First published back in May of 2016, Gary Slaymaker’s novella ‘Geraint Wyn: Zombie Killer’ formed the fifth instalment within the ‘Year Of The Zombie’ series which saw a zombie story published (in ebook format) each month of 2016 from a variety of different horror authors. All twelve stories were later collected together and published within the ‘Year Of The Zombie’ (2018) anthology (which was also published in paperback format).
DLS Synopsis:
DLS Review:
DLS Synopsis:
The day the dead came back to life – the 15th July 2026 – had later come to be named ‘Rotten Monday’. The day when everything changed and would never be the same again. Although, over the following years, life had started to return to something a tad closer to normal.
Geraint Wyn Thomas (known to his friends as Gez) had only recently turned seventeen, but he’d suffered enough loss following Rotten Monday to last a lifetime. He’d lost both his parents shortly after the dead became zombies and now the teenager lived with his Uncle Billy.
However, being under the not-so-watchful care of Billy Morgan wasn’t exactly a difficult life. He’d been given almost free rein and allowed to get away with pretty much anything. Which sometimes led to him making some pretty stupid life choices. Like going out with his friends at night without a weapon between them. In this day and age, with the potential of a zombie lurking within the shadows, that was an idiotic move by anyone’s standards!
Even though protective walls had been erected around the entirety of Cardiff City, the threat of the undead was never fully extinguished. The undead could claw their way out from the cemeteries, clamber over damaged walls, or just plain old stumble in threw gaps and cracks in the walls.
It would be fair to say that Gez and his friends – Neil and Beth – were getting increasingly frustrated with the situation. Cooped up in the confines of Cardiff, with little else to do. They were getting bored with life and Billy Morgan knew it. Which was why he planned to take them for a weekend away, zombie hunting in Lampeter.
A couple of days to get away from Cardiff, let off some steam, and kill some zombies. What could possibly go wrong?! Although as they would soon find out, it seemed many people had become as rotten as the monsters that walked among them…
Welsh radio and television presenter Gary Slaymaker offers up a humorous zombie comedy (or “ZomCom” if you will) that sits somewhere between ‘Shaun Of The Dead’ (2004) and something which could’ve been co-authored by Duncan Bradshaw and David Owain Hughes!
Unlike the other novellas within the ‘Year Of The Zombie’ series, this one’s of a decidedly different style. Rather than having a principal plot to follow, instead it’s a sort of comically rambling tale, following the character of Gez and his two close friends, as they embark upon an adventurous weekend away from the protected confines of Cardiff.
As such, what follows is a wacky, tongue-in-cheek comedy which includes zombie sheep rampaging through the fields, a rugby game where we see the Lampeter home team take on a squad of zombies, and a drunken old undead local frequenting the local pub. Yeah, it’s got it all in there, very much akin to a Duncan Bradshaw offering only with the Welshness of a David Owain Hughes story.
Although the comedy is colourful and almost slapstick in places, that’s not to say Slaymaker shies away from some dark slices of humour every now and again. Dead Jimmy Savile coming back to social media and having a resurgence of followers being a prime example. However, it’s all in moderately good taste and in-keeping with the wacky humour of the piece.
Slaymaker spends a good portion of the tale fleshing out the various characters and giving them backstories, traits and personalities of their own. This even goes for the secondary and lesser supporting characters, many of which are killed off within a matter of pages. In fact, we get to know the various characters more than we do any real plot – not a bad thing per se, but it does mean the novella feels a tad directionless.
There is something of a meagre plot woven into all this rotten fun and undead frolics. Essentially, a Simon Pegg style rural crime thriller twist that sees the hapless bunch in a decidedly sticky situation in the latter pages of the tale.
It’s all thoroughly entertaining, and there’s certainly plenty going on. My only gripe would be that the bones of the plot and main thrust of the story is almost tagged on at the end. Beforehand we have all this other stuff leading up to the main plot. A sort of scrapbook of a storyline, lacking much focus or direction. But, as I said, it’s still thoroughly entertaining!
The novella runs for a total of 65 pages.
© DLS Reviews
