The Z Word

by Lindsay King-Miller

“Sexy, scathing, delightful, and intimately devastating.”—Gretchen Felker-Martin, author of Manhunt and Cuckoo

Packed with action, humor, sex, and big gay feelings, The Z Word is the queer zombie romp you didn’t know you needed.

Chaotic bisexual Wendy is trying to find her place in the queer community of San Lazaro, Arizona, after a bad breakup—which is particularly difficult because her ex is hooking up with some of her friends. And when the people around them start turning into violent, terrifying mindless husks, well, that makes things harder. Especially since the infection seems to be spreading.

Now, Wendy and her friends and frenemies—drag queen Logan, silver fox Beau, sword lesbian Aurelia and her wife Sam, mysterious pizza delivery stoner Sunshine, and, oh yeah, Wendy’s ex-girlfriend Leah—have to team up to stay alive, save Pride, and track the zombie outbreak to its shocking source. Hopefully without killing each other first.

The Z Word is a propulsive, funny, emotional horror debut about a found family coming together to fight corporate greed, political corruption, gay drama, and zombies.

Genres: Horror, Queer, LGBT, Zombies, Fiction, Lesbian, Audiobook

260 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 7, 2024

About the author

Lindsay King-Miller won the Colorado Young Authors Award in the second grade with a story that was blatantly ripped off from Goosebumps. Her influences have not changed much, although she’s become more sophisticated about their incorporation.

Lindsay earned a BA in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona and an MFA in Writing & Poetics from Naropa University. She was the director of the Tucson Poetry Festival, founded the Tucson Poetry Slam, toured as a slam poet, taught composition and creative writing to middle school, high school, and college students, and wrote the popular advice column “Ask A Queer Chick.”

Her first book, Ask A Queer Chick: A Guide to Sex, Love, and Life for Girls who Dig Girls, was published by Plume in 2016.

Her personal essays and culture writing have appeared in Bitch Magazine, Glamour Magazine, Vice.com, Cosmopolitan.com, The Guardian, and many other publications in print and online. More recently, her fiction has appeared in Fireside Fiction, Baffling Magazine, and numerous other lit mags and anthologies.

Her debut novel The Z Word is forthcoming from Quirk Books in 2024. Lindsay is represented by Kate McKean at Howard Morhaim Literary Agency. When she’s not writing, she’s thinking about what she wishes she were writing. She lives in Denver, Colorado with her partner and their two children.

Reviews

[Rad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wendy is so down bad it’s not even funny. No seriously, it’s not funny, there are zombies girl get it together.

[mehta]

DNF @ 17%

The scrumptious cover and the premise of sapphic zombies in an unabashedly queer romp had me starting this book on its release day, but sadly the story is just not working for me.

It feels like the author is trying to introduce every type of stereotypically queer person to the point where they feel like caricatures; I don't want any community of a demographic, including queer communities, to feel so curated in a book.

The main character, Wendy, has a pretty generic personality, and I don’t feel enough chemistry between her and the characters around her to propel me to continue the book. There's a back and forth dynamic between her and her ex that seems oddly stale because the dialogue between them feels too wooden.

If the premise sounds interesting to you, give the book a try, it might work out better for you. For me, it's a pass for now.

[Sunny Lu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bloody and gruesome but written in a very contemporary, unserious, and light-footed way. Character perspectives were all infuriating or annoying in different ways, and the “message” and tropes of queer found families and messages dyke drama felt forced, clunky, but most importantly— obvious. Basically a story of unhinged terrible gays doing unhinged terrible shit but alcoholic seltzer flavored… Zombie apocalypse in Arizona moment!

[AJ Tracy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this during pride month and honestly that feels like a hate crime.

When I picked this up I was like omg lesbian zombies with trans and nb rep!!! Sounds so fun and camp and pride! Instead I got “Lizzo would be disappointed in me” and mermaid leggings. MERMAID LEGGINGS THIS WHOLE TIME SHE WAS WEARING MERMAID LEGGINGS. Honestly this feels like a horrendous fanfiction pulled straight from 2016 tumblr just gayer.

Speaking of which, how are you going to be queer and make your queer rep feel forced??? Same with racial and cultural diversity. Like the author is fr just bringing up the complete license plate demographics of characters who have 20 words of page time total. I really do not care that this zombie that is getting its head cut off is a white, bisexual woman in her mid 40s with a gray bob. Like main characters sure give me their identities and descriptions but I don’t need to know the corpse’s identity????

In addition, even though the main characters had a wide range of backgrounds and identities which was cool, they still all sucked! Idk how you manage to make characters that are absolutely horrendous and awful while still being painfully under developed, but King-Miller did it! I hated pretty much every character in this book except for my queens Logan and Beau, we love them!!! I was not sad about literally any of the deaths. At one I was actually like thank god that bitch is gone.

Plus my absolute fav! A book that assumes you have the intelligence and critical thinking skills of a 3rd grader! The whole premise is that the zombie-ism is a metaphor for homophobia and bigotry. Cool concept! It’s all about attacking corporate pride and those who profit off of the struggles of vulnerable communities. Awesome message! But I do not need that spelled out for me in every other sentence. I am able to see metaphor and make inferences and read beyond the lines without the author hitting me over the head with it. Especially because the target audience is clearly queer people??? Like we’re gonna get the fucking point.

And finally, I could have forgiven a lot of these sore spots. I could have excused some of the outdated cliches and cringey descriptions if the plot or writing of this book was at all decent. But it’s not. The plot is predictable and boring to the point where calling it a horror or thriller is insulting. And the writing is mediocre at best. I’ve read better fanfics written by 15 year olds on ao3.

This would be the worst book I’ve ever read, but I’ve had the displeasure of reading Cassandra Khaw’s writing soooooo

[Danika at The Lesbrary · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was so excited to pick this up, because I've been looking for a new fun and gory sapphic zombie adventure. At first, I thought I’d found it with this, but I couldn’t suspend my disbelief enough at the ending to recommend The Z Word. Something about me as a reader is that I can hang with almost any weird premise and will sail over plot holes without hesitation, but I care deeply about characterization, and that’s where this one fell short for me.

I predicted the plot reveal, which, while obviously unrealistic, still worked for me. The character reveal, though, made no sense to me, and it soured the whole book.

Full review at the Lesbrary.

[emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Others seem to be kinda disappointed by this book, but for me, it did almost exactly what I wanted it to. It was a generally lighthearted zombie horror novel. Dark comedy vibes, maybe. I had a damn good time! I see a bit of what some other readers are saying re: characterizations—bc usually I’m a full character reader, too, and I need those connections more often than not. But idk, I just had a vibe. It was goofy and sad and succeeded in making me cry just a lil at the end! Which I was surprised by. Would I have loved a bit more character interaction that delved a bit deeper, yes, bc I always want that, but I think if you go in basically treating it like the blockbuster summer flick equivalent of a book, you’ll likely have fun.

Personally, I wanted more of Aurelia, and she was my fav, but I had a damn good time with this.

Fuck capitalism, and fuck homophobes. It’s getting rough out there yall, and we gotta stick together.

[Kelsee · Rating 1 out of 5]

When I first read about the plot of this book, I was so excited! A zombie apocalypse during Pride? Our main character is Bi? Let me at it!

About 20% or so into the book and I just started to feel like the plot was never going to get started. . . then all of a sudden you're in the middle of the story going how did we get here? 50% in and you start to hate our naïve main character that has you scoffing at every decision. (But I should've seen that coming when she was described as a "chaotic Bisexual." *eye roll*) How do you make a character a stereotypical white woman AND a stereotypical Bisexual at the same time??? Her constant trust in the police reminded you, you can still be queer and still be a part of the problem in the system. Which was even more frustrating when you realize that her and her (TOXIC) ex, Leah, are the only white people in a group of queer people of color and both in one way or another caused the deaths of others by the hands of the police or corporations!

Her incessant reminders of how she didn't feel apart of the queer community, instead of feeling relatable as a Bisexual woman, felt annoying when you realize her entire friend base were all queer people heavily involved in the community. WOMAN, WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT? SOMEONE TO TATTOO THE PRIDE FLAG ON YOUR BUTT? YOU'RE SITTING IN THE HEART OF IT.

I feel like King-Miller really wanted to make a statement with this one about rainbow washing, "political freedom fighting influencers," and sucky hard seltzers in a way that was fun and commercial. Instead, it just felt out of touch socially and the Target Pride collection equivalent to "Love Is Love."

My extra star rating truly is for the "secondary" characters in this novel who actually had personalities to stay engaged for. Sunshine (the non-binary pizza warrior we didn't know we needed), Logan/Dahlia DePravity (the sexiest drag queen in the world), Aurelia (the most loving house mother you could ask for), and Beau (the coolest lesbian I've ever read). You all deserved a better plot.

[Dennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really excited to pick up Lindsay King-Miller's fiction debut, THE Z WORD. It sounded like a unique horror story that infused humor and sex and queer identity, and it is exactly that!

Our main character Wendy is bisexual and struggling to find her place within the queer community in San Lazaro, Arizona. She has recently ended her relationship with her ex-girlfriend and is having a hard time with it. Wendy's journey towards freedom from this relationship and having her embrace her sexuality is a strong narrative within this story. When people start turning into zombies, Wendy and her clique, including drag queen Logan, silver fox Beau, sword lesbian Aurelia and her wife Sam, mysterious pizza delivery stoner Sunshine, and Wendy’s ex-girlfriend Leah, team up to try and find out exactly what is going on.

THE Z WORD is a hilarious, sexy, queer journey for readers who enjoyed Maeve Fly (CJ Leede) and Manhunt (Gretchen Felker-Martin) infused with the movie Zombieland. The social commentary and characterization of each of the main crew of characters is what makes THE Z WORD shine. It's hard not to love the characters in this book, even with all their drama. The book dives into serious issues with dark humor and wit. I very much am anticipating seeing what Lindsay King-Miller writes for readers next.

[Becky Spratford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review in the April 2024 issue of Library Journal

Three Words That Describe This Book: satire, queer heroes, zombie apocalypse

Draft Review:
Pride is about to kick-off in the small town of San Lazaro, AZ, home of Seabrook, a hard seltzer maker who is the corporate sponsor of Pride across the globe. As the queer community gathers to celebrate, readers are introduced to the main characters through the eyes of the novel’s narrator, Wendy, a transplant to AZ who is still finding herself, especially after her difficult break up with Leah. There are hosts Aurelia and her wife Sam, Logan, a drag queen, Beau, an older lesbian, Sunshine, the nonbinary pizza delivery person, and of course, Leah. When a drunk party attendee begins acting strangely there is no looking back as this sexy, thoughtful, and fast-paced sardonic zombie adventure begins. Told with layers of unease stemming from forces both supernatural and very real, readers will love to root for this band of survivors, a found family that works together to figure out what is happening, and try to stop it from destroying everything they have worked so hard to build.

Verdict: King-Miller expertly balances the social commentary and fun in a novel that will have readers cheering for her queer heroes and questioning their own brand loyalties, at the same time. A title that will have wide appeal for fans of novels like Jennifer Government by Max Barry to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith to Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin.


Despite the serious issues this is a fun book to read-- the dark humor and author's intention that readers enjoy of the story shine through. But it is very thought provoking and seriously looks at the dark side of corporate's embracing "Pride."

The found family theme is also strong-- as seen in the best band of survivor stories.

The Queer characters are satisfyingly fully developed and are both on the side of good and evil. This was excellent to see.

The ending in unsettling for a variety of reasons as well-- in a good way-- in a perfect for thought provoking horror way. Endings to zombie stories are hard to stick the landing on, and this is a debut, which also don't walls stick the landing. This one succeeds despite the odds.

For fans of all satirical Zombie stories from a more on the nose campy Zombieland (movie) to the more serious Severance by Ling Ma. Even something like Breathers by S.A. Browne which is from the zombies perspective would appeal here.

All told from Wendy's POV except for short chapters from people who are turning into zombies. Introduce as said character is attacking Wendy and her crew, but it gives humanity to the people caught up in the corporate greed.

Sex level here-- I would rate it 2.5 out of 3. Sex on the page, but only 2 or 3 scenes and in realistic detail. Also lots of up front discussions of consent and ramifications of a broken condom.

Readalikes: Jennifer Government by Max Marry meets Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin. It really reminded me of a GN I read last year as well--Boy's Weekend. That book would greatly appeal to readers of this novel and vice versa.

More soon

[Jude Silberfeld-Grimaud · Rating 4 out of 5]

I tend to think I’m a smart person, but for some reason, it took this book for me to realise that zombies fall into the horror genre. I don’t know, I kinda always thought they were fun rather than scary. In books anyway, because I can’t do movies, the whole blood and gore thing doesn’t work for me if I see it. It’s one instance where not being able to picture what I read makes it better. Anyway, it’s not so much that I thought they weren’t horror, it’s that I never thought about whether they were.

So I started listening to this audiobook and was enjoying it a lot as some sort of maybe twisted comedy and then it got seriously horrific. The good news is, I kept enjoying it. Wendy is this vaguely pathetic woman who cheated on her girlfriend because she was scared she would leave her and is now regretting her choices. But it’s pride and she’s at this party, and Leah, her ex, is all over Sam and Aurelia, the two women hosting the party. Wendy hopes to find solace in the arms of Logan, aka Dahlia DePravity, and it kind of helps a little, but then everything goes to hell when some partygoers turn into zombies.

As you might expect, there’s a lot of action and fighting, but also a (un)healthy dose of internal conflict, gut-wrenching betrayals, twists, heartbreak… And the kind of desperate sense of humour that tricks me into having fun despite dozens of people dying.

Underneath it all is a not so subtle societal commentary about corporations buying their way into Pride and the lengths they’re willing to go to in order to have their cake and eat it too. I mean, there’s a reason I keep saying that capitalism is a killer. On that topic—corporations and pinkwashing, not actual capitalistic murder—I recommend this enlightening and disturbing piece on Popular Information.

The narration is good when it comes to pacing and feelings, even though the voices aren’t very distinctive. It feels more like a great reading than performing, which was a bit surprising since Mara Wilson is an actress. It works, however.

All in all, an enjoyable debut novel.

I received a copy through Libro.fm and I am voluntarily leaving a review.

Read all my reviews on my website (and please get your books from the affiliation links!): Jude in the Stars

[laurel [the suspected bibliophile] · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Whenever people are hungry, Pizzapocalypse there to answer the call," they say, grinning like a pirate. "There is no rest for the righteous."

This was a fucking trip of a book.

Pride. Corporate greed. Relationship drama. Zombies.

I can see why the low rating, but I was entertained throughout this dumb book. It pulled me out of a rising slump and made me forget my thoughts for a few hours. It's ridiculous and heartfelt and bloody as hell.

[Brooke Gerber · Rating 2 out of 5]

in good news, they’ve started writing trashy zombie books for gay people! in bad news, they really put them emphasis on ‘trash’

[Eloise Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was camp but at what cost you know what I mean? The main character wears mermaid leggings the whole time.

[Roonies · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, everyone queer dies tragically and the MC is still hung up on her ex who got them all killed. Also, there wasn’t enough zombie behavior. The zombies didn’t spread fast enough and there wasn’t enough downfall. I’d barely call this a zombie book. More like a poor take on conspiracies and making money off queer communities.

[Miss✧Pickypants ᓚᘏᗢ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anyone remember iZombie? No spoilers but the plot of this story was very reminiscent of some main tenets of that program (ahem, cough, Max Rager, cough) .

Pushing past that, with this campy romp you get zombies, LGBTQ characters trying to survive/avoid infection, erotic romance and a Pride Festival gone very awry. The ending was a bit unsatisfying and there are some plot holes but this is a zombie horror book, so suspending belief comes with the territory. Fans of zombie apocalypse LGBTQ erotic romance will likely enjoy this book most.

[Tucker Almengor · Rating 3 out of 5]

★3.53 stars★

great concept - very poor execution. and yet... i enjoyed it? i was getting queer zombieland meets the ethical quandaries of Superstore. it could've been great but the queer representation was so heavy-handed and poorly done. it felt like the author just spun the wheel of 'which-queer-identity-will-we-include-today?' and then decided why pick one when we could use all of them? and they all felt like cardboard one-dimensional stereotypes.

that being said, the zombie action kicked off right away and was really well done. there was something almost cozy and campy about the apocalypse vibes that i really enjoyed for some reason. the corporation was realistically despicable so that's always fun.

my final complaint was the main character, Wendy, who was the dumbest dumbass to ever dumbass. i am SHOCKED that she survived her own stupidity.

[Ale the feral reader]

DNF @ 50 pages in😫

I was so excited for a queer zombie book but I already guessed the ending and it is so blatantly obvious that it’s bothering me (yes I did look it up to confirm sns).

The characters were unlikeable and this just felt like surface level. I had high hopes for this but sadly it did not deliver

[Valdemar Cavazos · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish I could call this a cookie cutter zombie read but it’s not even that.

If you take nothing else from this review take that this isn’t a zombie novel with LGBT+ social commentary. It’s an LGBT+ social commentary novel with a smattering of zombies here and there.

I wish I could say main characters were interesting and deep but that would be lying. Leah and Wendy are extremely dislikable from start to finish. Leah is rather self absorbed while Wendy’s full character arc is angsty shitty adult to slightly less angsty shitty adult.

The main characters should have been Beau or Aurelia who are fantastic.

The synopsis also goes out of its way to call this book sexy. There are two sex scenes with one being meh and the other cringey.

The social commentary is heavily yet clumsily applied to the story. I can’t help but think of “Chain Gang Allstars” which handled it better and in a way that didn’t break up the narrative flow.

I’m grumpy about this book but please don’t let this deter you from reading or listening to this novel. Obviously it has an audience and the majority had a good time.

[claud · Rating 1 out of 5]

unfortunately this is one of the worst books i’ve ever read. fortunately, though, it was ridiculously funny, unserious, and campy. an entertaining shitshow of a read. that being said, the writing was horrendous reeked of privilege so i cannot in good faith recommended it.

”i hadn’t realized aurelia was trans, but i swallowed down the impulse to say so, knowing that ‘i never would have guessed, you're so pretty’ is only a compliment of the most backhanded sort. ‘oh, wild,’ i said instead.”

this is a real line in the book. the author wrote this and published it. white queer privilege to a t. the cognitive dissonance to know something is wrong but saying it anyway. publishing it in a book, even. the characters were all flat and surface level, all the queer characters reduced to stereotypes, and the discussions of queer rights, racism, and police brutality were terrible. i wish it had just stuck to being funny and campy without the political commentary.

if you can overlook the horrible writing, predictable plot lines, and awful characters maybe this will work for you! if you can’t maybe just go watch izombie or something

[Stacy40pages · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Z Word by Lindsay King-Miller ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Wendy is bisexual and trying to find her place in the queer community in her new town. It’s hard when her ex is hooking up with members of the community. And then those people start turning suddenly violent and empty- and it starts spreading.

I wouldn’t think a zombie style book would be my thing, but this was just straight up fun. There’s some serious blood, and steamy sex, as well as a lot of lgbtqia diversity. All the characters were awesome; well except for one. It left off with room for a sequel also ; but there was still closure.

“I want to make it through this, but even more, I want them to make it. My friends. The people I love.”

The Z Word comes out 5/7.

[Diamond · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would I read it again? Probably not. Was it fun? Yes. Am I in love with Sunshine? Also yes.

[Auntie Terror · Rating 4 out of 5]

Equally dark and hilarious, popcorn cinema with a very realistic message concerning capitalism and ethics.

[Cari · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG, I loved this book!! Perfect read for spooky season - I wish it was out this year so more people could read it. Our protagonist Wendy is fresh off a complicated breakup and still sad. She attends a party to kick off Pride weekend, which her ex is attending, of course. But there's one girl in the crowd who does not look good. Not just sick, but deranged sick. The virus or whatever it is spreads from her to more and more people in the queer community, leading to tragedy and fear everywhere. Wendy and her ragtag group of queer friends have to figure out what to do as the problem gets worse and worse. This is an engaging read from beginning to end - I only put it down a few times because I didn't want it to end. I'm hoping there will be a sequel or at least a follow-up. It's also very emotionally complex, so it's not just a monster of the week kind of thing.

[Kat · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF’d at 125 pages… this book was cringe. I picked it up for a sapphic book club at the local book store… and it’s just not giving.

Something about the way this author writes just feels kind of desperate and needy - like the kid who just learned to swear. Most of the characters felt unlikable. I’m not much for gore so I think this was just not for me on a lot of levels. Also… the need to be not like other girls was just hard to read… this is paraphrased… but the general vibe of “I ordered an IPA in a sea of seltzer drinkers… the bartender gave an appreciative nod” makes me want to scream. Second hand embarrassment the house boots…

[Toya (thereadingchemist) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this unhinged, sapphic zombie story!

[bri ᖭ༏ᖫ · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book made me, as a lesbian, feel homophobic.

[Yvonne (the putrid Shelf) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book digs into gender, queerness, and sexual identity with the same raw intensity as its gore. It’s bold, messy, and refuses to play safe, which is exactly what makes it so compelling.

the zombies themselves are feral, grotesque, and yet oddly refreshing in how they’re used. They’re not just shambling set-dressing; they’re a mirror to the chaos of human behaviour, amplifying the book’s themes of survival, desire, and identity. These undead aren’t here for cheap scares, they’re here to chew through society’s hypocrisies as much as flesh.

[Isaac Badger · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️ as apparently everything is atm

Good but very millennial in places

Edit: nevermind just 3⭐️ I thought about it for another few seconds and liked it way less

[mtrics · Rating 5 out of 5]

give me anti-capitalism or give me death

[Brittni | semi-hiatus · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish this had been about Sunshine, ngl.