The great thing about the combination of eBooks and Podcasting is the fact that we as a podcast listening community are exposed to talented writers who would otherwise go unnoticed by classic, money grabbing publishing agents. Through the art of “storytelling” great writers like Scott Sigler and JC Hutchins have gathered traction and readers before a single page was ever printed with their great works like 7th Son and Earthcore.
The trinity of great indie writers who have followed this path has been completed with the addition of author Jake Bible and his Dead Mech trilogy. Initially published as an audio podcast series, Dead mech deals with a post apocalyptic world populated by brave solders in walking super tanks called “Mechs”, hords of undead zombies and religious zealots in fast moving ground vehicles. Dead Mech was a blast to listen to, Jakes ability to paint a world that can only be described as a mix between the reboot of Battlestar Galactica, Waking Dead and Mad Max , puts you right into the action. With the completion of the Dead Mech novel, Jake has brought us 2 more books in the series : The “Aphex” trilogy tells you the rise and fall of a highly technological world into post nuclear (and eugenic) apocalypse and how humankind tries to stay alive. Jakes writing is invigorating, graphic, and touches the “no holds barred” style of writing this kind of story requires. Let us unleash upon you one of our very own zombies who we have genetically engineered to read the final book in the series. (I am still soaked with blood and soot from reading the first two) : Zombie Lord Drachenblut.
Metal and Ash is the sequel to Dead Mech and The Americans. How is it that Metal and Ash is a sequel to 2 books at one time? Very simple Dead Mech and The Americans were not sequels but as the author Jake Bible says they were sidequels. Both of these stories happened simultaneously in the timeline of the Apex Trilogy.
In this final installment of the Apex Trilogy The Americans and their isolated kin of the wasteland come face to face. This is not a time for happy family reunion 400 years overdue. The American forces of Europe having nearly been wiped out of existence are being chased across the Pacific ocean pursued by the power hungry forces of The Three in hopes of rendezvousing with their compatriots of The Wasteland. As the battle for the fate of The Americans, the Mech Pilots, and the entire wasteland, comes to its final hours twists lay at every turn. New alliances are forged, old family ties are renewed, and questions are answered but more are left unanswered as the body count grows. People we have become attached to are detached from their limbs and used as snacks for the living dead or causalities of the game of power put into motion by the forces of The Three.
Metal and Ash is a blood fueled and flesh feed conclusion to the Apex Trilogy but it is far from the end of what we will see of The Wasteland and its inhabitants or the world that has been revealed to the Mech pilots. This book grabs you by the entrails and drags you through this post apocalyptic landscape of tech and the living dead.
Copies signed in blood from The Americans, Dead Mech and Metal and Ash are available for purchase here.
For the illiterate ones among you : You might be interested in the audiobook version of Dead Mech. After listening to it you might feel inclined to learn how to read , just to finish the two other books in the Aphex trilogy. The great thing about these books is that you do not need to fear the zombies : The obviously are craving human brains .. and that makes you perfectly safe.