The problem with loving classic literature is that all the authors are dead. This pretty much limits what you have to read. It's not like Emmuska Orczy or Alexandre Dumas are going to rise from the grave and churn out any more novels, even though the mental image of a zombie Dumas plunking away at a typewriter is pretty awesome. Anyway, moving along. One day I find myself at my local used bookstore, just sort of shopping around. Finding nothing of interest but some old, overpriced Doctor Who novels, I happened upon a book called Plague of the Dead. Having found nothing else to read, I bought it. And then I devoured it. I literally read the whole thing that night. The next day I devoured the sequel, Thunder & Ashes. So began my rather hesitant love with (almost) everything Permuted Press.

Over the last couple of months I've read almost a dozen of Permuted's books, and with one exception, I've loved them all. However, one I always skipped over at the bookstore was a book called Day By Day Armageddon. For some reason every time I flipped it open, it just didn't seem interesting; journal entrees of one man's experiences during a living dead uprising. Can you say World War Z rip-off? Whatever. Then one day I got an offer from Permuted Press to review their new novel, Day By Day Armageddon: Beyond Exile, the sequel to the uninteresting and unoriginal aforementioned book. I, of course, said yes, because the only reason I run this site is for the free stuff companies send me. Seeing as it was a sequel, I figured I should read the first book.

Obviously, I love horror, and the only thing I love better than horror is a perfect blending of horror and military action. There's nothing better than automatic weapons and a preternatural menace, and this is what J.L. Bourne, author of both Day By Day Armageddon books, brings to the table. Written as a series of journal entrees, DBDA and its sequel tells the tale of a man caught in a world where the dead have risen and society has fallen. A Naval officer and pilot, our nameless hero (Do you write your name in your own diary?) fights to survive using only the skills and knowledge that his military training has provided him and the abilities and strengths of those he comes across and allies himself with.

Like his protagonist, author J.L. Bourne is a Naval officer, and it shows in his writing; it gives it a certain honesty and authenticity that carries the story and makes the action more believably and the horrors far more real. There is none of the bravado that you might expect to find in a military man writing about a military man. Our hero is no Rambo or other such unstoppable warrior stereotype; he is as full of fear and confusion as all of the other survivors. The undead are a new enemy and as unfamiliar to him as to any other person.

Bourne's first hand military knowledge is apparent and appreciated; his character survives because of this knowledge. He counts his bullets, he cleans his weapons, he plans his food and water rationing. All things a disciplined soldier would do. However, this isn't the extent of the story. Like all other good zombie tales, from Night of the Living Dead to Shawn of the Dead, it is the human dynamic that carries the plot along and makes it interesting. All stories need humanity. Without an emotional anchor it's all kind of meaningless. You can only kill zombies for so long before it becomes repetitive. Luckily, DBDA and DBDA:BE have that anchor. As the hero (this would all be so much easier if the bastard just had a name) moves through the world looking for shelter and sanctuary, he comes upon other survivors and takes them under his wing. A neighbor and his dog, a family or two, a pretty girl, all become part of the extended family and add to the emotional strength of the story and they all become characters that you believe and care for.

These books are about as good as zombie literature gets. While not quite as good as World War Z (Brooks pretty much set the standard for zombie fiction with that one), they, along with the previously mentioned Morningstar Saga, are a very, very close second and are a must for all zombie fans as well as fans of military horror. Be warned, you'll want to buy both DBDA and DBDA:BE at the same time as the second picks up immediately where the first leaves off. Like immediately, in a post-battle, cliff-hanger sort of way. A way that makes you pissed that it's three o'clock in the morning and the bookstore is closed and you'll have to have to wait until tomorrow after work to buy the next one so you can find out what happened and who died and who survived...FUCK!!!!

Be sure to check out our 20 Questions (CLICK CLICK) with author J.L. Bourne in this issue.