gives sublime prose and a general absence of plot. gives us workman-like prose and a compelling plot, Logan D. Half-Sick of Shadows is a very different beast. Frenchmen seemingly drawn from Monty Python sketches shepherd us toward a weak conclusion, saved to some degree by the very last chapter. It’s a light and very entertaining read, failing only at the last hurdle when it seems to lose internal consistency and fall into a cartoonish finale.
Without the humour this could be a decent horror novel (providing you could take the zombie squirrels seriously). Fortunately, Michael Logan (a journalist by trade) has done a solid job of writing and an excellent job of being funny. You have to make characters readers will care about, characters that live and grow. One-liners are good, but you can’t build a novel from them. First, you have to write well, then you have to be funny.
Zombie (well, infected) animals of all shapes and sizes attempt to first have sex with, and then devour, our heroes. The disparate gang of survivors in this case battling to survive the predations of zombie herds rather than zombie hordes. We’re served an homage to zombie apocalypse movies. He includes witty lines and observations Pratchettesque in their pointiness. In Apocalypse Cow Michael Logan gives us a fast-paced dark comedy stuffed with violence, sprinkled with sex, not unreminiscent of Tom Sharpe’s work. The competition’s requirements boil down to alternative, imaginative, weird – which is a broad remit. The winning novels, Apocalypse Cow and Half-Sick of Shadows are more different than chalk and cheese, which at least are both high in calcium. More than 500 manuscripts came chasing the £20,000 prize for previously unpublished novelists, and ultimately it was split between two winners, Michael Logan and David Logan (no relation). Last year saw the launch of the Terry Pratchett Anywhere But Here, Anywhen But Now First Novel Award. Standing in the way are rampaging hordes of animals, a ruthless security agent and an army ready to shoot anybody with a case of the sniffles on the off-chance the virus has mutated. During her bumbling quest to unveil the truth, she crosses paths with Terry and Geldof, and together they set out to escape a quarantined Britain with the evidence and vital data that could unlock a cure for the virus. When Britain begins a rapid descent into chaos and ministers cynically attempt to blame al-Qaeda, Lesley stumbles upon proof that the government is behind the outbreak.
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Abattoir worker Terry Borders' love life is crippled by the stench of death that clings to his skin from his days spent slaughtering cows teenage vegan Geldof 'Scabby' Peters alternates between scratching furiously at his rash and baiting his overbearing New Age mother and inept journalist Lesley McBrien struggles forlornly in the shadow of her famous war correspondent father and the star journalist at the "Glasgow Tribune". Great stuff for horror and fantasy fans.When scientists with warped imaginations accidentally unleash an experimental bioweapon that transforms Britain's animals into sneezing, bloodthirsty zombies with a penchant for pre-dinner sex with their victims, three misfits become the unlikely hope for salvation. “This clever and very funny twist on the traditional zombie novel is exceedingly well executed (it approaches but never quite steps into parody territory), and it ends with a scene that pretty much demands a sequel. Perhaps something equally horrifying (and hilarious) for the vegetarian set.” - Rue Morgue “ Apocalypse Cow is a promising first novel, with a challenging premise that will be hard to top, so it'll be interesting to see what he has lined up next. An impressive start for an author who's going places.” - Publishers Weekly on Apocalypse Cow “Logan has a flair for unique description ("a muscled chest that made Arnold Schwarzenegger's pecs look like burst balloons") and for painting a mental picture almost photographic in its clarity.
“ Apocalypse Cow made me snort with laughter.” - Terry Pratchett, author of the award-winning and bestselling Discworld novels Give it a go.” - Christopher Moore, author of Lamb, Fool, and A Dirty Job “ Apocalypse Cow treads that rare path between horrific and hilarious, which makes for a very fun read indeed.
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