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Zombiesque
From a tropical resort where visitors can become temporary zombies, to a newly-made zombie determined to protect those he loves, to a cheerleader who won't let death kick her off the team, to a zombie seeking revenge for the ancestors who died on an African slave ship-- Zombiesque invites readers to take a walk on the undead side in these tales from a zombie's point of view.
320 pages, ebook
First published February 1, 2011
7 people are currently reading
299 people want to read
About the author
Stephen L. Antczak
26 books27 followersI have a YouTube channel called "I, Nerdius" where I post videos about all things science fiction and other genres, including nonfiction. I also post videos about writing.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
February 8, 2011
Sixteen stories.
My favorites were:
Gimme A Z: Seanan McGuire -- I admit to bias as Seanan's a good friend, but her story of a cheerleader waking up as a zombie and going back to see if she could still be on the squad was funny and frightful at the same time.
At First Only Darkness: Nancy A. Collins -- I'm a fan of hers from the Sonja Blue series and this one was just chilling. I was glad it was still broad daylight.
Do No Harm: Tim Waggoner -- This one was kind of sciencey in a different way from zombie virus stories, but led to the same thing, with an insectoid twist. It included one of the very few strong female characters in the book besides Heather from the cheerleader story above.
Posthumous: Sean Taylor -- No explanation for how the Zombie thing happened, but it's all about a writer who came back after her death and how she copes ... or fails to cope ... with her existence and her distant, selfish husband and his methods of coping with a wife he can see use for only one way now.
In The Line Of Duty -- Zombie cops vs. Zombie terrorists. Nuff said. And one of the women in this story reminded me of lil badass murphy from Robocop.
The ones that most bothered me at a non zombie creepout level were:
You Always Hurt the One You Love -- only woman in the story is a bimbo who talks baby talk to her boyfriend, never catching on to the problem he's having.
Zombie Camp -- in which the woman in the story is depicted as weak and whiny. I guess that was meant to show how sick Frank is, but it didn't sit well.
Stories that barely even registered to me:
The Immortal Part: A guy muses on the immortal part of himself even as he goes through the motions of his human life as best applied to a world with zombies.
Zero: A girl with mother issues in love with a gay guy with father issues. The girl is the zombie.
The Warlock's Run: Zombie NASCAR driver. Permanently 17 years old in mind and body.
But None Shall Sing For Me: It was blurbed as a story of revenge for slave ship ancestors, but it didn't feel that way.
In the Quiet of Spring: Another woman whose husband considered his career more important than his woman. Not a theme I much like to begin with.
My favorites were:
Gimme A Z: Seanan McGuire -- I admit to bias as Seanan's a good friend, but her story of a cheerleader waking up as a zombie and going back to see if she could still be on the squad was funny and frightful at the same time.
At First Only Darkness: Nancy A. Collins -- I'm a fan of hers from the Sonja Blue series and this one was just chilling. I was glad it was still broad daylight.
Do No Harm: Tim Waggoner -- This one was kind of sciencey in a different way from zombie virus stories, but led to the same thing, with an insectoid twist. It included one of the very few strong female characters in the book besides Heather from the cheerleader story above.
Posthumous: Sean Taylor -- No explanation for how the Zombie thing happened, but it's all about a writer who came back after her death and how she copes ... or fails to cope ... with her existence and her distant, selfish husband and his methods of coping with a wife he can see use for only one way now.
In The Line Of Duty -- Zombie cops vs. Zombie terrorists. Nuff said. And one of the women in this story reminded me of lil badass murphy from Robocop.
The ones that most bothered me at a non zombie creepout level were:
You Always Hurt the One You Love -- only woman in the story is a bimbo who talks baby talk to her boyfriend, never catching on to the problem he's having.
Zombie Camp -- in which the woman in the story is depicted as weak and whiny. I guess that was meant to show how sick Frank is, but it didn't sit well.
Stories that barely even registered to me:
The Immortal Part: A guy muses on the immortal part of himself even as he goes through the motions of his human life as best applied to a world with zombies.
Zero: A girl with mother issues in love with a gay guy with father issues. The girl is the zombie.
The Warlock's Run: Zombie NASCAR driver. Permanently 17 years old in mind and body.
But None Shall Sing For Me: It was blurbed as a story of revenge for slave ship ancestors, but it didn't feel that way.
In the Quiet of Spring: Another woman whose husband considered his career more important than his woman. Not a theme I much like to begin with.
May 24, 2012
The horror market is currently oversaturated with zombies. One needs to really put an original spin on a story in order to make it stand out. This anthology succeeds at that shockingly well, considering that it contains works from mostly not famous writers. The stories are told from zombies' POVs. What if there was life after death...this book has zombie cheerleaders, zombie stunt drivers and others to show us just what that life would be like. So glad I found this book at the library, gives me hope for zombie fiction. Highly recommended for the genre fans and zombie lovers.
January 3, 2016
Not to be confused with "zombisque," which is a nasty type of soup. As the title implies, this is a collection of short stories about zombies. As with so many anthologies, it's rather a mixed bag. None of these stories are actually bad, but not all are particularly memorable. My favorite is probably Seanan McGuire's "Gimme a 'Z'!" which deals with a zombie cheerleader. Also noteworthy were "Zombie Camp" by Richard Lee Byers, "In the Line of Duty" by Jim C. Hines, "The Warlock's Run" by Jean Rabe, and "The Confession" by Laszlo Xalieri. All in all, not a bad anthology for the money.
August 17, 2011
Yes, I have a story in this book -- but that's not the primary reason I'm reviewing. There are lots of clever little Zombie stories in here (I like the one about the Zombie Cheerleader!), and -- if you like Zombies but are searching for something new, something fresh (or at least less-rotten) -- this is a great place to start.
August 4, 2020
A mixed anthology on the theme of the humanised dead; I'm not convinced that zombies lend themselves to this interpretation, even though it seems to have become a trend since this book was published. Vampires and werewolves retain, and present, an element of humanity which the zombie does not, and few of these stories manage to bridge that divide.
So, mostly average tales, entirely readable, if unmemorable and occasionally uninspired; only a very small handful of real merit (Gregory Nicoll's But None Shall Sing For Me being the absolute standout of this collection), and an equal amount of clunkers.
All of the stories reviewed and rated below. Overall book score 47/80, so just sneaking into a three star rating.
At First Only Darkness, by Nancy A. Collins: 3/5. A zombie's humanity surfaces when he feeds; told in abrupt, stabbing prose, but a story which sets out its stall and then goes off on a tangent, ending somewhere entirely - and not entirely satisfyingly - different.
The Immortal Part, by Charles Pinion: 4/5. A zombie hermit awaits the inevitable, keeping his inner gourmet alive as best he can, in a deeply characterised piece which would have been stronger finishing on its penultimate paragraph.
Do No Harm, by Tim Waggoner: 5/5. A zombie Queen seeks to protect her hive, who exhibit her strengths... and weaknesses. Cleverly considered aspects of nanotech plague and hive intelligence raise the story into interesting areas, and the bittersweet ending nails exactly the right tone in bringing everything together.
Zombie Camp, by Richard Lee Byers: 3/5. A couple holidaying at the titular island, where science can make you a zombie temporarily, find they want different things. A dark idea, presenting the ennui of modern life, but the climactic moment and its aftermath seems curiously flat, lacking excitement or drama.
Into That Good Night, by Robert Sommers: 2/5. Lights in the sky cause a zombie plague and one man heads home to his family. An uninspired response to the Zombiesque brief, with a downbeat ending that needs a fair bit more background and rationale to work properly.
Gimme a 'Z'!, by Seanan McGuire: 3/5. A recently deceased cheerleader returns to life and goes back to the squad, only to find... Nicely capturing voice and tone, a good line in humour, and escalates and climaxes the story, but this is ultimately a little light, albeit a change of mood for the anthology.
You Always Hurt the One You Love, by G.K. Hayes: 1/5. A victim of the zombie plague tries to hide his symptoms. Another rudimentary effort, hampered by dismissively sexist characterisation, mediocre story, and inexplicably spoiling its finale in the title.
In the Line of Duty, by Jim C. Hines: 3/5. Zombie cops chasing down zombie terrorists. Beyond the idea of zombies being (sometimes co-opted) cops, there's not much else here other than a neatly written action story; the insubordinate, break-the-rules cops trope is ageing pretty badly though.
Posthumous, by Sean Taylor: 3/5. A revived writer creates posthumous novels for her publisher husband. A strong idea, combined with an EC Comics-style revenge story, quite strongly written (even if overusing the phrase "Damn it!" to a distracting degree), but late plot elements fail to coalesce in an abrupt, unsatisfying ending.
The Warlock's Run, by Jean Rabe: 0/5. A zombie racecar driver dreams of winning. A story which quite literally goes round and round, being mostly a relentless recounting of racing facts and stats and listing of Grateful Dead song titles, and the protagonist being a zombie has absolutely no bearing on the narrative.
But None Shall Sing For Me, by Gregory Nicoll: 5/5. A voodoo zombie relates his history to his current surroundings in a beautifully written and evocative tale of love and loss; sadly, all the zombie/horror fans mentioning that this story needs more background and/or resolution seem unaware that this retells Tourneur's classic movie I Walked With a Zombie from the resurrected Carrefour's point of view.
Zero by Del Stone Jr: 3/5. A zombie girl and her fag-hag crush (both with parental issues) hustle for a living... death. A darkly nihilistic tale which never seems to quite analogise its horror into the text, spiralling into an unsurprising ending; seemingly so self-involvedly in the style of '90s splatterpunk to be distracting.
A Distant Sound of Hammers, by S. Boyd Taylor: 4/5. In a world where humans are farmed cattle, a zombie slaughterhouse worker wants more from his life. Neatly inverting the usual zombie/human dynamic while also highlighting farming practices, this suffers from some slightly abbreviated motivations and developments; almost too many ideas for its length.
The Confession, by Laszlo Xalieri: 2/5. 'Interview With the Zombie', a truly interesting take on the genre - what if there was a single, unknowable intelligence behind the dead eyes? - is deadened by the single room, confessional approach, and obfuscated with knowingly purple prose and a waffling lack of narrative thrust or denouement.
Zombie Zero, by Nancy Holder: 3/5. A Hollywood star's seemingly bimbo wife commits suicide, creating a wave of rage zombies. The staccato, occasionally stream-of-consciousness prose is strongly developed, though the narrative devolves into something of a polemic, losing focus as it expands into a basic summary of the eventual apocalypse. Another tale which maybe needs more space to really breathe.
In the Quiet of Spring, by Wendy Webb: 3/5. A rural recluse uses potions to ensure help on her land in the coming apocalypse. A quiet rumination, well characterised and presented, slow to build itself up, but then continuing past the point when the essential story has been told, ambling to a forgone conclusion.
So, mostly average tales, entirely readable, if unmemorable and occasionally uninspired; only a very small handful of real merit (Gregory Nicoll's But None Shall Sing For Me being the absolute standout of this collection), and an equal amount of clunkers.
All of the stories reviewed and rated below. Overall book score 47/80, so just sneaking into a three star rating.
At First Only Darkness, by Nancy A. Collins: 3/5. A zombie's humanity surfaces when he feeds; told in abrupt, stabbing prose, but a story which sets out its stall and then goes off on a tangent, ending somewhere entirely - and not entirely satisfyingly - different.
The Immortal Part, by Charles Pinion: 4/5. A zombie hermit awaits the inevitable, keeping his inner gourmet alive as best he can, in a deeply characterised piece which would have been stronger finishing on its penultimate paragraph.
Do No Harm, by Tim Waggoner: 5/5. A zombie Queen seeks to protect her hive, who exhibit her strengths... and weaknesses. Cleverly considered aspects of nanotech plague and hive intelligence raise the story into interesting areas, and the bittersweet ending nails exactly the right tone in bringing everything together.
Zombie Camp, by Richard Lee Byers: 3/5. A couple holidaying at the titular island, where science can make you a zombie temporarily, find they want different things. A dark idea, presenting the ennui of modern life, but the climactic moment and its aftermath seems curiously flat, lacking excitement or drama.
Into That Good Night, by Robert Sommers: 2/5. Lights in the sky cause a zombie plague and one man heads home to his family. An uninspired response to the Zombiesque brief, with a downbeat ending that needs a fair bit more background and rationale to work properly.
Gimme a 'Z'!, by Seanan McGuire: 3/5. A recently deceased cheerleader returns to life and goes back to the squad, only to find... Nicely capturing voice and tone, a good line in humour, and escalates and climaxes the story, but this is ultimately a little light, albeit a change of mood for the anthology.
You Always Hurt the One You Love, by G.K. Hayes: 1/5. A victim of the zombie plague tries to hide his symptoms. Another rudimentary effort, hampered by dismissively sexist characterisation, mediocre story, and inexplicably spoiling its finale in the title.
In the Line of Duty, by Jim C. Hines: 3/5. Zombie cops chasing down zombie terrorists. Beyond the idea of zombies being (sometimes co-opted) cops, there's not much else here other than a neatly written action story; the insubordinate, break-the-rules cops trope is ageing pretty badly though.
Posthumous, by Sean Taylor: 3/5. A revived writer creates posthumous novels for her publisher husband. A strong idea, combined with an EC Comics-style revenge story, quite strongly written (even if overusing the phrase "Damn it!" to a distracting degree), but late plot elements fail to coalesce in an abrupt, unsatisfying ending.
The Warlock's Run, by Jean Rabe: 0/5. A zombie racecar driver dreams of winning. A story which quite literally goes round and round, being mostly a relentless recounting of racing facts and stats and listing of Grateful Dead song titles, and the protagonist being a zombie has absolutely no bearing on the narrative.
But None Shall Sing For Me, by Gregory Nicoll: 5/5. A voodoo zombie relates his history to his current surroundings in a beautifully written and evocative tale of love and loss; sadly, all the zombie/horror fans mentioning that this story needs more background and/or resolution seem unaware that this retells Tourneur's classic movie I Walked With a Zombie from the resurrected Carrefour's point of view.
Zero by Del Stone Jr: 3/5. A zombie girl and her fag-hag crush (both with parental issues) hustle for a living... death. A darkly nihilistic tale which never seems to quite analogise its horror into the text, spiralling into an unsurprising ending; seemingly so self-involvedly in the style of '90s splatterpunk to be distracting.
A Distant Sound of Hammers, by S. Boyd Taylor: 4/5. In a world where humans are farmed cattle, a zombie slaughterhouse worker wants more from his life. Neatly inverting the usual zombie/human dynamic while also highlighting farming practices, this suffers from some slightly abbreviated motivations and developments; almost too many ideas for its length.
The Confession, by Laszlo Xalieri: 2/5. 'Interview With the Zombie', a truly interesting take on the genre - what if there was a single, unknowable intelligence behind the dead eyes? - is deadened by the single room, confessional approach, and obfuscated with knowingly purple prose and a waffling lack of narrative thrust or denouement.
Zombie Zero, by Nancy Holder: 3/5. A Hollywood star's seemingly bimbo wife commits suicide, creating a wave of rage zombies. The staccato, occasionally stream-of-consciousness prose is strongly developed, though the narrative devolves into something of a polemic, losing focus as it expands into a basic summary of the eventual apocalypse. Another tale which maybe needs more space to really breathe.
In the Quiet of Spring, by Wendy Webb: 3/5. A rural recluse uses potions to ensure help on her land in the coming apocalypse. A quiet rumination, well characterised and presented, slow to build itself up, but then continuing past the point when the essential story has been told, ambling to a forgone conclusion.
October 23, 2019
16 zombie stories. They're okay, but rather lacking in gore, as though the authors are trying to make zombies the next cute and cuddly supernatural now vampires and weres are portrayed as tormented sexy bad boys. It's undoubtedly difficult (a shambling, rotting corpse that smells bad is never going to be attractive unless you have some very, very strange kink) and to be honest I wish they hadn't tried.
Am I the only person who still wants a few of my monsters to be monsters, not tortured souls?
Am I the only person who still wants a few of my monsters to be monsters, not tortured souls?
June 24, 2011
Zombiesque
Edited by Stephen L. Antczak, James C. Bassett, and Martin H. Greenberg
The main theme of this anthology is to have stories written from the zombie point of view, what it’s like to actually be a zombie and how the zombies fit into society . . . or perhaps change society into something completely different. There’s a wide range of stories here, from the straight forward “I’m in the mindless zombie’s head as it attacks” story, to ones in which the zombies have taken over the world and reformed it in their own image. What was also interesting was the diverse way in which some of the authors explained where the zombies came from—a disease, rage, nanos, allergic reactions, etc. Overall a solid anthology with some tongue-in-cheek stories . . . and also some stories that pushed my disgusting button perhaps a little too hard. I’ve bolded the titles of the two stories I enjoyed the most, but which ones you like will probably depend a lot on your own taste.
At First Only Darkness by Nancy A. Collins: A fairly short introduction to the anthology that’s good at getting you into the mindset of the stories to come, putting you inside the head of someone who has been turned, from the moment the new zombie consciousness takes over and beyond. No information on how the zombies came about here.
The Immortal Part by Charles Pinion: The zombie in this one has most of his cognitive powers left, and uses them to hunt his prey . . . and to escape the notice of those hunting the zombies. I liked the backstory of the main character here, and liked the character overall, even if he does eat flesh. The zombie apocalypse came about as a disease here.
Do No Harm by Tim Waggoner: Here’s an interesting take on the way zombies interact with each other after they’ve been turned, with groups forming around a king or queen like a hive. The group takes on the traits of their king or queen, which presents a problem when the queen is a doctor who has vowed to do no harm to other humans or her fellow zombies. The zombie plague here comes from nanos, essentially.
Zombie Camp by Richard Lee Byers: Another interesting take on zombies here, with people going on vacations where they can take a pill that makes them zombies temporarily, allowing them to relax and experience what it would be like, while changing back to normal later. A clever twist on the anthology theme, with a good character story as well.
Into That Good Night by Robert Sommers: Once again we begin with the zombie awakening. Here, he appears to be halfway between human and zombie, with hints that the zombies could be more than mindless creatures bent on hunger. How the apocalypse comes about isn’t really explained (just some flashing lights), but the focus is on the main character and his drive to get home to his family.
Gimme a “Z”! by Seanan McGuire: This was a fun little tongue-in-cheek look at a cheerleader who unexpectedly rises from the dead and tries to get back onto the squad. But it turns out her rising wasn’t an accident . . . nor the rising of some others. This is the first story to use ritual and human intent on raising the dead, rather than some form of accidental zombie apocalypse. And quite a bit of attention was paid to the little details, such as how embalming would help with the whole “flesh falling off the body” thing.
You Always Hurt the One You Love by G.K. Hayes: Here, the main character is desperately trying to control the onset of his zombie urges, now that he’s caught the disease and turned, and live as normal in the real world. But he discovers that he’s more connected to the world than he originally thought—what with work and girlfriends—and that the zombie urges are more powerful than perhaps even he can handle.
In the Line of Duty by Jim C. Hines: In this story, an attempt has been made to integrate the zombies into society. They’re pitied, and attempts are being made to cure them, but they’ve come up with nutrient bars they can use in place of human brains and so our main character is part of a specialized enforcement team that handles touchy situations that non-zombies would find too dangerous or impossible. It was a unique take on the theme, with a good character story as well as an interesting set-up and plot.
Posthumous by Sean Taylor: Here, the main character Lucy is a writer who died and is now back and continues to write posthumously, with her husband publishing the books as if they were “found” trunk novels. But Lucy wants more from her living husband than just a career, so when she discovers there’s “another woman” . . . well, the zombie in Lucy lets loose. This was a personal story, not really about the zombification itself, so no real explanation for why Lucy became a zombie and (as far as I can tell) no zombie apocalypse here. Good story though.
The Warlock’s Run by Jean Rabe: Chris died in a drag race when he was seventeen . . . but that hasn’t stopped him. His parents paid to zombify him and since then he’s been racing his entire “life” on the NASCAR circuit. Now he’s made it to the Daytona 500, and he intends to win no matter what. A good story, but a little heavy on the NASCAR details—facts and such about the races, etc. I’m not into NASCAR though, so they didn’t mean much to me. I’m guessing NASCAR fans would be all over it though.
But None Shall Sing For Me by Gregory Nicoll: This one is set in the Caribbean, with an emphasis on voodoo zombies. Carrefour was created ages ago but doesn’t remember much about his life before. But when he sees some of the drama being played out between a plantation owner, his zombified wife, and his brother, some things begin seeping back into his consciousness and in the end he helps resolve the current strife and finds a way to help himself in the process. A little rough in spots and I thought the parallels between Carrefour’s life and what was happening now could have been expanded.
Zero by Del Stone Jr.: Zero is the name given to those who become zombies in this story, and they are hunted and killed or studied here. So when Jenn becomes a Zero, she flees and finds a new life on the streets. But she craves something more, that sense of feeling that she had when she was alive, and she finds she can get it by eating certain people’s flesh and blood. Her search for this burn brings her to some realizations about her life and her new existence. Oh, and the Zeros are created by an allergic reaction to genetically engineered foods in this story.
A Distant Sound of Hammers by S. Boyd Taylor: This story pushed my boundary for disgusting a little bit. In the new zombie world, zombie control everything and normal humans are simply cattle. Jody is one of those zombies, but discovers he wants to be human again. He runs into his still human sister in one of the cattle pens, freshly caught but part of the human resistance. She offers him a chance to become human, but in return wants to become a zombie. I liked this interplay between the two characters and viewpoints, but I have to wonder if the story ended in the right place.
The Confession by Laszlo Xalieri: Here we have a zombie confessing is crimes to the man who has been investigating and trying to find him. There’s an interesting take on what the zombie actually is here, and what the zombies really crave and why, but this story again pushed my disgusting button. This one was more discomforting in that area than the previous story though. The twist of the confession in the end was great though.
Zombie Zero by Nancy Holder: Another zombie story with a zero, but in this case the zero represents the first zombie, the zero vector of the infection. It happens to be the wife of a famous actor who killed herself out of anger and rage over her life. And rage is what creates the zombies in this story. It has a slew of religious overtones, the zombie apocalypse essentially becoming its own religion with the human survivors embracing it or controlling their own emotions to escape it. Zombie Zero becomes the focal point, the zombie “savior” so to speak, for this religion. Certainly an interesting take on the apocalypse.
In the Quiet of Spring by Wendy Webb: The final story in the anthology is a quiet story about a woman who retreats from society and the world, embracing nature and herbs and the environment in an attempt to completely remove herself from any reliance on anything from our world. But she can’t work her farm and such alone. She needs help, just a few extra pairs of hands around the house. She uses her knowledge of nature to concoct a potion to get that help . . . very compliant, uncomplaining help. A good way to end the anthology, I thought, with a quiet story full of lots of atmosphere.
Edited by Stephen L. Antczak, James C. Bassett, and Martin H. Greenberg
The main theme of this anthology is to have stories written from the zombie point of view, what it’s like to actually be a zombie and how the zombies fit into society . . . or perhaps change society into something completely different. There’s a wide range of stories here, from the straight forward “I’m in the mindless zombie’s head as it attacks” story, to ones in which the zombies have taken over the world and reformed it in their own image. What was also interesting was the diverse way in which some of the authors explained where the zombies came from—a disease, rage, nanos, allergic reactions, etc. Overall a solid anthology with some tongue-in-cheek stories . . . and also some stories that pushed my disgusting button perhaps a little too hard. I’ve bolded the titles of the two stories I enjoyed the most, but which ones you like will probably depend a lot on your own taste.
At First Only Darkness by Nancy A. Collins: A fairly short introduction to the anthology that’s good at getting you into the mindset of the stories to come, putting you inside the head of someone who has been turned, from the moment the new zombie consciousness takes over and beyond. No information on how the zombies came about here.
The Immortal Part by Charles Pinion: The zombie in this one has most of his cognitive powers left, and uses them to hunt his prey . . . and to escape the notice of those hunting the zombies. I liked the backstory of the main character here, and liked the character overall, even if he does eat flesh. The zombie apocalypse came about as a disease here.
Do No Harm by Tim Waggoner: Here’s an interesting take on the way zombies interact with each other after they’ve been turned, with groups forming around a king or queen like a hive. The group takes on the traits of their king or queen, which presents a problem when the queen is a doctor who has vowed to do no harm to other humans or her fellow zombies. The zombie plague here comes from nanos, essentially.
Zombie Camp by Richard Lee Byers: Another interesting take on zombies here, with people going on vacations where they can take a pill that makes them zombies temporarily, allowing them to relax and experience what it would be like, while changing back to normal later. A clever twist on the anthology theme, with a good character story as well.
Into That Good Night by Robert Sommers: Once again we begin with the zombie awakening. Here, he appears to be halfway between human and zombie, with hints that the zombies could be more than mindless creatures bent on hunger. How the apocalypse comes about isn’t really explained (just some flashing lights), but the focus is on the main character and his drive to get home to his family.
Gimme a “Z”! by Seanan McGuire: This was a fun little tongue-in-cheek look at a cheerleader who unexpectedly rises from the dead and tries to get back onto the squad. But it turns out her rising wasn’t an accident . . . nor the rising of some others. This is the first story to use ritual and human intent on raising the dead, rather than some form of accidental zombie apocalypse. And quite a bit of attention was paid to the little details, such as how embalming would help with the whole “flesh falling off the body” thing.
You Always Hurt the One You Love by G.K. Hayes: Here, the main character is desperately trying to control the onset of his zombie urges, now that he’s caught the disease and turned, and live as normal in the real world. But he discovers that he’s more connected to the world than he originally thought—what with work and girlfriends—and that the zombie urges are more powerful than perhaps even he can handle.
In the Line of Duty by Jim C. Hines: In this story, an attempt has been made to integrate the zombies into society. They’re pitied, and attempts are being made to cure them, but they’ve come up with nutrient bars they can use in place of human brains and so our main character is part of a specialized enforcement team that handles touchy situations that non-zombies would find too dangerous or impossible. It was a unique take on the theme, with a good character story as well as an interesting set-up and plot.
Posthumous by Sean Taylor: Here, the main character Lucy is a writer who died and is now back and continues to write posthumously, with her husband publishing the books as if they were “found” trunk novels. But Lucy wants more from her living husband than just a career, so when she discovers there’s “another woman” . . . well, the zombie in Lucy lets loose. This was a personal story, not really about the zombification itself, so no real explanation for why Lucy became a zombie and (as far as I can tell) no zombie apocalypse here. Good story though.
The Warlock’s Run by Jean Rabe: Chris died in a drag race when he was seventeen . . . but that hasn’t stopped him. His parents paid to zombify him and since then he’s been racing his entire “life” on the NASCAR circuit. Now he’s made it to the Daytona 500, and he intends to win no matter what. A good story, but a little heavy on the NASCAR details—facts and such about the races, etc. I’m not into NASCAR though, so they didn’t mean much to me. I’m guessing NASCAR fans would be all over it though.
But None Shall Sing For Me by Gregory Nicoll: This one is set in the Caribbean, with an emphasis on voodoo zombies. Carrefour was created ages ago but doesn’t remember much about his life before. But when he sees some of the drama being played out between a plantation owner, his zombified wife, and his brother, some things begin seeping back into his consciousness and in the end he helps resolve the current strife and finds a way to help himself in the process. A little rough in spots and I thought the parallels between Carrefour’s life and what was happening now could have been expanded.
Zero by Del Stone Jr.: Zero is the name given to those who become zombies in this story, and they are hunted and killed or studied here. So when Jenn becomes a Zero, she flees and finds a new life on the streets. But she craves something more, that sense of feeling that she had when she was alive, and she finds she can get it by eating certain people’s flesh and blood. Her search for this burn brings her to some realizations about her life and her new existence. Oh, and the Zeros are created by an allergic reaction to genetically engineered foods in this story.
A Distant Sound of Hammers by S. Boyd Taylor: This story pushed my boundary for disgusting a little bit. In the new zombie world, zombie control everything and normal humans are simply cattle. Jody is one of those zombies, but discovers he wants to be human again. He runs into his still human sister in one of the cattle pens, freshly caught but part of the human resistance. She offers him a chance to become human, but in return wants to become a zombie. I liked this interplay between the two characters and viewpoints, but I have to wonder if the story ended in the right place.
The Confession by Laszlo Xalieri: Here we have a zombie confessing is crimes to the man who has been investigating and trying to find him. There’s an interesting take on what the zombie actually is here, and what the zombies really crave and why, but this story again pushed my disgusting button. This one was more discomforting in that area than the previous story though. The twist of the confession in the end was great though.
Zombie Zero by Nancy Holder: Another zombie story with a zero, but in this case the zero represents the first zombie, the zero vector of the infection. It happens to be the wife of a famous actor who killed herself out of anger and rage over her life. And rage is what creates the zombies in this story. It has a slew of religious overtones, the zombie apocalypse essentially becoming its own religion with the human survivors embracing it or controlling their own emotions to escape it. Zombie Zero becomes the focal point, the zombie “savior” so to speak, for this religion. Certainly an interesting take on the apocalypse.
In the Quiet of Spring by Wendy Webb: The final story in the anthology is a quiet story about a woman who retreats from society and the world, embracing nature and herbs and the environment in an attempt to completely remove herself from any reliance on anything from our world. But she can’t work her farm and such alone. She needs help, just a few extra pairs of hands around the house. She uses her knowledge of nature to concoct a potion to get that help . . . very compliant, uncomplaining help. A good way to end the anthology, I thought, with a quiet story full of lots of atmosphere.
October 21, 2013
It's probably unfair to blame George A Romero for this, but it does seem like ever since he made a career out of making increasingly repetitive and hackneyed zombie movies, every other zombie story that hit the mainstream media needs to be some pretentious parable illustrating the evil of commercialism and human impulses or something like that. The other half are self-conscious parodies that become increasingly unfunny. Everything seems derivative of one another, as if these people fear that, by creating straightforward movies about zombies that kill, they would be mistaken for that film school drop-out that made a YouTube zombie movie with a $200 budget and some cold cream goop over the actors' faces.
Zombiesque, a zombie story anthology, follows the same "I'm different from the others, I really am!" formula, telling me that the stories here "unforgettable" because they are narrated from a zombie's point of view. I'm skeptical, but hey, I'll bite.
Nancy Collins is a professional at what she does, and she starts things off with At First Only Darkness. A zombie rises out from the grave, and it is hungry. Why does it feel hungry? Is the hunger all-consuming? All that teeth-snapping is one thing, but I've come across the same philosophy in the 1985 zombie comedy Return Of The Living Dead, and that was... what, 26 years before the publication of this story?
Charles Pinion steps up next with The Immortal Part, where a zombie foodie reminisces about how he comes to accept his new appetites and eventually decides that there is no reason he can't create yummy dishes with the help of cookbooks. This one makes for a pretty amusing diversion.
Tim Waggoner offers possibly the most chilling story of involuntary self-sacrifice in this anthology with Do No Harm. Nano-devices have infected humans, wiping their memories and turning them into zombie-like creatures. People now live in Hives like insects, surviving on humans (the nano-devices don't want to cannibalize themselves, after all). Our heroine is the Queen of her Hive, but she vaguely recalls an oath from her past as a doctor that forbids her from doing harm on a living creature. Because the Hive does what she orders them to, and she can't order them to kill for food, her Hive is weak... dangerously so, as they are all always hungry. This unwillingness to survive eventually bites her in the rear end big time when the Hives begin turning on one another. I really like this story, mostly of the deft narrative and the way the author builds up the story to its chilling ending. The "survival of the fittest" theme has been done many times before, but here, the theme fits the story perfectly.
Richard Lee Byers offers an amusing black comedy of sorts with Zombie Camp, where people go to take a pill and become zombies (with an antidote to transform them back to normal at the end of the day, of course) and indulge in their wilder side to their hearts' content. This is not a bad story at all, even if the take-home message is that a silly fool that met a bad end completely deserved what happened to that person. The moral of the story seems to be: don't be a freaking killjoy, and get out if you don't want to have fun. This one gets a special mention for not being another zombie-up-for-brains-haw-haw story.
Robert Sommers's Into That Good Night has a newly raised zombie making his way back to his family during a zombie outbreak. Will he kill them or...? As a veteran of zombie stories, I find this one a very well-written story with good build-up of suspense but, unfortunately, all that work is wasted on me as I saw that ending coming from a mile away the moment the hero started remembering that he has a family.
Seanan MacGuire brings on the funny and the sass with Gimme A "Z"!, where even death and reanimation can't stop our heroine from going back to be part of her high school cheerleader team. This one is actually a pretty ordinary tale cobbled together from bimbo-with-brains and other young adult high school tropes, but it's a nice change of pace compared to the other stories in this anthology.
GK Hayes spoils his entire story with the title of his story You Always Hurt The One You Love. A zombie tries desperately to mask his condition by trying to maintain his normal human routine, but he is hungry and his girlfriend keeps insisting on showing up to comfort him. What happens when she shows up? Look at the title of this story and marvel at the author's sabotage of his own story.
Jim C Hines decides to do things differently by going the action hero route with In The Line Of Duty. Zombies are sentient and they have been roped in by the country to act as shock troopers, doing things that would damage ordinary humans. Our hero is part of a SWAT-like team that does everyone's dirty work, and he stumbles upon a nefarious zombie plot in this story. Will he still side with the humans or wear the Team Zombie T-shirt? This one may be short, but it's a nice story that feels contained and has some solid pacing. I like this one.
Sean Taylor's Posthumous is wicked and nasty, as it has an author, now a zombie, continuing to create "posthumous bestsellers" in her name for her husband. He can't bring himself to touch her, much less show her any physical affection, but she is devoted to her. She adores him... in her own twisted and sadistic way, as this story will show. This one is predictable, but it gets my approval anyway for reveling in its thoroughly evil overtones.
Jean Rabe's The Warlock's Run is about a zombie race car driver gearing up for his greatest triumph. It starts out good, I'm eager to go... and then the story just meanders on and on and on that the story feel like an eternity to finish despite it actually being pretty short. The ending is cool, though, if, again, predictable.
Gregory Nicoll's But None Shall Sing For Me is about some voodoo-flavored zombie melodrama in a Caribbean island. The scenery is far more evocative and interesting than the actual story, which tries to be both a plot-driven story and a character introspection showcase only to be let down by the limitations of its length.
Del Stone Jr's Zero is a very grim and acerbic tale of angst, mother issues, and a twisted form of fag hag crush. If this sounds twisted and delicious, it is. This is a lovely story that almost brings a tear to my eye because of how well it combines the usually tedious melodrama of whiny self-absorption with zombie tropes. Again, I find the twist at the end rather predictable, though. I still like this one, however.
S Boyd Taylor's A Distant Sound Of Hammers is set in a time when sentient zombies rule and humans are kept both as food and entertainment. Our heroine is a zombie who finds a way to become human again, with predictable results. The author tries to tell me that the whole thing is probably worth it, being human is something to be cherished, blah blah blah, but it's hard for me to care for this otherwise well-constructed tale when the heroine seems to suffer from colossal stupidity.
Laszlo Xalieri offers a zombie-flavored Interview With A Vampire-style story, only this zombie is sentient and thoroughly evil, or so it seems. The Confession, however, suffers from pretentious navel-gazing, insufferably annoying switches in points of view, and a refusal to quit rambling. The author could have chosen a less time-consuming manner to tell me that he's way smarter than I can ever dream of being.
Nancy Holder goes beyond the call of duty to make Mr Xalieri look like Ernest Hemingway in her Zombie Zero. The now zombified wife of a narcissistic movie star is muzzled up and exhibited as a display of her husband's "devotion" to her, and she is mad. This story goes into her head, and it just rambles on and on, going off on all kinds of bizarre tangents to culminate in a confusing ending that makes no sense even after I've tried reading those pages three times. Maybe this is some kind of parable related to the state of mind after one is high on drugs or something?
Wendy Webb's In The Quiet Of Spring is about a rustic witch who decides to find someone to help around the house in a rather unorthodox manner. Short and pretty pointless, this one nonetheless has the advantage of being an unpretentious and - thank goodness - coherent tale. It's not my ideal way to end this anthology, but I'll take what I can get.
Zombiesque is a mixed bag, but even if I take into account the handful of better stories, there is nothing here that can't be found in other zombie anthologies out there. I've read better anthologies before, but I've also read worse ones. This one is average, but to the point where it's so average that I can't muster up the enthusiasm to recommend it to anyone.
Zombiesque, a zombie story anthology, follows the same "I'm different from the others, I really am!" formula, telling me that the stories here "unforgettable" because they are narrated from a zombie's point of view. I'm skeptical, but hey, I'll bite.
Nancy Collins is a professional at what she does, and she starts things off with At First Only Darkness. A zombie rises out from the grave, and it is hungry. Why does it feel hungry? Is the hunger all-consuming? All that teeth-snapping is one thing, but I've come across the same philosophy in the 1985 zombie comedy Return Of The Living Dead, and that was... what, 26 years before the publication of this story?
Charles Pinion steps up next with The Immortal Part, where a zombie foodie reminisces about how he comes to accept his new appetites and eventually decides that there is no reason he can't create yummy dishes with the help of cookbooks. This one makes for a pretty amusing diversion.
Tim Waggoner offers possibly the most chilling story of involuntary self-sacrifice in this anthology with Do No Harm. Nano-devices have infected humans, wiping their memories and turning them into zombie-like creatures. People now live in Hives like insects, surviving on humans (the nano-devices don't want to cannibalize themselves, after all). Our heroine is the Queen of her Hive, but she vaguely recalls an oath from her past as a doctor that forbids her from doing harm on a living creature. Because the Hive does what she orders them to, and she can't order them to kill for food, her Hive is weak... dangerously so, as they are all always hungry. This unwillingness to survive eventually bites her in the rear end big time when the Hives begin turning on one another. I really like this story, mostly of the deft narrative and the way the author builds up the story to its chilling ending. The "survival of the fittest" theme has been done many times before, but here, the theme fits the story perfectly.
Richard Lee Byers offers an amusing black comedy of sorts with Zombie Camp, where people go to take a pill and become zombies (with an antidote to transform them back to normal at the end of the day, of course) and indulge in their wilder side to their hearts' content. This is not a bad story at all, even if the take-home message is that a silly fool that met a bad end completely deserved what happened to that person. The moral of the story seems to be: don't be a freaking killjoy, and get out if you don't want to have fun. This one gets a special mention for not being another zombie-up-for-brains-haw-haw story.
Robert Sommers's Into That Good Night has a newly raised zombie making his way back to his family during a zombie outbreak. Will he kill them or...? As a veteran of zombie stories, I find this one a very well-written story with good build-up of suspense but, unfortunately, all that work is wasted on me as I saw that ending coming from a mile away the moment the hero started remembering that he has a family.
Seanan MacGuire brings on the funny and the sass with Gimme A "Z"!, where even death and reanimation can't stop our heroine from going back to be part of her high school cheerleader team. This one is actually a pretty ordinary tale cobbled together from bimbo-with-brains and other young adult high school tropes, but it's a nice change of pace compared to the other stories in this anthology.
GK Hayes spoils his entire story with the title of his story You Always Hurt The One You Love. A zombie tries desperately to mask his condition by trying to maintain his normal human routine, but he is hungry and his girlfriend keeps insisting on showing up to comfort him. What happens when she shows up? Look at the title of this story and marvel at the author's sabotage of his own story.
Jim C Hines decides to do things differently by going the action hero route with In The Line Of Duty. Zombies are sentient and they have been roped in by the country to act as shock troopers, doing things that would damage ordinary humans. Our hero is part of a SWAT-like team that does everyone's dirty work, and he stumbles upon a nefarious zombie plot in this story. Will he still side with the humans or wear the Team Zombie T-shirt? This one may be short, but it's a nice story that feels contained and has some solid pacing. I like this one.
Sean Taylor's Posthumous is wicked and nasty, as it has an author, now a zombie, continuing to create "posthumous bestsellers" in her name for her husband. He can't bring himself to touch her, much less show her any physical affection, but she is devoted to her. She adores him... in her own twisted and sadistic way, as this story will show. This one is predictable, but it gets my approval anyway for reveling in its thoroughly evil overtones.
Jean Rabe's The Warlock's Run is about a zombie race car driver gearing up for his greatest triumph. It starts out good, I'm eager to go... and then the story just meanders on and on and on that the story feel like an eternity to finish despite it actually being pretty short. The ending is cool, though, if, again, predictable.
Gregory Nicoll's But None Shall Sing For Me is about some voodoo-flavored zombie melodrama in a Caribbean island. The scenery is far more evocative and interesting than the actual story, which tries to be both a plot-driven story and a character introspection showcase only to be let down by the limitations of its length.
Del Stone Jr's Zero is a very grim and acerbic tale of angst, mother issues, and a twisted form of fag hag crush. If this sounds twisted and delicious, it is. This is a lovely story that almost brings a tear to my eye because of how well it combines the usually tedious melodrama of whiny self-absorption with zombie tropes. Again, I find the twist at the end rather predictable, though. I still like this one, however.
S Boyd Taylor's A Distant Sound Of Hammers is set in a time when sentient zombies rule and humans are kept both as food and entertainment. Our heroine is a zombie who finds a way to become human again, with predictable results. The author tries to tell me that the whole thing is probably worth it, being human is something to be cherished, blah blah blah, but it's hard for me to care for this otherwise well-constructed tale when the heroine seems to suffer from colossal stupidity.
Laszlo Xalieri offers a zombie-flavored Interview With A Vampire-style story, only this zombie is sentient and thoroughly evil, or so it seems. The Confession, however, suffers from pretentious navel-gazing, insufferably annoying switches in points of view, and a refusal to quit rambling. The author could have chosen a less time-consuming manner to tell me that he's way smarter than I can ever dream of being.
Nancy Holder goes beyond the call of duty to make Mr Xalieri look like Ernest Hemingway in her Zombie Zero. The now zombified wife of a narcissistic movie star is muzzled up and exhibited as a display of her husband's "devotion" to her, and she is mad. This story goes into her head, and it just rambles on and on, going off on all kinds of bizarre tangents to culminate in a confusing ending that makes no sense even after I've tried reading those pages three times. Maybe this is some kind of parable related to the state of mind after one is high on drugs or something?
Wendy Webb's In The Quiet Of Spring is about a rustic witch who decides to find someone to help around the house in a rather unorthodox manner. Short and pretty pointless, this one nonetheless has the advantage of being an unpretentious and - thank goodness - coherent tale. It's not my ideal way to end this anthology, but I'll take what I can get.
Zombiesque is a mixed bag, but even if I take into account the handful of better stories, there is nothing here that can't be found in other zombie anthologies out there. I've read better anthologies before, but I've also read worse ones. This one is average, but to the point where it's so average that I can't muster up the enthusiasm to recommend it to anyone.
December 22, 2019
As a collection of short stories it is a bit hit and miss. Some of them come up with genuinely unique zombie stories while some are the same old ones that have been told before.
January 4, 2022
This rating is for Gimme a “Z” by Seanan McGuire only. 3 stars.
November 13, 2022
Short stories with one twist each. Not especially novel twists either.
June 28, 2023
It was exactly what it purported to be; I simply didn't enjoy most of the stories very much, although they were interesting.
February 2, 2016
As is the nature with short story collections, this was a really mixed bag. The premise is pretty rad: Zombie stories told from the perspective of the zombies. I think I just expected a lot more out of this collection and I found it disappointing.
There were some standouts though.
"At First Only Darkness" by Nancy A. Collins
Collins presence in this collection was what made me decide to pick it up. The Sonja Blue trilogy is my favorite take on vampires of all time. Her take on zombies isn't exactly ground breaking here, but it's a good read. There's a simple poetry and cadence that keeps you hooked.
"Gimme a 'Z'!" by Seanan McGuire
A clever and funny take on the whole premise in which the zombie is a perky cheerleader who still overflows with school spirit. It's cheeky and fun on a genre that often gets bogged down in over seriousness and gore factor.
"But None Shall Sing For Me" by Gregory Nicoll
This story is pure poetry. Color me absolutely surprised to find what is probably my favorite zombie story of all time amongst this pretty meh collection. Telling the tale of Haitian voodoo zombie, it's a beautiful tale and everyone should read it.
"The Confession" by Laszlo Xalieri
A genuinely unique take on the zombie mythos. It's actually something that hasn't really been seen before (which is incredibly rare in the zombie genre). This is also another one that everyone who likes zombies should check out.
All in all, I don't know that I'd recommend the entire anthology. I don't know how much of that was my expectations for the premise compared to how most of these authors chose to execute it. Only a few of these stories are what I would call truly bad. The right word is mundane for the most part.
There were some standouts though.
"At First Only Darkness" by Nancy A. Collins
Collins presence in this collection was what made me decide to pick it up. The Sonja Blue trilogy is my favorite take on vampires of all time. Her take on zombies isn't exactly ground breaking here, but it's a good read. There's a simple poetry and cadence that keeps you hooked.
"Gimme a 'Z'!" by Seanan McGuire
A clever and funny take on the whole premise in which the zombie is a perky cheerleader who still overflows with school spirit. It's cheeky and fun on a genre that often gets bogged down in over seriousness and gore factor.
"But None Shall Sing For Me" by Gregory Nicoll
This story is pure poetry. Color me absolutely surprised to find what is probably my favorite zombie story of all time amongst this pretty meh collection. Telling the tale of Haitian voodoo zombie, it's a beautiful tale and everyone should read it.
"The Confession" by Laszlo Xalieri
A genuinely unique take on the zombie mythos. It's actually something that hasn't really been seen before (which is incredibly rare in the zombie genre). This is also another one that everyone who likes zombies should check out.
All in all, I don't know that I'd recommend the entire anthology. I don't know how much of that was my expectations for the premise compared to how most of these authors chose to execute it. Only a few of these stories are what I would call truly bad. The right word is mundane for the most part.
February 14, 2012
Every second book these days says it's a "fresh take on zombies", but this one actually delivers. The stories are all told from the zombie's POV, yet each is unique and offering some fascinating new possibilities for the genre. I've been dipping in and out of Zombiesque between novels and have yet to finish it, but I'd happily recommend this to horror or zombie aficionados, based purely on the strength of the first few stories.
HIGHLIGHTS
Do No Harm (Tim Waggoner) -WOW. This truly is a fresh take on zombies. A nanotech-based virus, zombie "hives", a doctor-turned-zombie-queen who will not do harm. I've already said too much. Just read it.At First Only Darkness (Nancy A Collins) -I love this story. Told from the POV of the zombie, all visceral hunger and dim impressions of the world around him. I love that the zombie doesn't see "people, zombies or animals" only "food, not-food and maybe-food".
Zombie Camp (Richard Lee Byers) -A holiday camp for people wishing to experience the visceral joys of being a zombie. At least temporarily. Brilliant idea.
Into That Good Night (Robert Sommers) -An exploration of what "family" might mean to a newly made zombie.
Gimme A Z! (Seanan McGuire) -Cute & quirky. A fun little story about a cheerleader that rises from the dead. What I really appreciate is McGuire's writing style. I could read a shopping list written by her, and be totally satisfied.
HIGHLIGHTS
Do No Harm (Tim Waggoner) -WOW. This truly is a fresh take on zombies. A nanotech-based virus, zombie "hives", a doctor-turned-zombie-queen who will not do harm. I've already said too much. Just read it.At First Only Darkness (Nancy A Collins) -I love this story. Told from the POV of the zombie, all visceral hunger and dim impressions of the world around him. I love that the zombie doesn't see "people, zombies or animals" only "food, not-food and maybe-food".
Zombie Camp (Richard Lee Byers) -A holiday camp for people wishing to experience the visceral joys of being a zombie. At least temporarily. Brilliant idea.
Into That Good Night (Robert Sommers) -An exploration of what "family" might mean to a newly made zombie.
Gimme A Z! (Seanan McGuire) -Cute & quirky. A fun little story about a cheerleader that rises from the dead. What I really appreciate is McGuire's writing style. I could read a shopping list written by her, and be totally satisfied.
September 28, 2011
Hey! I've never read a book like this before. Well, an anthology. Lots of short stories...all told from the perspective of the zombie!!!!!! I've seen way too much from the human perspective---now let the zombies have their chance. :D
I bought this book because a friend of mine wrote one of the 16 original stories contained. He did an amazing job (awesome story Charles Pinion!!) The other stories were great too. There was such a wide variety of ideas.
Some of them I loved, and some of them I really despised. But only because they made me uncomfortable as hell. But, I guess I'm just not that hard-core yet, in the zombie business.
I don't know why I haven't demanded something like this yet. But now that I know that zombies have feelings too, I'm going to keep my eyes open for AMC to debut: "The Walking Alive". heh.
I bought this book because a friend of mine wrote one of the 16 original stories contained. He did an amazing job (awesome story Charles Pinion!!) The other stories were great too. There was such a wide variety of ideas.
Some of them I loved, and some of them I really despised. But only because they made me uncomfortable as hell. But, I guess I'm just not that hard-core yet, in the zombie business.
I don't know why I haven't demanded something like this yet. But now that I know that zombies have feelings too, I'm going to keep my eyes open for AMC to debut: "The Walking Alive". heh.
August 31, 2013
I picked this up as an impulse buy from a small book store. I actually didn't expect much out of it, mostly because the cover used an image I've seen on at least 3 other low quality zombie books (I assume it's one of the few zombie stock images cheaply available out there). Any ways, I was pleasantly surprised that the writing is here was pretty good.
Most Anthologies I finish feeling like half the stories weren't even worth reading, but I ended this one feeling at least two thirds were so above par for an anthology. The theme of stories from the zombies point of view was interesting but, as much as I enjoyed most of these stories, I was disappointed in how none traditional most of the zombies in these stories were. Most were highly functioning and thinking zombies. So, if none traditional zombies bug you this isn't for you. If they don't it's definitely worth the read.
Most Anthologies I finish feeling like half the stories weren't even worth reading, but I ended this one feeling at least two thirds were so above par for an anthology. The theme of stories from the zombies point of view was interesting but, as much as I enjoyed most of these stories, I was disappointed in how none traditional most of the zombies in these stories were. Most were highly functioning and thinking zombies. So, if none traditional zombies bug you this isn't for you. If they don't it's definitely worth the read.
March 25, 2011
I love anthologies and I love zombies, so this anthology is perfect for me. There's a great mix of stories in this book: from sad to disturbing and from beautiful to horrific. But all these stories have one thing in common: they have real zombies! No lovesick teenage zombies who could just as well have been human or things like that. The zombies in this book crave brains, blood, revenge and stuff. And that's how I like to see it!
My personal favourites:
- At First Only Darkness by Nancy A. Collins
Who can resist a zombie that makes Snap. Snap. Snap. sounds?!
- Do No Harm by Tim Waggoner
A beautiful story that made me really feel for the zombies
- A Distant Sound of Hammers by S. Boyd Taylor
Both disturbing and sad
My personal favourites:
- At First Only Darkness by Nancy A. Collins
Who can resist a zombie that makes Snap. Snap. Snap. sounds?!
- Do No Harm by Tim Waggoner
A beautiful story that made me really feel for the zombies
- A Distant Sound of Hammers by S. Boyd Taylor
Both disturbing and sad
June 23, 2016
Zombies, zombies and zombies.
All the short stories are different, some were funny as hell, but others creeped me out, and quite a lot for that matter, which is also what made "Zombiesque" so awesome.
It's a good read if you love zombies, also if you're kind of scared of them , as am I, it's probably a good read even if you don't care about them. It addresses a few moral issues we have nowadays and makes you wonder...if you had a chance to turn into a zombie after you die, would you do it?
Also, what I really liked, is that all the stories had different zombies, some were brain-eating-mindless undead, but some could think and talk and they even helped the society to get rid of other evil zombies.
All the short stories are different, some were funny as hell, but others creeped me out, and quite a lot for that matter, which is also what made "Zombiesque" so awesome.
It's a good read if you love zombies, also if you're kind of scared of them , as am I, it's probably a good read even if you don't care about them. It addresses a few moral issues we have nowadays and makes you wonder...if you had a chance to turn into a zombie after you die, would you do it?
Also, what I really liked, is that all the stories had different zombies, some were brain-eating-mindless undead, but some could think and talk and they even helped the society to get rid of other evil zombies.
December 29, 2015
By now, we're all so familiar with the Zombie Apocalypse that we could fight it in our sleep, right? But how are things for the zombies? I mean, zombies are...um, were...people, too! This anthology is a collection of zombie stories...from the point of view of the zombies!
I won't say it represents all kinds of zombies, but I think it's pretty safe to say that there's at least one story in here for each general kind of zombie. As you might expect, many of them are a bit on the pessimistic side. A couple are cute or even downright funny, particularly one involving an undead cheerleader. A few I found really creepy, such as one touching on the Voodoo zombie and its murky origins. A good read, and both entertaining and thought-provoking brain chow during lunch at work.
I won't say it represents all kinds of zombies, but I think it's pretty safe to say that there's at least one story in here for each general kind of zombie. As you might expect, many of them are a bit on the pessimistic side. A couple are cute or even downright funny, particularly one involving an undead cheerleader. A few I found really creepy, such as one touching on the Voodoo zombie and its murky origins. A good read, and both entertaining and thought-provoking brain chow during lunch at work.
July 3, 2016
I got this book when zombies were having A Moment, but didn't get around to reading it until now. It's got a good hook- zombie stories, from the zombie POV! -but the success of the execution, like with many anthologies, varies per story. My favorites: Seanan McGuire's Gimme A "Z", Nancy Holder's Zombie Zero, Jean Rabe's The Warlock's Run.
May 8, 2016
I seem to be on a zombie kick lately. It's the only paranormal type of book I can read. Never mind that I have dozens of vampire books hanging around. Only zombies seem to do it for me. These short stories were fairly decent and I only skipped through three of them. I think they must have been given a set of zombie rules as there were quite a few reoccurring zombie themes (brains, regeneration etc). Not a bad book just wasn't as thrilling as I thought it would be.
June 30, 2011
Wow this was kind of horrible. The only reason I read the whole thing was because I was babysitting and literally had nothing else better to do. All the stories were pretty generic and boring, and the worst was definitely "Gimme a 'Z'!" What the hell. That was the kind of shit I wrote when I was 15.
I did like "In the Line of Duty" though. It gets 2 stars instead of 1 just for that.
I did like "In the Line of Duty" though. It gets 2 stars instead of 1 just for that.
October 28, 2012
Some excellent stories from a unique perspective. I'm not sure what I expected from this anthology, even though I have a story in here, but I believe it covered all the bases and more. Some stories will make you laugh, some will make you cry, some will make you retch (in a good way ;-). It is close to Halloween as I write this, what better time to think about reading good zombie stories?
April 30, 2015
An interesting mixed bag of zombie shirt stories that take a different approach from the traditional. The zombies of this compilation are, to different extents, conscious and retain some intelligence.
There were some pretty good stories in here, and once again Seanan McGuire stands out with her writing, but there were also a few that I didn't really get anything out of at all.
There were some pretty good stories in here, and once again Seanan McGuire stands out with her writing, but there were also a few that I didn't really get anything out of at all.
July 22, 2011
Some really great stories in here!
October 16, 2011
Some of the stories are an interesting take on Zombie "lifestyles" or stories. I found most of the stories boring or just plain weird. Not my favorite.
November 13, 2011
Fave stories were Tim Waggoner's "Do No Harm," Seanan McGuire's "Gimme a 'Z'!", and Jim C. Hines' "In the Line of Duty."
July 24, 2012
Some good stories, some not so good.
October 13, 2015
I did not enjoy this book of short tales from the zombie's perspective. Some of the stories are better than others, but none of them particularly I liked.
July 12, 2014
I'm just glad I'm done. this was so boring and unpleasant I wish I hadn't bothered to pick it up.
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