A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other.

I’ve just finished reading The Road, by Cormac McCarthy.  Simply enough this is a postapocalyptic tale of an America that no longer exists.  Our way of life is no longer.  Our cities have burned.  The animals have all died.  No crops grow.  Ash falls from the sky like grayish snow.  Above and beyond the standard “kill or be killed” theme, I think the true message in this book is one of hope, and one of family.  What would you do, to protect those you love?  Would you be willing to steal?  Would you be willing to kill?

In a world where every person who is left alive will likely kill you on sight — or simply rob you, if you are lucky — how does one man keep his son physically and mentally safe?

This book was a bit hard to get into at first.  It is oddly written, in the fact that the dialog isn’t clearly separated from the story itself.  There are no quotation marks, and sometimes the only way to differentiate which character is talking at any given time is simply by reason of deduction:  the book is 95% made up of only 2 characters, one a man, and one a child.  So the parts that sound like a kid, are being spoken by the child.  It made the first few chapters tough going, but once I got myself into the story I found it wasn’t so strange anymore.  Much like watching a movie with subtitles.  You forget you are reading them after a time.

I did enjoy the book, but perhaps I would have anyway just by virtue of its ‘end of the world’ theme which happens to be a favorite of mine.  The world described in The Road is very stark and grey.  Very cold and merciless.

It made me stop and think about all I have, and all that could be lost.

My all-time favorite book as a young child.  Not only did I watch the TV series religiously from the age of 3-6, I had the toys, books, blankets, and all other various gimmicky products I could get my ‘little’ hands on.  Much to my horror I just discovered this book featured on a “Vintage Children Book” page.  Vintage!  Holy smokes, when did I get so old that the stuff I had as a child is now vintage?  It’s only been like… 22 years, heh, OK I guess that has been awhile.

That is a little depressing.  No pun intended.

Back then though, boy did I love them.  I thought they were real, that they lived in the walls of my bedroom and came out at night to explore and play with my toys, eat my food and do…  whatever it is that itty-bitty people do for fun.  Any time I lost a toy, it wasn’t really lost;  the Littles had just borrowed it!

I’m sure I drove my mom crazy, since I had a whole troop of conveniently invisible wall-dwellers to blame on any mishap.  Good times.  I wish I still had that book, though I see I can pick it up for less than 5 bucks.  Not a bad deal really.

Back in September I wrote about the passing of one of my favorite authors, Robert Jordan.  He died as he was writing the final book to his huge Wheel of Time fantasy series, and I know that as sad as I was at his passing, I was nearly equally as sad about the prospect that his work would never be finished.

I know that people close to him said that Robert had vast collection of notes and dictations about the final book, and that it would be more than possible for the final novel to be completed even with no more input from him, but I still had my doubts.  I just didn’t think it could be done, not with a series so complex.

Well, now this news:

Tor Books has announced that Brandon Sanderson has been selected to complete A MEMORY OF LIGHT, the final novel in the Wheel of Time saga.

I have to admit that I’ve not personally heard of Brandon Sanderson, but I plan to rectify that situation shortly.  If this is the guy chosen to complete a series that I’ve been reading for over a decade, well then the least I can do is buy his previous books and give him a shot.I sure hope he can keep the “feel” of the series alive, while at the same time wrapping the whole package up in a way that rewards all of us loyal fans for years and years of avid reading.

One of my favorite authors has passed on.  Robert Jordan, author of the popular fantasy series The Wheel of Time passed at 2:45PM, Sunday September 16th, after a long and grueling fight against Cardiac Amyloidosis.

This truly is a sad day for me, and for many many others.  It’s almost hard to believe.  I first picked up a Jordan book back in 1990.  I had visited an old dusty Army thrift store with my mother, and while she was off looking for whatever she was after, I found myself at the two ratty book shelves in the very back of the building.  My penchant for reading had just recently developed, and I was now on a crusade to look for and buy every interesting book I could get my hands on.

That day I happened to find a book called The Eye of the World, by Robert Jordan.  It was only the 2nd fantasy book I had ever bought, and  I started reading it as soon as I got home that day.  18 chapters later — without having ever paused — I had the horrible realization that the book in my hands wasn’t complete.  It was in fact a sample book.  In reality, the title of the book I was holding was called “The First Part of Book One Of The Wheel Of Time”.

It was a promotional item, and I just happened to buy it.  Just my luck, I find a book I loved, and it wasn’t even a full book.I of course had to go out the very next day and buy myself a “real” copy of the book, and for the next few years it became almost a yearly ritual:  when the new books would come out, me and my mom would make a trip to the towns one book store to pick it up.  She just loved the fact that I was suddenly a book lover.

I have to say, Jordans’ books are a big part of why I still till this day love reading so much.  I’ve been reading the WoT series now for 17 years, and never once (even knowing the author was ill this past year) did I ever think the series wouldn’t reach a conclusion.  I saw an apt comment from a reader, explaining why this is such a tragedy for us fans.  He likened it to the prospect of J.K. Rowling dying just before she finished writing the final Harry Potter novel.  Imagine that.

This is what this feels like for all of us who have been reading the Wheel of Time books.  I’ve been waiting half my life to see how the story will finally end, and now it may not happen.  I’m sure a final book will come out, in one form or another, but it won’t be the same.

I still have that little promotional book.  All these years later, it’s setting on my shelf right above me as I type this.  I can’t even say how much Mr. Jordan will be missed.  It seemed almost as if he was a member of the family, after all these many years reading and rereading his works.  I’ve read his books while at school, while I was supposed to be working.  I’ve read his books while in planes, and trains.  I’ve read his books while on lunch breaks.  I’ve fallen asleep with them in hand, and even introduced non-fantasy readers to them, in hopes they would enjoy the story as much as I do (yup, I’m thinking of you Niknik).He is going to be greatly missed.  I never met him in person, but I felt like I knew him.  What a sad day.

I remember a couple years ago, my brother telling me about a book that “all” the kids at school were reading.  I of course took that with a grain of salt, because in my days I would often use the “all the kids are doing it” line myself, to try and get something I particularly wanted.  But I don’t need to much persuading to make a trip to Barnes & Nobel! – so off we went to pick up a copy of The Zombie Survival Guide.

The book was dubbed as “Complete Protection From The Living Dead“, and I have to admit it was a pretty fun read.  I picked it as soon as my brother was done, and we both talked about it for months after, pointing out people we suspected might be zombies, and then whispering which technique might work best against “it”.  All in fun, of course!

So when I saw the title “10 ‘worst’ things to do during a zombie outbreak” pop into one of my RSS feeds, I knew I just had to share it with everyone.  We ALL need to be prepared for the possible rise of the zombies!

10) Don’t set zombies on fire. Burning zombies smell terrible.

We’re not sure why you see it in every zombie movie, but it stands to reason that the only thing worse than a zombie is a flaming zombie. Remember, it can take a long time for a zombie to burn to death – more than ten minutes, in some recorded cases. Do you really want a burning zombie lighting you and your friends on fire? Play it safe – chances are good that there won’t be any fire-fighting infrastructure during a zombie outbreak if things get out of hand.

9) Don’t get sentimental. Zombies won’t.

Sure, it’s your house. Sure, they were your family and friends. But now it’s a zombie nest, and they’re zombies. Stick around, and your best chance is to become zombie food – worst case, you’ll end up a zombie like the rest. Zombies don’t have any feelings – neither should you.

8/ Don’t forget to shut the door behind you. Zombies often arrive without calling first.

Were you born in a barn? Zombies might not be the brightest, but they know an open door when they see one. Keep your suburban zombie fortress secure by remembering to close and lock the door behind you. And don’t slam it either! Zombies hate that.

7) Don’t keep zombies in the basement. Even if they are your zombie family.

Devotion to family and friends is touching. However, you don’t want them to be touching you, after they’re dead. Do yourself a favor and make sure you put zombie friends and family down properly. Remember, there is no zombie cure, and keeping them around only prolongs their suffering and increases the risk for everyone. Besides, do you really want to get eaten by your buddies?

6) Don’t try to reunite with friends / family over long distances.

Seems like a great idea, doesn’t it? That’s what everyone thinks. Look, do the math. If you leave your house at noon, heading toward your mum’s, traveling 3 km per hour, and a crowd of zombies leaves the general vicinity of your mum’s at the same time, heading toward you at 1 km per hour, what time will you get eaten by zombies? Skip the math and consult rule #9.

5) Don’t go down. Zombies can go down too.

Zombies can’t climb. You can. In light of this, why would you ever choose to go down, rather than up? Stay out of basements, gullies, sewers, and anyplace else that zombies might unwittingly wander / fall into and be unable to get out of. Remember, it’s unlikely that a human would be in a sewer, but zombies don’t care a whit about the smell.

4) Don’t broadcast your presence. Zombies may be listening.

Zombies that still retain their ears have been statistically shown to have above-average recognition of baseline frequencies. If you absolutely must blast music while killing zombies, do it on your Ipod, and you might want to consider delaying that block party until after the zombie outbreak blows over. During a zombie outbreak, remember to turn your cell phone to vibrate – it’s only polite.

3) Don’t stand in front of the window. That’s just foolish.

You’d think this one didn’t require stating, but apparently it does. Windows are an aesthetic defense against the environment, not protection against zombies and the living dead. Once you find your fortress, barricade the windows as quickly as possible and stay the hell away from them. Whatever you do, don’t deliver speeches with your back to them.

2) Don’t get too creative with zombie defense.

Sure, chainsaw slits in your van seemed like a good idea at the time, before you filled your car with fumes and exhaust, passed out at the wheel and got yourself sawed in half. The temptation to get very creative with zombie dispatching can seem almost unbearable at times, but when it comes to killing zombies, that old adage applies: Keep it simple, stupid!

1) Don’t be “that one asshole,” in your group.

Textual analysis of zombie movies has proven that “that one asshole,” a character ubiquitous in zombie and survival horror movies, only stands a 4.32% chance of surviving until the end of the movie. Later studies have challenged that figure, citing several movies in which “that one asshole” was one-upped by “the other, bigger asshole,” who then assumed “that one asshole” status.  What do these figures mean? Being nice matters. To dramatically increase your chances of survival, make sure you always have “that one asshole” traveling in your party with you, otherwise you might end up playing the role of “that weak douchebag,” a similarly ill-fated character.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you believe you are already “that one asshole,” you should immediately leave your group. You might be able to pass as “that Kevin Costner anti-hero” if you’re traveling solo.