As the World Dies: The First Days by Rhiannon Frater

As I've bought an ebook reader I thought it might be a good idea to review one of the very many independent novels to be found on the web which bypass the usual publishing formalities. These books are usually genre novels and can be downloaded for very little money at various internet bookstores.

Riannon Frater's zombie trilogy As the World Dies first appeared as a serial novel on various internet forums before being revised and edited for ebook publication. Since then the books have appeared in hardcopy from Createspace books. It looks like the only ebook now available is in Kindle format.

The First Days begins with a haunting image of a small child's fingers pushing through the gap underneath a door desperately trying to reach for his mother. It turns out that the child is dead after being bitten by his undead father and now wants to do the same to his remaining parent.

His mother Jenni is rescued from the clutches of her zombie family by Katie who happens to be driving by in a truck. We soon learn that Katie is escaping her wife who has also turned into one of the living dead.

The first part of the novel deals with the two women coming to terms with the zombie outbreak and their picaresque adventures driving through Texas. It also chronicles the growing bond that develops between Jenni and Katie. In the second half of the book the couple find themselves holed up in a small town which has been fortified against zombie attacks. There they meet Travis who Katie realises she is falling in love with.

The whole book is punctuated by many lovingly described zombie attacks. As in most zombie films and novels the creatures can only be killed by destroying their brain. Graphic details are not spared and Frater doesn't flinch from scenes of carnage and gore.

So far, so good then. Except that it isn't at all. The book is so badly written that I found it a chore to get through. Frater doesn't use one word when five will do. A sample paragraph:

Katie and Jenni looked at each other and that (sic) gaze steadied each other. They were ready. Backpacks adorned both their backs. Katie slung the cooler by its long strap over her shoulder. Each had a gun in their hand. In Jenni's extra hand she carried another backpack, that she would drop if she had to. Katie held the truck keys.

There's far too much description too. Characters never just smile, they do it 'affectionately' or 'goofy' (sic). Jenni doesn't draw her gun, she does it 'dutifully'. A man's voice is full of 'disbelief, despair and terror'. None of the characters in times of stress say 'God' but use the word 'gawd'. It becomes apparent that Frater doesn't like to use too many contractions when writing dialogue giving conversations a painfully stilted air.

If I wasn't writing this review I would have closed the book on page 100 and moved on. I wasn't even going to blog about it for another few days but after doing a little research on the internet I actually find that this book is well liked. The novel gets four and a half stars on Amazon. It's been described as an "awesome read" and "a must have zombie novel". Only a few brave souls have talked about the abominable prose or the poor characterisation.

So I must be wrong. Do people not care about good prose any more? Is plot all that matters to them? If that's so we might as well bypass editors and conventional book publishers and have a free for all.

For a first foray into the world of independently published fiction this was a disappointment to me.

P.S. Reading Frater's blog it seems that Tor books have picked up the trilogy and are going to publish a revised version. I'm sure an editor will improve matters but I can't help thinking of silk purses and sow's ears.

The Ebook: Or how I stopped worrying and learned to love the pixel.

I can be a bit of a Luddite when it comes to new technology. It took me years of holding out before I bought a mobile phone and even longer until I fathomed out how to use an mp3 player. I now love both and wouldn’t be without either.

However, I was always against using an electronic device to read material. Like most avid readers I love collecting books. There’s nothing nicer than stepping into a well-stocked bookshop (or even Waterstone’s) and having a good long browse. Modern book covers are so enticing that they practically beg to be bought and added to the ever growing ‘to be read’ tower by my bedside.

So there was no need for an ebook reader in my life. Early models were ungainly and slow to use. They also had a backlight which made lengthy reading uncomfortable, at least for me.

All this was true until I got my hands on a Sony Pocket Reader. This small lightweight device uses a newish technology called E ink which basically allows you to read a book in available light and dispense with a backlight altogether. As I had a bit of money in my turnups I plonked down my cash and bought the thing.

So, how does the e-reader work and is it easy to use?

You load ebooks on your reader by means of a small program that runs on your computer. It’s a matter of minutes to upload a small library of books onto your reader via the supplied USB lead (which is also used to charge the sealed in battery). The pocket edition holds around 150 books but this depends on the size of the files you are importing.

Once loaded you can start reading a book which you select from the main menu screen. One of the advantages of the reader is that you can alter the size of the book’s font making it easier to read if you have problems with small print. You turn the page by means of a small wheel underneath the screen.

Personally I found the reader very easy to use. It’s lightweight to hold and, now that I’ve bought a cover for it, even looks a little like a book. Any worries I had about eye strain have vanished, as I’ve had reading stretches for more than an hour without any problems.

The main advantage about owning an ereader is portability. It’s no longer a strain to lug about War and Peace or Infinite Jest on the bus or train with me. The small font sizes of print volumes are obviated by the magnifying feature of the Reader and the device even remembers what page I was up to when I stop reading.

Battery life is excellent. My Reader usually lasts two weeks on one charge. The only downside being that when the battery eventually runs flat the Reader will have to be sent off to Sony to have a relacement fitted.

There are disadvantages though. E ink only produces greyscale print which means that illustrated material doesn’t look brilliant. There will be a while to go before non-fiction heavily illustrated technical material will look good in this format. It also takes a while to get used to the way the screen goes black momentarily when you turn the page. It can also be annoying to find that the book you want to buy isn’t (a) available at all or (b) only downloadable in another propietary format. Hopefully this situation will change soon.

Having an ebook Reader has changed the type of material I read. There are many places on the internet to download free, legal ebooks. These are mostly out of copyright classic novels. It’s great to be able to download a book by Dickens, Chesterton or Eliot and know that if you don’t get on with then it hasn’t cost you any money to find this out. (Libraries are another handy way of trying before you buy!)

Since buying my Reader I find that I’m reading a lot more than I used to and trying new authors and genres of fiction. I’m currently in love with American pulp hardboiled crime fiction of the 1940’s and ‘50s. It’s very difficult to resist a book called Blonde Bait (“She had to buy protection-and her payment was her body”)!

In a forthcoming blogpost I’ll talk about the best places on the web to download free fiction and how you can use your Reader for more than just books.