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in: Zombies as Main Supe, Supe-Mage Mafia, Mob, Gangsters…, Demons,
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City of the Lost

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City of the Lost by Stephen Blackmoore

City of the Lost (2012) by Stephen Blackmoore

City of the Lost — Stand Alone — by Stephen Blackmoore. This book is prequel to the Eric Carter series.

Genres and Sub-Genres[]

Urban Fantasy / Horror / Noir

Book Description or Overview[]

Joe Sunday has been a Los Angeles lowlife for years, but his life gets a whole lot lower when he is killed by the rival of his crime boss—only to return as a zombie. His only hope is to find and steal a talisman that he learns can grant immortality. But, unfortunately for Joe, every other undead thug and crime boss in Los Angeles is looking for the same thing. ~ City of the Lost: New Excerpt by Stephen Blackmoore

This is an urban fantasy/horror novel set on the dark and dangerous streets of Los Angeles. The hero—or anti-hero—is Joe Sunday, and he’s definitely not a nice guy. Joe is a mob enforcer—a cold-blooded killer who has done horrible things to both men and women: breaking legs and fingers, shooting out kneecaps, and even setting a man on fire. When Joe’s boss, Simon, sends him to retrieve a valuable gemstone from a former associate, Joe views it as an easy assignment. What he doesn’t realize is that Sandro Giavetti is not your average human gangster. Long story short, Joe is murdered and then brought back to life as a non-breathing, super-strong zombie who will "live" forever if he consumes a human heart every day to keep his body from rotting away. ~ Fang-tastic Fiction: "City of the Lost"

Lead's Species[]

  • Zombie

Primary Supe[]

  • Zombies, Zombie gangsters

What Sets it Apart[]

  • Zombie mobster with a heart in lead

Narrative Type and Narrators[]

  • First person, present tense, narrative told by Joe Sunday, protagonist.

Books in Series[]

City of the Lost

Companion Series, Spinoffs, Sequels or Prequels[]

Eric Carter series:

  1. Dead Things (Feb 2013) ~  Excerpt
  2. Broken Souls (Aug 15, 2014) ~ BROKEN SOULS

~ Free shorts: Free Fiction « stephenblackmoore.com

Themes[]

• Standing up to power, doing the right thing, figuring out which hand is holding the knife

World Building[]

Setting[]

Dangerous streets of Los Angeles

Places:

Supernatural Elements[]

✥ Zombies, bruja (witch), Nazi doctor, supe ganster, supe mob, vampires, demons, witches and wizards, sorcerer, ,

Colorful version: bruja (aka witch), Nazi doctor who shoots flame from his fingertips, a razor-toothed midget, a bar-tending demon, an immortal woman,

World[]

✥ Joe realizes what has happened to him: “My world drops out from under me. I tell myself that I don’t feel any different, only I do. My lungs, the missing aches and pains, my blown-out knee. I peel back one of the bandages on my sliced up hands. The cuts are gone. My body feels like somebody’s thrown the off switch but forgot to tell me about it.” (p. 27) Here, Joe goes on to explain how he feels about his new existence: “There’s that empty feeling, like I’ve been ripped open and hollowed out. I’m Pinocchio in reverse. The real boy turned into a wooden puppet.” (p. 35) The only thing that will save Joe from this horrific existence is to gain possession of Giavetti’s gemstone. He’ll never get his human life back, but if he has the stone, his body will remain “human.”

Protagonist[]

✥ Joe Sunday wasn't a nice guy before being made a zombie and dying didn't help his manners. He kills and bludgeons his way through this tale, all in pursuit of a stone that may or may not be able to turn him back into a human and Giavetti, the man who covets it. Goodreads reader

✥ Joe thinks its a run-of-the-mill job, until he ends up dead . . . and is brought back to life by the man he was supposed to kill using the stone. Now, in order to keep from rotting and eating people's hearts to rejuvenate himself, Joe needs the stone. With it, he won't need to kill to stay in one piece. All he has to do is find it and keep his hands on it, which is harder than it seems since it appears everyone with any magical talent whatsoever in the LA area is out to get it. ~ Goodreads reader


Sidekick[]

  • Name: / What: / Sidekick-to: / About: / Book First Seen:

Characters Chart[]

Characters What About
Joe Sunday thug for hire, turned zombie while seeking a stone for his boss; stone may or may not be his own key to fixing his zombie-hood;
Sandro Giavetti ? covets the stone;
Samantha woman with a connection to the villain
Patty vampire prostitute
Neumann Nazi sorcerer
Archie Neumann's henchman
Jughead Neumann's henchman teeth and demeanor of a pitbull
The Bruja urban witch wants to help her homeless vampires
Frank Tanaka detective investigating Giavetti
Darius demon
Gabriella
Danny
Julio co-thug has a breakdown–goes bughouse in a bar, leaving Joe to pick up the pieces of a job left undone
Simon mobster boss; mid-level boss; hires Joe Sunday to break legs for him;

To expand the table, in Edit–Visual mode, right-press on a Row of the table or Column (Control-press on a Mac)—choose add Row or Column. Or, in Source Mode: copy-paste rows.

Stephen Blackmoore

Stephen Blackmoore

Author[]

Stephen Blackmoore

Bio: Stephen Blackmoore is an author and a blogger. His first novel is City of the Lost, a paranormal noir with zombies, demons, witches, and a lot of action. ~ Penguin

✤ Stephen Blackmoore is a pulp writer of little to no renown who once thought lighting things on fire was one of the best things a kid could do with his time. Until he discovered that eyebrows don't grow back very quickly. His first novel, a dark urban fantasy titled CITY OF THE LOST is out through DAW Books and is available at all the fashionable bookstores. Hopefully some of the seedier ones, too. He would, after all, like to buy a copy. His short stories and poetry have appeared in magazines like Plots With Guns, Needle, Spinetingler, and Thrilling Detective, as well as the anthologies UNCAGE ME and DEADLY TREATS. ~ FF ~ Stephen Blackmoore and Goodreads

Contributors[]

Cover Artists[]

Other Contributors:[]

  • Audio Book Narrator: — Source:
  • Editor: — Source:

Publishing Information[]

Book Cover Blurb[]

✤ BOOK—City of the Lost (2012): Sunday’s a thug, an enforcer, a leg-breaker for hire. When his boss sends him to kill a mysterious new business partner, his target strikes back in ways Sunday could never have imagined. Murdered, brought back to a twisted half-life, Sunday finds himself stuck in the middle of a race to find an ancient stone with the power to grant immortality. With it, he might live forever. Without it, he’s just another rotting extra in a George Romero flick.

Everyone’s got a stake, from a psycho Nazi wizard and a razor-toothed midget, to a nympho-demon bartender, a too-powerful witch who just wants to help her homeless vampires, and the one woman who might have all the answers — if only Sunday can figure out what her angle is.

Before the week is out he’s going to find out just what lengths people will go to for immortality. And just how long somebody can hold a grudge. ~ CITY OF THE LOST « stephenblackmoore.com

First Sentences[]

City of the Lost (2012) — I toss my jacket on the bar, slide onto the red vinyl stool next to Julio.

Quotes[]

Trivia[]

Awards[]

Read Alikes (similar elements)[]

Zombies as Main Supe:

Zombies & other things:

Noir:

See Category links at bottom of page

Notes[]

See Also[]

See Category links at bottom of page

External References[]

Books:

Excerpts, Freebies: 

Summaries:

World, Characters, etc:

Reviews:

Interviews:

Artists: 

Author:

Community, Fan Sites:

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