Title: Two Guys Walk Into an Apocalypse 3: He’s a Lumberjack and He’s Undead
Author: V. L. Locey
Publisher: Torquere Press, Inc.
Pages/Word Count: 130 Pages
Rating: 3 Stars
Blurb: Paul and Gordon aren’t your typical zombie hunters. They’re a loving couple of educators who might be infected by the virus that is turning the world’s population into mindless, undead eating machines. So why haven’t they turned? Well, Gordon has a theory about that. He suspects that those who march under the rainbow flag just might be carrying the cure for the plague in their bloodstream. Zendra, the massive pharmaceutical company where the mutated virus was made, certainly seems to be in a hurry to round up all the gay survivors they can grab.
To avoid the clutches of Zendra, Paul, his partner Gordon, and a ragtag band of survivors head into the Great White North – the land of maple syrup, hockey, lumberjacks, and thick bacon. Here they plan to spend the winter, hopefully safe from roaming bands of undead, militaristic companies with far too much power, seedy groups of other survivors, and the always dreaded moose. Can two guys in love lead a motley crew to safety?
Review: Two Guys Walk Into an Apocalyspe 3: He’s a Lumberjack and He’s Undead by V.L. Locey is the third in a series. In reviewing the author’s website and Amazon, the first book was included in an anthology He Loves Me For My Brainsss, and then continues as a novel in Book Two.
As a standalone, this book didn’t really do it for me. The writing was good, the humor witty, the characters well developed, but it was the plot that had me struggling. I’m not sure whether it’s because I don’t know the backstory of the two protagonists, but the story dragged for me.
For the first three-quarters of the story, a group of survivors are travelling as a band, killing off the zombies they encounter. The descriptiveness of the deaths was gritty and detailed. I could definitely picture exactly what was going on, which is always a good thing. The humor was dry and had me chuckling throughout. Whether it was Paul’s cynicism, Rodney’s homophobic commentary, or Tina’s gruff lesbianism, this author certainly has creative ways of painting characters.
In this story, it was thought that gay people had immunity to the virus that was creating zombies, and that the cure preventing people that were bitten from turning into zombies was locked in the blood of homosexuals, although this was never really fully developed or used as a plot heightener. For instance, if there had been a ruling entity that wanted to wipe out all gays so they could maintain control without the threat of a cure, this might have upped the action plot a bit.
There was very little eroticism in the story, although I don’t think sex would have changed the story or my experience with it.
As it stands, this story was a well written but not terribly exciting read for me.
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