THE CONTRACT by George L. Cook III: A new Kindle Vella Series

Check out the new 8 part Kindle Vella series, THE CONTRACT.

The village of Wilksbury New Jersey is a wealthy village with only 54 residents, but few know how it stays that way. There is no visible industry or any type of business dealings. Everyone that lives there is simply rich. Unfortunately for Corey, he is about to find out about the horrifying reason why. He is about to find out about the contract...

You can read the first 3 episodes on your CPU the iOS APP on your cell phone for free here: THE CONTRACT

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Why would a zombie author write Giant Land Octopus?

Hey there this is George L. Cook III. I fancy myself an author (others may differ) as I have written a series of 5 zombie books titled The Dead War Zombie Series. On August 1, 2014 I released my latest book Giant Land Octopus which one can tell by its title has nothing to do with zombies. It's more in the sci-fi horror/humor genre (if there's such a thing) and the title says it all.

Some may wonder why I would write Giant Land Octopus. To be honest it's not the first book I have written outside the zombie genre. I have written urban fiction and children's books also but I'm a science fiction and horror fan at heart so I always find my way back to both genres. But to be honest constantly write about zombies eating people are coming up with creative ways to kill zombies can get depressing. I know what you are thinking, zombie apocalypses are usually depressing.

I'm also a big sci-fi fan. I grew up watching U.F.O. , Star Trek, Space 1999 and newer shows like Space: Above and Beyond or Battlestar Galatica (The newer one). I currently watch The Last Ship, The Strain, The Walking Dead or basically any show that starts with "The".

I love sci-fi movies like Star Wars, Aliens, Blade Runner, and The Matrix. I really have a fond spot for old creature feature movies. You know movies like THEM which was about big giant ants or Food of the Gods which was about giant rats. (don't ever watch the sequel. I warned you.) I also loved Kingdom of the Spiders which has a tile that should be self explanatory.

I will also admit to liking some of the stuff on the Syfy channel. You know like Sharktopus or Sharknado. Hey it's not high art (but it's better if your'e high) but it's enjoyable garbage that elicits a few laughs. That's what I was shooting for when I wrote Giant Land Octopus.

I don't really know how I came up with a giant octopus but it was down to that and a giant gerbil. I decided that no one but Tom Cruise would be excited by a giant gerbil so I went with the octopus. (I know that was uncalled for but you laughed.

Now I did't take the overly campy route although there is comedy it's not the spoof or outright parody type. I even studied up on octopuses (I learned that octopi is not actually the plural form). I found two species that fit the story and tried to keep things as realistic as you can in a story titled Giant Land Octopus. I took a few liberties as far as calling the liquid it secrets to disable it's victims ink when it's really not and I made (or believe I did) some crap about octopuses not leaving their "hunting grounds". Hey it sounds good and explains why the octopus just want go away and eat another town.

I wanted to have fun with a story and share my love of sci-fi and old creature feature movies. There are even a few reference to at least three sci-fi movies in the story. I wonder who can catch them. I think I have shared my love of these movies with a quick and witty old fashioned monster of the week story. I hope you take the time to check it out and maybe even leave a review (please!).

Well what are you waiting for? Buy the damn book already...LOL. No really buy the kindle version of the book on Amazon for 99¢ by clicking the picture below:

Interview with the author of The Dead War Zombie Series: ROGUE

Hey all I'm about to actually interview myself about the release of my new book The Dead War Zombie Series: ROGUE. It took a little longer than I expected to get this interview with all the scheduling conflicts between myself and I. After a few rounds of phone tag I finally reached me and conducted this interview. Without any further adieu here's the interview. George Cook Thedeadwarseries.com

TDWZS: (The dead war zombie series): Hi Mr. Cook it was nice of you to finally answer your phone and do this interview with us.

George Cook: Whatever let's hurry up I want to watch Doc of the Dead on Netflix.

TDWZS Seriously Mr. Cook welcome to The Dead War Series Blog. Let's get right to it. What made you write The Dead War Zombie Series: ROGUE?

George Cook: The fans had been asking for me to write as there were some unanswered questions from the first trilogy. ROGUE was a story I wanted to tell anyway after I finished the first book. I thought I would include it in the short story collection but after my first attempt at writing it I realized it would be longer than the other stories in the book so I decided to do it as a stand alone. Oddly enough the first attempt at writing ROGUE became the short story "The man in the hat". In the original version Sgt. Richards was sent out to find the cause of the other Scouts disappearances.

TDWZS: So is ROGUE a short story?

George Cook: I guess by today's standards it is. At over 7,500 words I guess you could call it a novlette also.

TDWZS: What's the plot of ROGUE?

George Cook: Without giving anything away I can say that it's a prequel to The Dead War Zombie Series Book One: Survive the Night. When I say prequel I mean as in it takes place right before the events in Book One. Sgt. Richards has just gotten the letter he is supposed to deliver and he runs into an unexpected enemy. That confrontation help explain something that happens in "The Dead War Zombie Series Book Two: ABOMINATION" and definitely explains the ending of The Dead War Zombie Series Book Three: WAR.

TDWZS: One of the benefits of knowing the author is that we got to read the book for free. The first things I noticed was that ROGUE was the darkest story in the series. Was that intentional?

George Cook: I set out to write a darker story although even I was surprised that it was even bleaker than Book One. I wanted to take the series back to it's roots. Book One was definitely the darker and scariest. Book Two was more action oriented and Book Three ended on somewhat of a hopeful note.

The first draft was so dark that I added the diner scene just to add a little levity although that ends badly too.

TDWZS: The revelation in the book is a big surprise. How did that come about?

George Cook: It had been planned all along to explain the super soldiers that the Special Forces Scouts were. The only problem was explaining how they existed. The secondary enemy introduced in Book Two wasn't actually supposed to be introduced until the second trilogy but I felt they had to be to help explain the Scout Corp.

TDWZS: Where is ROGUE available?

George Cook: Currently on Amazon for the Kindle.

TDWZS: Is there anything you would like to say to the audience before we depart?

George Cook: I would like to first say thank you to all of those that have supported me and you guys make it worth it. I have already started on the next story in The Dead War Zombie Series. One thing I would like to also add is take the time to leave a review. Those reviews really help us independent authors.

TDWZS: Alrighty then. Thanks for the Mr. Cook. Feel free to stop by when your next project is released.

George Cook: Thanks for giving me the opportunity to appear on my own blog it's been a blast.

Buy The Dead War Zombie Series: ROGUE at Amazon:

New Release! The Dead War Zombie Series: ROGUE

Hello to all you zombie and all of you horror fans out there. I would also like to give a specials shout out to those who have supported The Dead War Zombie Series. I am proud to announce the relaese of the next chapter in the Dead War Zombie Series: ROGUE.

This prequel takes place right before the events in The Dead War Zombie Series Book One.

Sgt. Richards starts off on his quest to deliver a message to HQ and runs into an unexpected foe and an even more unexpected revelation. A revelation that can either be the end or the salvation of humanity.

GET YOUR COPY NOW!

Check out this free story from The Dead War Zombie Series: The Entire Collection. Also hear the president's speech from the story below the story! George L. Cook III

The Last Message by George L. Cook III

Changes to The Dead War Zombie Series

Hi all this is George L. Cook III the author of The Dead War Zombie Series. I am writing this to let you all know about a few minor changes and one major change to my series of zombie books.

First let me state that there will be more books in The Dead War Zombie Series. They will be released soon but not too soon. I have spent the last year and change writing The Dead War Zombie books and need a slight break.

Because of that I have made a few changes to answer reader questions from the first three books.

The first change has nothing to do with the story line but with the title. The official title of the series is now The Dead War Zombie series as opposed to The Dead War Series. That is because another author also has a Dead War Series and I believe that it was confusing the readers. It also helps to have the word zombie in your title if potential readers are searching for zombie books. LOL.

Here are the minor changes:

* Sgt. Richards finally gets a first name. It's now spoken once in book two by Sgt. Liu.

* Readers finally learn the source of Duncan's utter hate for humanity.

* We learn why Drake is so important to Devak.

THE MAJOR CHANGE!

The major change involves the ending of The Dead War Book Three: WAR and gives a big hint as to what the Special Forces Scouts are. The ending will also make fans of Sgt. Richards much happier than the original ending.

New commercial for The Dead War Series

Hey all this is George Cook and here is my new commercial for The Dead War Series Book One!

Like zombies? Read The Bridge for free!

The Bridge by George L. Cook III

Short excerpt from The Dead War Series Book One

Here is a short excerpt from my book The Dead War Series Book One. It's just enough to give you a taste of the zombie and science fiction type action in the book ( and the Dead War Series ). So check it out and enjoy. George L. Cook III.

...Richards lowered his pistol and began to creep away from the area. He turned a corner right smack into an oncoming Gray. The dead had soulless black eyes. No pupils, no whites of the eyes, just black orbs.

The thing shrieked as it reached out at Richards. Richards instinctively kicked the thing back and fired just once. The blue bead of laser light slammed into the Grays forehead and blew out the back of the things head in a blue burst of light, blood,  and black bile.

Richards rolled forward and then spun around onto one knee. The other two Grays he had seen earlier were almost on top of him now. Richards fired twice silencing both with head shots. He got to his feet and ran. He could hear moaning sounds all around him now...

Buy The Dead War Series Book One

The Dead War Trilogy Now Available For Nook, Kobo, & Smashwords

Great news everyone. The Dead War Trilogy is now available for The Nook, Kobo Readers and on Smashwords! The great thing with Smashwords is that it works on many readers and formats including Kindle, Nook, Sony, Kobo, Adobe Digital, iPad, your computer, etc. So whatever reader you have you can now read the greatness ( LOL ) that is The Dead War Trilogy. Use the links below to buy:

SMASHWORDS: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/359908

NOOK: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-dead-war-trilogy-george-l-cook-iii/1116445937?ean=2940148767589&itm=1&usri=2940148767589

KOBO: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/the-dead-war-trilogy

5 Star Review For The Dead War Trilogy On Amazon

 I love it, May 8, 2013

By 

JessieGarrett

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: The Dead War Trilogy (The Dead War Series) (Kindle Edition)

I really liked this book series. It was filled with plenty of action and zombies, the introduction of vampires was a hell of a twist. The characters were believable and I could see the event's within the book actually happening. The development of a special special forces group was cool. Let alone the survival of the world depended on a little girl and her genetics. I will recommend this book to everyone...

The Dead War Series Trilogy. A little info on my new book.

Hi my name is George Cook the author of The Dead War Series Trilogy. Welcome to the Dead War Series. I hope you enjoy this first trilogy of The Dead War Series as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thank you for buying my book.

As with many things some things don't go the way we envisioned the first time around. I loved the way The Dead War Series books came out but they can always be better. Also a few minor issues I felt needed to be addressed.


This combined trilogy is canon or mythology for The Dead War Series. This is the official version. I want that known because it ignores the short story "Doctor" which was written when The Dead War Series was meant to go a different direction and end very differently. So basically what I'm trying to get across is that "Doctor" is not Canon and as far as I'm concerned it never happened. :)

To those of you who have already brought the first three books I want to let you know that there are not many changes.

Actually only three.

For a long time I have wanted to add the short story “Safe Zone” into the main narrative. I wanted to do this for two reasons. The most important reason being to properly introduce Liu into the series proper.

Previously he had only appeared in the short stories which took place before or during the first book. The second reason was to have Richards say the line “The US Army doesn't run from any enemy, living or dead.” In the series proper. It was only said in the short story “Safe Zone”.

The second change was to better describe the physical characteristics of the Delice character.

The last change was letting everyone know what happened to the character of Ingrid. Oddly enough she did not appear at all in Book Three: War after appearing in book two. That was something that has now been corrected.

So I guess that's about it and thank you all for your support.

George L. Cook III

If The Dead War Series ever became a movie who should play Sgt. Richards.

First, let me say thank you to everyone that has supported The Dead War Series Trilogy. With that done I would like to ask those who have read The Dead War Series a question. If The Dead War Series was ever made into a movie who do you think could play Sgt. Richards? The Rock ( Dwayne Johnson, I know physically he's too big but I'm talking star power baby!), Boris Kodjoe, Shemar Moore, or an unknown actor?

Interview with George Cook about the Dead War Series Book Three: WAR

Here is an interview with George L. Cook III who has FINALLY released The Dead War Series Book Three: WAR.

TDWS: Welcome Mr. Cook. First let us congratulate you on the release of The Dead War Series Book Three: WAR.

George Cook: Thank you for having me and on your congratulations on the release of the book.

TDWS: First question right off the bat. What took so long?

George Cook: Let me apologize for that but i hope to the fans of The Dead War Series the wait was worth it.

Writing a series is not easy and can at times be painstaking. You have to keep things organized and make sure what happens in book three matches what happens in books one and two. You have to keep track of what certain characters have said or did no matter how insignificant it may have been at the time they said or did it. Those stories I had to keep going back to not only included books one and two but the short stories also. The short story DOCTOR provided some issues I hadn't anticipated.

Also I thought I knew how book three would end when I started writing it and then began to jump back and forth between that ending and another ending. I eventually decided to go with the original which meant that about ten pages wound up going in the trash.

TDWS: From the beginning of the book it's apparent that no character is safe and some of the deaths will surprise fans of The Dead War Series. How did you decide who lived and who died?

George Cook: I wanted to keep things as realistic as you can in a story about a zombie apocalypse. I mean there are zombies and humanity goes to war with vampires ( did I mention the word realistic? ) , characters will die on all sides. Some deaths I had planned in advance others came naturally in the course of my writing the action and battle scenes.

TDWS: There is a lot of action is book three but still some scares. How did you manage that?

George Cook: Many of the action sequences were supposed to be in book two but didn't fit the story at the time. Also in book three we are dealing with a bigger scale for the story as war has broken out and it takes place in multiple places. That allowed to up the action ante.

There were two scenes where I deliberately went for scares to set an even more ominous scene and I think I did that. If you read or have read the book you will know what those two scenes are.

TDWS: We get to meet more Scouts in book three beside Richards and Liu. What took so long with that?

George Cook: Well the Scouts normally work alone so it would be unusual to see that many at one place.

If we stop and think about it we the only Scout we really know is Richards the established hero of The Dead War Series. We really don't know much about Liu as he is not in book one and only appears briefly in book two. Other than that he only appeared in two of the short stories and in one of those he is not yet a scout. So I wanted to give Liu more to do and show the variety and diversity of the scout Corp with the other Scouts introduced in book three. Patel the only other scout mentioned by name also shows up in book three.

TDWS: Can I ask you questions about the ending of the book?

George Cook: You can but i'm not answering. :)

TDWS: Okay let's try this. With the way the book ends will we see more of The Dead War Series?

George Cook: Hell yes. I enjoy the Dead war world and have several stories to continue to write those stories.

TDWS: When can we expect those books?

George Cook: One is almost done now although I don't know if it will be the next release as it goes in a different direction.

TDWS: Well thanks again for the interview ans let's not take so long between books okay.

George Cook: I promise the next release will be much sooner.LOL.

BUY THE DEAD WAR SERIES

What's up with The Dead War Series Book Three: WAR

Hey everyone this is Dead War Series author George Cook. I know I promised that The Dead War Series Book Three: WAR would be released October 31, 2012. I really wanted to release that book on Halloween but circumstances would not allow that.

I have not yet finished the book because in early October my wife was hit by a car while crossing he street. She had to have surgery to repair a broken clavicle so I have been tending to her, Then when she finally starts to get up and moving around a little bit Hurricane sandy hit.

Sandy knocked out our power for nine days. With gas and food in limited supply you can imagine that finishing a book was not my top priority.

I truly apologize for not having the book out on time but it will be released before the end of the year or early next year.

Just so you now WAR will end the first part of The Dead War Series known to me as the Sgt. Richards trilogy. So expect some big surprises.

Before that I will release a short story titled The Dead War Series: ROUGE that goes into the story of the Special Forces Scouts. It will hint at some of the surprises in The Dead War Series: WAR.

Thank you so much for your continued support. I truly appreciate it.

Dead War Flash Fiction: Transformation

The bites hurt like hell.

Brandon sobbed heavily as blood poured from the three bites on his left arm as he lay with his back up against the wall.

Brandon screamed loudly as he kicked away the dead corpse near his feet. He had bashed the damn things head in with a baseball bat. Sadly he had been bitten before he could get the infected woman off of him.

Brandon screamed out even louder as a black ooze began to flow from his wounds. He could feel his body beginning to convulse. He was becoming one of those things. He was becoming one of the walking dead.

Brandon's whole life began to flash before his eyes as his body convulsed violently. Brandon began to throw up bile and blood as he thrashed around. He shut his eyes as his screams grew louder.

Suddenly his body stopped moving. The pain was gone. Brandon opened his eyes. He no longer saw colors. Everything was in black and white.

He moaned softly. He no longer cared about anything. He only wanted to eat. He only wanted human flesh.

He had become one of the walking dead.

Interview with George Cook author of The Dead War Series Book Two: Abomination

Hi this is George Cook, the author of The Dead War Series. I have released book two in the series, Abomination. I occasionally interview authors of zombie books here on Thedeadwarseries.com so it only makes sense that I interview myself about the new book. Check out my interview below.


TDWS: Let's get right top it. There is a big surprise at the very beginning of the book. How or why did you come up with that?

George Cook: First let me thank everyone who purchased The Dead War Series: Book One and made it successful. Without those people there would have been no book two.

The surprise at the beginning of Abomination was not part of the original story arch for The Dead War Series. I had planned out how the story of the first three books would go and I ran into the issues with the motivations for certain character's actions.

If you have read book one you know that some characters seem to be against humanity. I had to come up with a reason, a good reason for their actions. Hence the surprise at the beginning of the book was born.

TDWS: You mentioned characters. Are they all back in Book Two?

George Cook: Oh yes Sergeant Richards, Jackson, Holloway, Smith, Duncan, Blake, Delice etc are all back. There are also new characters and Sgt Jackson's platoon The Peacemakers are introduced.

Also Sergeant Liu who previously only appeared in the short stories "Zombie Killer" and "Safe Zone" finally shows up in the main story line.

TDWS: How would you compare Book Two to the first book?

George Cook: Book Two is a lot more action oriented with some bigger action sequences than the first book. The horror and suspense element are still there though as the antagonist and protagonist are in a dark hospital full of the living dead. You never know what's around the corner.

I also tried to insert a little humor to keep things from being so dark. That's hard though since the whole world has gone to hell.

TDWS: At the end of Book Two we start to see some technology. What's up with that?

George Cook: LOL. Let's just say that both sides have things that they don't want anyone to know about. That will play in big time in Book Three: War.

TDWS: Sergeant Richards seems even more sure of himself this time out. Are we seeing an evolution of the character?

George Cook: I think what you are seeing with the Sergeant Richards character is a man thrown into extraordinary circumstancesy making the choice to rise to them instead of be crushed by them.
As seen in the short story "Safe Zone" he truly believes that mankind can win the war against the dead and now he has a chance to make sure that happens.

TDWS: The entire cast of The Dead War Series is very multi-cultural. Why so?

George Cook: Because the United States is. I hope it doesn't take a zombie apocalypse to bring us all together but if it does no one will care if the man or woman next to them is black, white, brown, yellow, Muslim, Christian, Jewish, straight or gay. They will only care whether or not you can kick some zombie ass and help ensure their survival.

TDWS: There is another surprise when Sergeant Richards and The Peacemakers finally find the zombie.What comes of that?

George Cook: Nice try, but that wont be divulged until Book Three. All I can say is that the surprise will lead an enemy to reveal themselves more than they wanted to and lead to an all out war at The Rock.

TDWS: So there will be another battle at The Rock?

George Cook: Yes that was planned from the start. I actually made a video back in January 2012 after the first book came out. Watching it now is funny because Book One actually had a different name at the time. Here is some audio from the second battle and this is all the scoop you are going to get.




TDWS: What will you tell us about Book Three: War?

George Cook: There will be much more action, military hardware, and that no character is safe. It will be all out war.

TDWS: When will Book Three: War be released?

George Cook: The week of October 31st of course. LOL.

TDWS: Where can people keep up with you and what's going on?

George Cook: Of course right here on The Dead War Series Blog. They can also follow me on Facebook or Twitter.

TDWS: Thanks for the interview and thanks for your time.

George Cook: For you guys anytime.

New book trailer for The Dead War Series Book Two: Abomination

Check out the trailer for my latest book, The Dead War Series Book Two: Abomination. Please feel free to share it, tweet it, and like it. I promise I wont mind...LOL

The Dead War Series Book Two: Abomination.

The battle continues! The Dead War Series Book Two: Abomination.

Hi this is George Cook and I'm proud to announce that The Dead War Series Book Two: abomination is finally here. I apologize for taking so long and I promise you that Book Three: War! will be released On October 31, 2012. I'm working on it now. Thank you all for the success of the first book. I hope that you enjoy the second. Check out the synopsis below:

The US Army battles on!

The battle against the dead continues. Sergeant Richards, Sergeant Jackson, Delice, Duncan, Blake and the dead are all back. New friends, new enemies and plenty of the undead. Surprises galore as it's revealed who released the Beserker Virus and why.

The pros and cons of using a baseball bat during a zombie apocalypse.

If there ever is a zombie apocalypse many things will be running through our minds. First and foremost the overwhelming majority of us will be thinking about self preservation and the safety of our families. To those of you questioning why I put self preservation before the safety of loved ones it's because a dead person can't protect anyone.

Now the most logical thing to do is to find a secure building and just stay the fuck there. But us being human at some point and time some one will need food and water.

That means going outside. That means you will have to defend yourself against the hordes of the dead. Now unless you have one of those neighbors who has been waiting his whole life for a zombie apocalypse and has secretly stashed enough weapons to fight World War III you probably wont have access to many firearms. That means you will be relying on blunt objects to eliminate the dead.

The baseball bat is very common in many households as a sporting accessory or as a cheap security system. It also will get the job done against a slow moving target and we all know that the dead wont be winning any 100 yard dashes anytime soon.

With that in mind as a service to TDWS readers I have decided to list the pros and cons of the baseball bat as a zombie killing weapon.

Pros

* Ease of use. If you need instructions on how to use it you wont be alive long anyway.

* Doesn't need to be reloaded.

* Light weight. Wont slow you down if you have to haul ass.

* Available in most department and sporting goods stores.

Cons

* Requires you to be relatively close to zombie attackers.

* Normally requires more than one swing to take out the dead.

* Sucks against multiple attackers.

* Don't miss! A miss or an over swing can lead to an entire side of your body being exposed.

* Will eventually break or if aluminum, bend.

In Conclusion.

So in closing my professional zombie killing opinion is that it's not the best of weapons but will do the job in a pinch.

George L. Cook III author of The Dead War Series: Book 1