And once again, I am back with a follow-up from author Penny Moonz’s The Hotel with B-horror banger: Doomland.
I wrote this for everyone that needs to go back in time and watch that one cool-ass movie again. The one that’s super retro, gritty, fun, fantastic. This is a dark, tech-noir, kick-in-the-pants shoot-em up.
Penny Moonz
It’s a normal night for Zack and his friend Felix. They lay out in the Arizona night and watch the stars, coming home to a rather innocuous suburban life. Except something is out there. It started with Zack’s family goats being slaughtered. Then a neighbor shows up dead, ravaged by what looks to be a giant animal. Zack and Felix stay out and notice what seems to be dog-sized arachnids bathed in a metal exoskeleton, hellbent on carnage. While their city falls into chaos with the arrival of these creepy creatures, Zack and Felix’s world expands infinitely when they find out the reason behind the invasion. They join forces with an extraterrestrial crew to save the day — and their town — before Earth really turns into what the space beings call it: Doomland.
Having read Moonz’s last story and knowing Doomland is presented as a B-horror extravaganza, I was ready for some colossal, possibly radioactive, but certainly gigantic critters. And boy was that what I got! Zack and Felix are so fun together, and I loved the interactions with friends and family. I’ve come to find Moonz’s writing style highly geared toward making characters comfortable to be around and read about. Descriptions of scenery, actions, and people were more than enough to fill my head with wondrous images and sequences, making Doomland a very fun (and quick) read.
But the world-building and characters don’t even compare to the main crux of the story. Filled with action, adventure, and some gross-out moments with giant, eight-legged androids, Doomland was absolutely filled to the brim with entertainment. Zack and Felix end up on an excursion across the desert towns, joining forces with exterminators from other worlds. Based on their own descriptions, we have human-like beings, robots, hulking masses — each one different with their own personality (and weapons). Though little information is given about who these “people” are or the intergalactic worlds they all come from, it really isn’t needed. Doomland manages to skirt around bigger details without making the reader feel lost. Because the main plot revolves around an alien spider infestation, we’re too busy blasting our way through diners and rotten hotels, searching for the queen and splattering spider guts all over the place.
Doomland was a wild ride, going from mystery to thrills, landing on science fiction with a ton is pizazz. There were moments of high tension, wondering who might be on the chopping block next. And let me tell you, I did a lot of wondering — in a good way. Even though the camera in our heads is keeping us focused on the story at hand, Doomland allows for endless wonder: how many people perished in the disaster, what happens after cleanup, how much is a shell worth, what happened to the arm that got chopped off (you’ll have to read it to find out whose arm).
Doomland went by in a flash, almost like that singular night with Zack and Felix. And like its B-movie brethren, Doomland left me energized… though very weary of the Arizona nighttime sky.
Doomland is available on Amazon. Follow Penny Moonz on Instagram and web for more!
