Friday, January 1, 2016

"Positive"

David Wellington is an author of horror, fantasy, and thriller novels. His zombie novels Monster Island, Monster Nation and Monster Planet form a complete trilogy. He has also written a series of vampire novels including Thirteen Bullets, Ninety-Nine Coffins, Vampire Zero, Twenty-Three Hours, and 32 Fangs. His werewolf series comprises Frostbite and Overwinter.

In 2013 Wellington introduced Afghanistan veteran Jim Chapel in the novel, Chimera, which was later followed by The Hydra Protocol. The new Jim Chapel novel, The Cyclops Initiative, is out early this month.

Wellington applied the Page 69 Test to 2015's Positive, and reported the following:
You know, I love the Page 69 Test, I really do. Yet it feels like every time I do it, that particular page just gives you nothing about the book as a whole.

Positive is about zombies, it’s about road pirates terrorizing the post-apocalyptic highways, and most of all it’s about hope—about the moment after the end of the world when we start dusting ourselves off and rebuilding, when civilization starts to return. A process that is in turns bloody, terrifying, and thrilling.

Page 69 here is about none of those things, of course. It takes place immediately after a truly nasty zombie attack. It comes right before the love story of the book jumps into high gear. But this particular page is about some people in a car, very frightened people who just want to get to a place of safety. It’s about driving through a New Jersey that has been half reclaimed by nature and half one gigantic chemical spill.

It’s a big book. There’s a lot of action in it, a lot of surprises. A lot of touching emotional moments. And some pretty nasty stuff. For instance, whatever you do, don’t read page 120. Even I get queasy when I read that page.
Learn more about the book and author at David Wellington's website.

The Page 69 Test: Chimera.

The Page 69 Test: The Hydra Protocol.

--Marshal Zeringue