Beyond Thirty

A “lost world” adventure tale that follows a young man as he makes his way through what was once England, hundreds of years after the western nations broke off contact with the rest of the world.

An early and by far, less famous work by Mr Burroughs. Beyond Thirty (also published as “The Lost Continent”) was written in the early years of WW1, although the story takes place hundreds of years in the future, it is important to keep this in mind as it sets the tone for the book and gives you some insight into the mindset of Burroughs world at the time of its publication.

During the early days of the Great War, the western nations of the world wash their hands of the whole affair, establish a naval blockade and break off all contact with the continents of Europe, Asia and Africa. This self imposed exile is kept alive by the hard fast rule that no one may travel beyond 30 degrees or 175 degrees longitude. The story itself follows the adventures of a young Naval officer after he inadvertently finds himself, his men and his flying submarine on the wrong side of this line. What awaits him in Europe 200 years after last contact? Has the war ended? If so… who won?

My favorite passage:
Presently two warriors entered. The leader exhibited a unique method of discovering my whereabouts in the darkness. He advanced slowly, kicking out viciously before him. Finally he kicked me in the face. Then he knew where I was.

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

Poor Arthur Dent, he’s hungover, his house is going to be torn down and his best friend, it turns out… is an alien. Luckily for him… the world is about to end… and he has his towel.

While the above statement may not make sense to you yet… it soon will. If there was ever a “MUST READ” book out there, this would probably be it.

My favorite passage:
The great ships hung motionless in the sky, over every nation on Earth. Motionless they hung, huge, heavy, steady in the sky, a blasphemy against nature. Many people went straight into shock as their minds tried to encompass what they were looking at. The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don’t.

World War Z

Chronicles a devastating war against re-animated, ghoulish zombies through the first hand accounts of those that survived.

The dead are rising and walking the earth. How do you fight an enemy that doesn’t rest, doesn’t stop, doesn’t breath and has has no fear? The governments of the world are collapsing, the armies with there stockpiles of modern weapons are largely ineffective and for every human that dies… another Zombie joins the fight. The world is in chaos. Is this the end of mankind?

A young journalist travels the globe collecting first hand accounts from the survivors of a time some saw as “the end of the age of man”. The stories cover everything from the first, isolated outbreaks to the collapse of the worlds armies to the struggle to reclaim a world where the dead reigned supreme. Through these “snapshots”, one watches the world of man as it teeters on the brink of extinction.

This is a page turner to say the least. Each little story gives you a snapshot of what Armageddon was like through the eyes of ordinary people. Mr Brooks does a splendid job of weaving these varied story lines into a very enjoyable tale.

My favorite passage:
…funny thing about the army, they always promise to teach you “marketable skills“, but they never mention that, by far, theres nothing more marketable than knowing how to kill some people while keeping others from being killed.