the Greater Nomadic Council

Day by Day Armageddon

Something truly great is being created here. Ignore the amateurish Soldier of Fortune imagery, jump right to the first entry, and prepare to be sucked in. The premise is simple, and classic – in a time and place much like our own, a strange disease emerges out of China, then within a matter of days a plague sweeps the face of the globe, killing the vast majority of the population. But unfortunately for the survivors, the plague’s victims don’t stay dead for long – and when they rise up, they are motivated only by their hunger for living flesh.

That’s right, it’s a zombie story. But it’s written as a blog, with the main character sitting down every once in a while to give an update on his struggle to survive. More importantly still, Raptorman is a truly brilliant writer, and plays it entirely straight – the desolation, loneliness, and existential dread that he conjures up are palpable, and the experience is greatly enhanced by the blog format.

Sometimes the entries are the brief, clipped sentences of a man who just wants to get the facts down, while those written during more peaceful moments in the narrative are allowed to stretch out. The two main characters are richly sketched, coming across as entirely real as they cope with the magnitude of their situation. Raptor is also clearly ex- or current military, and his considerable knowledge of the details of survival tactics, from guns to generators to combat techniques, brings the story to life.

I know many of you switched off as soon as you hear “zombie story,” but this is genuinely gripping, terrifying stuff, and I would implore you to give it a chance. I’m by no means a connoisseur, but this is the best use of the web for fiction I’ve seen to date (this notwithstanding). This guy is going to publish a book someday and make a million dollars, and he’ll deserve every penny of it.

Via Sensible Erection, a great group blog that also happens to be NSFW.

Also, I just noticed that Movable Type's Spell Check doesn't recognize "blog."