The
Plot:
There
are monsters in this world. And they used to be us. Now it’s time to euthanize
to survive in a hospice where Emily, a woman haunted by her past, only wants to
do her job and be the best mother possible.
Euthanize
to survive
Post-infection
Chicago. Christmas.
Inside
The Hospice, Emily and her fellow nurses do their rounds. Here, men and women
live out their final days in comfort, segregated
from society, and are then humanely terminated before fate turns them
into marrow-craving monsters known as ‘Smilers.’ Outside these imposing walls,
rabid protesters swarm with
signs, caught up in the heat of their hatred.
Emily,
a woman haunted by her past, only wants to do her job and be the best mother
possible. But in a world where mortality means nothing, where guns are drawn in
fear and nobody seems safe anymore—at what cost will this pursuit come? And
through it all, the soon-to be-dead remain silent, ever smiling. Such is their
curse.
This
emotional, political novel comes from two of horror’s freshest voices, and puts
a new spin on an eternal topic: the undead. In the spirit of George A Romero meets Jack Ketchum, Where
the Dead Go to Die it is an unforgettable epilogue to the zombie genre, one
that will leave you shaken and questioning right from wrong…even when it’s the
only right left.
It
won’t be long before that snow-speckled ground will be salted by blood.
Aaron Dries
Raised in
a small New South Wales town in Australia, the former video store clerk, pizza
delivery boy, retail specialist, aged-care nurse, document scanner, video
editor, commissioned artist, and amateur filmmaker always had a strong interest
in creating stories. Were it hand-drawn X-Files comic books or home-made
movies starring himself and his family (the best of which had Aaron running
over a friend with a lawnmower, followed closely by a remake of Scream
starring his brother as Drew Barrymore), there was always something in the
works.
Aaron
graduated from the University of Newcastle with a Bachelor of
Communications under his wing, majoring in creative writing and video
production. As a filmmaker, he won a number of awards for his short films at
home and abroad, including Best Film at the Newcastle Film Festival for Placebo,
coinciding with the publication of his earliest stories in literary magazines.
His first
novel, House
Of Sighs, was originally written under the title Disunity
for the Leisure Books/Rue Morgue/Chizine
Publications Fresh Blood Contest. The premise of the novel stemmed back
to a local murder that took place in Aaron’s adolescence. A mother on his pizza
delivery route shot and murdered her husband and children before turning the
gun upon herself. As was the case with everyone who read about the incident,
Aaron’s mind churned with questions of morality. Why do bad things happen to
good people? What is the origin of evil? What makes apparently sane people do
insane acts? These questions would become the genesis for House
Of Sighs some years later.
When he
is not writing, Aaron Dries is thinking about writing, or upcoming film
projects. He is also an avid traveler. The first draft of his debut was written
over a three month period on a borrowed semi-functional laptop whilst living in
overseas hostels.
Mark Allan Gunnells:
Mark
Allan Gunnells has been writing since he was ten years old. His first book, A Laymon Kind of Night, was published by
Sideshow Press in 2009. Since then he has put out three more books with
Sideshow: the two-novella Whisonant/Creatures
of the Light combo, a short story collection entitled Tales from the Midnight Shift Vol. I, and the Halloween themed Dark Treats. He also has put out the
novella Asylum with The Zombie Feed,
and a digital collection entitled Ghosts in
the Attic with Bad Moon Books. He recently released his first published
novel, The Quarry, with Evil Jester
Press. He still lives in his hometown of Gaffney, SC.
Review:
Horror
is not my cup of tea, so I probably should have turned down Where the Dead Go
to Die when the authors’ publisher asked me to review it. I accepted it for two
reasons: the zombies were infected by a disease, and I somehow convinced myself
someone would find a cure. Which part of
horror did you not get, Weber? And it took place in my hometown, Chicago.
So,
okay. It’s horror. Spoiler alert. There isn’t going to be a cure. It’s not
going to have a feel-good ending. That’s not why I’m giving it a three-rose
rating. Chicago is.
It
is possible to write about a place you’ve never been to, but it helps to at
least study maps of the place so you can build a believable world there. Apparently
neither author ever spent much time here, nor did they really study the
Chicagoland Area. Where the Dead Go to
Die had no real local references. Where was The Hospice? In Streeterville
near the Northwest Memorial complex? On the South Side near the University of
Chicago? The West Side near the University of Illinois Medical Center, Rush
Medical, somewhere up on the Northwest Side? Old Irving Park? Logan Square?
What are the cross-streets? State and Chicago? Irving and Cicero? Why does everyone
have a Russian accent? I have a few neighbors from Eastern Europe and Chicago
has a large Polish population, but most Polish families immigrated here decades
ago and everyone speaks English except a few very elderly grandparents.
If
you’re world-building in a place that already exists, you need to do your
research, or explain why it doesn’t resemble itself at all. Otherwise, you’ll
lose the respect of natives/residents like me. I did cry at the end. That's why I gave it three
roses, but I would only recommend this book
if you’ve never been to Chicago and you don’t know any better. Oh, and if you
like horror.
Author Websites:
Aaron Dries: http://aarondries.com/
Mark Allan Gunnells: https://www.amazon.com/Mark-Allan-Gunnells/e/B005C18L7Q
Warnings: Violence,
Gore
Length: 197 Pages
Digital Price: $4.99
Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N1LYOGP
Thanks
for visiting.
