A Voice for Independent Authors

“You can kill a book quicker by your silence than by a bad review.”
― E.A. Bucchianeri

REVIEWING TODAY: RAVING BY GLYNIS HEATHCOTE

Raving, an apocalyptic novella by Glynis Heathcote, is a rather unique contribution to the massively popular genre of zombie-inspired fiction. Ms. Heathcote provides her cannibalistic creatures with the delightfully understated label: Unfortunates. Indeed. Told in an after-the-fact reportage style by a somewhat unlikely heroine of older years, Raving provides a personal but largely analytical and rather concise narrative version regarding the causes, effects, and consequences of what – quite cogently – is the popular but blindly accepted lifestyle of today, including our political, social, and dietary habits. All of these conspire to create both the Unfortunates in our midst, but also the insanity of violence erupting from the so-called Normals who share the vanquished landscape of a rapidly overturned society. The novella’s title is appropriate to both sets of actors in this story.

Because the narrative style of Raving, as mentioned, is somewhat like a memoir, a personal summary and record of events, the reader often wishes for more character development and revelation, as well as a more descriptive involvement in the various locales and happenings. On the other hand, some of the more grisly violence proves to be quite evocative, and the highly dramatic climax provides any avid zombie reader with quite enough blood and gore to satisfy their own particularly non-fastidious dietary habits. All in all, Raving is a worthy and unique contribution to the genre.