“Inglourious Basterds” meets “Dawn of the Dead” in "By the Blood of Heroes" by Joseph Nassise

From the press release.

With the critical and box office success of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, the rise in the popularity of steampunk fiction and fashion, and the influx of zombie-themed TV shows (Walking Dead), books (World War Z), and movies (Zombieland), BY THE BLOOD OF HEROES (on sale from Harper Voyager May 1, 2012; ISBN 9780062048752; $14.99; e-ISBN 9780062048776; $9.99) taps into some of today’s coolest alternative trends. International bestseller Joseph Nassise takes readers on a wild ride through a zombie-filled World War I, complete with some of its most celebrated and most notorious figures.

The Great War progressed as wars normally do—armies fight, soldiers die, battles are won, ground is lost, and nowhere is an end in sight—until 1917, when the Germans discover T-leiche, or “corpse gas” and everything goes to Hell for the good guys. The Germans employ corpse gas on the fallen, ally and enemy alike, to raise them from the dead and turn them into “shamblers,” mindless, flesh-eating machines under their direct control. The Allied forces can now do no more than hold their ground and pray their scientists, including the legendary Nicola Tesla, find a way to combat this seemingly unbeatable weapon.

When Major Jack Freeman, the American Ace, and poster-boy for the American War effort over in France, is downed over enemy lines and taken captive, a man from his past, veteran Captain Michael “Madman” Burke, is the only man brave and foolish enough to accept the mission to recover Freeman. Burke assembles a team of disparate members, from Sergeant Moore, his right-hand man during the war, Clayton Manning, to big game hunter turned soldier eager to conquer this new, dangerous beast, to professor Dan Richards, one of Tesla’s top men and the resident authority on all things supernatural.

Using an experimental drilling vehicle to infiltrate enemy territory, the team faces incredible danger as they struggle to reach the prison camp. From ruthless smugglers who betray them to the Germans, to marauding bands of the undead, to the ultimate enemy Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron, they find risk and peril at every turn. It is only when they arrive at the prison camp that the true importance of their mission is unveiled. While in captivity, Freeman has discovered the enemy’s deepest secret - how they control the ravenous army of the undead!

Editor's Note

Harper Voyager was kind enough to send me a review copy, so expect a review in the near future.  In the meantime you can check out Joseph Nassise's website, Facebook and Twitter pages.

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Mitro is founder, editor and contributor of Alternate History Weekly Update. When he is not busy writing about his passion for alternate history, he spends his time working as a licensed attorney in the state of Illinois and dreams of being a published author himself one day.