This excerpt is where you first meet the Undead Mother-in-law, Diane Newby. She’s invited her daughter and son-in-law over for Valentine’s Day dinner. Find out what happens right here:
Best of 2026 Reviews and Some of Mine. I just love it when my readers “get” my books. I’ve read 50 books so far this year. Read the reviews from my favorites.
Zombie Turkeys by Andy Zach is a wild horror comedy about one very unexpected apocalypse. When small town reporter Sam Melvin discovers turkeys that won’t stay dead, what seems like a strange local story quickly turns into nationwide chaos. The birds can’t be killed, they just come back stronger, and soon the country is overrun. Teaming up with his sharp, no nonsense editor Lisa, Sam chases the biggest story of his life while trying to avoid becoming turkey dinner himself. The tone is fast, gory, and deliberately over the top, mixing satire with full blown absurdity. If you enjoy horror that doesn’t take itself too seriously and like your apocalypse with a heavy dose of dark humor, Zombie Turkeys is a chaotic, entertaining ride
Restarting the Apocalypse – Old Trials Anew – Book 4
Len and his friend Rich continue to prepare the world for a massive apocalypse of mana bursting out of storms and dungeons. They both got new lives after they died when this happened previously. They found themselves in their 18-year-old bodies with all their knowledge of years of surviving when the apocalypse first occurred.
Now, in the fourth book, they must prepare for and face the first dungeon outbreak. Powerful creatures, twice as strong as Len and Rich, come boiling out of the dungeon by the thousands.
And there’s a civil war going on in their country, at the same time.
Rich and Len have prepared a fortress and a city to withstand the outbreak. Will it be strong enough, or must they destroy all their work to save the world?
Best of 2026 Reviews – Summary Blurb
Civil war is brewing, but Harmonia’s dungeon might end Yorel before the first banner is raised.
Len steps out of Kreni Hall without Rick or the other Titans, Daniela, and Dennis.
King Eardin, whose death sparked the Plynthia Civil War in his last life, is alive and well, summoning Rick to a ball in Eskon City. A ball where he aims to reassert his dominion as King of Plynthia.
An outcome that neither his sons nor their supporters desire. Rick is needed, and Len will go. Now is not the time Goran wants to be drawing the attention of others. Not when their focus is on Harmonia’s growing threat. They’ve changed the Titans’ fates, brought Dennis and Daniela into the fight, and pushed their skills past anything they had in their last lives.
It’s not enough. Harmonia dungeon spawns Rare grade creatures, over a hundred levels stronger than even Len. The Goran Army has been growing stronger, but not strong enough to face this threat head-on.
If the dungeon’s creatures ever break free, nothing on Yorel can stop them.
Threshold doesn’t just guard Goran or Plynthia—it’s the line between Yorel and annihilation. If the dungeon’s creatures escape, if Threshold falls, Yorel falls with it.
They’ve already watched Yorel die once. If they fail to control Harmonia, they’ll watch it happen again.
And this time, there’s no reset.
Best of 2026 Reviews – My Undead Mother-in-law
My Undead Mother-in-law cover. Click to get yours.
·
I got a new review! Someone likes Diane Newby.
My Undead Mother-in-law: The Family Zombie With Anger Management Issues (Life After Life Chronicles)
Barbara
Fun adventure with some twisted humor
March 22, 2026
Once more, Andy Zach has transported us into his odd but wonderful world. This story is a bit different from his first two books, which introduced us to a new type of zombie and the regular folks who had to step up and deal with these regenerating monsters. This time, a new threat is introduced, and our heroes have to learn to control zombies in order to face it. Ian Fleming would have been a fan of this adventure. I loved reading this book and would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys an action-adventure mystery with a bit of twisted humor.
My mother-in-law’s a zombie. And she has anger-management issues.
My mother-in-law, Diane Newby, zombified by accident. She still volunteers at her church bake sales and cooks pot roast for her daughter and son-in-law, Ron Yardley. What ticks her off is when people don’t treat her like a normal human being—with glowing red eyes and super strength and speed. And if she doesn’t get her own way, look out. She explodes and leaves broken plaster and body parts in her wake. Nothing stops her: not brick walls, the federal government, or middle-aged spread.
But the world’s most powerful criminal plans to control zombies. His only problem with zombies is that they have way too much free will. He has a solution for that. But will it work with Diane Newby?
The world divides into pro-zombie and anti-zombie factions. Battles break out everywhere. Which side will you take? Who will live and who will die?
You might not survive this book. But at least you’ll die laughing.
Your New Reviews and Some of Mine. You gave me, Andy Zach, some reviews of my books. And I just reviewed some books in the past month, too. So, let’s share.
I posted my most recent review the other day on Goodreads:
Your New Reviews and Some of Mine – The Eye of the World
I first read this book in 1994, soon after it came out. I bought it because of the cover and the blurb. I thought it might be a clever knock-off of the Lord of the Rings.
Author Robert Jordan used some elements of that epic in the beginning of his story, but it is nothing like the Lord of the Rings–but it is still very good epic fantasy.
The book begins in a backwater town of Two Rivers, famous for sheep and tabac. Rand al’Thor, a sheepherder, and his two friends, Perrin ay’Barra, a blacksmith, and Mat Cauthon, a son of a horsetrader, have all been shadowed by a man in black, on a black horse. He then disappears.
That launches them into an adventure where they must flee their village for their safety and the village’s. But safety is the last thing they find.
In this fantasy world, time moves in a cycle, from Age to Age, repeating the same events from age to age. The cycle is dominated by the Dark One, imprisoned in his lair, and the Dragon, the hero for good. Creation is a pageant for the battle between good and evil to play out. Key personalities, like the Dragon, are reborn from Age to Age.
How the Dark One and the Dragon fit into these three boys’ lives is what this book is about.
Summary Blurb
The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.
Moiraine Damodred arrives in Emond’s Field on a quest to find the one prophesized to stand against The Dark One, a malicious entity sowing the seeds of chaos and destruction. When a vicious band of half-men, half beasts invade the village seeking their master’s enemy, Moiraine persuades Rand al’Thor and his friends to leave their home and enter a larger unimaginable world filled with dangers waiting in the shadows and in the light.
My Undead Mother-in-law by Andy Zach is a horror comedy that fully embraces its ridiculous premise and runs with it.
Diane Newby is technically a zombie, but that hasn’t stopped her from hosting church bake sales or cooking Sunday dinner. What has changed is her temper. With glowing red eyes, super strength, and zero patience for disrespect, she doesn’t take kindly to being treated like anything less than normal even if “normal” now includes smashing through walls when she’s annoyed.
As society struggles to adjust to the existence of zombies, a powerful criminal mastermind sees an opportunity to control them. The only problem? Zombies like Diane don’t exactly enjoy being controlled. What follows is chaos, divided loyalties, and plenty of over the top mayhem.
If you like your horror mixed heavily with satire and absurd humor, My Undead Mother-in-law delivers action, laughs, and just enough undead madness to keep things entertaining.
My mother-in-law’s a zombie. And she has anger-management issues.
My mother-in-law, Diane Newby, zombified by accident. She still volunteers at her church bake sales and cooks pot roast for her daughter and son-in-law, Ron Yardley. What ticks her off is when people don’t treat her like a normal human being—with glowing red eyes and super strength and speed. And if she doesn’t get her own way, look out. She explodes and leaves broken plaster and body parts in her wake. Nothing stops her: not brick walls, the federal government, or middle-aged spread.
But the world’s most powerful criminal plans to control zombies. His only problem with zombies is that they have way too much free will. He has a solution for that. But will it work with Diane Newby?
The world divides into pro-zombie and anti-zombie factions. Battles break out everywhere. Which side will you take? Who will live and who will die?
You might not survive this book. But at least you’ll die laughing.
Barbara
