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The Walking Dead: Novels #1.5
Just Another Day at the Office
Just Another Day at the Office reveals the never-before-known details of how Philip Blake (aka The Governor) took full control of Woodbury. In this exciting story that takes place between The Walking Rise of the Governor and The Walking The Road to Woodbury, Philip unleashes his full fury on the previous leaders of the small walled-off town. This one-man-army, a man on his way to becoming the fearsome Governor who will eventually go up against Rick Grimes and company, single-handedly takes on all foes, both zombie and human alike. Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga's story was originally published in issue 1 of The Walking Dead magazine and contains approximately 3,500 words, along with an extended excerpt for The Walking The Road to Woodbury.
55 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 4, 2012
About the author
Jay Bonansinga
112 books373 followersThe national best-selling author of ten acclaimed books – both fiction and non-fiction -- Jay Bonansinga has been called “one of the most imaginative writers of thrillers” by the Chicago Tribune.
Jay is the holder of a master's degree in film from Columbia College Chicago, and currently resides in Evanston, Illinois, with his wife and two sons. He is also a visiting professor at Northwestern University in their Creative Writing for the Media program.
Jay is the holder of a master's degree in film from Columbia College Chicago, and currently resides in Evanston, Illinois, with his wife and two sons. He is also a visiting professor at Northwestern University in their Creative Writing for the Media program.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews
November 23, 2015
Decent little "short" story, and I do mean short. This was one of those ebooks priced at $.99, and for the first time I felt a little cheated by that price. Not that it was a bad read, but that it was so brief.
Still, rating the content (what there was of it), I enjoyed the 20 minutes or so that it took me to go through this story at a leisurely pace.
I do have one gripe, though. It bugged me when I read Rise of the Governor and this story starts out with it. Whenever the time is noted in these books, it specifially gives that time in Central Standard Time. It makes repeated notes of the time being Central Standard. Well, the thing is, these stories take place entirely in the state of Georgia. Which is on Eastern Standard time.
No character is going to fall back an hour to convert to Central time during the zombie apocalypse. It's just not going to happen. Not when said characters have lived in Georgia and Eastern Standard time for their entire lives. I was born in Central time and lived half my life there, but now that I live in Georgia, I go by what time it is here.
I figure it's because Bonansinga is from Chicago, which is on Central time. Fine. But couldn't somebody have caught that little detail and fixed it?
And now my review is as long as the story I'm reviewing.
Still, rating the content (what there was of it), I enjoyed the 20 minutes or so that it took me to go through this story at a leisurely pace.
I do have one gripe, though. It bugged me when I read Rise of the Governor and this story starts out with it. Whenever the time is noted in these books, it specifially gives that time in Central Standard Time. It makes repeated notes of the time being Central Standard. Well, the thing is, these stories take place entirely in the state of Georgia. Which is on Eastern Standard time.
No character is going to fall back an hour to convert to Central time during the zombie apocalypse. It's just not going to happen. Not when said characters have lived in Georgia and Eastern Standard time for their entire lives. I was born in Central time and lived half my life there, but now that I live in Georgia, I go by what time it is here.
I figure it's because Bonansinga is from Chicago, which is on Central time. Fine. But couldn't somebody have caught that little detail and fixed it?
And now my review is as long as the story I'm reviewing.
December 30, 2020
"Philip Blake looks at him through parboiled eyes. Something reassembling a smile appears on Philip's face. "Just another day at the office."
May 26, 2017
This short story just seems pointless to the series, nothing spectacular happens and it is the usual walker infestation: descriptive language for the innocents savagely ripped apart and one character suriving a ridiculous attempt to rid the town of biters. Should I have used a spoiler alert? No. I just saved you two bucks.
August 27, 2016
I am not even going to bother with a review. This is extremely short and it took me about ten minutes. If I did a review it would be longer than the actual book. This is more for my personal records. Whatever you do do not pay for this "book".
August 3, 2020
Great short novella to fill in the blanks between the 1st & 2nd books. Well written (as always), fast paced, and filled with the brilliance and gore I've come to expect from Mr Kirkman & Mr Bonansinga
November 7, 2017
Just Another day at the Office is a short story taking place between The Rise of the Governor and The Road to Woodbury. Calling it a short story, however, is doing a bit of disservice to short stories in general. This is a snippet, nearly a piece of flash-fiction that handles the immediate aftermath of the final chapter of book 1 and ties up that minor loose-end. The book does a bit more by containing a hefty excerpt from the beginning of book 2, but... again....
I can understand the appeal of reading this in a magazine, which itself would carry more. As a short story, however, it's just a small, minimal sort of thing. You'd better serve yourself just jumping into the next book than taking the time to read this. You'll likely get the same answers in it, anyway.
My rating, rather than for the content in general, is more just for how short this short story is. It would require a bit more length to it to truly carry any weight or meaning.
I can understand the appeal of reading this in a magazine, which itself would carry more. As a short story, however, it's just a small, minimal sort of thing. You'd better serve yourself just jumping into the next book than taking the time to read this. You'll likely get the same answers in it, anyway.
My rating, rather than for the content in general, is more just for how short this short story is. It would require a bit more length to it to truly carry any weight or meaning.
November 29, 2019
I’m not a fan of short stories, but this probably takes the crown as the worst I’ve read this year. As a follow up short to The Rise of The Governor the story just fell flat. It was pointless, didn’t have any depth, and was unnecessary to read. Yes, only about a 20 minute read, but worth the time? No. Skip this one. Not worth the time, and a bore.
September 10, 2023
I should have read this back when I read The Walking Dead novels because it's not as fresh or in my memory as strong, but this strikes me as one of those teasers to try to get you to read the novels because the story could have been worked into or been a part of one of the longer books. It is a short and does nothing to enhance the overall Woodbury stories. In fact, once finished I felt like I paid .99 cents for this. I love the novels, but this might be worth skipping.
January 2, 2013
Buyer Beware: this is just a super short piece of a story. The 36 pages seems to take into account the first chapter of the next book as well, and that was also included in the first book. This portion was fine- but totally unnecessary for the story and VERY short. Such a quick read that I was feeling a little annoyed that I paid .99c for it. But then again, maybe I’m just that cheap.
September 27, 2013
This short SHORT story was not what I expected. It was very disappointing that it was only a few pages long and the rest was the beginning of "The road to Woodbury". The story was not That good. The two novels were great, hope they write another.
December 20, 2012
This is really just a very short story that shows a little bit of background of the governor. I wouldn't waste your money buying it on Nook or any other ereader. The cost isn't worth the story and this is coming from a die hard TWD fan.
January 22, 2013
I bought the file from Amazon thinking that it was a short story of 56 pages but it turned out to be a much, much smaller story: it's only 26% of the file. The rest of it is a copy of the beginning of the second book The Walking Dead: The Road to Woodbury. I felt kind of cheated.
November 7, 2013
This as an important interlude between Rise of the Governor and Road to Woodbury. The exclusive content is only 33% of the total book--misleading and the source of many gripes.
May 26, 2017
What a waste, couldn't they have just attached this 5 pg story to one of the books? Wow the governor killed a shit ton of zombies and everyone loves him.....
July 11, 2015
Short story? This was barely a story at all. At 14 pages this story added nothing to the cannon of these novel. Thankfully I only wasted about 5 minutes reading this waste of time.
May 27, 2018
RTC <3
October 3, 2021
I have really enjoyed the novels in this series so I was interested in reading this short story to get a little more insight into the governor and his take over but I was deeply disappointed. It was very very short. Shorter than I expected since This ebook is said to be 55 pages when in reality it’s only like 12 with the rest being a preview of the road to Woodbury. The story itself was so short which I get because it’s a short story but it was very short and what was there was mainly descriptive words. I felt it was way too descriptive and I didn’t really get anything out of the story. I don’t even really understand what happened because I was so overwhelmed with the descriptions. If you want to read this series and/or have enjoyed the novels already, I suggest skipping over this short story. In my opinion it’s not worth it and doesn’t add much to the overall story.
May 15, 2020
Pretty darn good for a short book!
I love how this story picked up right where the fist one left off. There's literally no time gap, which is nice. It shows how Phillip decides to show his strength and smarts to the townspeople of Woodbury, and how 'right' he is to be their leader. It also shows how much he has stepped up and grown from the previous book! Though, obviously, he's also a little crazy.
Naturally, as with everything related to The Walking Dead, this book is vivid and details the blood and gore that comes with Zombies. So if that's not something you are into, don't pick up this book!
5 out of 5 stars! Can't wait to continue the series!
I love how this story picked up right where the fist one left off. There's literally no time gap, which is nice. It shows how Phillip decides to show his strength and smarts to the townspeople of Woodbury, and how 'right' he is to be their leader. It also shows how much he has stepped up and grown from the previous book! Though, obviously, he's also a little crazy.
Naturally, as with everything related to The Walking Dead, this book is vivid and details the blood and gore that comes with Zombies. So if that's not something you are into, don't pick up this book!
5 out of 5 stars! Can't wait to continue the series!
October 3, 2019
Eh, the synopsis is a bit misleading, as is the page count. You learn at the end of The Rise of The Governor how he toppled the leader(s). This is just a few pages of a huge walker herd coming through, taking out part of the wall that keeps Woodbury safe (or is supposed to, rather), what happens, and then is the first chapter or two of The Road To Woodbury.
However, Bonansinga cements himself into The Walking Dead history as writing one ferocious attack on those that have risen to eat The Walking Dead.
...that is always going to be my absolute favorite line that Rick ever said.
However, Bonansinga cements himself into The Walking Dead history as writing one ferocious attack on those that have risen to eat The Walking Dead.
...that is always going to be my absolute favorite line that Rick ever said.
July 6, 2018
I knew this was a short, but it was even shorter than expected because 75% of the Kindle file was taken up by an excerpt from "Road to Woodbury" (which I read a couple years ago and liked).
Basically this short is just a long scene about dealing with a zombie horde who crashed the gates at Woodbury. It doesn't reveal anything unexpected about the Governor. Nor does it have any interesting turns-of-phrase. The only thing I noted as use of the R-word (retarded).
Basically this short is just a long scene about dealing with a zombie horde who crashed the gates at Woodbury. It doesn't reveal anything unexpected about the Governor. Nor does it have any interesting turns-of-phrase. The only thing I noted as use of the R-word (retarded).
March 20, 2022
A short, and I really do mean short, bridge between The Rise of the Governor and The Road to Woodbury, that feels more like half of a scrapped chapter from Book One than a short story.
I'd recommend reading it if you're reading the novel series since it just pads out a little of what happened after the end of Book One, but as it's own thing "Just Another Day at the Office" is an inconsequential if not harmless addition to The Walking Dead canon that can easily be skipped.
I'd recommend reading it if you're reading the novel series since it just pads out a little of what happened after the end of Book One, but as it's own thing "Just Another Day at the Office" is an inconsequential if not harmless addition to The Walking Dead canon that can easily be skipped.
August 28, 2023
I understand the thinking behind the decision that the writers chose to do in the first book but unfortunately it just doesn’t work for me. It’s very cartoonish for me, there is no progress from point a to b. It is a sudden change that’s jarring and just doesn’t work. Book 1 ends the day book 1.5 starts but suddenly we are dealing with a completely different person. It’s just not good.
August 22, 2017
I had been interested in The Governor's backstory since watching The Walking Dead and hoped this would give a bit more insight to hi. And Woodbury. Instead I found myself reading a play-by-play account of a walker attack. I feel like this was a waste of time reading.
September 25, 2019
Captivating, graphic. This short story is intense enough to hold the readers attention, and just when you getting ready to see what happens next, the story ends.
I am more than ready to read the next novel in this series.
I am more than ready to read the next novel in this series.
April 25, 2023
Could have skipped this one and continued on with the series. Just gave more details about Phillip protecting the town and his rise to becoming the governor. Probably would of been more interested if it was book 2. But we are well past all that so no need to go back for those details.
July 24, 2017
short story.. pretty good
November 1, 2022
Cool, but it fits as a Rise of the Governor Epilogue just as well, there was no need to release it on its own.
November 3, 2022
Not really a book. More of an essay.
January 10, 2023
Fun little short story in the walking dead world.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews