Pale Rider

Zombies Versus Dinosaurs

By: James Livingood

Narrated by: Michael C. Gwynne

Length: 57 mins

Publisher's summary

"I am often left to wonder why a zombie, walking around in the sun, smells better than a pooping dinosaur."

Two worlds collide in this action novelette. Zombies have destroyed civilization. Gasoline fuel is no longer an option, but humanity must find a way to survive. In response to trying to restore our way of life, we engineer franken-monsters. Because of their small brains and massive sizes, these beasts make quick work of farming and clearing land. These large creatures are immune to the zombie virus and perform excellently in loud conditions. They are easy to train. They behave like war horses, prone to help charge in and defend our livelihood.

In honor of the past, and to help build our future, we named these creatures dinosaurs.

©2015 James Livingood (P)2015 James Livingood

Introduction to Janus.

The short story Pale Rider introduces us to Janus, the first Blue Brain or Zombie. At the end of civilization as we know it the remaining human survivors struggle to rebuild. Fuel and vehicles are no more so humans genetically engineer animals to be stronger and larger to help in farming, clearing, and transportation duties. These beasts are called dinosaurs. Plots of land must be cleared of zombies to become farms. Our protagonist Paul is known as The Pale Rider. This is the basis of the introduction to our new world. Three.point.five for the effort.

Fun novella--Jurassic Park meets Walking Dead

Where does Pale Rider rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Pale Riders by James Livingood is a creative novella about zombies first in the world before dinosaurs, where zombies--"blues" rule and work in the world. Zombies meet dinosaurs and help the farming world continue along. Macho dude Pale Rider is the glue that keeps the process together. It's quite a funny and unique story.

If you’ve listened to books by James Livingood before, how does this one compare?

I have not listened to James Livingood or heard Mr. Gwynne's books before, but find both enjoyable and will read them again.

Pretty good

This was a fun short story of a post-Apoc world in which humans have retroengineered dinosaurs from birds (if I heard that correctly) in order to fight "blues," or zombies, as well as plow the land and perform other duties. The backstory was the sketchiest part of the book, and I was hoping for a more dinosaur-centric story. The characters were like Old West pioneers and had that dry wit about them. Worth a listen!

Fun read

Fun. A little more detail of the farming land would have been helpful. But an interesting take on zombie and dinosaurs as mounts to ride and protection.

good twist on the same old same old zom plot

quick, good enough that it could have been longer. listened in one gym visit. moved at a good pace
PS almost done with the second book(Janus: Zombies Versus Dinosaurs, Book 2)(so far so good)
(i got a free copy of this book)

First half dragged but great finished.

I was disappointed in the the first half of this story. I found it a little confusing and uninteresting. I love zombie stories but I had a hard time related to this one. The second half picked up and the main character Palerider became likable. His struggle to survive was so believable, stuck between life and death. Our primal instinct to survive kicks in. Solomon also was a great character, never go anywhere without several back up plans. I am going to read book 2 Janus. If the author keeps the same dynamic and adrenaline that the second half of Palerider had this should be a great follow up.

a very fun one

This one was a short story, I had it pending for so long now and it was such a trip.

The plot was absolutely fantastic and funny it made like double check a lot, since omg I couldn't now if I was hearing things or not.

A fantastic trip to a rabbit hole a lot will find very interesting.

An Absurdly Fun Ride!

The zombie virus was initially misdiagnosed. Of course it would be. Eventually, it spread and society as we know it collapsed. A new method of transport was needed, one that did not depend on petroleum products and was immune to the virus. Some scientists got together and gengineered large reptilian birds to transport humans and to be used as heavy equipment in farming and clearing land. Us humans couldn’t help but refer to them as dinosaurs.

I read the description to this novelette and smiled. How could I not give it a listen? The story starts off with a short lead in that sets the stage clearly for the reader. I liked how the zombies (also called ‘blues’ in this story) have a nervous system disorder caused by a virus. Then I thoroughly enjoyed how the dinosaurs came into being. If you have ever owned chickens, then you know they are not far removed from T-rexes. So it was not hard for me to imagine some gengineered featherless birds crossed with reptiles being raised to take out tree stumps.

Then we get into the story. Farming is pretty dangerous today, without zombies and with modern equipment. Imagine trying to clear a bit of farming land while watching out for and possibly fighting zombies. Yeah, pretty damn exciting. The story is told through a single point of view (a man, known as Pale Rider, who travels around the area clearing farm land) in a near nitty gritty way. I liked his skeptical attitude.

There are only 2 women mentioned in this book and neither have speaking roles. They are both wives and we only see one on stage, just once, to plant a sultry kiss. Obviously, I would have liked to see a real female character or two, with actions and dialogue pertinent to the plot. However, that’s my only complaint about this tale.

The mix of action and dinos and zombies had me alternating between a black humor chuckle and nibbling on my nails wondering if our hero had met his end. James Livingood is an author to keep an eye on and I really hope he continues to explore this world he has created.

The Narration: Michael Gwynne was a good fit for Pale Rider, giving him a hard-boiled feel. He had a range of voices for the few other characters we encounter.

Interesting premise, confusing payoff

Not bad for an hour story I guess, although I found it extremely ambiguous. More or less we started nowhere and that's where we ended up. Rather pointless, but as I'm typically a sucker for dinosaurs I may get the other story I saw in the catalog. Narrative was pretty good.

A unique zombie tale - Worth a listen

Any additional comments?

PALE RIDER: Zombies vs. Dinosaurs

Author: James Livingood

Type of Book: Audiobook Unabridged

Narrator: Michael C. Gwynne

Genre: Science Fiction, Post-Apocalyptic, Zombie Fiction

Length: 57 minutes

Release Date: April 1, 2015

Publisher: Paperbackward

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐

* I received a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Zombies have destroyed civilization. People are struggling to find a way to survive now that gas supplies have been depleted.

Looking to create a source of powerful and cheap labour monsters are engineered. Dinosaurs seemed to be the perfect option. They are big. They are powerful, and their brains are small and best of all, they are immune to the zombie virus.

What could possibly go wrong?

I was not sure what to expect from this short audiobook. Zombies vs. Dinosaurs? I assumed it would be silly and a fun read. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the author actually made the scenario of both zombies and dinosaurs existing seem plausible. I was also pleasantly surprised by the storyline. It was interesting and I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would.

The description of how people were reclaiming farmland and the sub-culture of jobs stemming from that necessary process was well thought out and came across as believable.

All in all, PALE RIDER: ZOMBIES vs. DINOSAURS was an enjoyable audiobook.

The narrator had a very deep, manly voice. It was easy to picture that voice belonging to the lead character who was a man's man. The narrator also did a great job with the pacing of the story. He has a gift for using just the right amount of inflection in his voice at any given moment.

I rate this audiobook as 3.5 out of 5 stars.⭐⭐⭐