Zombie Uprising
Voodoo Child
Book One
William Burke
Genre: Horror/paranormal with Action/adventure
Publisher: William Burke
Date of Publication: June 17th 2016
ASIN: B01H9E4HDA
Number of pages: 333
Word Count: 96,000
Cover Artist: Deranged Doctor
Book Description:
The forces of darkness are out to destroy mankind… Too bad they never reckoned on facing Maggie Child!
Army chopper pilot Maggie Child has a reputation for being fearless, professional and, above all, rational. But when she's shot down over Iraq her well-ordered life spirals into a paranormal nightmare. Alone, wounded and surrounded by hostile forces, Maggie is rescued from certain death by a demon straight out of Dante's Inferno. Then, barely alive, she's abducted by a private military corporation conducting insidious medical experiments. Her escape from their covert hellhole lands her on a Caribbean island where an evil voodoo spirit and a psychotic female dictator are conspiring to unleash an apocalyptic zombie plague. Then she uncovers the most terrifying secret of all—her own destiny. It seems a Voodoo oracle has ordained her the only warrior capable of saving humanity from a supernatural Armageddon … whether she wants the job or not!
But saving the world isn't a one-woman job, so she teams up with a trio of unlikely heroes—a conspiracy obsessed marijuana smuggler, a Voodoo priestess with an appetite for reality television, and a burnt out ex-mercenary. Together, they'll take on an army of the walking dead, with the fate of humanity resting in their eccentric hands.
Voodoo Child, Book One: Zombie Uprising is the first novel in a new horror series packed with supernatural thrills, rousing adventure, dark humor, Voodoo lore and plenty of zombie stomping action. But a word of warning; don't shoot these zombies in the head … because that just makes them mad!
It's the legions of hell versus Maggie Child … and hell doesn't have a prayer!
Book Trailer: https://youtu.be/yPfVbgm-1XY
Voodoo Child, Book One: Zombie Uprising by William Burke is a fast-paced horror novel with quirky characters…Reviewed by Kim Anisi for Readers' Favorite
About the Author:
After two years of ghostwriting, William Burke has released his first novel VOODOO CHILD, Book One: Zombie Uprising. It's the first installment of a new horror series chronicling the exploits of Maggie Child and her Voodoo priestess partner Sarafina as they battle to save the island of Fantomas from the wrath of evil Voodoo spirits.
The author was raised on a diet of late night creature features, comic books, Mad magazines and horror stories. As a result every volume will be packed with eccentric characters, dark humor, chills, zombies, ghosts, monsters, military hardware and plenty of stuff blowing up.
Prior to writing Voodoo Child he was the creator and director of the Destination America television series Hauntings and Horrors. He has also written scripts for two Cinemax television series, Forbidden Science and Lingerie, which he also produced. He has also written magazine pieces for Fangoria and the Phantom of the Movies Videoscope among others.
William began his film and television career as a perfectly respectable video engineer at the venerable United Nations. Budget cuts shifted him to becoming a production manager and assistant director on an array of New York based indie films. With that experience under his belt he relocated to Los Angeles where he eventually produced sixteen feature films and two television series for the Playboy Entertainment Group. After years of producing T&A extravaganzas, kickboxing epics and gangster rap videos, he created a self financed television pilot entitled American Mystery Tour. Canada's CTV picked up the series under the title Creepy Canada, which was then re-titled Hauntings and Horrors in the USA. Since then he has successfully produced three series for HBO/Cinemax as well as documentaries and other … stuff.
After hundreds of hours of film and television production he is basking in the freedom of the written word, where small budgets and giant egos are only memories. He lives in Toronto.
If you enjoyed the first adventure please visit www.williamburkeauthor.com where you'll find lots of interesting information about Voodoo and military hardware, along with excerpts from Sarafina's personal diary AND, as a gift to readers, the author will be serializing a prequel novella
Author interview video: https://youtu.be/SXanlSkmHEI
Author Guest Post
A Short Overview of Voodoo
During the process of writing Voodoo Child, Book One: Zombie Uprising I did a great deal of research into the Voodoo religion. That doesn’t make me an authority by any means, but I was stunned at the misrepresentation and vilification of Voodoo in both journalism and fiction. In my book I’ve broken from tradition by making the Voodoo priestess one of the heroes. So here’s a very simplified primer on this very misunderstood practice.
Voodoo, or more properly Vodou or Vodun (Voodoo being a more Hollywood-ized version of the word), is a religion stemming from Africa that’s widely practiced in many Caribbean countries (most famously Haiti) as well as Africa, South America and Louisiana. The core belief in Voodoo is that there’s one god (Bondye) and that god employs spirits (or loa) to deal with day-to-day stuff like spiritual middle management. Each of these loa represents facets of earthy life. Like the Greek gods, loa are very powerful but have human foibles and egos, which can make invoking them tricky business. Many have a fondness for cigars, rum, mutton, mirrors and coffee and offerings of these items are encouraged to curry favor. The loa never appear in the flesh but possess those who call to them for short periods of time. It is considered a great honor to be mounted by the spirits.
Voodoo is a blend of ancient African religions dating back over 10,000 years. When Africans were forced into slavery all they had left were their local religious beliefs. Slave owners thought it prudent to mix the various tribes together on plantations, hoping that lack of a unified language and customs would prevent slaves from uniting. The various African beliefs of these mixed slaves merged into what is commonly known as Voodoo. Aspects of Christianity were also incorporated, often as a smokescreen behind which slaves could practice their religion without punishment from slave masters. Vodou actually translates as spirit, and the oppressed found hope in their beliefs. In many ways Voodoo’s survival is a testament to human will.
FUN FACT – The successful slave revolt in Haiti supposedly owes its success to Voodoo. It was during a Voodoo service that the warrior spirit Ogoun possessed Dutty Boukman. During this possession she laid out the plans for the revolution, and even named its leaders. The successful uprising began eight days later.
Voodoo’s consistent imagery of skulls, death and serpents seems frightening but stems from the faith’s roots in slavery. Slaves did not fear death, considering it a release from a lifetime of suffering. Therefore imagery relating to death had no negative connotations.
Voodoo also gets a bad rap due to the practice of animal sacrifice. I’m NOT defending this practice but would point out that Voodoo is rooted in agrarian societies. Every man woman and child in poor rural areas sees chickens and goats slaughtered every day; in fact, they regularly take part in it because that’s where dinner comes from. In short, animals dying are a part of day-to-day life. Voodoo priests are generally skilled butchers with no interest in torturing animals. Also the congregation actually cooks and eats these sacrifices; so they are not wasted. Again, I’m NOT defending animal sacrifice, just clarifying its background.
A male Voodoo priest is called a houngan, and a priestess is called a mambo and both have equal power in society. A Voodoo priest who practices evil (actually called red magic) is called a bokor. Haiti’s dictators Poppa and Baby Doc both claimed to be bokors to frighten citizens into submission.
Zombies do exist in Voodoo folklore, usually as a person brought back from the dead by a bokor. Interestingly, the reanimated body is not considered the valuable prize in this process; stealing the soul of that zombie/person is where the evildoer gains his power. To become a zombie was considered the most terrifying of all fates. Remember that slaves lived their entire (short) lives under brutal conditions and performing backbreaking labor. To these long suffering people death was the only possible release from a lifetime of torment. But if you were transformed into a zombie you would be forced to endure an eternity of slavery.
You can find endless volumes on Voodoo zombies and the science associated with them. I particularly recommend Wade Davis’ The Serpent and the Rainbow.
Voodoo’s image has not fared very well in books and movies, and it’s universally associated with zombies, Voodoo dolls and black magic. In truth it is a religion practiced by millions who find community and strength in their faith.
There’s plenty of good information about Voodoo online (and a lot of BAD information) but even Wikipedia can give you a far better grounding than some ignorant horror scribe like myself could provide.
My Review
Well, this was definitely a fun and adventurous read!! Zombies, voodoo, and awesome chick pilot that is kick ass! Maggie is a great heroine and leading lady. And full of chaos! Lol
Maggie has a slightly strange childhood but otherwise ok, and once she was old enough joined her uncle, who was a helicopter pilot. She wanted to be a pilot and at 17 worked her butt of to get it! And then she was a military pilot until she's shot down I her Blackhawk, then taken, then somehow she's in paradise. I have to laugh, you think of tropical islands you don't think zombies :) but hey, it's life right lol. And I like her BFF and her maybe BF. :)
The writing is excellent and I'm really happy I took a chance on reading this one. It's got a little bit of everything! And I loved the voodoo lore and Pomba the spirit. She's.... Special hehehe! Overall I really liked this book and I look forward to book two! It's definitely gunna be something! 4.5 PAWS
4 $10 Amazon eGift Cards
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