The Gospel of Bucky Dennis

By: J.R. Parks

Narrated by: Tom Zingarelli

He once fought for his country. But does that qualify him to battle the zombie apocalypse?

Verney County, Mississippi, 1980. Vietnam vet Bucky Dennis hit rock bottom and didn’t stop. Divorced, separated from his kids, and mourning the loss of his ‛69 Charger, he takes odd-jobs and pisses away cheap booze. And fate kicks him in the balls again when his latest gig traps him in close quarters with a bloodthirsty werewolf....

By morning, Bucky manages to fight off the beast and is ready to obliterate the experience with more than a few drinks. But he’s pretty sure his hair of the dog shouldn’t come with a chaser of possessed honky-tonk piano, demented witches, and pint-sized vampires. If it’s not a nasty outbreak of bad luck, it may just be the end of the world.

Can the tough-as-nails veteran kick zombies, bloodsuckers, and other supernatural sadists to kingdom come?

The Gospel of Bucky Dennis is the first scream worthy book in a horror comedy series. If you like zany action, hilarious heroes, and a double-shot of irreverent swearing, then you’ll love J. R. Parks’ sacred-cow-killing tale.

Buy The Gospel of Bucky Dennis to punch the occult in the face today!

©2011 James Parks (P)2019 James Parks

Some issues here and there, but overall it's great

So I'm going to start off by saying that I think this book hasn't been marketed correctly. The marketing makes me think that I'm going into something the likes of Bill the Vampire or Bubba the Monster Hunter, and while those books have serious moments in them, the bigger point of them is to show off some badass action with a bit of comedy.

This series of stories isn't like that.

The Gospel of Bucky Dennis is actually played very seriously. Despite the fact that the guy's name is Bucky and he has some "white trash" sensibilities to him, all of the stories focus on what amounts to a regular man fighting supernatural forces. The stories are also very introspective, showing that Bucky has some very heavily repressed trauma from his youth and from serving in Vietnam, going so far as to have full PTSD meltdowns during some of the stories.

The writing starts out really good, but as it goes on, it seems like J.R. Parks begins to care more about the plot going on that describing Bucky's feelings and his reactions to the world he's entering, this is mostly apparent in the last story, which feels like there's a strange disconnect between the rest of them. Where all the other stories in the series are well-written, have great insights into Bucky's mind, and the action flows well and the fights feel free.

For some reason, at least to me, the last story just feels hollow, like Bucky goes to a place, Bucky does a thing, Bucky fights a monster. It's really sad, because the events of the last story are interesting, and would have liked to get some more of it fleshed out, rather than the hollow, go-here-do-that sort of narrative we end up getting. My theory is that the writer wanted to finish the series, and instead of spending the time to complete it, he just sent out a first draft version of the final story and called it finished. I'm not meaning to sound harsh here, because the stories are all really well done and the author clearly knows his stuff.

As for the narration, the narrator, Tom Zingarelli does a great job encompassing the persona that is Bucky D. His voicework and timing are excellent, and his narration adds to the enjoyment of the story. I will say though, and it might only be an issue with my file of the audiobook, but sometimes the narration will sound very tinny or like it's underwater. Again, might just be on my end, but I wanted to put that in this review if it's something other people are experiencing.

In summary, I'd say it's well worth a listen, even though the ending is a bit of a letdown from the rest of the narrative.

not to bad

I laughed quite a bit through this one. it is well done. The story is engaging. There were several time I listened past when I normally would because I just had to the the outcome.

ehh,

This book is a hot mess of short stories from the point of one person Bucky Dennis. There is no transition from one to the other just like catching half a show then switching channels. I tried to like it but couldn't wait for it to finish.1