RayzorWire - The Julie Rayzor Zombie Was sequel is out in Time for Halloween!!!

The first review for the zombie sequel!!! five stars! Warning : spoilers! RayzorWire: Julie Rayzor Zombie War Book Two (Julie Rayzor Zombie War Series) (Volume 2) 

This well written book is packed with action, adventure, Zombies, and more. I never read a Zombie novel before, so I learned a lot about Zombies. I didn't know there were also Zombie horses! Being a former military wife, I could relate to the parts of the book that talked about Humvees, helicopters, and MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat). This book includes some steamy romantic scenes including two jealous women smitten with the same man. One of the women settles for another man who ends up being killed in a Zombie battle. The author is very talented at using words to describe the scenes and painting a picture for the reader. An example is one of the most gruesome scenes with dead, decaying bodies left in cars. After being attacked by Zombies and losing several of their people, there was an upbeat moment in the story when the twins were born. The happiness was short-lived, however, after one of the twins and the mother died. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves action, adventure, drama, romance, and Zombies! Www.tinyurl.com/rayzorwire1

RayzorWire - Julie Rayzor Sequel - Zombie War Series Book 2

I have people asking when the Julie Rayzor Zombie War Sequel will be out. I am glad to say that it will be out by August 2013. For more updates on my and my books, please look for me on Facebook where I am more active on a daily basis. I don't get around to this blog very often! Cheers and thank you
Richard

Midwest Book Review featured the Julie Rayzor zombie novel!

I'm thrilled!  On top of the great Amazon review yesterday, The Midwest Book Review just sent me a letter state that The october 2012 edition of their magazine Children's Bookwatch features "Julie Rayzor" zombie novel.

The review states: "When times are tough, everyone must fight in their own way. 'Julie Rayzor: Romance, Adventure, Zombies' is a thriller of a dangerous future world where Julie Rayzor, a seventeen year old trying to survive in thise conflict, embarks on a rescue mission that falls apart and leaves her in more danger than ever. A riveting tale of adventure with plenty of coming of age elements, 'Julie Rayzor' is a fine pick for teenaged readers and above, recommended."

Thank you to James A. Cox Editor in chief and Diane C. Donovan, Editor and the rest of The Midwest Book Review for this amazing feature! http://www.midwestbookreview.com/cbw/oct_12.htm

Readings from Julie Rayzor ~ Romance, Adventure, Zombies

Chapter Readings from my zombie book: Now on youtube as well as Vimeo. If you like Julie Rayzor and want to hear the zombie war novel because you don't have time to read it yourself, now you can...

click here for chapter 1

chapter 2 is here:  http://tinyurl.com/9b6oree

The readings are back up!

Sequel to Julie Rayzor Zombie Novel: Rayzor-Wire

Okay guys - You got me to do it! I'm writing a sequel - It is tentatively called Rayzor-Wire. Here's a little excerpt that I wrote just tonight on my blog at RichardHowesBooks. If you like this you might like the first book "Julie Rayzor ~ Romance, Adventure, Zombies".

Need a Young Adult Zombie Thriller Novel starring a teenage girl with lots of Zombies Zombies Zombies?
Read Julie Rayzor ~ Romance, Adventure, Zombies
by Richard Howes

On Amazon Kindle or paperback here:
http://tinyurl.com/cgmu3p5

Excerpt from the sequel to the first zombie thriller - now in writing: Rayzor Wire

Okay guys - You got me to do it! I'm writing a sequel - It is tentatively called Rayzor-Wire. Here's a little excerpt that I wrote just tonight on my blog at RichardHowesBooks. If you like this you might like the first book "Julie Rayzor ~ Romance, Adventure, Zombies".

Lopez and I lay in the queen-size bedroom on the third floor. It was long past dark and the city was quiet. With the doors locked and windows covered, no flashlights in use, the house would appear as empty as the night before. We could sleep soundly with no chance of being discovered by Scabs, Leaders, or zombies.

Lopez put his arm around me and I rested my head on his shoulder. We were both fully dressed for the house was very cold and we didn’t dare build a fire in the small fireplace in the corner, even for the slightest bit of warmth. I wore gloves and had wrapped my scarf around my neck and shoulders. My winter camo jacket covering everything.

I listened to Lopez breathing. The sound was comforting, like puppies nestling together to keep warm. His breath landed on my cheek but instead of chilling me it made my blood warm.

Mutted conversation came from the next room, were Jim and Jill laid down together.
Faintly, coming through the walls, Jill’s voice said, “Not tonight.”
Jim replied in his heavier, throatier voice, “It will keep us warm.”

They fell silent and moments later the muffled sounds of movement came. Jill giggled and Jim laughed. The rhythmic squeak of bed-springs rose. It was slow and steadily speeding up, faster and louder. I turned my head to Lopez and blocked one ear by pressing it to his shoulder. My finger found my other ear to stop the noise. My face flushed with embarassment.

I recalled my one night with Jim so very long ago in the abandoned hospital bedroom. Our bed was of sheets and our light was from candles. That was my first time and it was wonderful. It was also my only time. Lopez and I had not 'done it' yet and I knew that he wanted to. He had mentioned it and I always put it off. I wanted it to be special and I waited for the right time and place.

Lopez... Gary, the name I didn’t prefer, kissed me on the top of my head. He turned slightly and I raised my head to look him in the eyes. Faint moonlight came through moth eaten holes in the drapes. He was a silhouette of shadow on darkness. There was not enough light for me to see his face and I wondered what his eyes would say if I could see them.

I knew without us having to speak. I nodded and pushed back the covers. He kissed my neck as he unzipped my coat. We struggled with our clothing and couldn’t help but giggle at our efforts. Eventually our clothes were cast to the corners of the room and we lay naked and cold under scant blankets and sheets with only each other’s body to keep us warm.

His lips found the nape of my neck and I kissed the top of his head. He slowly kissed along my jaw and turned his head to kiss me sideways. When our lips parted he hovered over me and I reached up to pecked him on the cheek, nose, and lips once more in an ecstasy of love. Our bodies warmed the air around us like an aura. He held my hands to his own chest and whispered, “I love you.”

I didn’t repeat the words for I wasn’t ready to hear or say that but I knew he felt love in his heart, and I loved him too, even as we had never fully said it or expressed it to each other. I somehow couldn’t do it. Beyond little actions and heartfelt gifts we often talked of big things, dreams, plans, the future and we just as often argued over little unimportant things.

This night was my gift to him and to myself. We did love each other and I pushed him away and sat up, rolling on top of him. He chuckled as I attempted to pin him to the bed. He let me hold him down and I kissed him on the lips, the moisture in the air from our breath mingling and becoming one in the moon beams, only to disappear into darkness.

I kissed down his chest and across his stomach, letting my hair drag across his skin. I felt his tight abdominal muscles quivering in anticipation. He was strong and brave. I loved this man more than I had ever realized. All our arguments and adventures together had brought us closer. When I had pushed him away in disgust or anger or frustration, instead of driving him away, it only made me want him more. When he sat outside my quarantine hospital bedroom for two weeks I despised each moment he was there and missed his company when he was gone.

I hated that Lopez had been Jill’s boyfriend at that time. I hated that Jim abandoned me, not for lack of love, but due to his own fears that I was infected with the zombie-flu and that he might become infected. Jim fled to Jill and she greeted him openly for Lopez had abandoned her as well - something that had been long in arriving.

Perhaps all along Lopez had known affection for me and that he hid it behind immaturity and vulgarities, but when I needed him, even when I didn’t know I needed him, he was there for me, to talk to me about nothing and annoy me in small and large ways. Even when I told him to leave me alone he would grow quiet and I wondered if he had actually left that hospital door. When I peeked out the little window he smiled cruelly at his joke. Maybe he knew that I cared for him and he had played with my feelings. Maybe he didn’t. It drove me to anger then. And those memories drove me mad with desire and I pressed him down and forced myself upon him like willing victim he was.

My hands on his chest and his hands on mine we rocked together as we moved in sync and the bed springs squealed as if in echo of the sounds from the next room over, but we didn’t care.

Both of us exhausted and sore from the long hike we had made that afternoon, and our more recent exertions, we lay together, protective arms holding each other. We were safe. We were warm in that cold third floor bedroom of the abandon house.

Johnson was surely sleeping - his turn on watch having ended. Wilcox and Escobar were probably in the living room telling bad jokes and drinking whatever liquor they might have found in some hidden cupboard.

We slept. For some short period we rested, cold air on our skin and warmth in our hearts.
The sound of gunfire echoed in my dreams and I awoke with a start. It was not a dream.
Leaping from the bed I grabbed my flashlight and dressed. Lopez awoke.

“Turn that light out,” he demanded.

“That was gunfire.”

“What?”

Another burst of machine gun fire echoed through the house. Footsteps ran up the stairs. Yelling filled the air between Claymore mine explosions.

SEO: Zombie War, Zombie Apocalypse, Zombie Attack, Zombie Survival, Zombie Plan.

My book is at #4 on Amazon's Kindle Best Seller List: Julie Rayzor ~ Romance, Adventure, Zombies

A quick note: Julie Rayzor ~ Romance, Adventure, Zombies rose to Amazon's #4 spot on Amazon's Best Seller Lists for Kindle in the "War" category books and #21 in the "Horror" category!!!

And to think that less than a year ago, (when I started writing this book,) I was unemployed and struggling to pay the bills - living off what little savings I had when I was denied unemployment (after twenty years of paying into the system). It is a wonderful reward to see that people like my work!

A special "Thank You" to Holly Lisle and her recommendations on how to market on Kindle!

Cheers!

Richard Howes

Press Release: Julie Rayzor ~ Romance, Adventure, Zombies

For Immediate Release 

Richard Howes

Contact through this blog.

PRESS RELEASE

Young-adult zombie novel, Julie Rayzor ~ Romance, Adventure, Zombies, features 17 year-old Julie caught between a world of zombies and a life of drama. Julie has to grow up fast and sacrifice her own desires for the good of everyone around her. When she learns of a plan to rescue her missing-in-action boyfriend, she uncovers a dark secret - a secret that she must keep hidden deep inside until she can complete the most dangerous task of her life.

Available on Kindle and Paperback from Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/cgmu3p5

Reviewers say:

“Julie Rayzor is a woman for her times. She is secretly in love with Corporal Jim Barnett, who is out on a mission and missing. With a broken leg, she volunteers to go outside the walls of Fort Tulsa at the start of this crisply-written, dialogue-rich novel... Successfully blends sci-fi, a love story, and a war story, and it works on all three levels.” - Professional screenwriter John Hill - Quigley Down Under, Close Encounters of the Third Kind (uncredited).

“I was very surprised by Julie's secret... related to times past & explained how and why things had changed... Action, emotion and well-planned events within the story. Two thumbs up from me!” - Jes Piddlin writer and author.

New, up-and-coming author, Richard Howes, with LRCK Publishing, is releasing Julie Rayzor ~ Romance, Adventure, Zombies, on August 1st, 2012. Richard Howes is a struggling writer who lost his job due to the economic down-turn soon after his wife lost her job for the same reason. Out of work and deep in mortgage-debt in Las Vegas, Nevada, they relocated to the green country of Tulsa, Oklahoma for new opportunities. As a new comer to Oklahoma, Richard wanted to write a fiction novel featuring his new home. 

Combined with the popular zombie theme, Julie Rayzor is the result of that effort. His idea was so strong that he wrote 40 pages in three days and completed the first draft in five weeks. Another year of polishing the work resulted in romance, action, drama, and adventure.

L.R.C.K. has produced and released video trailers viewable on YouTube. Julie Rayzor ~ Romance, Adventure, Zombies is offered in paperback and Kindle eBook, as well as other electronic book formats to follow. 

Excerpts from the work, as well as book signings and book fair schedules can be found on Richard's blog at www.RichardHowesBooks.com or his Facebook page.

ISBN-13: 978-0-9849969-0-2 

For a review copy, to place orders, arrange interviews or book signings, etc, please call or email

: L.R.C.K. Publishing 918-224-6474 office 

Kristie Medlen PR: 

Book Review of JULIE RAYZOR, Romance, Adventure, Zombies by author Richard Howes

Book Review of JULIE RAYZOR, Romance, Adventure, Zombies by author Richard Howes

 

    Richard Howes's new novel, JULIE RAYZOR, Romance, Adventure, Zombies boldly hurls us into a post-apocalyptic world of human civilian soldiers against two different types of zombies.    One type is the classic stumbling but lethal, mindless zombie, wanting only to kill and eat any humans, and traveling in packs that usually comes to mind.   But the other type is Howes's own creative new take on zombies:  that some zombies are intelligent and called Leaders.   (Now there’s a scary thought for his heroine, Julie Rayzor, and the readers of this fresh, fast-paced action novel:  a zombie who can think and plan and lead!)    And Leaders are often one step ahead of the struggling, armed humans, who can never know when they are playing catch-up with intelligent focused zombies, as well as the biting, human-eating zombies.

    Julie Rayzor is a self-taught warrior, in an Army fort in Tulsa, Oklahoma, an oasis of almost-safety, in a world overrun by zombies.   She is secretly in love with Corporal Jim Barnett (who is out on a mission and missing at the start of the story, which worries her very much) and Julie is the one who discovers that clever Leader-zombies found out how to infect dogs and they attack the base immediately at the start of this crisply-written, dialogue-rich novel.    Having to kill man’s best friend due to the zombie virus infection immediately sets the tone.    Julie Rayzor is a woman for her times;  she has a broken leg, not yet healed, but volunteers to go outside the walls on the next mission, but her leg in a cast stops all this.  So right in front of the captain, she smashes the cast off her own leg, and pronounces herself ready for duty.   So she leads a group out to a radio station, into enemy territory (along with best friend Jill, and a few macho soldiers who don’t like taking orders from a woman).   They fight their way up the tall office building stairs, leaving Claymore mines behind for the zombies that come after them, and the explosions below become almost routine.   Things go from bad to worse in the ensuing battles, and the speed of Howes's narration is almost as fast as this summary.    Julie’s real hope is to find and save her secret lover, Jim Barnett, who is out there somewhere.

    Richard Howes's writing style is very impressive.   He is writing in a style usually found in male adventure, yet his heroine is a woman in love, but he also successfully pulls off the balancing act between realistic feminine energy and highly effective tough combat energy as well.   There’s a great deal of dialogue in this entertaining novel, and it’s the Elmore Leonard type:   short, character-revealing, and advancing the story conflict.   And conflict is everywhere.    This is a war novel in many ways, a war between humans working together in a combat unit, with zombies everywhere, so it’s a sci-fi zombie adventure, and also a love story.

    The impressive thing about Richard Howes's JULIE RAYZOR, Romance, Adventure, Zombies is that the author successfully blends all three genres:   sci-fi, a love story, and a war story, and it works on all three levels.   Additionally, the fast-paced (and violent - ever try to kill a zombie?) action works very well for male readers, yet the choice of gender of the protagonist and her secret love story quest will make this novel a successful read for women as well.

    Reviewers of books fall into two categories:  those who blithely give away important plot points and reveal secrets that should instead unfold in the contexts of reading the story, and those who review the book without giving anything away, yet providing some facts about what the reader can expect.   I personally am in that second group;  I will not give away any reveals or secrets or solutions to plot problems within this novel.   (I won’t tell you about the train scenes, wow, you’ll have to discover thoset yourself.)  I will say that she finds Jim, so the love story kicks in like an afterburner, but it all happens in a fast-paced, frightening world of a small Army patrol taking casualties, constantly having to run-shoot-hide, and improvise, since they are lost behind the scariest of all possible enemy lines.   They are fighting and trying to kill the already dead - and they are running out of ammo.

    Imagine the movie PLATOON or whatever the best military-platoon-o-patrol book or movie you ever read (or experienced yourself) and transplant that constant tension, surprises, and body count into a world of zombies, and you’ll have some idea of what kind of novel JULIE RAYZOR, Romance, Adventure, Zombies turns out to be.   It really is a great blend of romance, adventure, and zombies, (but not for the squeamish - there’s blood and body parts aplenty!)    Julie Rayzor on military patrol in this scary world is a total page-turner, one with fast-paced, realistic dialogue as well -- and just when you start to relax along with these warriors, zombies come around the corner and through the windows!

    And if that isn’t enough excitement for you... This is a novel that should be a movie and the first of a series of novels too.  When you finish reading it, you want more, and that is one big characteristic of a really fun novel to enjoy.

    -- John Hill, screenwriter, QUIGLEY DOWN UNDER, and Writing Instructor at the University Of Nevada in Las Vegas.

I just found out that there is a zombie walk Friday night starting at the Cains Ballroom in the Arts District of Tulsa. I'm going to see if I can get video footage for the Julie Rayzor Book Video Trailer. It would be very cool to come out with an extended version of the trailer a couple days before the book release! If you're interested in the Zombie Walk the info is here: https://www.facebook.com/events/296716630421953/

Excerpts from Julie Rayor - Romance, Adventure, Zombies

Here's a couple little excerpts from the book: Julie Rayzor - Romance, Adventure, Zombies. I hope you enjoy this work. It was fun writing it. Look for it soon in ebook and paperback.
*****************************************************************

I killed a puppy - murdered it, actually. I shot it right between the eyes with a gun and didn’t feel even a little remorseful. It didn’t bother me. In fact, at the moment of pulling the trigger, it was the right thing to do.

Awaking to tears on my cheeks, I couldn’t remember when I last cried. It must have been a year before or even longer, when little Julie Rayzor was just an innocent pup herself. Sleep escaped me the rest of that night. I dried my tears and slowed my breathing to avoid waking anyone else up. To pass the time I listened to the sounds of the military hospital compound that we called ‘Fort Tulsa’. Through the barricaded windows set high-up in the warehouse I saw the September sky as the false dawn forewarned of the coming morning. I thought that the night patrols should be back soon[t1] , and maybe Jim Barnett would return from his mission. It had been three days with no word.

*************************************************************

We moved into the street - which street we were on, I did not know. We were lost in the dark. The moon was the only landmark and near its peak, it told me only which way was north. Escobar helped Conners walk, Wilcox taking up the rear guard, while Jill, Lopez, and I watched for Zombs as we moved from car to car checking for keys in the ignitions.

Jill found one in the middle of the street. When she turned the key, the solenoid clicked.

“It has gasoline. It just won’t start,” she said.

“The solenoid or...” Escobar said.

“The battery is dead.” Wilcox finished his thought.

Lopez found another car and the engine turned over but it wouldn’t start.

“No gas,” he said as he looked at the gauge.

“What if we put this battery into that car?” I asked.

“Good idea. No time. No tools.”

We moved down the street.

Zombs followed us. On rooftops and through windows and doorways I saw movement. They would appear and then disappear before I could shoot. From some hidden place, Leaders were tracking us. They kept their zombie slaves just out of range. When one of us took aim, the Zombs all moved as if given a standing order, ‘move now, any direction.’ When out of our sight, they seemed to stop. Total silence filled the space between their shuffling feet and raspy wails.

The night became like a choreographed dance. It was Thriller sans the Eighties clothing and bad makeup, but much deadlier. This was nothing like shooting fish-in-a-barrel. Every time I got close enough to draw a bead on one, it would move from the window or down the alleyway.

Sometimes Jill or one of the men fired. I thought it a waste of ammo, until Wilcox laughed, “I got one.”

This shooting gallery was distracting us from finding a car, but still I wondered why they didn’t attack us with full force as they had in the tower.

“Back to work,” I hollered. “We need a car.”

Lopez tried a white pickup truck, a Toyota. It had keys and  started with a strain and a grudge.

“Half a tank of gasoline,” he said with a whoop.

Escobar and Conners had fallen back, slowed by the wounds in Conners’s leg.

“Help Conners,” I said to Jill.

She ran back down the street to cover the two men and let loose a blast that stopped a solitary Zomb running toward them.

I scanned right, left, and behind. Wilcox ran back to Conners, having passed him in the excitement. He threw his M4 over one shoulder and bent to lift Conners over his other shoulder. We all moved toward the pickup truck.

The Zombs came at last. They seemed to have received a command to attack as if the Leaders anticipated our escape.

“Into the back,” Lopez yelled to Wilcox. “No time.”

Wilcox dumped Conners over the tailgate and jumped in. Conners groaned at the impact, but we would be safely away in seconds.

Jill jumped into the front with Lopez while the rest of us piled into the tiny bed of the Toyota. Lopez stepped on the gas and ran down a zombie blocking the road. It bounced off the hood with the crunch of bones.

I watched it in the moonlight struggling to try to get back up onto its broken legs. It was a woman, maybe someone’s mother. Was. For the first time in my life, I felt no pity. As we drove away, I noticed something odd about the way she lay on the ground. She looked... pregnant.