Tankbread (2011)

Sex :
Violence :
Author Paul Mannering Reviewer :
Publisher Brokensea Publishing
Length 283 pages
Genre Zombie
Blurb None Listed
Country

Review

"Yeah, but she made words. She said Ing ooh." - Else

The zombie apocalypse has gone down ten years previously and at least in Sydney an uneasy truce is in place between the remnants of humanity and the zombie hordes. Named Evols, the walking dead are kept appeased by "Tankbread", cloned humans with plenty of stem cell content that bring some intelligence to the zombies who live off them. Of course there are still dangers a plenty on the streets from both the living and the definitely not living.

Not surprisingly the last hope for humanity is Else, a Tankbread, and a renegade courier who needs to get her out of Sydney, across the wastelands of Australia to a research facility. Can they survive feral zombies, rogue humans, and the shoot first and ask questions later attitude of the outback? There's a timeframe here as the life expectancy of Tankbread is measured in a few weeks.

First up I guess I should mention this novel of the zombie apocalypse is told in the first person from the point of view of the, from memory, unnamed Courier who decides to undertake a cross country trek in the hope of saving Else from the fate of your normal run of the mill Tankbread. This isn't the altruist journey to save mankind you might think it will become, our narrator is an accidental hero at best, there are pretty selfish motives involved, so to a certain degree Mannering is perhaps more influenced here by the various journeys of fantasy characters rather than the race against the devil corresponding journeys of horror heroes. Even worse for purists, sorry to rain on your parade, this is a zombie novel so our first person character may not get the nirvana he's hoping for, or survive to the end of the novel. Hey you are going to have to read Tankbread to get the good oil there.

While Mannering has constructed a road novel, to borrow from Tolkien "there and back again", there's a whole bunch of other things going down that add an elusive touch to the narrative. Surprisingly I was reminded of John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress. While Bunyan's 1678 discourse is of course centred around didactic Christian belief, Mannering does the same journey between places that post-apocalyptic fans will be instantly across. We have the societies preying on others, those that don't abide with outsiders, of course the friendly communities, and all manner of outposts of humanity in between. While Bunyan was of course concerned with religious propaganda, Mannering is facing the post-apocalyptic paradigm and shining a light on the immediate aftermath. In both cases we are talking a journey towards enlightenment in some form or other.

Phew that's slightly heavy for a zombie novel review, but there's a bunch of things going down in Tankbread that required some analysis, or of course you could simply read the novel as a fast paced journey through the walking dead world. There's no lack of people being torn apart, zombie guts being spilled, or heroic last stands in the face of overwhelming odds. Just don't expect this novel to play out quite how you expected it to, Mannering has taken the zombie text, thrown it in the gutter, poured petrol over it, and set it alight. Which quite frankly has been long overdue given some of the drivel coming out of the Indie presses over the last few years. The Author achieves the amazing feat of having something new to say, and putting that in a strong voice, that will drive you through the narrative toward an ending that I don't believe you will see coming.

Slight detour kids, conspiracy freaks are going to love Tankbread, it'll fit into their worse case situation and have sage heads nodding. Having pretty much destroyed humanity with genetic meddling, and let's face facts kids this trope goes back to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein at least, the researchers - called "geeks" in this novel - aren't finished with trying to be God. What's a little apocalypse between friends after all. So don't get the notion that Author Mannering has created a book for a narrow readership, Tankbread will appeal to a wider audience than zombie novels normal reach.

While Mannering may be a kiwi, and let's face facts here friends and neighbours that Country harbours some deep nightmares of its own, (for reference Man Alone, the quintessential Kiwi novel for mine), but Tankbread is set in Australia. So we journey from Sydney's opera house and environs right out to the remote outback locations fill of sand, heat, and of course feral zombies. Mannering demonstrates he is as adept at Australian locations as he is with his native New Zealand. You will be engulf by the wide brown land as the Author takes you away from some iconic Australian locations to the outback where things have gone Mad Max on us. What is interesting in this novel, from a dark genre perspective, is Mannerings ability to mix and match the sort of multiple societies post-apocalyptic fiction normally leaves to television series. It's quite the accomplishment to create multiple believable societies with differing attitudes to how to survive.

So what we have is a zombie novel with a difference, zombies with major differences to the normal run of the mill shamblers or runners, and for sure a novel that will keep your eyes on the page from first paragraph to last paragraph. Make sure you set aside plenty of time for reading as you will not want to put this one down, Mannering delivers a well written, well-paced, read that is more engrossing than a new issue of Penthouse.

Mannering demonstrates he can write long from prose with this novel, and to be honest that's not a guarantee with this sub-genre unfortunately. Everything is well constructed, paced to draw the reader into the narrative, and there's nothing left hanging as you finished up. Sure there's room for a sequel but the book doesn't abruptly finish leaving you dissatisfied. If Mannering wants to write a sequel I'll be knocking pensioners out of the way to get a copy on release day.

I had a slight critcism with the novel, and that was to do with the Editing. Not sure who took this one on but they perhaps need to proof read rather than relying on their word editor of choice. There's a few clangers in there, but I found that more enduring somehow than taking me out of the book.

So clearly I had an awesome time with the novel, Else is a memorable character for sure, and I have no problems recommending this one to anyone reading. If you like well written horror, don't mind a bit of claret, and can go with the flow, then you are in the right place. The apocalyptic novel we have been waiting for folks, and the best zombie read since World War Z for mine.

I picked up a copy of Tankbread from Amazon for under $10 (USD), did I mention prompt delivery from the big A previously? There's also a Kindle version for around a $1 for those who got conned into that marketing schlock, though at least you avoided Apple's drive to dominate the world. Go out get a copy today and you can thank me later, one of the best horror novels I've read this year. It's also got a cool cover for those interested.

Beyond Scary Rates this read as ...

  Someone get Mannering writing a haunted house tale set in rural New Zealand. Then spot me a couple of million to make the movie, you know it makes sense.