Jam. It’s not just for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches anymore.
Creative Staff:
Author: Ben Richard “Yahtzee” Croshaw
What They Say:
What would you do if you woke up one morning to see that the streets have been covered in strawberry jam? Grab a cup of milk, a loaf of bread, and a jar of peanut butter, perhaps? Except that this jam isn’t like your normal block full of strawberry jam. This jam can — and will — turn around and eat you.
No. I’m being serious. It’s man-eating jam.
Zombie apocalypse? Nuclear warfare? World ending floods? That’s nothing compared to Ben Richard “Yahtzee” Croshaw’s latest release. This is the one apocalypse that no one saw coming, and as delicious and fruit scented as it is, it’s quickly becoming the biggest threat mankind has ever faced.
The Review (no spoilers):
If you’re in the video game community you probably know who “Yahtzee” Croshaw is. The wonderful mind behind the Escapist’s, “Zero Punctuation,” the witty game journalist is bringing us a new, dark comedy about the end of days.
Covered in jam.
I still chuckle as I type that.
This book is hilarious. It reminds me of comedy’s like, “Shaun of the Dead,” which was both funny and gruesome with it’s zombie apocalypse. “Jam,” is as gruesome as it is ridiculous, but man is it ever an enjoyable read. We’ve seen the world be tossed into peril a thousand times over. The dead walk among us on a weekly basis, there’s killer robots that are ready to terminate humanity. Sometimes, Mother Nature throws a temper tantrum and rocks us with earthquakes, volcanoes, and floods. Sometimes, aliens land on our planet — or we have a camp of them locked away and they’re ready to seek their freedom. Hell, even God himself — or herself — sends angels to start the end of days.
But never, ever, ever have we faced blocks and blocks and blocks of strawberry jam.
Yahtzee manages to take the apocalyptic formula we’ve grown use to and turn it upside down, right-side up, sideways, and everything in between. Written in a first person point of view, we get to walk alongside our main character, Travis, as he tries to survive the jampocalypse. I was hooked by the first sentence and found myself complete engaged in Travis’ tale. As him and his roommates try to survive they have to learn about the jam, what it likes, doesn’t like, and deal with the unbelievable realization that there’s killer jam right outside their door. You meet the apocalyptic cast you’re grown accustomed to — the idealist, the one in denial, ect. ect. — and you grow attached to each one. You watch as Travis tries to be calm about everything, trying to quietly process it until, finally, he just starts screaming, panicking, and coming to the scary realization that, holy shit, his life might end at the gooey hands of strawberry jam.
What really makes this story shine is the writing style. It’s witty, it’s clever, and it grabs your attention. I love how Yahtzee writes dialogue between the characters, actually doing things like showing the progression of a victim screaming. First comes, “Ah,” then, “aaaah,” then, “AAAAAAAH!!!” You get a good sense of how characters sound, how they feel, how it’s so morbid to see bloody body parts being gnawed at by strawberry jam while, at the same time, it’s so far out there that you find yourself laughing because… dude, it’s jam.
In Summary:
I’m a fan of the work Yahtzee does. “Zero Punctuation,” is a hilarious video game segment, but to see that humor cross into the world of fiction is a real treat. You feel like you’re reading a great horror comedy. It’s so well written that when people talk, I can hear it in my head. When people scream, it echoes through my mind. When you have one character telling another character that yes, that is indeed jam outside, I said to myself, “It’s unbelievable, but it’s true, just look outside man! Killer strawberry jam!” I never once had a moment where I wondered how it even got there, I was just enjoying the ride the entire way through. It’s so ridiculous, so weird, that it’s just a pleasure to read.
Although, I’m not going to look at a jar of jelly the same way again. Maybe I should switch to ham and cheese instead of PB&J.
Grade: A
