First, a note of admission to my particular personal biases. I tend to be instinctually attracted to Zombie stories in much the same way that the Zombies themselves are instincively attracted to living flesh. There’s just something really appealing about the world falling under rotting arms and gnashing teeth. Possibly "appealing" is not the perfect word.

On the other hand, it’s kind of hard to do something new and original with the whole Zombie-Apocalypse formula. Zombies show up, they eat most to all of the cast, and that’s more or less it. Entertaining, but a trifle repetitive- especially given the sheer volume of Zombie related media available these days.

Initially, "Be Still My Formerly Beating Heart," appears to be following the standard undead curve. It starts in the middle of an action scene that could be pulled from any Zombie-horror flick, thrusting us into a siege of corpses and the reactions of the various petrified protagonists. The speed with which we are introduced to the core cast is breathtaking and just a little off-putting in its frenticness, though it seems this may have been somewhat intentional; it certainly creates an impression of chaos. However, after a lovely little subversion of our Leading-Character expectations, things calm down a little and we’re allowed to get to know everyone a little better, while dead things continue to claw at the walls.

The two main characters- Kaveh (Kevin? No) and Lisa- are quite well done, though at this early stage they appear primarily defined by their central insecurities. Fortunately, said insecurities are interesting. Lisa isn’t the most charasmatic leading lady in the world, but her medical fears and general overcoming-of-terror lend her quick human credence. Kaveh, an Iranian immiegrant, is much more interesting, and the author’s frequent mention of the predjudices he has faced show indications of becoming a fascinating theme. It certainly lends later events added resonance.

A couple of other characters are in evidence, though as yet they have had little more to do than be inappropriately hysterical, inadvisabley casual or incapacitated by zombification- hopefully the former two will change as the story continues. As to the latter . . . well, it is here that "Be Still My Formerly Beating Heart," takes an interesting deviation from the norm and starts to develop rules of its own. I won’t spoil any surprises, but suffice to say that the direction embarked upon is fresh and interesting, promising delicious developments to come.

The site’s format is the standard blog template, and I have no qualms about navigation. A couple of the text-breaks are a little abrupt; scene shifts are handled with the same line-breaks as regular paragraphs, omitting the traditional *  *  *  (or equivalent)  to differentiate them. This creates occasional feelings of over-abrupt transition.

The writing is solid. I detected no obvious typos, nor any spelling mistakes, and events were kept clear. Descriptions were a little stark in places- for one thing, the wider city has yet to be described in particular detail, lending the piece a slightly stage-bound feel. On the other hand, some areas are very graphic in there description. Particularly anything involving human digestion (or rather, the digestion OF humans), which is described to such a heavy extent that it becomes blackly comic- presumably intentional from the tone. This is probably not something to read immediately after meals if you have a weak stomach.

Bottom line: An excellent beginning with plenty of places to go, worth keeping an eye on- especially if you’re into the walking dead.

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