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A Merry Christmas Cocktail

Well, it is Christmas Eve, the stars are brightly shining and the food is nearly prepared and waiting for tomorrow's feast. So, as a Christmas present for all our readers, we would like to share a delicious Crowvus cocktail with you all. This is called a Caledon . It is based on the book of the same name by Virginia Crow. You can find the book here .  The components of the cocktail are very Scottish, just like the book itself! You will need: 1. Drambuie  2. Irn Bru 3. Apple and Raspberry J2O  Here's a quick step-by-step guide to making your very own Caledon: 1. Pour a shot of Drambuie into a standard-size tumbler. 2. Add some Irn Bru. The glass want to be just over half-full at this point. (Or just less than half-empty, if you're a pessimist!) 3. Fill the rest of the glass with Apple & Raspberry J2O.  4. Now, give it a good stir to mix up all the delicious ingredients and then settle down with a good book (Caledon, obviously!) and enjoy! Please note: this Crowvus...

"Night of the Victorian Dead" Book Review

Night of the Victorian Dead by Amber Michelle Cook

"Night of the Victorian Dead" Book Cover


"Inspired by beloved works of literature from Charlotte Bronte, Charles Dickens and Jane Austen, and in tribute to the delightful terror of first encountering classic undead creatures comes Night of the Victorian Dead, in which a rich collection of characters - with the endearing manners, gentility and sensibilities of that era - meet the unthinkable horror of an outbreak of the supernatural in the form of Re-risen Dead."


3 Stars
When I got the review request for this novel, the first thing I thought was "Oh no. I hate zombies!" It's not that I have anything against zombies (I'm sure some of them are very decent) but ever since my sister used to chase me around the room in a Hallowe'en mask pretending to be a zombie, I have been really scared of them.

I'm pleased I agreed to review this book, however. It is a really interesting mix between historical fiction and zombie novels, with some spine-chillingly yet amusing encounters with the living dead.

I didn't realise, when I started reading, there was a connection between the book's characters and those in "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte so I was slightly confused at first. After the initial confusion, however, I began to appreciate how well the parallel works. The author looks at the Jane Eyre story through the eyes of other characters, for example the ward, which is an ingenious look at the secondary characters in the classic book.

It is also greatly amusing to see how the much-loved characters deal with the unknown threat of zombies, in their perfectly English way. How they remain so prim and proper beats me, but it works!

Because there were a few different groups of characters in different spaces, the author jumped from one group to another which added to the suspense. At the start of the novel, however, this was slightly confusing as I was just getting used to the characters.

The book would be a great read for someone who is looking for a humourous zombie novel with a bit of a twist.

Find the book here.

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