Wovel up. Is it a battle cry? A secret society password? a new rock group? No. It’s a new expression I see every Monday morning in my e-mail box. Wovel Up! It tells me that this week’s installment of the online web novel is posted.
I wrote briefly about the wovel earlier — shortly after the first installment went live. Now I’m back to tell you more about the story and the author.
This isn’t your ordinary zombie novel.
First off a brief recap. Underland Press publishes the weekly installments of Kealan Patrick Burke’s novel The Living on their new website. Each Monday we get a short installment (takes between 5-15 minutes depending on reading speed) which ends on a cliffhanger and a choice that the audience gets to make about what will happen next. In effect, Kealan writes the novel with audience participation. The voting goes on through Thursday. Then Kealan takes the result and writes the next segment which is posted Monday morning. Then I get an e-mail announcing “Wovel Up!”
Missed the first episodes? Get all caught up right here. Then continue on to the latest segment right here. When you read don’t forget to vote. And when you vote, don’t forget to sign up for the e-mail reminders so you don’t miss another installment.
So, what’s this story all about? Here is the official summary:
THE LIVING
A virus has wiped out three-quarters of the world’s population.
For Madison McKay, nothing is more important than escaping the city with the child she carries inside her. Her destination: Salus Island, the last remaining sanctuary for those of her kind.
But outside the walls of the farmhouse in which she is hiding with a ragtag group of allies, left behind during the exodus to Salus, a desperate enemy awaits — A horde of murderous, bloodthirsty animals known as Humans. They are the Uninfected, doomed to live life as it always was, as it used to be before the Great Plague, leaving them mere mortals, vulnerable to injury and sickness, and death. Their only hope for a future is to capture Madison, and the hybrid baby in her womb, so that they may discover the secret to everlasting life.
And nothing will stand in their way.
With the help of her fellow Reborn, Madison must escape the farmhouse and make it to the coast and sanctuary while battling impossible odds.
How will they make it out alive?
You Decide
This isn’t your ordinary zombie novel.
Kealan Patrick Burke was born in Dungarvan, Ireland and now makes his home in Columbus, Ohio with his family. Besides writing horror, he is an editor, a screenwriter and a photographer. You can find out more about him and his work on his website Kealan Patrick Burke.com, Kealan’s Blog — Something Stirs and Kealan’s MySpace.
(Crossposted in The Lair of the Undead Rat and OhioWriters.net.)
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