Saying goodbye is never easy, and in an apocalyptic world it can be even harder. In the aftermath of the attack on the camp, they start the episode off getting rid of the corpses, in separate burials, their dead and the others. Andrea is obviously grief-stricken, unable to let go of her baby sister, and because of that we get to see the first reanimation.

Andrea sat there apologizing to her sister as Amy’s eyes opened and she began to twitch and the panic level in everyone else began to rise. She says “I always thought there’d be more time,” tearfully, and Amy is beginning to reach for her, she tells her she loves her and then calmly blew her brains out.

The rift between Rick and Shane grows. Shane lashes out at Rick, blaming the deaths of Ed, Amy and ultimately Jim on him, had he and his little gun-running crew been there, those deaths would have been avoided. But Rick fires back, had they not gone for the guns, then more could have been lost. But it doesn’t really matter, because they were lost, and nothing can be done about it now.

And the tragedies didn’t stop there. Jacqui revealed that Jim had been bitten during the zombie attack as well. He’s slowly dying it won’t be too long before he becomes a zombie, but they don’t shoot him, they leave him by the side of the road as they head towards the CDC in search of answers.

Inside the CDC there is someone still at the CDC, Jenner is still working on a cure, but he appears to be the only one left.

The group finally make it to the CDC, but the doors are locked. Jenner tells them to go away, but Rick pleads as the zombies surround them. They know that the whole mission was reckless and impulsive, but they needed answers and they needed hope. Jenner, asks if they’re sure they want this, and of course the group does, though surely they don’t know what they’re actually asking for as the doors open in a wash of bright light.

Released: 3/20/07                    456 pages                         

Publisher: EOS

Format: Hardcover

ISBN: 978-0060788384

Rachel is back in Cincinnati, with more problems than ever before. She’s brought home the focus for safety, and not only do the Weres and Vampire seek to possess it, so does one tricksy elf and one dubious demon. But the focus isn’t the only problem when Al goes on a rampage, the very vampire that nearly destroyed her is cut loose to protect the city.

The twists and turns are rough and heart rending in this one, and the little bit of sunshine and hope that Rachel has is horrendously smashed to little bitty pieces.

Rachel and Ivy’s relationship is again on focus in the series, greatly weighing it down, with everyone telling Rachel to just sleep with Ivy. Honestly I liked Ivy in the beginning, the angsty vampire in need of saving, but if Kisten or any male for that matter pulled half the crap Ivy pulls, Rachel would have staked them long ago. Rachel wants to save everyone, but some people are not worth saving if it means losing yourself completely.

The demons are expanded a little more, with Newt leaking knowledge in her crazy way, and there’s a little Ceri time, which means getting a little more on elves. David looks to be stepping into a larger role, and for a lone wolf, he’s slowly finding himself surrounded, and stepping up in his role of Alpha.

The plotting while intriguing, some of the timing was off. The world is always well written, but I’m not sure if it was the shocking blow this one delivers, or that so many crucial elements took place in the background and were merely discussed. Rachel appears stronger than ever, and that’s always a good thing. Because the story was so good, I’m willing to give a few inconsistencies a pass so long as the next one ties up the loose ends of this plot a little better.

And then there are the first casualties. Sure there are zombies, and it’s kind of expected, but did it have to be so touching too?

At camp, Andrea announces that tomorrow is Amy’s birthday, and Jim is digging graves. He had a dream that they would need the graves. He’s totally losing it, and the camp has to resort to tying him to a tree, total zombie bait.

In Atlanta, Rick, Glenn, T-Dog and Daryl search for Merle. He isn’t where they left him, only his hand is. Daryl shows that his racist streak is just a prevalent as his brother’s, but he’s more useful, and a far better team player than Merle is. And Daryl proves that he’s a badass, taking out walkers even after he gets injured.

The guys continue their search for Merle, believing that he was with a local gang in the area. In fact, the whole episode his presence looms over, but he’s never seen. After finding out that his brother is not with them, Daryl still helps Rick rescue Glenn, who’s taken hostage by them.

What they find instead is the Vatos have gathered their elderly, and others abandoned when the city fell prey to the undead. They end up splitting their gun cache with them, and they guys head back.

At camp around the fire, everyone is gathered. For a second it seems like a perfect moment, and then the moment passes. The zombies begin attacking out of nowhere. They take out bigot Ed, and sweet Amy. And the guys make it back in time to kill a few, but the damage is already done.

Supernatural pays homage to the X-files ­complete with a hilarious themed open, pitch perfect music, and alien encounters.

Sam and Dean are investigating some disappearances, but Sam is driving Dean a little crazy with all his questions, since his morality compass is kinda broken. Dean finally tells him to just pretend like he has a soul, and they separate to do some more investigating.

Things take a turn for the worse, for Dean as he investigates a crop circle. A bright light arrives, and Dean freaks, worried he’s about to have a close encounter. Robo Sam mocks Dean over the phone warning”

While investigating the crop circle a bright light arrives and Dean freaks out because he's having a close encounter. The whole time soulless Sam is on the phone mocking Dean because he doesn't care. "You better run, man. I think the fourth kind is a butt thing." Sam tells him right before he gets abducted.

With Dean off with the aliens, Soulless Sam heads off to check out some UFO nuts. There he meets a girl and he hooks up with her. He totally used Dean’s abduction to score. It went something like this: "Your brother was abducted?" "Yeah." "Oh my God!" "It's fine. I mean, I've had time to adjust." "Did it happen when you were a kid?" "No, like half an hour ago." Sam is pretty hilarious this episode.

Dean returns to find them in a compromising position. Sam tries to offer Dean comfort, but it’s just awkward. And Dean tries to get Sam to see how wrong it was to go hook up with some random when his brother was getting probed. But Sam just didn’t get it, thinking he did enough. "What about when they're no more leads for the night. I mean are you just supposed to sit there in the dark and suffer even when there's nothing to be done at that moment?" "Yes." "What?" "Yes. You sit in the dark and you...you feel the loss." "Absolutely, but couldn't I just...do all that and have sex with the hippie chick?" "No!" And then he’s off again, leaving Dean alone in the motel room.

But he’s not alone for long before the bright lights are back. His encounter this time comes in the form of a fluttering ball of light, a fairy. Dean has a serious smack down with the fairy, chaos, and awesomeness rolled into one. All the while David Bowie’s Space Oddity is playing. Dean comes out victorious after throwing the little bug into the microwave and nuking it.

Once they know what they’re after, the boys seek out a crazy fairy loving lady to find out how to fight the fairies. While drinking out of tiny tea cups, the boys learn five simple rules. 1) Only people who have been to the fairy realm and back can see them; 2) To win favor, leave a bowl of fresh cream for them; 3) Fairies hate iron; 4) They burn when touched with silver; 5) If you spill sugar or salt in front of them, no matter how powerful they are, they must stoop to count each grain.

Later Dean is followed by a fairy.  He hides, before he mounts his attack on a little person he calls a fairy. Due to the fairy’s trickery, he’s arrested, because the person he attacked is actually the DA. As Dean is hauled away he shouts “Fight the Fairies! You fight those fairies!”

Sam is left to solve the case on his own. He figures it out that this all started with the watch maker. He made a deal with a leprechaun because he could no longer make them. The leprechaun had the elves help him, in exchange for his first born, but they didn’t just stop with his.

The leprechaun offers Sam a deal to restore his soul, but Sam spills some salt, and while the leprechaun is distracted he sends all the fairies back to their universe.

In the end Dean asks him why he didn’t take the deal to get his soul back, and Sam claims that making deals is never a good thing, but Dean wonders if Sam is having second thoughts about getting his soul back, but Sam says he isn’t though he doesn’t sound very sure of that.

Released: July 2010 355 pages
Publisher: New American Library
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-451-23064-5



Merit became a vampire, not against her will, but couldn’t really say no since she was unconscious and dying. It’s not what she would have chosen, but has decided to embrace it.


I love this heroine. She’s headstrong, sexy, intelligent, and flawed. She embraces her new strength and speed, continuing to become the best fighter in Cadogan House. You won’t want a hero saving this female. She’ll fight along side any man and probably end up saving him. She makes the difficult decisions and sticks to them. She’s the complete package.

Merit’s life is anything but calming down. An old nemesis continues to threaten, an ignored desire demands attention, a new mystery must be solved, and new friendships are made. Sounds like a lot going on, but the book reads smoothly thanks to its author, Chloe Neill. Since the series is narrated by Merit, we are able learn the rules of her new life as she learns them. Rather than taking precious time to explain how a noviate and Sentinel is suppose to act, we learn through Merit’s mistakes, challenges, and friendships.

Speaking of friendships, Merit is grieving over her fallout with best friend, Mallory. Mallory is the only person that truly understands what Merit has gone through with her wealthy, high society parents. A lifestyle that Merit shuns yet is coerced back into for the sake of her new House by the Cadogan House Master, Ethan Sullivan.

Ethan is difficult to read sometimes, but that is because we see him through Merit’s eyes. Darth Sullivan, as Mallory calls him, is impressed by Merit’s determination, strategy, and though he won’t admit it, her constant defiance toward him. Merit is drawn to Ethan for his, well…his looks. Loyalty and protectiveness of his people are also a plus, but she also creates a distance when she sees similarities of her father. There is a political hierarchy with the vampire houses and human society. Ethan plays this role perfectly and will use whatever means are at his disposal.


That currently means Merit is loaned to Gabriel, Apex (alpha) of the North American Central Pack of shape-shifters, to be head of security at a convocation that will decide whether the pack stays in Chicago or retreats to the wilderness of Alaska. Ethan wants the pack to stay, power in numbers if there was ever a human uprising against vampires. The shifters consider leaving to avoid possibly being outed and part of a war if humans attack. Of course, there is someone, or someones, that want the shifters to leave the city and will kill to make that happen. There are fires, gunshots, hand-to-hand fighting, and also some killing. It may sound like this book is all serious, but as always, we have comic relief provided by Merit’s friends, Catcher, Lindsay, Mallory and a few others within the Cadogan House. Catcher’s dry sarcastic comments on everything from Ethan’s behavior to chocolate to Mallory’s growing powers (she’s a witch), and furniture rearranging had me chuckling throughout the entire book. And let’s not forget Neill’s talent for lively banter among all her characters.

I really enjoyed this book. Merit shares a story about an autographed baseball from her childhood that gives insight to her determination even when she is tormented by the outcome. We get to delve more into what has molded Merit into the person she is today. And just like Ethan, that mold is still pliable. I particularly like how we see the strengths and weakness of Merit and Ethan beginning to affect changes in the other, most of the time for the better. And of course, we get to indulge in Merit’s affair with food.

The episode opens on Merle, still in the predicament he was left in the previous episode. He’s still handcuffed on the roof, surrounded by dead held back by a single chain. It’s a tough situation, but there’s hope he’s gonna make it, just not in one piece, as he eyes a hand saw.

Rick was finally reunited with his family, which a bit of a surprise for Lori. She thought he was dead, which leads her to question a little what’s been happening with Shane.

But for the moment it’s a very happy reunion, until Rick and the others return to the city to retrieve the guns that had to be left behind. The camp is going to need them if they’re going to survive. And there’s also Merle. The camp is actually looking to save him. Plus, Rick wants to warn Morgan and Duane that Atlanta is not safe. So Glenn, Rick and Merle’s brother Daryl head to Atlanta.

Back at camp, Lori gives Shane the cold shoulder, for his horrible lie. It’s left pretty open how the lie was delivered, but there’s no doubt that the little love affair they had is definitely over.

It’s wash day at camp, and that task falls to the women. Ed sits around smoking, Shane and Carl frog hunting, as the women wash everyone’s clothes. The women laughed and bonded over missing vibrators and other luxuries, seemed to anger Ed. He lashed out at the group and proceeded to beat his wife in front of them.

And Shane came to the rescue, using Ed’s outburst as the perfect reason to take out his frustrations all over Ed’s face. Everyone’s emotions are running high, with the possibility of being a zombie’s lunch likely at any moment.  When a zombie falls upon their venison dinner, again we see an unnecessary overkill of emotion as the guys mangle the zombie.

And, the zombie coming so close to camp leads to further problems. The camp is no longer safe, it’s only a matter of time before more zombies show up. Shane is acting as leader at the moment, but he’s not thinking clearly. He wants to stay, but it’s almost as if it’s just to make a point, not because he truly believes it to be the right decision.

Crowley has a new case for the boys. He wants them to find the Alpha responsible for animalistically ripping out the heart of his businessman. Dean and Sam bristle a little, but Crowley dangles Sam’s soul and they run off to do his bidding.

 Sam and Dean are on the road investigating the case, but Dean's not comfortable working for the King of Hell; while nothing really bothers Sam. He admits it's a bad  situation, but if it gets his soul back, what’s the problem. Robo Sam tackles case head on. He’s extremely cold when he questions possible suspects, jumps to conclusions, wanting to hurry and bag the suspect, Cal the boyfriend of the woman around which these events have occurred, even though he doesn’t really have proof the guy’s behind it.

The signs point to a werewolf, even though it isn’t a full moon, and that would be completely off base, if we and the boys hadn’t see other monsters behaving differently. But it isn’t. It’s a skinwalker in the guise of the family pet, a German Shepherd  named Lucky. He lives with Cal and Mandy, and Mandy and her son treat him really well, so well that he’s become overly protective of Mandy and gets rid of any threat to her, including Cal.

When Sam and Dean figure out that it is a skinwalker they’re hunting they chase down Lucky who gets hit by a car and ends up in a animal hospital.  There Dean and Sam grab him and make him spill the beans.He’s a homeless man that was recruited into this life to infiltrate families and create more skinwalkers when the time is right. But he’s come to love and care for his family, he’s even fallen for Mandy.

Sam and Dean decide to use Lucky to set up a sting operation to catch the others, but their plan backfires. The other skinwalkers have kidnapped Mandy and her son and they want Lucky to kill them to prove his loyalty. Dean plans to kill the pack leader to save the family, even if it angers Crowley, and the boys take down the pack.

Having been outted as the family dog, Lucky goes to Mandy’s house and thanks her for the kindness she showed him. She’s obviously angry that he lied to her, and he turns back into a down leaving alone.

Dean wants Sam to stop pretending that everything is alright that he’s the old Sam. And Sam admits he’s not that person. He's been acting like he cares about Lisa and Ben; he doesn't. Heck, he doesn't even care about Dean. He said he's killed innocent people in the name of duty;  maybe he should feel guilty that but doesn't.  And part of him thinks this lack of feeling thing isn't that bad, that the other Sam had it harder because he could feel. But as much as he says he’s ready to get his soul back, it sounds like he’s saying what he thinks Dean wants to hear.

Released: 11/1/10  Pages: 141
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Subterranean
ISBN: 978-1596063280

The latest offering in Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld, follows Paige as she, Lucas and Savannah investigate the recent deaths at a Superntural fight ring.

Maybe not the most original premise, but its pretty good. Lucas and Paige have been growing apart, and its a little heartbreaking to see, since we've seen the relationship grow since Dime Store Magic. But as Paige gets deeper into the case, and the distance between Lucas grows you wonder if the gap can ever be bridged.

This is definitely a bonus story, easy enough for a new reader to get into, and a lovely morsel for fans. The relationship is written in a way that not only is it believable, but also it doesn't weigh the story down.

The plot isn't as tight as I normally expect from Ms. Armstrong, nor are the supporting characters, and the ending, it left a little to be desired. But the interactions between well loved characters like Savannah more than make up for it.

Last time we saw Rick he was in the tank, and he’d received a call over the radio, turns out that voice wasn’t alone. The zombies had Rick surrounded, but he somehow made it out, after a little running and into what may become a bigger mess in a department store.

The group he’s landed into isn’t exactly a cohesive, and a big part of that is because of bigot Merle, who was such a hindrance he ended up cuffed on the roof.  The group is in the city for supplies. Usually only, Glenn, the smart-aleck from the radio, comes to the city because he’s faster on his own, but he can’t carry many supplies. He seems like the bright point. He cracks jokes to lighten the mood, and he’s braved the streets the most.

There’s also Andrea, who isn’t as good with a gun as she would like to think, which is unfortunate when she’s tested, but she kept a level head amidst the chaos.

T-Dog, has a temper he has trouble controlling, but he also has a good heart and is looking out for everyone around him.

But Merle tried to explain that even though “your kind” and “my kind” should be mixing, doesn’t mean they can’t work together to pacify Rick.  But it doesn’t work. He’s not very pleasant, and I have to wonder why the group brought him along in the first place.

Glenn and Rick go to recover some of the guns that Rick had to leave behind when the zombies surrounded him, which was the most nerve racking scene. Covered in zombie stink they walked unnoticed into the horde, but when the thunder rolled, there was a sense of dread. The rain would ruin their guise. So once again there is lots of running to safety, this time to a truck to get everyone the heck out of dodge, err, Atlanta.

In the end, they lose the key, and when they’re forced to abandon the building as the zombies come in, T-Dog makes an effort to chain up the door and hopefully keep Merle safe. Glenn runs diversion, making lots of noise to get the zombies to follow him, and follow him they do, as everyone else gets away.

And Glenn makes it away too, driving a mustang, to mirror Rick’s entrance into Atlanta.

Sam awakens, feeling like he was hit by a freight truck, in the form of his brother, he’s tied up with Dean and Castiel looking for some answers. Sam has none to give, so Castiel sticks his fingers inside to see what he finds, and he finds nothing. Sam is, as was feared, soulless. And Castiel is off to see where it is.

After doing some checking they find that it’s still trapped in Hell in the cage with both Lucifer and Michael. Probably not the best place for it.

Grandpa Samuel Campbell, who does have a soul, is working for Crowley; he’s behind the whole Alpha round up. Crowley is the one that brought back Sam san soul, and he’s the one that pulled out Samuel as well. But it’s not revealed why Samuel is doing Crowley’s bidding.

Big surprise, well not so much since he was kinda of a douche, but Christian is a demon. He was sent to make sure Samuel and crew did Crowley’s bidding. Crowley is looking for purgatory, and the Alpha’s are gonna lead him to it, and he wants Sam and Dean to help too.

He’s holding Sam’s soul hostage, and once he has the location he’ll snap his fingers and give it back, you know just like he did Bobby’s. And if not, he’ll send Sam back to hell. All Crowley wants is the souls of purgatory, as the Alpha vamp says its “filled with the soul of every hungry thing like me that ever walked this earth."

The war in heaven is getting serious, which explains the lack of Castiel. He tells the boys that he’ll be in touch.

Crowley implies that Samuel knows more than he’s letting on, and the Alpha Vampire talks about his mother, which I’m guessing we don’t want to meet, but will.

 And finally even though Dean is down he’s not out. In this episode we finally see Dean taking control back. He tells Sam how things are gonna be, that if he wants to work together then Dean is gonna call the shots. Which makes sense since Sam can’t tell right from wrong anymore.

 Sam goes “undercover” to talk with Samuel, trying to pump him for some information, but Samuel doesn’t fall for it, so Sam actives the GPS in Samuel’s phone to find out the location of the Alpha Vampire. Sam returns to the Impala, and Dean is more than a little surprised to see he came back.

...opened the 2010 Seattle ZomBCon. He was dressed in his finest Red and black suit because he was ‘performing Zombie weddings later in the day.’ He never really needs to explain his wardrobe to me. He can pull off anything.



The entire cast of The Evil Dead was there led, of course, by Bruce. As you can see in the video, his sarcastic humor sometimes leaves you wondering if he really isn’t joking and thinks we’re all weirdos.


It took me 3 hours, but I finally got to the man, Bruce. He asked me, “What are you doing? And I replied, “I’m getting your autograph.” How dumb can I be? Pretty dumb it appears. I should have stayed a redhead for 1 more week. Then, I might not have felt like a dumb blonde when he replied, “Uh, no. What are you doing for a living?” That’s right, I don’t even have to try, embarrassment follows me where ever I go.













Luckily, the conversation could only get better from there. He asked what I did for a living and his eyes widened when I told him I worked in veterinary critical care and internal medicine. He asked about the animals I help and thanked me because he felt my profession rarely gets thanked.





At the end, I asked if he had heard his name was mentioned during the True Blood panel at Comic Con. He hadn’t and asked what happened. I told about a character, Bubba, that the fans want on the show, but Alan Ball doesn’t want an Elvis impersonator and didn’t know of an actor that could play Bubba. Then someone suggested Bruce Campbell and the entire room cheered for him. He seemed flattered, but hadn’t heard anything from Alan Ball yet. I think we need to make this a reality.


They announced at the signing that Bruce was going back on stage after autographs to show us “10 Ways to Kill a Zombie.” Unfortunately, I could only stay a short time because I had to work, so I missed that.

ZomBCon was the most disorganized event I’ve been to. The events started out with lines, but when the ushers left, everyone just rushed for the front. There were no chains or barriers for the lines to weave through so the rude people in back just pushed their way through the line. Even though I started in the second line, I ended up in the sixth line.

Overall, I enjoyed my brief 3 minutes with Bruce and chatting with all the crazies in line with me. I was disappointed to find that everyone charges for autographs at ZomBcon. I had just been at Comic Con a few months prior and the autographs were free. Since I was short on time and funds, I wasn’t able get the entire cast to sign my Evil Dead poster, so that bites (no pun intended). I definitely don’t regret going because, I’ll tell you again...I met Bruce Campbell.

AMC has another sure hit on their hands! The much anticipated Walking Dead premiered last night. As a long time reader of the comic I was filled with both excitement and trepidation. How could they capture the boldness, the heart of this brilliant and captivating series?

Well to start with the brilliant Robert Kirkman, the man behind the comics, is on board. As well as Frank Darabont of the Shawshank Redemption fame. And a fantastic cast including, Andrew Lincoln and Sarah Wayne Callies.

This first episode sticks pretty close to the comics, with Rick waking up alone in a hospital, with no knowledge of what the heck happened, but added so much more.

The moment with Morgan and his son was heartbreaking, as he couldn't kill his zombie wife, and she continued to come the home she knew in life, to tried to open the door. Or Rick, trying to save a little lost girl, only to realize she was the exact thing he was hiding from. Little moments like these brought the heartbreaking reality of this horrible world.

The acting was wonderful, capturing both the strength and the vulnerabilities of their characters. I love how Rick isn't your typical Zombie movie hero. He's strong and capable, intelligent, but he's so focused on getting to his family, that he almost doesn't survive the first episode. The show is graphic, the death of Rick's horse was beyond brutal, and make me a little gleeful that AMC wasn't going to shy away from the darkness that comics delved into. It was a wonderful visonary feast, and I cannot wait for the next episode!