This Blog Has Been Interrupted for a Special Word from THE ZOMBIE QUEEN (Untold Tales Blog Tour Day 2)

Hey everyone!! The Bookish Brunette here instigating a hostile take-over politely guest-posting for Rhiannon Frater’s blog tour of AWESOME. I know right? Alright, so for those of you who DON’T know me- (WHERE have you been?! Living under a rock or something… *winks*) among other less than flattering names, I’m called the ‘Zombie Queen’. Why, you ask?? Well, for a little (okay… HUGE) event I host annually called Zombie Craze!

Now… during my very first year hosting Zombie Craze, I received an ARC of The First Days: As the World Dies Book 1 from a blogger friend who INSISTED I read it, because it was AMAZING. She was 100% correct! From the FIRST page of The First Days, I was completely infatuated… terrified … ADDICTED to the post- apocalyptic reality that Rhiannon Frater created within this series (I’m having a love affair with all her books really… she’s quite the genius. But we’re talking ZOMBIES ONLY right now!)

I implore you, as a reader/author/passer-by who really thought this was a porn website (you’d be surprised what is googled with Bookish Brunette) to pick up The First Days – READ the opening scene and try to put it down… No, it’s fine… I can wait, but come back and read the rest of this post when you’re done…*waits*…

Right? I told you!!! Rhiannon Frater created not only one of the best and horrifyingly REALISTIC apocalyptic realities, but with it ALSO some of the BEST characters I’ve ever come across in my long reading history! Her characters are diverse, and full of personality flaws- you know, like REAL people.

Jenni… My FAVORITE character in fictional history. She’s broken. She’s insane. She’s a BADASS. She’s a brunette (just sayin’). 

I'm broken, insane, a FREAKING BADASS and a Brunette. Now before anyone goes all half-cocked and crazy, I'm NOT one of those readers that has to 'switch places' with the main character. Sometimes I won't 'relate' in ANY way, shape or form to the main character of a book- but I’ll still love it. That being said (I just felt like I NEEDED to say it) Jenni SURVIVED to MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

“We all know Jenni is batshit crazy, but that’s okay. She’s good at killing the goddamn zombies.” ~Ed

Fact is, I could go on about Jenni for hours- but I need to talk about the other 83 amazing characters while I’m here…

Otis Calhoun… aka: Crazy Calhoun- HE. IS. A. FREAKING. RIOT. From the second he comes riding into the fort, every time he’s even MENTIONED I do a *giggle*snort*

“So even if they sit outside my house and snort up on coke so they don’t feel a damn thing, I will defend myself. A good knock to the head seems to do the trick. Now the aliens, well they don’t die so easily…” ~Crazy Calhoun

Lydia…Totally one of my favorite characters in the As The World Dies series… even though she is already dead at the beginning of the first book. *tears* Lydia is such a HUGE part of Katie’s memories, that I felt like I knew her as well as I did any of the ‘living’ characters. Her story is told in The Untold Tales Vol. 1. You’re going to cry.

Nerit… an ex-Israeli sharp shooter (BADASS) and her husband Ralph are both characters with such depth that I find myself at a loss to be able to accurately describe it.

Dale &  Rune… LOVE them! I won’t go into them much because they don’t show up until Siege! But, they are amazing characters with VERY important roles to play! Have I mentioned how EPIC, mind-blowing, HOLY CRAP AWESOME the final book in the series is?

Okay, so the As the World Dies trilogy and the Untold Tales all began as an online serial, most of you already know this (I’m talking to the *porn guy* who’s still here hoping to see a naked zombie chick) and when the books were put together for Tor, Rhiannon ended up cutting some of the more ‘minor’ characters and their stories out… And therefore The Untold Tales were born!!!

It’s in The Untold Tales we learn of Katerina’s tragic history, which I had ALWAYS been curious about because she’s so quiet and fierce… 


Where we witness Lydia, Katie’s wife, spend her last few moments on Earth alive… 


In Rhiannon Frater’s As The World Dies trilogy, and her Untold Tales… we get a front row seat to the end of the world.

You don’t want to miss it!

Uh..thanks...Ashley... for the return of my blog!!

Just a quick word about the Bookish Brunette...she's a zombie pimpin' queen!  Ashley contacted me after she read THE FIRST DAYS and raved about the book.  I sent her FIGHTING TO SURVIVE and she lost it completely over the series.  I know I have gained a lot of readers from her glowing reviews and Twitter pimpage.  She was also instrumental in pushing the books onto other bloggers who were a little nervous about reading about zombies.  I have appreciated her support since the first zombie craze and will be participating in the second one.

Make sure you hop on over to Ashley's blog today and read her review of UNTOLD TALES VOLUME 2!

Also make sure you enter the giveaway on this blog to win both Untold Tales books!

If you want to pre-order an autographed copy, click here.

Tomorrow the blog tour stops at Smash Attack Reads where I discuss world building...TEXAS STYLE!

And if you missed the first day of the tour, check out how the Untold Tales came into being over at buyzombie.com.