Zombies and chainsaws aren’t really a staple in my fictional diet. I prefer happier things, really, and I’m not such a reader of horror.
Leave it to Karina Fabian to convince me that I should give it a try (she’s done that to me before just recently).
I don’t know that I really love zombies after reading this book, but I do have a bit of a literary crush on Neeta Lyffe, the brassy and brave heroine of Neeta Lyffe: Zombie Exterminator. Maybe, just maybe, I have dreams of being Neeta when I grow up…
Here’s the book blurb:
By the 2040s, the shambling dead have become and international problem. While governments and special interest groups vie for the most environmentally-friendly way to rid the world of zombies, a new breed of exterminator has risen: The Zombie Exterminator. When zombie exterminator Neeta Lyffe gets sued because a zombie she set afire stumbles onto a lawyer’s back porch, she needs money, fast. So she agrees to train apprentice exterminators in a reality TV show that makes Survivor look like a game of tag. But that’s nothing compared to having to deal with crazy directors, bickering contestants and paparazzi. Can she keep her ratings up, her bills paid and her apprentices alive and still keep her sanity?
There’s plenty of humor in Neeta Lyffe and I found deeper themes that set my mind to thinking (and has kept me thinking). Fabian explores human nature and keeps things moving with fast pacing and unexpected action.
In an interview I did with her a few months ago, Fabian admitted that she doesn’t consider Neeta Lyffe a horror novel:
I don’t approach horror. I sort of slink away from it, tippy-toe, if need be.
If it weren’t for the fact that zombies automatically put it under horror, I’d call it comedic science fiction. It takes place in the future, and zombie-ism is a disease.
It’s definitely a comedy. Think The Apprentice meets Survivor meets Night of the Living Dead. Plus, there’s all kinds of political and social satire, a little slapstick, some jokes that made my teenage daughter say, “Mom!” with that mix of horror and pride. Not as many puns as my usual comedies, but Neeta isn’t a punster.
Though Karina doesn’t make any claims that Neeta Lyffe is Catholic, she does explain how her Catholic faith impacts her writing:
I don’t cross certain lines. I may play with innuendo, but I try not to glamorize sin. Neeta tells her sexy new boyfriend that she’s waiting until marriage, so don’t even go there.
Neeta Lyffe may feel like “popcorn reading,” but I enjoyed that, as I whipped through it, enjoying myself thoroughly, I felt like there might be some intellectual protein planted among the popcorn. (Not sure that’s the best comparison, but I’m leaving it.)
Highly recommended.
Want more about Neeta Lyffe? Check out the book tour going on now!
Thanks, Sarah!