Vinyl Destination

Honestly? I thought after reading Larry, that it was impossible for Adam Millard to write anything funnier. I was proven so very wrong. The setup is brilliant, vinyl is collected in a small town and disposed of in landfill, pissing off a long dormant evil being. Awoken and in need of some wanton destruction, the thing sets about destroying the town through the medium of the thing that was dumped on it's abode, music. There are just so many nods to decades of music, and it's the way Millard uses them to genius comedic and graphically gory effect, that makes Vinyl Destination so thoroughly enjoyable. I let out so many chuckles in public, that people were on the verge of staging an intervention, get it, enjoy it.

A review copy was provided by the author. This did not affect the content of this review.Vinyl Destination is a blast. The core concept is pleasingly mental – evil-dead-meets-cosmic-horror which gets corrupted by the records that have been used by the council to line the refuse pit said horror is sleeping in, waking it in the process, resulting on the hapless inhabitants of Bellbrook being gradually turned into musical icons from the last half century – and the delivery is gleefully demented.The sheer number of gags per minute are impressive. Not all of them landed for me, but enough did that I was consistently chuckling throughout, an early running joke concerning fish fingers being a particular highlight. The big advantage of such a joke heavy approach is that if any one punchline doesn't grab you, it hardly matters – two more will be along in a minute. Often, too, momentum builds, as absurdity is topped on absurdity, leading to a few genuine belly laughs. It's deceptively smart stuff - Millard has a real gift for combining the mundane and the absurd, colliding them together with poise.The story is, as you'll have surmised, slight and very silly, but it zips along at a good pace, never outstaying it's welcome or dragging. Short chapters help with this, keeping us bouncing between different groups of protagonists in various rediculous predicaments. Millard does a very good job with this, in that I never lost track of who I was visiting with at any one time, despite the large cast and regular scene changes – again, under the hood of the silliness of the piece is some genuine writing skill.There's a particularly fine set-piece sequence in the town nightclub around the halfway point which I really enjoyed, and I found the action from there up to the finale really enjoyable and engaging – even managing to squeeze in a dash of drama amid the ever-present jokes.Overall I found Vinyl Destination to be a breath of fresh air – a fun, knowing romp through the tropes of horror fiction and popular music, with enough good humour and energy to keep the pages turning at a good pace. Very entertaining.- See more at: http://www.gingernutsofhorror.com/4/post/2015/02/horror-fiction-review-vinyl-destination-by-adam-millard.html#sthash.pWzeBLL5.dpuf

Wow loved this. It was such a great, fun read. Anyone into music, zombies and demons needs this in their collection.

Never has a tale of ancient evil been more likely to get at least one song stuck in your head. The story is fun and well put together, and the musical mentions worked in are varied enough to be familiar to almost any reader I can think of. I got a lot of good laughs too. Definitely an enjoyable little book.

This was a really fun read even if some of the song references went over my head. I loved the premise and enjoyed watching what happened to each character as the story progressed. I feel like I can't get very specific without spoiling things, suffice to say if you like bizarro you should pick up this book.

I have been a fan of Adam Millard’s for some time. Millard writes novels that are always a sort of love-letter to a genre he clearly loves. Each book is meant to be entertaining in the way that a Saturday-afternoon creature-feature is supposed to be fun; aware of its own limitations, and exploiting those limitations and the limitations of the characters who are placed in absolutely ludicrous scenarios. Millard’s writing touches the heart of both bizarro and horror fiction, blending elements of both genres that make his books worth reading for fans of either.Vinyl Destination moves very quickly, and the ideas themselves are engaging without any subtext. Millard, a UK author, reminds me of how I perceive British humor; quirky, witty, and intelligent. The humor is never juvenile, but is tongue-in-cheek; the dialogue is naturalistic, as if the reader might be able to identify with the common sense of humor that the characters use in their dialogue. This suggests that Millard writes for an audience that wants to be able to identify with its characters easily; Millard almost seems to know what a reader might expect a character to say, and then twists in into something unexpected. Lovely, deft, and skillful.A lot of great pop-culture references that were surprising. Not many people will even admit to having watched a movie like Species 2; I think that idea best exemplifies where Millard is going with his characters. I loved the nostalgic debates about music and pop culture. I loved the action, the setting, and the talk about records. YES. Vinyl records. And how many terrible movies did the characters address in this book?What a fun read. Millard even mentions Enya. What a crazy book. I think LOL should just be the title of this review.

A review copy was provided by the author. This did not affect the content of this review.Vinyl Destination is a blast. The core concept is pleasingly mental – evil-dead-meets-cosmic-horror which gets corrupted by the records that have been used by the council to line the refuse pit said horror is sleeping in, waking it in the process, resulting on the hapless inhabitants of Bellbrook being gradually turned into musical icons from the last half century – and the delivery is gleefully demented.The sheer number of gags per minute are impressive. Not all of them landed for me, but enough did that I was consistently chuckling throughout, an early running joke concerning fish fingers being a particular highlight. The big advantage of such a joke heavy approach is that if any one punchline doesn't grab you, it hardly matters – two more will be along in a minute. Often, too, momentum builds, as absurdity is topped on absurdity, leading to a few genuine belly laughs. It's deceptively smart stuff - Millard has a real gift for combining the mundane and the absurd, colliding them together with poise.The story is, as you'll have surmised, slight and very silly, but it zips along at a good pace, never outstaying it's welcome or dragging. Short chapters help with this, keeping us bouncing between different groups of protagonists in various rediculous predicaments. Millard does a very good job with this, in that I never lost track of who I was visiting with at any one time, despite the large cast and regular scene changes – again, under the hood of the silliness of the piece is some genuine writing skill.There's a particularly fine set-piece sequence in the town nightclub around the halfway point which I really enjoyed, and I found the action from there up to the finale really enjoyable and engaging – even managing to squeeze in a dash of drama amid the ever-present jokes.Overall I found Vinyl Destination to be a breath of fresh air – a fun, knowing romp through the tropes of horror fiction and popular music, with enough good humour and energy to keep the pages turning at a good pace. Very entertaining.- See more at: http://www.gingernutsofhorror.com/4/post/2015/02/horror-fiction-review-vinyl-destination-by-adam-millard.html#sthash.pWzeBLL5.dpuf

This is the first thing I have ever read from author Adam Millard. Although, I must say, I have seen his other books pop up when searching for underground, indie and small press stuff. I found Vinyl Destination through the website goodreads and became very intrigued about it. I used to work at a used record store and the cover is something you would have seen as a poster on our wall. As the saying goes, "Never judge a book by its cover." I have to disagree with this particular example. What I got out of the book is exactly what the cover conveys, a bizarro, cross between comedy and horror. A book that I would love to see be turned into a feature full-length film.Adam definitely knows his music and the other topics discussed in this book. He is well-versed in believable and comedic dialogue. I think any fan of pop culture or something like a Troma movie would enjoy Vinyl Destination. If your searching for a new, unique take on zombies, this book is for you. What I find exciting is that I found a new author that has caught my attention, I'm looking forward to many of his other titles and to the future of his writing career.