City Of The Lost by Stephen Blackmoore

I've never met a zombie that I didn’t like.

That is so not true. Zombies are gross, disgusting. They stink like rotten meat baking in the desert sun, and they’re always oozing all kinds of bodily fluids while dripping flesh all over the freakin’ place.

I’ve never met a zombie that didn’t make me puke… would be more accurate.

Well, not until I met Joe Sunday, that is!

One look at the cover for City Of The Lost and I knew, just knew, that I was going to fall in love with Joe Sunday. I mean, come on… look at him. Look. At. Him. He’s a hottie… with a perfectly kissable jaw line, messed up hair that my fingers long to touch, eyebrows with a sexy but distinctive arch, and a hole in his chest large enough to see the street lamp just down the road from where he’s standing.

Yeah, about that -

Joe Sunday is your average “leg-breaker for hire,” the kind of guy that most of us wouldn't date, and definitely not the kind of guy that if you did choose to date, you’d take home to meet your Mamma. We first meet up with Joe at Henry’s Bar and Grill checking up on his friend, and coworker, Julio. Julio had been sent by their back-stabbing boss, Simon, to retrieve an ancient stone from some guy named Giavetti. But ever since meeting with Giavetti, Julio’s been acting a little strange. Mumbling about his hands not being his hands, breaking his bottle of beer, attacking the bartender, attacking Joe,  and ending the very first scene in this novel by jamming the broken bottle into his throat and… dying, I’d say Julio isn't quite himself anymore.

Now, Julio’s behavior and death doesn't just have Joe asking questions, it has his boss, Simon, confessing to knowing and killing Giavetti back in his younger days. After telling some pretty unbelievable stories, Simon puts Joe in charge of getting rid of this Giavetti guy, finding the stone, and breaking the news to Julio’s wife about Julio’s death. That last part would have been easy to do had Julio not shown up at his home as a newly risen member of the walking dead, and a puppet being pulled by the tight strings of Giavetti.

After walking into a world of chaos and total disbelief, Joe finds himself battling it out with Julio, losing his life, waking to find himself the best zombie Giavetti has ever created, and on the hunt for an ancient stone with the power to grant immortality. 

In this story you’ll read about the one thing Joe needs to eat every day to keep from rotting; a social-working witch that wants to save all the little, not-so-human misfits in Los Angeles; an incredibly crazy Nazi wizard named Dr. Neumann, who happens to know the secrets behind the ancient stone’s power; a midget with razor-sharp teeth; a demon tending bar that likes to talk in riddles; an officer seeking revenge;  the truth behind Giavetti’s beauty secrets; and a beautiful woman named Samantha Morgan... holding one hell of a grudge.

And the stone - wanted by all the characters cast in this deliciously written book - not only has the power to grant immortality to those that seek it, but has the power to destroy the magical world Mr. Blackmoore has so perfectly hidden in plain sight within the City of Angels.  Some want the stone to save others. Some want the stone so they can live forever. And one person is willing to do anything to use the stone for the purpose of destroying another… even if it means killing Joe Sunday in the process.

While there might not be any love scenes in City Of The Lost, there’s definitely enough sexual tension between Joe Sunday and Samantha Morgan for City Of The Lost to be added to Sabrina’s Month of Love. I mean, honestly, I’d gladly let Joe Sunday eat the heart out of my chest… as long as he doesn’t shoot me in the head and have my body crushed into pulp at a gravel quarry. Well, actually, knowing me… I’d probably give my heart to him anyway.

Book Contest:  If you leave a comment on the blog, one winner, chosen at random,  will win a signed copy of City Of The Lost by Stephen Blackmoore. Comments must be posted by Tuesday, February 21, 2012.  Winner will be announced Wednesday, February 22, 2012.

City Of The Lost by Stephen Blackmoore can be purchased from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Stephen Blackmoore is a writer of pulp, crime and urban fantasy. His short stories and poetry have appeared in Needle, Plots With Guns, Spinetingler, Thrilling Detective, Shots, Demolition, Clean Sheets, and Flashing In The Gutters. To learn more about Stephen, visit his blog, L.A. Noir.