TIN STAR by Cecil Castellucci

Our hero starts this story having a really bad day.  She's getting the crap beat out of her and ditched onto the wrong vehicle headin' to the crappy side of town.
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Uh, spaceship headin' to the frackky side of the galaxy.  Anyway...
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Tula Bane's a human colonist and her world is the cosmos.  Being good at languages, she was supposed to be helping to colonize a world under the direction of Brother Blue.  Now, she finds herself at the end of Blue's boot.  Literally.  She was Brother Blue's golden girl, brought along to help hold on to human culture, isolated from contamination by...
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Isolated?
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Red Flag.  Sounds like the start of a cult to me.
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Brother Blue had made her feel special and her mother believed Brother Blue could do no wrong.
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Oh, yeah, sounds like a cultmeister to me.
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Well, Tula's got sincere plans and goals in life, so when she saw some precious cargo not getting loaded on their ship she took the initiative.
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Apparently, she hadn't gotten the memo about not thinking for yourself if you're in a cult.
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Next thing she knows Brother Blue's taken her aside and is beating the crap out of her.  Brother Blue doesn't want anyone on board who doesn't obey him without questioning, even when his orders make no sense.  Yep, total cultmeister.
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With a lie to her family, Brother Blue leaves Tula for dead.  And so The Prairie Rose flies away into space without her.
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Okay, so now Tula is alone and she quickly finds out that Brother Blue has to it that she is a nobody, which probably means her family thinks she's dead.  And then she's told they're dead, but is that true when so little else was?  She's gotta survive somehow and that's how she falls in with an insectoid alien named Heckleck.  And in the process of going to work for him as a messenger to survive, she starts to learn some valuable things, including what she's made of.
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She also learns to eat maggots.
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But, if she's an insignificant nobody, the galaxy is still moving on.  Politics and the ongoing struggle ends up bringing the new powers-that-be, the Imperium to Tula's God-forsaken space station just when she's wondering if the dead planet below is truly dead.
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The Imperium is full of fresh ideas and have grand plans for which they need lots of workers.  Finally, Tula has a ticket off that space station, but her new friend is less than thrilled and full of foreboding.  Nevertheless, Tula wants to find her family and she wants revenge.
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Tula doesn't go far.  Humans just aren't considered good workers. 
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Luckily, Tula sees the unknown as full of possibilities rather than as something to fear, perhaps because of Heckleck who quickly takes her back under his wing.  Er, appendage. 
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Soon after, humans come back into Tula's life and she's amazed by how alien they seem to her.  Along with them comes more intergalactic politics and dirty politics at that.  Seems Brother Blue's been attracting more attention. 
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Tragedy strikes and along with it comes a chance.  Tula has learned her lessons well and a cute human boy has new information about Brother Blue and life back on planet Earth. 
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Good book.  I didn't feel the depth of emotions I expected to from a young teenage girl stranded out in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of strangers she barely understands.  Nevertheless, it was like resettling an infamous cult out there among the stars and having an average young person take it on.
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Much love.

WORLD WAR Z

Finally!  Finally, Brad Pitt plays a character I like.  I mean, I don’t blame Brad Pitt for the roles he’s had before, but...anyway. 

The important thing about Brad Pitt is that he raises beautiful babies with Angelina Jolie.  They have six, you know.

The thing about Zombies is that they put a face on the gazillions of germs which can kill you, like the one for the Bubonic Plague, otherwise known as the Black_Death which killed at least a third of Europe during the Middle Ages. 

Zombies are the personification of *pandemic.* 

I think it's because there's nothing more terrifying than a monster you can't see and, you know, germs can't be seen by the naked eye.

If you’ve ever seen pictures of, say, leprosy victims, you’ll see how the Zombie got its form.  Now, imagine there’s no cure and no escape.

Only a hundred years ago, the Flu Pandemic killed more people than World War I which was going on at the same time.

You will be getting your Flu shot this year, right?

Here it is at Barnes and Noble-

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-world-war-z-brad-pitt/16523355?ean=97363504047

World War Z is based on the novel by Max Brooks and I hope to read it soon.  I wished I'd read it first.

P.S. If this movie freaks you out, but you can’t drag yourself away from the undead, I recommend Zombieland next.  There's something about putting the funny on something terrifying that helps humans cope.

And if World War Z seems familiar, you might be thinking of this-

I'm a huge Will Smith fan, so I would have a hard time if someone asked me which I liked better.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-i-am-legend-will-smith/10537903?ean=85391176350

 

In the end, I'd probably say XOMBIES by Walter Greatshell!  Another similar story which simply hasn't made it to the big screen yet.  I reviewed it a long time ago.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/xombies-walter-greatshell/1100316231?ean=9780441018352

Now, off you go to get that Flu Shot, 'kay?  Much love, Blog Buds.

Oh, by they way, if you haven't noticed, I think of zombies from a scientific point of view and through the lens of history.  The other kind are simply of no interest to me.