Happy Halloween - Q&A with author Mary Hallberg with giveaway

Happy Halloween you guys, as you may have noticed if you follow my Instagram or the FB page you will know I love Halloween and have wee decs around the house. So I know I did a Q&A with Tracey Sinclair and a wee giveaway, I have another for you. The lovely Mary Hallberg has taken some time out from recovering, get well soon Mary, to answer some questions about her book.





Hello and welcome to So Many Books, So Little Time – thanks for taking the time out to stop by and answer some questions.








What is State of Emergency about, without spoilers obviously.

STATE OF EMERGENCY is about a girl named Dallas who loves zombie movies. One night while she’s backstage at a concert, she witnesses the beginning of a real zombie outbreak and knows she has to get to safety.


Is this your first book and if so what made you go Zombies?

It’s the first book I’ve ever published, but I think it’s the fourth or fifth I’ve actually written. Up until a few years ago, I never found zombies very scary. Then one night I had this nightmare about being trapped in a room with a zombie horde on the other side. So I thought it would be cool to write about a zombie outbreak, but do it a little differently. Most zombie novels and movies today just gloss over the beginning of the outbreak, then drop us into a character’s life twenty years later or something. But I think the beginning is the scariest part, when you’re watching everything around you go from normal and familiar to complete chaos.


What made you choose the location?

I grew up in south Mississippi, so I go to New Orleans a lot. It’s the perfect place to set a horror story because there’s so much supernatural lore attached to the city. And of course the mountains are a great place to hide from zombies because they’re hard to get around in, so I knew the characters would need to go to northern Alabama or Tennessee.


I felt the book could have been so much longer (always wanting more with zombies) what made you go novella?

It was initially a little longer, but I trimmed several major scenes because all the initial readers I had giving me feedback said they didn’t make sense. I have them available as deleted scenes for my newsletter subscribers.


Will there be a follow up book?

Possibly. I’ve got some ideas for where a sequel could go.


Do you have a favourite character and why?

I really like Pierce, just because he’s been through so much and I feel for him, but also because, even with everything he’s going through, he still cares immensely for Talia. He and Dallas clash a little bit at first because she sees him as this dude trying to take her baby sister away from her. But ultimately, they both have the same goal: To protect Talia.


Are you reading anything just now?

I just started FINAL GIRLS by Riley Sager. I really like it.


What is next for Mary?

I’ve got a short story coming out next month, maybe a couple more in 2018, and a novella in October 2018. I’ve got tons of stuff in the pipeline but no official release dates yet.


Where can fans find you?

My website is www.maryhallberg.com. I’ve got a contact page there with all my social media, as well as a newsletter people can sign up for if they want all the latest news on what I’m up to.


Anything else you would like to say?

I’ve got plenty of stuff to release, so if you enjoyed STATE OF EMERGENCY or just like horror in general, be sure to follow me for more. I hope people enjoy reading my work as much as I enjoyed writing it.


And if all that isn't enough, I am offering up my pre-loved copy of Mary's book (only the book in the photo I am afraid).





As always, enter using Rafflecopter. The more entries you complete the more chances you have, good luck guys.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

State Of Emergency by Mary Hallberg

State of Emergency by Mary Hallberg
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - < 1 day

Pages - 158

Publisher - Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Source - Author (review request)

Blurb from Goodreads

17-year-old Dallas Langdon is fighting off zombies with a pizza cutter.

Dallas has always loved zombie movies. But when she catches a real live (erm, dead) musician eating a man’s intestines backstage after the show, she knows her movies have become a reality. And what do characters in zombie movies do? Seek shelter. Fortunately, Dallas's eccentric uncle owns a farmhouse in Chattanooga, an eight hour drive from New Orleans. It’s on top of a steep mountain, surrounded by electric fences, and cut off from the worlds of the living and the dead.

Dallas’s parents, still safe at home, laugh at her idea over the phone. Her friends only agree to join her because it’s fall break and they could use a mini vacation anyway.

But then Dallas’s best friend is killed by a zombie horde when they’re attracted to her ringing cell phone. Civilians think their reanimated loved ones simply have the flu, leaving them alive (well, undead) and rapidly increasing the zombies ranks. And since minors can’t buy guns, Dallas’s only weapon is a giant industrial pizza cutter she swipes from a gas station. George A. Romero never mentioned anything like this. With one friend dead and no zombie survival guides to help her, Dallas and her friends must get to Chattanooga before joining the ranks of the undead themselves.


My Review

New Orleans is the place and Dallas is our main character, opening with her sister and small town sensation Tatum. Tatum is making it big as a singer, the press can't get enough of her and Dallas is pretty fed up. Going from teenage angst to the start of a zombie apocalypse we follow Dallas and her friends as they try to convince people it is happening to travelling to a place of safety.

I went back and forth on this being 3.5 to a 4 star rating, I went for 4 stars as we have the origins of the outbreak which is new for me. We follow the very beginning and slow spread of panic to the realization of what is upon them. The protagonist has a very different kind of weapon, a pizza cutter, just to be clear, I initially thought it was the wee circular one we use however it is the curved blade one, quite different!

It is a small read at only 158 pages and I felt we could have had much much more, I have messaged the author to see if there are any more coming in the series, I do hope so. The characters, there wasn't any I connected with, probably because they are teens although I liked the idea of the uncle and would love to hear his story.

The book covers many issues, teen angst, death, survival, relationships and a few darker themes as well as zombies. I can't give a warning to the darker topic without spoiling but anyone who likes or reads zombies novels has a general feel for what they cover. 4/5 for me this time, thanks to the author for introducing me to her work.

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Nekropolis by Tim Waggoner

Nekropolis by Tim Waggoner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 2 days

Pages - 401

Publisher - Angry Robot

Blurb from Goodreads

MATT RICHTER MAY BE DEAD, BUT HE'LL STILL CRACK THIS CASE.

Meet Matt Richter. Private Eye. Zombie. His mean streets are the city of the dead, the shadowy realm known as Nekropolis.

This place has always been ruled by the vampire overlords.
Now they're plotting to destroy the city.
... over his dead body.


More pulp than Pulp Fiction, more butt-kicking than Buffy, Nekropolis is the first in a deathly new series.


My Review

An alternate dimension ruled by vampire overlords in order to escape any punishment by humans. Ruled by vampires, inhabited by many mystical creatures, werewolves with a difference, vampires, hybrid creatures such as a piranha type dogs and many more. PI Matthew Richter used to be a cop back on earth, now he is a PI zombie, a zombie with free will and a conscience, an all round good guy. When a vampire Lord's daughter, Devona, hires him to reclaim a stolen powerful artifact the two come together and face many dangers. Devona can't tell her father, her blood brother may be involved, Mike is trying to keep his body from falling apart whilst keeping the foes from killing them before they can get the job done!

I didn't think I was going to like this story, I don't mind one or two creatures in my story but when there are so many different ones and you don't get a how they came to be that irritates me. Anyways, a whole new world for the unnaturals, Mike is a go to kind of guy who helps out everyone on Nekropolis and doesn't seem to have a bad bone in his undead body. Devona and him soon build up a mutual attraction whilst investigating who would want the Dawnstone and why. With much at risk, the investigation turns deadly and time is running out.

I liked we eventually get Mike's back story, I like his character he is such a nice guy and has made many friends in Nekropolis whereas normally with detectives they are a bit dodgy. Devona was a harder character to like, it was as if Waggoner couldn't make up his mind to make her a hardcore strong female character or a shrinking violet which she flipped between pending the situation. It was a good introduction to that world and the characters, I would definitely read more of this series, 3/5 for me this time.

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The Enemy by Charlie Higson

The Enemy by Charlie Higson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 2 days

pages - 407

Publisher - Puffin

Blurb from Goodreads

Charlie Higson's The Enemy is the first in a jaw-dropping zombie horror series for teens. Everyone over the age of fourteen has succumbed to a deadly zombie virus and now the kids must keep themselves alive.

When the sickness came, every parent, police officer, politician - every adult fell ill. The lucky ones died. The others are crazed, confused and hungry.

Only children under fourteen remain, and they're fighting to survive.

Now there are rumours of a safe place to hide. And so a gang of children begin their quest across London, where all through the city - down alleyways, in deserted houses, underground - the grown-ups lie in wait.

But can they make it there - alive?


My Review

A group of survivors, kids, all fighting to stay alive. A disease took over and destroyed life as we know it. The grown ups got sick, erupted boils, puss and became violent cannibals or died, everyone over fourteen years old. Now a stranger arrives, promising the kids a better way of life over in Buckingham palace, but what will they find there and will they survive the journey.

This is only the first book in a series so it is understandable there are a lot of questions left over. Why the age, why does it affect some animals, why are all adults not affected the same? There are a lot of characters, lots of death, violence & gore it is quite a dark tale, no one and nothing is safe. It reminded me of Lord Of The Flies a little bit and if I am honest it took me a bit to get into as the characters are all really young and some of them quite delinquent. However as the book goes on I started to get into it and appreciate the trials the youngsters face. The book is set across London & whilst I have visited there before I hadn't quite appreciated there is so much to see there, outwith an apocalyptic setting! It is nice to see a location through an authors eyes and tweaked to appreciate the characters storyline and the journey they take. 3/5 for me this time, I have the next two books in the series to read and look forward to where the story goes next.

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Review - The Return Man by V.M. Zito

The Return Man by V.M. Zito
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 3 days

Publisher - Hodder & Stoughton

Blurb from Goodreads

The outbreak tore the USA in two. The east remains a safe haven. The west has become a ravaged wilderness, known by survivors as the Evacuated States. It is here that Henry Marco makes his living. Hired by grieving relatives, he tracks down the dead and delivers peace.

Now Homeland Security wants Marco for a mission unlike any other. He must return to California, where the apocalypse began. Where a secret is hidden. And where his own tragic past waits to punish him again.

But in the wastelands of America, you never know who - or what - is watching you.



My Review

A zombie novel with a bit of a twist, this one is purely centered around America, the West is abandoned barring those reanimated with the virus. The East is a safe haven where the survivors are residing and living in safety. Henry Marco is in the West with the walking dead and making a living by bringing them peace after being hired by their family. His business partner is in the East and deals with the contracts, money and people whilst Henry does the dirty work. Henry has a personal agenda and is on the lookout for his wife whom he lost during the in initial outbreak, four years ago. As always there is corruption and Homeland Security makes Marco an offer he can't refuse, to go into the heart of the outbreak, risk life and limb to complete his mission.

There is a lot going on in this wee story, it starts off with Henry tracking a relative for someone on the other side and we get an introduction into what he does. Henry is haunted by the fact he finds others relatives but can't find his own wife, this is what keeps him in the West and in constant danger. He then meets up with Kheng Wu - Kenny, although Henry mostly calls him Wu, they make a great team although Wu is not all he seems although the reader knows all along his secret.

There is a lot of action and the zombie scenes kicked my heart rate up a bit just about every time. It has the zombie theme at the heart of the story but also love, devotion, friendship, trust, betrayal and corruption. I really enjoyed this and it was my first zombie read in a wee while. I have added the next in the series on to my wish list as although this was my first time with this author I did quite enjoy it and would like to read more about the characters in this story. 4/5 for me this time, I did like it, it has good pace however I am fussy with zombie stories and there was one or two wee things that didn't bring it right up to the five star mark.

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ARC - Zombie by J.R. Angelella

Zombie by J.R. Angelella
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Time Taken To Read - 6 *long* hours

Blurb From Goodreads

Fourteen-year-old Jeremy Barker is obsessed with zombie movies. He attends an all-boys Catholic High School where roving gangs in plaid make his days a living hell. His mother is an absentee pillhead, his older brother a self-diagnosed sex-addict, and his father an ex-Marine realtor who disappears night after night without explanation. Jeremy navigates it all with a code cobbled together from Night of the Living Dead, 28 Days Later, Planet Terror, Zombieland and Dawn of the Dead:

• Avoid Contact
• Keep Quiet
• Forget the Past
• Lock-and-load
• Fight to Survive

The code is put to the test when he discovers in his father’s closet a bizarre homemade video of a man strapped to a bed, being prepped for some sort of surgical procedure. As Jeremy—troubled but ever-optimistic—attempts to trace the origin of the video, this remarkable debut moves from its sharp, precocious beginnings to a climax of almost unthinkable violence, testing him to the core.


My Review

I clearly thought with the title this was about zombies, there are references to zombie survival rules that Jeremy uses to survive his existence with the bullies at school, the shambles of his family life and every other situation he encounters. His mother is a pill popper, his brother is a sex addict and his father he suspects of being involved in something dark and dangerous as he disappears every night.

Oh dear this book was a struggle for me. Not only was the format only available to read on the computer which in itself was a nightmare (I have emailed the publisher about this), just about every line had a swear word or something crude. I have no problem reading bad language but this was just overkill, swearing for the sake of swearing. It was constantly following Jeremys life at school and the bullying and interaction with the other kids so teenage boys can and do swear but this was all the time.

Once you wade through all the bad language it is a tale of teenage angst, following a young boy through the trials and issues most teenage boys have likely experienced. The only thing I didn't mind was his zombie fixation and the snippets of tales about his favourite zombie movies. Maybe this will be a hit with teen boys as they might feel they can relate to the main character but I can't honestly say of all the readers I know (and thats a lot!) none of them would enjoy or relate to this. Had it not been a review book I would have given up a chapter or two in, 1/5 for me. Thanks to NetGalley and Soho Press for providing me with a review copy, release date 5th of June 2012, published by Soho Press.

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