Hello my name is Pochassic and I write stories. Today I am going to try something that could go horribly awry, I am going to review my own work.
Why would I try something that seems so shallow and pretentious as reviewing my own work? Well the complete and utter truth is I was really high one day when I read a tweet from horror-writers.com asking if any author was interested in reviewing their own stuff, so I volunteered.
Flesh Without Soul is a story you will love or you will hate. As I am the author you would think I am going to tell you it’s the greatest book ever, but self aggrandizing doesn’t help me as an author, or as a human, get better and it brings little to the table for you deciding on whether to pony up your hard earned cash for this book. Instead I will be as honest and impartial as anyone is when staring into a mirror.
Flesh Without Soul the debut novel from Pochassic is a new take on zombies that long time fans of the genre will either find blasphemous ( the story contains both fast and slow zombies) or refreshing in its originality.
The story revolves around the Kerr family ,sisters Kara and Jane are the heroes and their brother Michael and his girlfriend Shelbi are the villains.
Michael ,a bioengineering genius and leader of a cult ,decides to save the world by unleashing a zombie virus, which will take out his enemies while sparing him and his followers. His sister Kara the main protagonist is put in a position to stop him. Problem is she doesn’t believe his apocalypse is real. Lt Commander Jane Kerr their sister knows all too well how real the undead are as she battles them from Japan to New England
The book is divided into three sections
The first details how the zombie virus was made, why it was unleashed, and how to stop it. The pacing is fast, but I would like to re-edit some scenes in this part of the book, but hey I’m no George Lucas ,once art is released its not mine to keep messing with it. So for better or worse it belongs to the world now.
What I found very disturbing about my work was how right I was about the media. In the book the villains are frustrated by how inaccurate TV news reports the events unfolding. Cities are burning people are being eaten by zombies and cable news barely mentions riots in Tokyo. Much like today when some cable stations won’t show protests or others will show only protests the truth starts to feel “slippery” .
The second part of the book is the all out total zombie war. From machine guns to fighter jets to axes and hammers this is the war I always wanted to see. So I wrote it. The military in this book always acts 100% honorable and patriotic. This is how every one of my friends who has ever served would act, heroically. In fact the good guys and the bad guys are 100% clear throughout the book there is no ambiguity about who to root for
The third part of the book has a time skip in it and basically upends everything you thought you knew about the story. This is my favorite part of the book because if I did it right it makes re-reading the book scarier and really tragic.
On a scale of one to ten, I would give it a ten, but I am biased. So here is my totally unbiased/biased opinion of the work
Good debut work. A ten for originality. Mostly a well paced fast read but does drag a little at the beginning inside the Tokyo airport. Other than that if you want a book that has really kick-ass women taking out zombies , an insanely evil villain with a plan that is scientifically feasible, and a new type of brutal and vicious undead
Then it’s worth risking a couple of bucks for the kindle.
Plus I am behind on my rent so I could use the cash
Find Pochassic on twitter here