Bookseller Dani Solomon shares what happened when she sent fan mail to a favourite author.

One of my favourite books I read last year was Apocalypse Cow by Michael Logan. In essence, this book is the answer to the question: What would happen if the zombie virus infected animals?

The first thing that happens is you learn exactly how funny rage-filled zombiefied cows, bunnies and sheep can be. The second thing that happens is you realise how much these animals out-number humans. And finally, you wonder at how a writer can fill you with equal parts of horror and hope for humanity. Like all truly good comedies, this one has heart. I don’t think it would be too much of a spoiler for a book with the word ‘apocalypse’ in the title to say you’ll see some deaths but I was surprised by how these deaths affected me.

All up, I enjoyed Apocalypse Cow so much that even before I finished it I’d already contacted the author to let him know how much I loved it. Then I contacted him again after I finished to let him know that I still loved it but now I loved it even more than I did the first time I’d told him. It’s much to his credit (and perhaps he took refuge in the knowledge that the Indian Ocean lay between us) that he didn’t block me and notify the appropriate authorities.

Rather, he instead asked if I’d like to read his manuscript for the sequel, Cruel Britannia.

Needless to say, my answer was yes and I’ve just put the final pages down. If I had to sum the book up in 16 words I would choose these ones: Cruel Britannia is to Apocalypse Cow what The World’s End is to Shaun of the Dead.

Yes, I’m fully aware that this will only make sense for Wright/Pegg fans so for the rest of you…

With Cruel Britannia it’s no longer just Britain at risk - it’s the whole world. And because it’s a bigger problem we get a darker, meatier (pun intended) story. This works really well as the added darkness of the story serves to highlight the lighter, funny moments. For example, you really appreciate the cartoonish absurdity of an enraged horny zombie bull running off a cliff when not more than a chapter or two ago you where listening in on a conversation about genocide and found you weren’t even 100% sure you were entirely against the idea. There is nothing black and white about either the uninfected in Cruel Britannica, nor the zombies - or the BRITs, as they prefer to be called. (It stands for ‘Brits for the Rights of the InfecTed’ which is exactly the kind of acronym you’d expect a panicked politician to come up with.)

And that’s the thing I loved best about Apocalypse Cow, the balance between humour and horror, and this goes doubly so of Cruel Britannia. I can’t wait until the rest of the world gets to read it.

Dani Solomon