Two Guys Walk Into An Apocalypse 2: It Came From Birmingham

Title: Two Men Walk Into An Apocalypse: It Came From Birmingham
Author: V. L Locey
Cover artist: B. S. Clay
Publisher: Torquere Press
Amazon buy link: Buy Link Two Guys Walk Into An Apocalypse 2: It Came From Birmingham
Genre: Paranormal M/M
Length: Approximately 120 pages
Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars

Guest review by Orion

Review summary: A funny take on zombie apocalypses

Blurb: Two Guys Walk Into An Apocalypse Two: It Came from Birmingham continues the story of our two favorite apocalyptic survivors, Paul Cooke and Gordon Moretti, who we first met in the anthology He Loves Me For My Brainsss.  This time around our two guys have to deal with the undead, military and pharmaceutical companies who may not be what they appear, cranky cats, a loveable Tennyson aficionado, trying to survive in a world gone mad, stumbling across possible new friends, and perhaps the most terrifying thing of all – the what or who that came from Birmingham!

If you loved the humor, romance, and zombie uprising frivolity of Two Guys Walk Into An Apocalypse  you’ll want to make sure you grab your copy Two Guys Walk Into An Apocalypse Two: It Came From Birmingham as soon as humanly possible.

Review: Zombies are the new rage these days, having elbowed aside the love stricken vampires ushered in by the Twilight series and The Vampire Diaries. You can’t turn on the television, go to the movies, or open a book without coming face to dead face with some walking corpse ready to snack on fresh human brains. And now we have V. L. Locey’s latest take on this theme. As the blurb points out, the main characters in this novella were introduced in a previously published anthology.  If you haven’t read that anthology, fear not.  The author does a good job bringing the reader up to speed in the first few pages. I haven’t read the earlier story about Paul and Gordon, but I never felt lost or unclear on any of the goings on here.

As is typical with most zombie fiction, the hungry dead in this novella got that way from being bitten by a host infected with some horrible virus. The plague began with an experiment by Zendra Labs, whose scientists were trying to develop a mutant strain of rabies to use as a biological weapon.  Some of their lab rats escaped and bit people, who in turn bit other people, and the apocalypse is on.  The story is told from Paul’s point of view as he and his partner in life, Gordon, take to the road with their cat and an elderly neighbor.  Their goal is to reach the west coast, where they hope Zendra Labs has a cure for the plague stored away.

En route, they finally pick up a radio broadcast after several futile attempts, one that advises survivors of a safe area in North Platte, Nebraska.  The plague is transmitted via bodily fluids, and while Paul and Gordon have both been exposed, they have so far remained alive and human. Gordon suspects this has something to do with the fact that they are gay.  He convinces Paul to take a detour to North Platte, thinking they may find other, uninfected gay people there. They do find other gay people in North Platte, but they are being held captive by Zendra, which is apparently trying to isolate a protective antibody from them to use against the disease.  They manage to rescue one of the captives, Tink, a lesbian who suspects Paul is trying to molest her and threatens to shoot his nuts off.

With the new addition to their group, Paul and Gordon take refuge at some type of wilderness camp.  The camp is also refuge to one Rodney Rider, a dour fellow from Birmingham who killed his zombified stepson after the boy killed his own mother. Rodney is about as keen on gay people as he is on zombies.  Needless to say, he and Paul don’t exactly hit it off.

That’s enough of a setup to give you an idea of what you’ll be getting yourself into with this novella. There are plenty of battles with zombies, of course, presented in exciting and suspenseful fashion.  There is also a lot of humor here, and the great thing is that the author doesn’t take any of this stuff too seriously. But some of the characters come across a bit one dimensional.  And aside from the fact that the two main characters are gay, there’s nothing innovative in this zombie tale; the story follows through with the same mythology you see in just about every movie, book, and television series about zombies.  (Well, these zombies seem to prefer eating human intestines instead of brains.  I suppose that’s a bit of a departure.)

The lack of originality may not be a bad thing if all you’re looking for is a fun read, and that’s exactly what the author gives you. If you’re looking for romance, however, you won’t find much of it here.  With all of the fighting and desperate escapes, who has time to cuddle?  Paul and Gordon are like an old married couple, and I wish they had had more time alone with each other.  By the time the novella ends, more people have joined Paul’s and Gordon’s little band of survivors.  It is an open ending, leading into the next installment in this series, Two Guys Walk Into An Apocalypse Three: He’s a Lumberjack and He’s Undead.

I was entertained by this story, enough that I would love to read the sequel. It’s a standard zombie tale, but the breezy, tongue-in-cheek style of the writing gives it enough lift to make it fun reading.  (I think the cover’s great, by the way.  It catches the eye and draws you right into the story.)