Zombies from Space ... And Vampires by Angela B. Chrysler

Zombies from Space …And Vampires by Angela B. Chrysler is an end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it novella in which UFOs arrive and deposit aliens that look and move and eat humans like in the classic horror movie zombie sense. The main character is 19-year-old Aria who witnesses the arrival of one of these UFOs and the immediate disappearance of her father, her only close relative. As she stands there in complete disbelief of what she is seeing, she is grabbed by a mysterious stranger who comes out of the shadows and sinks his teeth into her throat. The next thing she is aware of is waking in a castle on Singer Island in the middle of the St. Lawrence River. The mysterious stranger is Caius and he wishes to keep her with him in the castle on the island as his guest but before she can figure out what he’s about she’s rescued by two black clad women, Cin Dixon and Kylie.

Cin takes her to a ship, the “Slush Brain,” moored in the river, captained and crewed by an assortment of interesting and quirky characters. Before they can float safely out of reach of the aliens on the nearby shore, they are alerted to the predicament of another fleeing crew member. Chess, who has the barely sane, Max, in tow, is trapped by the surging horde of aliens at the water’s edge. The crew rescues Chess and Max from the aliens (known as Weeches) but before they can get the ship underway it is attacked and destroyed by Caius and his group of followers. The crew finds themselves back on land and fighting for their lives and freedom.

An interesting forward to the novella explains the origins of both the story and the characters – a writing project incorporating the author’s real-life friends. I thought this quite fun! The story moves swiftly and probably should be read in one sitting for maximum entertainment though not required, of course. The novella could benefit from some additional editing just to make the story flow a little better but if a hiccup here and there doesn’t bother a reader it is definitely an entertaining time.

I received a free copy of this novella through Goodreads. This is my unbiased and voluntary review.