 17th

Advent Day 19

Click here to get your 33 free fantasy books!

Giveaway ends January 16th

Advent Day 19 – Zombie Turkeys Excerpt – It’s What’s for Dinner!

Chapter icon
Advent Day 19
Zombie Turkeys chapter icon. Click to get yours!

Tom turned on all the floodlights in the yard and saw that the traps he had at the doors to his barn had already been activated. These traps killed more gruesomely than the chainsaw one, but they weren’t as noisy. These traps were a series of wooden boxes, three feet on a side. A turkey-sized hole, led to a turkey-sized tunnel, led to a turkey-sized trap door, led to a wood chipper. The chopped turkey went from the wood chipper into a bin.

Tom had joked to his wife he could sell this as turkey sausage.

* * *

It’s What’s for Dinner–and breakfast!

Sam said, “Do you mind if I tell people about your zombie traps?”

Betty smiled grimly, “Not at all. My brother Jerry helped Tom make them. Put them on your website, and we’ll sell them to other turkey farms in Illinois—along with our sausage.Tom joked about selling turkey sausage. Maybe I’ll really do that. It’d be like a way of getting even.”

“I’ve sure that won’t be FDA allowable.”

“I know that. I’ll sell it as genuine zombie turkey sausage, not suitable for human consumption. A novelty item, like canned unicorn.”

“Hmmm. You can advertise on the Midley Beacon YouTube site for free, if we get half the profits.”

“That’s too high. Make it a quarter, and you’ve got a deal. A widow’s got to live.”They shook on it.


Advent Day 19 – Click to Get Your Copy! Now on Sale!

Any newsletter subscriber gets free audiobook codes–as long as they last. Click here to get yours. Don’t wait until they’re gone!

Do you want an autographed book? I’ll mail it directly to you with free shipping and I pay the taxes! Click here to get yours. My shipping may not be the same day, but at least it’s free–for you.

Got questions? Comments? Reach me directly by clicking here. I’ll get back to you as quickly as I can.

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Imagine You’re a Privateer. What Is It Like?

Imagine You’re a Privateer. What’s It Like? That’s the premise of Paranormal Privateers. Through a series of events (In My Undead Mother-in-law) an ordinary, middle-aged couple becomes the leaders of a ship of privateers. Well, they’re ordinary, middle-aged zombies. My zombies regenerate, they don’t rot. They get stronger and faster, sort of like superheroes.

About Paranormal Privateers
You're A Privateer
Chapter 1 icon

But what are privateers? They’re hired by the government for military duties, usually by ship. We got close to hiring airship companies to patrol the coasts in World War II. We hired ships in the War of 1812. The President still has that power.

But let’s start at the beginning: Their first assignment is to get the ringleader of band of Somalia pirates.

By the way, I show you how to get this book at over 80% off, later on.

Imagine You’re a Privateer – The Opening

Chapter 1 – Somalia

You're a Privateer

I sighed with relief when the US flag came down and the surrender flag went up on the mast of the enormous luxury yacht. I didn’t mind firing rounds from my AK-47 over their heads, but I hated killing people. They’re only infidels, but they’re still people.


Inhaling the salted breeze I grinned back at Muhammed, who was cheering and laughing from his seat behind the M2 machine gun in the bow of our boat we used to patrol the coasts and fishing waters of Somalia.

The sun gleamed off his white teeth, set in his brown face. “Look! They’re stopping” he cried.


True enough. The bow wave ceased as I watched. A pod of dolphins ended their sporting on the wake and submerged. The gleaming white yacht was truly enormous. What were they doing in the fishing waters of Somalia? I couldn’t imagine the wealth onboard. Enough for our whole village to eat well for a year!

Imagine You’re A Privateer – Part 2


Our Supreme Leader, Omar Ogala, had organized the fishermen and former coast guard sailors to patrol our fishing waters. He ordered us to capture any fishing or cargo vessels we found. He told us the Americans and Europeans no longer cared about Somalia with the other crisis around the world and we could defend our fishermen from foreign competition—and dumpers. Many foreign nations, knowing Somalia’s weakness, would send cargo ships full of pollutants and dump them in our waters.


I never expected to see a luxury ship here. It was as big as a cruise liner, but it was apparently a private yacht. I’d seen one once before, when an Arab sheik visited Mogadishu. This one was three times the size! The owner would pay big to get it back. Maybe even a billion dollars? I couldn’t imagine that much money, and I was good with numbers. Let’s see: fourteen million people lived in Somalia. Divide a billion dollars among them would give each about $70. Unbelievable. A family of five could live comfortably for year on that!

Imagine You’re a Privateer – Part 3

Writing Paranormal Privateers
The Paranormal Privateers back cover. Click to get yours!


I came along as a navigator, fighter, and boarder, guiding our boat along the shore of Somalia and into the Arabian Gulf for several days, before leading us back. Besides Muhammed and me, there was Zahi, another fighter and boarder, and Ali, our captain.


“Diric,” Ali said to me, “You and Zahi board this ship and take the helm. You will follow us back to Hobyo. Muhammud and I will stay on the boat and keep the machine gun on them.”

“Yes sir,” I said.

Ali took the megaphone we carried for ship to ship communication. “Let us board! Let us board! Or we will gun your ship!” I didn’t understand English, of course, but I knew what he was saying. Ali was the only one who knew any English.

Imagine You’re A Privateer – Part 4


“Don’t shoot! Give us time! We have to get our ladder!” Surprisingly, the person spoke in Arabic. It was good Arabic too, but with a strange Saudi and European accent. More surprisingly, it was a woman, a blonde, from what I could see of the figure leaning over the railing far above us.

We kept our boat about fifty meters away from the ship and watched the crew scurry about the decks.

There were many; I counted five including the main deck and there were at least three more decks below the main one.

Finally, rope ladder unrolled from the main deck, perhaps ten meters above us. We came close to the ship. I saw the pod of dolphins flash under our boat. Then they leapt out of the water and into it.


Only they weren’t the dolphins I had seen earlier. Four people in black wetsuits landed with heavy thumps in our boat. They had no breathing equipment, not even snorkles. They took off their goggles and their eyes shone bright red in the sun.

Imagine You’re a Privateer – Part 5

Happy Mother's Day
You're a privateer
Diane Newby, in her natural environment.


“Zombies!” cried Ali. “Shoot them!”


Automaticly I sprayed the nearest with my AK-47. I heard the others fire too. Muhammed shot the biggest one with the machine gun. That could cut a man in two.


Dozens of red craters appeared in the black wet suit of the one I shot. But she—it was a white, brown-haired woman—didn’t go down. Her brows furrowed in anger and shouting in English, she ripped the gun from my hand and threw it into the ocean.

The other zombies did the same, except the big one. He grabbed the barrel of the machine gun in both hands and wrenched it from Muhammud. I could hear his flesh sizzle on the hot barrel. Then he bent the barrel into a right angle. Rubbing his hands together afterward, the burnt skin fell on the deck of our boat. Pink skin showed on his palms.

George Newby
George Newby, wide-body zombie.


He was enormous, bigger than two of us put together. He red eyes looked out of his calm, square face.

The bullets from the machine gun had sliced the wet suit open across his chest, and more pink skin showed in the gap. As I watched, brown hair grew from it.


We were all struck dumb with shock and terror. Then the woman I shot called up to the main deck. The one on deck yelled down in Arabic, “All of you, lie down on the deck, and you will live.” We quickly did.

Click to Get Your Copy! Now on Sale!

Any newsletter subscriber gets free audiobook codes–as long as they last. Click here to get yours. Don’t wait until they’re gone!

Do you want an autographed book? I’ll mail it directly to you with free shipping and I pay the taxes! Click here to get yours. My shipping may not be the same day, but at least it’s free–for you.

Got questions? Comments? Reach me directly by clicking here. I’ll get back to you as quickly as I can.