Cadence Of The Undead - Christopher L Beck

Firstly i have to say that this is my first book from this author & Christophers writing style is very easy to follow and an enjoyable read.
With this being a short story or Novella the action starts quite quickly, whilst at the same time introduces you very well to the main characters and the background story.
You immediately take to the characters and hope that no harm will befall them even though you know that as this is a Zombie novel & that someone eventually is gonna get it.
Now i have not read many Zombie novels and didn't like the first i read and wasn't completely blown away by this one so it may just me but....
I expected a little bit more detail on the attacks and of the Zombie descriptions and more suspenseful build-up when they pounced.
It may be that as this is designed to be a Novella that these sequences were shortened.
However apart from the action at the beginning and the final part of the book the rest of the story seems to lag a bit as there is far too much dialogue and not much happening, especially around the husband and wife characters who decide to hide out in the underground shelter.
A little bit more time is also needed on proof reading before publishing as there are numerous typo errors.

However, despite the above, it is, as I have mentioned, still a good story and an enjoyable read and worth checking out.

Reviewed by David
Childrens Entertainment

Zookeeper ( Film )

Griffin is a Zoo keeper who really cares for his animals and won't see anyone do them any harm.
The animals love him too and so decide to break their code of silence when they find out he plans to leave the zoo.
Talking animals, madcap stunts and a bit of comedy romance all mixed together for the family summer film.
Just remember to leave your brain at the door before you go in.

Apart from some of the voices of the animals being a little annoying this is an enjoyable film that got quite a few laughs from everyone in the cinema.
Even the song and the clips at the very end ( during the credits) are entertaining.

Go on .............. you know you want to......

Reviewed by David
Childrens Entertainers

Fall Leaves & The Black Dragon - Erik Gustafson ( Book )

This is a very good paranormal themed story about a young man haunted by an event in his past and decides to confront his terrors.

The story is told from the view point of "Willy" or Liam (as he later calls himself) and the characters involved are easy to get involved with and get attached to.
Something is happening to Liam and his best friend, Kenny ( who goes on the journey with him) all the way through, which makes the reader want to carry on reading and the final relevation finishes the story well.

Although there are ghosts, fiery dragons and general creepiness happening regularly throughout the story it does not grab you and have you hiding behind the sofa so even those who are a bit squeemish about this type of story will enjoy it.

It's a nice change for an author to tie all the ends up and actually finish a story instead of leaving the reader wondering "yeah but !!! "


I was kindly given this book free to review and was mistakenly given an early draft of the story which contained lots of writing errors. The author tells me that these have all been corrected in the up to date version and if this is the case i would recommend you give this one a go.

Mr Poppers Penguins

Jim Carey stars as Mr Popper who receives a mysterious package from his recently deceased father ( who he had a very limited relationship with as a child.)
Upon opening the crate he finds his first Penguin.
Soon he has 6 penguins and his near perfect life as a high powered sales person is soon turned upside down.

The film is loosely based on the 1938 children's book of the same name by Richard & Florence Atwater.

Although this film is blatantly aimed towards young children I still found it very funny all the way through.
Lots of falling down and toilet humour throughout and Jim Carey does what he does best even though he is out done by the penguins.

The children's film industry nearly always has an underlying message and this one pushes the family values message quite clearly but despite this still ends up being quite a good movie.

Go see it with the kids if you just want to lay back and have a laugh.

Super 8 ( Film )

Super 8 is the new JJ Abrams release with quite a lot of influence by Steven Spielberg.
Fantastic special & lighting effects throughout this film which tells the story of a group of school friends that witness a horrific train crash whilst filming an amateur picture for a film competition.

The train crash alone is well worth watching the film for.

Soon the airforce are sealing off the town and people and objects are disappearing.
What exactly was being transported and has now escaped from the train.

Although not action all the way through and fairly slow in parts this is still a good film that keeps you interested throughout with some very likeable and quirky characters.

The film is rated as 12a and the heroes are a bunch of 12yr old kids who, with a couple of feuding adults, have to deal with the outworldly experience whilst avoiding the antics of the airforce making this a film that dads will enjoy taking the kids to.

Worth seeing and is one of the better Summer releases of this year.

Reviewed By David

Childrens Entertainers

Generations - William Meikle ( Book )

William Meikle is fast becoming one of my favourite writers. 
This time William is writing for the younger reader. 
It's a fast paced story involving lots of giant creepy crawlies, a Grandad who's a bit of a mad scientist and even a dragon. 
William keeps it simple, without going into too much background detail I:E mum is mum and dad is dad etc and they are very much the sterotypical parents that any 10 - 12 yr old will recognise. 
Add to this Tom's ( the young hero in the story) grandad who causes loads of problems with his madcap experiments and Tom's best friend Kate who's on hand to help Tom through his wild adventure. 

Even as an adult you can thoroughly enjoy the story as Michael quickly gets the plot moving and keeps up the pace throughout the whole story. 

And at just 86p ( currently) easily affordable out of your pocket money.

Reviewed by David

Childrens Party Entertainment

The Watchers Trilogy - William Meikle ( Books)

I decided to review this trilogy in one go because the whole story is spread over the three books and is more like a single story being split in three than three stories in a trilogy setting. 
The story weaves Scottish and English history together and makes us believe that vampires that have been around for centuries and were heavily involved in major battles in our joint histories. 
The story centres on two friends, Martin & Sean who are members of a special "watch" army set up to protect the boundaries nr Hadrians Wall and stop the vampire scourge invading England. 
Now normally anything history based bores me to death and epic type stories i find difficult to follow as there are so many different characters to keep up with but William Meikle keeps the history element to a level that does not destroy the story and makes all his characters so interesting that you are fully drawn in. 
He also has no compunction of killing characters off that you get attached to so you never know what's going to happen next and who is going to survive. 

The story is fairly well paced considering it is over 3 books and the ending is well worth the wait. 

My only crtiticism would be the older generation of characters are forever telling each other and the younger ones past stories and tales but of course this happened in the era that the story is set in. But when someone says "let's here your tale" i would groan a little....... 
This does drag on a bit and slows the story down but it's worth putting up with this as the whole story is very very good. 

The vampire boy king is a fangtastic villain and you just can't wait for the final showdown in book 3. 

William has come up with a different angle on the vampire story and these books are well worth the read. 

The books are: 
Watchers : The Coming Of The King 
Watchers : The Battle For The Throne 
Watchers : Culloden.

Reviewed By David

Wedding Entertainment