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Book of the Dead
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334 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1989
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5531 people want to read
About the author
John Skipp
103 books294 followersJohn Skipp is a splatterpunk horror and fantasy author and anthology editor, as well as a songwriter, screenwriter, film director, and film producer. He collaborated with Craig Spector on multiple novels, and has also collaborated with Marc Levinthal and Cody Goodfellow.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 110 reviews
March 6, 2022
Skipp and Spector really put something special together with his collection and the table of contents reads like a who's who of the horror world of the 1980s. As usual, some stories are better than others, but there are no stinkers here, and some real stand outs, like the ones by Stephen King, Robert McCammon, Richard Laymon and Joe Lansdale. Lansdale's story is flat out unchained!
George Romero notes in his introduction that was amazed that so many authors were willing to contribute their take on a zombie tale here. There is a lot of diversity to be sure in the tales; some are told from the zombie's perspective, some are only a few pages long, while others are like novellas. In any case, this is probably a must if you are a zombie fan. First published in 1989, this still feels fresh, although it did evoke some nostalgia. 4 toothy stars!!
George Romero notes in his introduction that was amazed that so many authors were willing to contribute their take on a zombie tale here. There is a lot of diversity to be sure in the tales; some are told from the zombie's perspective, some are only a few pages long, while others are like novellas. In any case, this is probably a must if you are a zombie fan. First published in 1989, this still feels fresh, although it did evoke some nostalgia. 4 toothy stars!!
January 10, 2013
Authors who doodle: Exhibit B...
Zombie anthologies are a time a dozen nowadays but in the 80s this book was Da Bomb. The premise was to write short fiction based on what happened after George Romero's The Night of The Living Dead. The authors had a field day with this. Most of them go for dark comedy laced with splatter-punk horror. Best stories? Stephen King's "Home Delivery". Joe R. Lansdale's "On the Far side of the Cadillac Desert With Dead Folks", Edward Bryant's "A Sad Last Love at the Diner of the Damned", and Robert McCammon's "Eat Me". May be a little hard to find but well worth hunting for if you're a zombie fan.
Zombie anthologies are a time a dozen nowadays but in the 80s this book was Da Bomb. The premise was to write short fiction based on what happened after George Romero's The Night of The Living Dead. The authors had a field day with this. Most of them go for dark comedy laced with splatter-punk horror. Best stories? Stephen King's "Home Delivery". Joe R. Lansdale's "On the Far side of the Cadillac Desert With Dead Folks", Edward Bryant's "A Sad Last Love at the Diner of the Damned", and Robert McCammon's "Eat Me". May be a little hard to find but well worth hunting for if you're a zombie fan.
February 21, 2015
In the 1980s, the only person that was doing anything significant with zombies was the Godfather himself, George Romero. In horror fiction, zombie stories were as dead as the zombies themselves. Then, in 1989, this little gem of a collection came along and among it's pages were some heavy hitters from the horror and sci-fi genre. If you're looking for chills and scares, keep moving. You won't find them here. But, if you're looking for good, campy fun ala Tales from the Crypt types of zombie stories, by all means, sink your teeth into this perverted bag of goodies. And I mean perverted. Many of these stories have either zombie sex or the biting off of penises in there somewhere. Two stand out tales for me that left me crying laughing were On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert with Dead Folks by Joe Lansdale and Jerry's Kids Meet Wormboy by David Schow. Those two alone were worth the price of admission. Here's my take on each one.
Blossom - Chan McConnell
The dangers of hooking up with someone you don't know and having an exotic fetish all while the zombie apocalypse is beginning. Enjoyed the irony of this one.
4 out of 5 stars
Mess Hall - Richard Laymon
It's never good to be a serial killer and be around your victims when the zombie apocalypse happens. I've had issues with the two Laymon novels that I've read being extremely juvenile with unbelievable characters or story lines. But, this short story was the exact opposite. In fact, I loved this short story so much that I'm going to give his novels another try.
5 out of 5 stars
It Helps If You Sing - Ramsey Campbell
Door-to-door Jehovah's Witness zombies + Haiti voodoo = a bad day. Just ok. Not my favorite.
2 out of 5 stars
Home Delivery - Stephen King
Maddie Pace is the most indecisive woman you'll ever meet. Trying to determine what can of soup to buy out of all those choices on the shelf will send her running from the store without buying anything. But when the dead begin to rise on Genneseault Island, Maddie has already forced herself to cope. Good characters but felt incomplete. It seemed more like a snippet from a longer story.
3 out of 5 stars
Wet Work - Philip Nutman
Soldiers are clearing out a school during the zombie apocalypse. These soldiers aren't doing what you think they are. Nice little twist.
4 out of 5 stars
A Sad Last Love at the Diner of the Damned - Edward Bryant
The small town of Fort Durham, Colorado is experiencing the days after the dead turned. Martha is a waitress at the local diner and the focus of many of the male residents lustful attention. But, pretty Martha only has eyes for the young deputy sheriff, Bobby Mack, and the other men don't like this. They don't like it at all. And when things go to hell, they come to take what they want.
5 out of 5 stars
Bodies and Heads - Steve Rasnic Tem
Either I completely missed the point of this story or it's a mess. Elaine is the nurse in a hospital where they have patients that rapidly shake their heads back and forth (as if they're saying no, no, no) and they have to restrain them from shaking as they try to feed them. But, they don't eat or attack them and then the one rips his own head off at the end. Hey, if you "get" this story, please explain it to my dumb ass.
1 out of 5 stars
Choices - Glen Vasey
Dawson writes his thoughts down in a spiral notebook as he's going through the trials and tribulations of the zombie apocalypse. It was little more than a boring set of philosophical ramblings. A slight twist at the end that was too little too late to turn this yawn-fest around. An absolute chore to get through.
1 out of 5 stars
The Good Parts - Les Daniels
Zombie sex. Who would've thought? Pretty ridiculous even for a zombie story. But it had an interesting hypothesis on what happened to the zombies over time.
2 out of 5 stars
Less Than Zombie - Douglas Winter
A twisted spoof of Less Than Zero, zombie style. Totally rad. Totally.
3 out of 5 stars
Like Pavlov's Dog - Steven R. Boyett
An assault on an Ecosphere project in the Arizona desert with trained zombies. Nice writing style and character development.
4 out of 5 stars
Saxophone - Nicholas Royle
The zombie apocalypse was started as a result of a war breaking out between old communist block Europe and the Allies (you have to remember this book was written in the late 1980s) when the Allies retaliated with chemical weapons. The zombies can think and begin to wage their own war. Lots of interesting ideas in a story of irony about a zombie who was previously a jazz saxophonist. Good stuff.
5 out of 5 stars
On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert with Dead Folks - Joe R. Lansdale
A bounty hunter is bringing his fugitive across the desert when they run into a whacked out cult leader who also happened to have caused the zombie apocalypse. I Loved Lansdale's writing and it actually made me LOL at least a half dozen times.
5 out of 5 stars
Dead Giveaway - Brian Hodge
Even zombies enjoy game shows, but it's all about the ratings, baby.
4 out of 5 stars
Jerry's Kids Meet Wormboy - David J. Schow
The morbidly obese kid that was the butt of all the jokes in high school squares off against a television evangelist and his army of disciple zombies. A piss-your-pants hilarious story.
5 out of 5 stars
Eat Me - Robert McCammon
Two zombies find love in a singles bar. Warped fun.
4 out of 5 stars
You can also follow my reviews at the following links:
https://kenmckinley.wordpress.com
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/profile/A2J1...
TWITTER - @KenMcKinley5
Blossom - Chan McConnell
The dangers of hooking up with someone you don't know and having an exotic fetish all while the zombie apocalypse is beginning. Enjoyed the irony of this one.
4 out of 5 stars
Mess Hall - Richard Laymon
It's never good to be a serial killer and be around your victims when the zombie apocalypse happens. I've had issues with the two Laymon novels that I've read being extremely juvenile with unbelievable characters or story lines. But, this short story was the exact opposite. In fact, I loved this short story so much that I'm going to give his novels another try.
5 out of 5 stars
It Helps If You Sing - Ramsey Campbell
Door-to-door Jehovah's Witness zombies + Haiti voodoo = a bad day. Just ok. Not my favorite.
2 out of 5 stars
Home Delivery - Stephen King
Maddie Pace is the most indecisive woman you'll ever meet. Trying to determine what can of soup to buy out of all those choices on the shelf will send her running from the store without buying anything. But when the dead begin to rise on Genneseault Island, Maddie has already forced herself to cope. Good characters but felt incomplete. It seemed more like a snippet from a longer story.
3 out of 5 stars
Wet Work - Philip Nutman
Soldiers are clearing out a school during the zombie apocalypse. These soldiers aren't doing what you think they are. Nice little twist.
4 out of 5 stars
A Sad Last Love at the Diner of the Damned - Edward Bryant
The small town of Fort Durham, Colorado is experiencing the days after the dead turned. Martha is a waitress at the local diner and the focus of many of the male residents lustful attention. But, pretty Martha only has eyes for the young deputy sheriff, Bobby Mack, and the other men don't like this. They don't like it at all. And when things go to hell, they come to take what they want.
5 out of 5 stars
Bodies and Heads - Steve Rasnic Tem
Either I completely missed the point of this story or it's a mess. Elaine is the nurse in a hospital where they have patients that rapidly shake their heads back and forth (as if they're saying no, no, no) and they have to restrain them from shaking as they try to feed them. But, they don't eat or attack them and then the one rips his own head off at the end. Hey, if you "get" this story, please explain it to my dumb ass.
1 out of 5 stars
Choices - Glen Vasey
Dawson writes his thoughts down in a spiral notebook as he's going through the trials and tribulations of the zombie apocalypse. It was little more than a boring set of philosophical ramblings. A slight twist at the end that was too little too late to turn this yawn-fest around. An absolute chore to get through.
1 out of 5 stars
The Good Parts - Les Daniels
Zombie sex. Who would've thought? Pretty ridiculous even for a zombie story. But it had an interesting hypothesis on what happened to the zombies over time.
2 out of 5 stars
Less Than Zombie - Douglas Winter
A twisted spoof of Less Than Zero, zombie style. Totally rad. Totally.
3 out of 5 stars
Like Pavlov's Dog - Steven R. Boyett
An assault on an Ecosphere project in the Arizona desert with trained zombies. Nice writing style and character development.
4 out of 5 stars
Saxophone - Nicholas Royle
The zombie apocalypse was started as a result of a war breaking out between old communist block Europe and the Allies (you have to remember this book was written in the late 1980s) when the Allies retaliated with chemical weapons. The zombies can think and begin to wage their own war. Lots of interesting ideas in a story of irony about a zombie who was previously a jazz saxophonist. Good stuff.
5 out of 5 stars
On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert with Dead Folks - Joe R. Lansdale
A bounty hunter is bringing his fugitive across the desert when they run into a whacked out cult leader who also happened to have caused the zombie apocalypse. I Loved Lansdale's writing and it actually made me LOL at least a half dozen times.
5 out of 5 stars
Dead Giveaway - Brian Hodge
Even zombies enjoy game shows, but it's all about the ratings, baby.
4 out of 5 stars
Jerry's Kids Meet Wormboy - David J. Schow
The morbidly obese kid that was the butt of all the jokes in high school squares off against a television evangelist and his army of disciple zombies. A piss-your-pants hilarious story.
5 out of 5 stars
Eat Me - Robert McCammon
Two zombies find love in a singles bar. Warped fun.
4 out of 5 stars
You can also follow my reviews at the following links:
https://kenmckinley.wordpress.com
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/profile/A2J1...
TWITTER - @KenMcKinley5
March 1, 2018
Събрана през, вече далечната, 1989 година, антологията е посветена на „Нощта на живите мъртви“ на великия Ромеро. Произведенията, естествено, са в зомби поджанра, който тогава не е бил толкова комерсиален и още не са му набити никакви ограничаващи пранги.
Разказите са коренно различни един от друг, свободни от по-късно появилите се стереотипи, но не по-малко отвращаващи и плашещи, дори, бих казал, повече, но един по един:
Blossom – Chan McConnell : Интимна заигравка за една вечер, се обръща в кървава вакханалия, когато дамата, задушена по невнимание, се връща от мъртвите по средата на все още продължаващия акт, гладна за плът. - Брутално описателен и морално наказателен разказ.
Mess Hall – Richard Laymon: Девойка, отвлечена от сериен убиец и изнасилвач, става свидетел на отмъщението на предишните му жертви. - Типичен Леймън – смрад и черва.
It Helps if You Sing – Ramsey Campbell: Брайт е посетен от двама сектанти, които в последствие насилствено го посвещават в новата си вуду-христианска религия. - Ритуалът е потресаващ, помага ако пееш.
Hone Delivery – Stephen King: Мади винаги е била неспособна да взима решения, за щастие има съпруг за тази работа, но когато смъртта му и настъпилия зомби апокалипсис я оставят на малък речен остров заедно с още няколко обитатели, се налага да се научи. - Чудесен Кинг, много силно описващ едно малко общество, опитващо се да оцелее в екстремна ситуация.
Wet Work – Philip Nutman: Поредната задача на специализиран военен отряд се обърква сериозно. Кой е нагласил ситуацията? – Разказът се доближава до „класическата“ зомби литература, с интересни интерпретации върху мозъчната дейност на труповете и много екшън.
A Sad Last Love at the Diner of the Damned – Edward Bryant: Една закусвалня в малко градче, изчезващо под натиска на неживите орди. – Добър разказ показващ нечовешкото в хората и малкото останало човешко в зомбитата.
Bodies and Heads – Steve Rasnic Tem: Болница, пълна с пациенти показващи симптоми на нова болест. – Грозна бруталия, малко отдалечаваща се от зомбитата и приближаваща се до демоничното. Хареса ми.
Choices – Glen Vasey: Кен е направил своя избор как да оцелее в избухналата зомби пандемия. Обикаля, крие се, има цел. По пътя се среща с различни познати и непознати хора. – Добра история, много добре представила житейските изборите в една странна ситуация. Спокойно могат да се пренесат и в ежедневието ни. Много добър и на моменти доста стряскащ с откровеността си разказ.
The Good Parts – Les Daniels: Главният герой, приживе е бил дебел убитак. Оказва се, че като зомби теглото му помага да оцелее повече време и дори да забремени зомби-приятелката си. – Най-гнусният разказ в книгата. Тонове некрофилия, бруталии и една неочаквана надежда за цялото човечество.
Less Than Zombie – Douglas E. Winter: Група разглезени тийнейджъри, живуркащи в Холивуд , решават, отегчени от алкохол, дрога и разврат, да вдигнат адреналина с нещо различно. – Тук нямаме зомби тематика, но разказът е много добър. Показва до къде може да те доведе едно безсмислено съществуване.
Like Pavlov’s Dogs – Steven R. Boyett: Две групи оцелели човеци се спречкват по време на настъпила зомби-пандемия. – Много добър разказ, точно по темата, разглеждащ повече проблемите на живите, от колкото анатомията на мъртвите.
Saxophone – Nicholsa Royke: Хашек е зомби и иска само едно нещо – отново да възвърне дъха си, за да може да свири. – Странна, граничеща с магичното история с глупав финал. Все пак караща човек доста да се замисли.
On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert with Dead Folks – Joe R. Landsale: Уейн е ловец на глави, който попада, заедно с последния си улов, в лапите на луд учен - религиозен проповедник, окупирал Дисниленд. – Това спокойно може да стане бомбастичен роман. От разказа валят идеи, но успява и да задържи вниманието с брутален екшън и зомби-атмосфера, почти изравняваща се с тази на Гибсъновите киберпънкарщини.
Dead Giveaway – Brian Hodge: Превземането на света от мъртвите не пречи на Монти все още да е номер едно в телевизионните шоута, само малко са се сменили аудиторията и правилата. – Грозен сарказъм, срещу американското дебелогъзо общество и празните му стремежи.
Jerry’s Kids Meet Wormboy – David J. Schow: Джери е намерил начин да подчинява тълпите зомбита, но когато неживото му паство се среща с Уърмбой – канибал, още от преди пандемията, въоръжен с всички необходими военни играчки – битката е епична. – Много добро попадение, двама откаченяци, които са оцелели благодарение на социопатщината си се сблъскват и целта им е да се избият, за да оцелеят.
Eat Me – Robert R. McCammon : В Града на мъртвите, една любов разцъфва между двама души. Познайте как ще бъде изконсумирана. – Тъжен разказ с канибалско-некрофилска насоченост. Ама те кара да ги харесаш горките трупояди.
Едва ли това ще го видим някога на български. Трябва доста да се разширят разбиранията за жанра на родните книгоиздатели, а и читатели. Дори и да стане, вече ще е затрупано под тоновете нови неща, така че пишете го в графата изгубено за у нас. Жалко!
Разказите са коренно различни един от друг, свободни от по-късно появилите се стереотипи, но не по-малко отвращаващи и плашещи, дори, бих казал, повече, но един по един:
Blossom – Chan McConnell : Интимна заигравка за една вечер, се обръща в кървава вакханалия, когато дамата, задушена по невнимание, се връща от мъртвите по средата на все още продължаващия акт, гладна за плът. - Брутално описателен и морално наказателен разказ.
Mess Hall – Richard Laymon: Девойка, отвлечена от сериен убиец и изнасилвач, става свидетел на отмъщението на предишните му жертви. - Типичен Леймън – смрад и черва.
It Helps if You Sing – Ramsey Campbell: Брайт е посетен от двама сектанти, които в последствие насилствено го посвещават в новата си вуду-христианска религия. - Ритуалът е потресаващ, помага ако пееш.
Hone Delivery – Stephen King: Мади винаги е била неспособна да взима решения, за щастие има съпруг за тази работа, но когато смъртта му и настъпилия зомби апокалипсис я оставят на малък речен остров заедно с още няколко обитатели, се налага да се научи. - Чудесен Кинг, много силно описващ едно малко общество, опитващо се да оцелее в екстремна ситуация.
Wet Work – Philip Nutman: Поредната задача на специализиран военен отряд се обърква сериозно. Кой е нагласил ситуацията? – Разказът се доближава до „класическата“ зомби литература, с интересни интерпретации върху мозъчната дейност на труповете и много екшън.
A Sad Last Love at the Diner of the Damned – Edward Bryant: Една закусвалня в малко градче, изчезващо под натиска на неживите орди. – Добър разказ показващ нечовешкото в хората и малкото останало човешко в зомбитата.
Bodies and Heads – Steve Rasnic Tem: Болница, пълна с пациенти показващи симптоми на нова болест. – Грозна бруталия, малко отдалечаваща се от зомбитата и приближаваща се до демоничното. Хареса ми.
Choices – Glen Vasey: Кен е направил своя избор как да оцелее в избухналата зомби пандемия. Обикаля, крие се, има цел. По пътя се среща с различни познати и непознати хора. – Добра история, много добре представила житейските изборите в една странна ситуация. Спокойно могат да се пренесат и в ежедневието ни. Много добър и на моменти доста стряскащ с откровеността си разказ.
The Good Parts – Les Daniels: Главният герой, приживе е бил дебел убитак. Оказва се, че като зомби теглото му помага да оцелее повече време и дори да забремени зомби-приятелката си. – Най-гнусният разказ в книгата. Тонове некрофилия, бруталии и една неочаквана надежда за цялото човечество.
Less Than Zombie – Douglas E. Winter: Група разглезени тийнейджъри, живуркащи в Холивуд , решават, отегчени от алкохол, дрога и разврат, да вдигнат адреналина с нещо различно. – Тук нямаме зомби тематика, но разказът е много добър. Показва до къде може да те доведе едно безсмислено съществуване.
Like Pavlov’s Dogs – Steven R. Boyett: Две групи оцелели човеци се спречкват по време на настъпила зомби-пандемия. – Много добър разказ, точно по темата, разглеждащ повече проблемите на живите, от колкото анатомията на мъртвите.
Saxophone – Nicholsa Royke: Хашек е зомби и иска само едно нещо – отново да възвърне дъха си, за да може да свири. – Странна, граничеща с магичното история с глупав финал. Все пак караща човек доста да се замисли.
On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert with Dead Folks – Joe R. Landsale: Уейн е ловец на глави, който попада, заедно с последния си улов, в лапите на луд учен - религиозен проповедник, окупирал Дисниленд. – Това спокойно може да стане бомбастичен роман. От разказа валят идеи, но успява и да задържи вниманието с брутален екшън и зомби-атмосфера, почти изравняваща се с тази на Гибсъновите киберпънкарщини.
Dead Giveaway – Brian Hodge: Превземането на света от мъртвите не пречи на Монти все още да е номер едно в телевизионните шоута, само малко са се сменили аудиторията и правилата. – Грозен сарказъм, срещу американското дебелогъзо общество и празните му стремежи.
Jerry’s Kids Meet Wormboy – David J. Schow: Джери е намерил начин да подчинява тълпите зомбита, но когато неживото му паство се среща с Уърмбой – канибал, още от преди пандемията, въоръжен с всички необходими военни играчки – битката е епична. – Много добро попадение, двама откаченяци, които са оцелели благодарение на социопатщината си се сблъскват и целта им е да се избият, за да оцелеят.
Eat Me – Robert R. McCammon : В Града на мъртвите, една любов разцъфва между двама души. Познайте как ще бъде изконсумирана. – Тъжен разказ с канибалско-некрофилска насоченост. Ама те кара да ги харесаш горките трупояди.
Едва ли това ще го видим някога на български. Трябва доста да се разширят разбиранията за жанра на родните книгоиздатели, а и читатели. Дори и да стане, вече ще е затрупано под тоновете нови неща, така че пишете го в графата изгубено за у нас. Жалко!
March 6, 2016
This book was ok, but j did expect a lot more out of it. Some of the stories were really good, but a lot of them didn't appeal to me as much & didn't really go with the zombie feel like I thought they would. Some of the stories took me really long to finish because I just wasn't interested in them, but I only finished because I hate leaving books half finished. The concept of the book was really cool & I like the idea of it, but I feel like some of the writers & stories should have been taken out & replaced by better ones. I like how everybody had there own concept of the zombie story, but it still was a little off for me. I hope the second book is better than the first because it was a little disappointing for me because I had high hopes on the whole book being really good. Overall it wasn't that bad, but it wasn't over the top either.
February 16, 2022
I enjoyed this anthology. It's unapologetic zombie stories, written well before the Walking Dead craze kicked off the zombie frenzy we've experienced the past several years.
The talent here is top notch, including the master, Stephen King. Some of the stand out stories to me were Home Deilvery, Like Pavlov's Dogs, and On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert.
Not every story was a winner, as a few seemed to just be going for the gross out, but overall this was good, and this is even with me suffering from zombie burnout lately.
The talent here is top notch, including the master, Stephen King. Some of the stand out stories to me were Home Deilvery, Like Pavlov's Dogs, and On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert.
Not every story was a winner, as a few seemed to just be going for the gross out, but overall this was good, and this is even with me suffering from zombie burnout lately.
July 26, 2010
A great colelction of horror stories, all zombie related. One of the first themed anthologies like this, and still probably the best.
December 1, 2010
Classic!
July 16, 2012
I’m starting to feel a little like the host on “Saturday Night Live” when the show’s almost over and they have to introduce that week’s music guest for the second time. “Once again, ZOMBIES.”
Yawn.
On the bright side, this zombie anthology, BOOK OF THE DEAD, is not only a mass market anthology, but it’s pretty much the forerunner to just about every other zombie book out there. Published in 1989 and edited by John Skipp and Craig Spector, BOOK OF THE DEAD is a collection of zombie stories set in the world of George Romero’s Living Dead movies. Authors include such notables as Ramsey Campbell, Douglas E. Winters, Joe R. Lansdale, Robert R. McCammon, and of course Stephen King. While I don’t believe every story stuck to the idea of being set in the Romero universe, they certainly offered a plethora of original zombie fiction, stuff not even the current zombie anthologies are publishing.
In Richard Laymon’s “Mess Hall”, a woman, Jean, and her lover Paul are confronted mid-coitus by a serial killer, the Reaper. Not the most original, I’ll grant you. The Reaper gets Paul out of the way and hauls Jean to the “mess hall” where he stages his killings, leaving the bodies for the animals to do away with. Only this particular night, he discovers the animals don’t always finish what’s on their plates and when whatever it was that made the dead come back to life happens, the victims all return seeking vengeance.
Steve Rasnic Tem offers “Bodies and Heads” which finds nurse Elaine disturbed by the epidemic of shaking heads. People all over town are being admitted and confined in the hospital where Elaine works, having lost all mental capacity as well as control of their bodies. The patients are kept strapped down while their heads shake violently back and forth in a “no no no” gesture. Meanwhile outside of town the world is falling to pieces as the dead are walking the earth, feasting on the living. Elaine wonders if what’s happening to the dead may be connected to what’s happening to the patients, perhaps some form of airborne virus that doesn’t need a bite to infect you. In the end, the secret to the shaking heads and what happens to them is, in standard Tem form, absolutely amazing and unexpected.
Brian Hodge’s “Dead Giveaway” gives the walking dead new life as former TV host Monty plays to the masses every night on television as the star, and only living crew member, of the hit game show “Dead Giveaway”. Living dead spin a wheel and win a prize.
“Who’ll ever forget last May twenty-third?” said the announcer, as cheerful and bouncy as ever. “Flight nine-oh-one out of O’Hare Airport? It crashed a minute after takeoff, but the nation’s third-worst airline disaster is YOUR gain, Cynthia. Direct to you from cold storage in the Cook County Morgue, it’s the last of flight nine-oh-one! Courtesy of DEAD GIVEAWAY.”
I was surprised in this anthology just how many stories featured living dead that thought, spoke, carried on as normal. “A Sad Last Love at the Diner of the Damned” by Edward Bryant featured a revenge-seeking deadhead. Steven R. Boyett’s “Like Pavlov’s Dogs” showed the dead being trained and herded (as did David J. Schow’s “Jerry’s Kids Meet Wormboy”). In Robert McCammon’s “Eat Me”, two living dead meet up at a singles bar for a night of grotesque love.
For diversity and style, BOOK OF THE DEAD is about as good a zombie anthology as you’re likely to find. However, when you’re talking ease, this book took way too long to read. 16 days for me, which is way longer than 390 pages should take, and I attribute part of that, surely, to this being the 4th or 5th zombie book I’ve read in recent weeks, but part of it is also due to length. If I’m reading an anthology, I’m looking for short stories. They don’t have to be 5 pages, I’m not that wimpy, but Boyett’s story is 64 pages and that is overkill. Another story was over 40, while still one more topped 50 pages. In a really good anthology, I can deal with one novella, but three stories of that length just kills my motivation to keep reading on a daily basis.
And really, length is my only gripe with this one. All of the authors involved are recognizable names in the horror field, and these stories show why that is. None of the stories felt cobbled together just because there was a zombie anthology looking for stories, and none of them felt as if they were pre-existing stories with a little editing done in post to turn them into zombie stories, even though for all I know this was exactly the case in at least one or two instances. If it was, the authors hid it well.
If BOOK OF THE DEAD is the precursor, the one that got the ball rolling on the whole zombie fiction phenomenon, I’m not surprised so many hopefuls took up the mantle in an effort to produce something as original or interesting. Naturally, I wish those that followed had all been as talented as this group, but you can’t have everything, right?
While it took the longest of all the zombie books I’ve read recently to work through, in the end BOOK OF THE DEAD was the one that was most worth the effort. Pay attention to this table of contents, folks. There’s a reason these people are stars.
Yawn.
On the bright side, this zombie anthology, BOOK OF THE DEAD, is not only a mass market anthology, but it’s pretty much the forerunner to just about every other zombie book out there. Published in 1989 and edited by John Skipp and Craig Spector, BOOK OF THE DEAD is a collection of zombie stories set in the world of George Romero’s Living Dead movies. Authors include such notables as Ramsey Campbell, Douglas E. Winters, Joe R. Lansdale, Robert R. McCammon, and of course Stephen King. While I don’t believe every story stuck to the idea of being set in the Romero universe, they certainly offered a plethora of original zombie fiction, stuff not even the current zombie anthologies are publishing.
In Richard Laymon’s “Mess Hall”, a woman, Jean, and her lover Paul are confronted mid-coitus by a serial killer, the Reaper. Not the most original, I’ll grant you. The Reaper gets Paul out of the way and hauls Jean to the “mess hall” where he stages his killings, leaving the bodies for the animals to do away with. Only this particular night, he discovers the animals don’t always finish what’s on their plates and when whatever it was that made the dead come back to life happens, the victims all return seeking vengeance.
Steve Rasnic Tem offers “Bodies and Heads” which finds nurse Elaine disturbed by the epidemic of shaking heads. People all over town are being admitted and confined in the hospital where Elaine works, having lost all mental capacity as well as control of their bodies. The patients are kept strapped down while their heads shake violently back and forth in a “no no no” gesture. Meanwhile outside of town the world is falling to pieces as the dead are walking the earth, feasting on the living. Elaine wonders if what’s happening to the dead may be connected to what’s happening to the patients, perhaps some form of airborne virus that doesn’t need a bite to infect you. In the end, the secret to the shaking heads and what happens to them is, in standard Tem form, absolutely amazing and unexpected.
Brian Hodge’s “Dead Giveaway” gives the walking dead new life as former TV host Monty plays to the masses every night on television as the star, and only living crew member, of the hit game show “Dead Giveaway”. Living dead spin a wheel and win a prize.
“Who’ll ever forget last May twenty-third?” said the announcer, as cheerful and bouncy as ever. “Flight nine-oh-one out of O’Hare Airport? It crashed a minute after takeoff, but the nation’s third-worst airline disaster is YOUR gain, Cynthia. Direct to you from cold storage in the Cook County Morgue, it’s the last of flight nine-oh-one! Courtesy of DEAD GIVEAWAY.”
I was surprised in this anthology just how many stories featured living dead that thought, spoke, carried on as normal. “A Sad Last Love at the Diner of the Damned” by Edward Bryant featured a revenge-seeking deadhead. Steven R. Boyett’s “Like Pavlov’s Dogs” showed the dead being trained and herded (as did David J. Schow’s “Jerry’s Kids Meet Wormboy”). In Robert McCammon’s “Eat Me”, two living dead meet up at a singles bar for a night of grotesque love.
For diversity and style, BOOK OF THE DEAD is about as good a zombie anthology as you’re likely to find. However, when you’re talking ease, this book took way too long to read. 16 days for me, which is way longer than 390 pages should take, and I attribute part of that, surely, to this being the 4th or 5th zombie book I’ve read in recent weeks, but part of it is also due to length. If I’m reading an anthology, I’m looking for short stories. They don’t have to be 5 pages, I’m not that wimpy, but Boyett’s story is 64 pages and that is overkill. Another story was over 40, while still one more topped 50 pages. In a really good anthology, I can deal with one novella, but three stories of that length just kills my motivation to keep reading on a daily basis.
And really, length is my only gripe with this one. All of the authors involved are recognizable names in the horror field, and these stories show why that is. None of the stories felt cobbled together just because there was a zombie anthology looking for stories, and none of them felt as if they were pre-existing stories with a little editing done in post to turn them into zombie stories, even though for all I know this was exactly the case in at least one or two instances. If it was, the authors hid it well.
If BOOK OF THE DEAD is the precursor, the one that got the ball rolling on the whole zombie fiction phenomenon, I’m not surprised so many hopefuls took up the mantle in an effort to produce something as original or interesting. Naturally, I wish those that followed had all been as talented as this group, but you can’t have everything, right?
While it took the longest of all the zombie books I’ve read recently to work through, in the end BOOK OF THE DEAD was the one that was most worth the effort. Pay attention to this table of contents, folks. There’s a reason these people are stars.
June 14, 2022
One of the reasons I picked up this book, the ur-text of zombie short fiction, was to see how the genre has changed in the more than thirty years since its publication. I expected to find some attitudes and ideas that wouldn't be considered appropriate now, but even so, I was surprised at the blatant racism and other forms of bigotry in some stories. It's one thing to present a cruel or prejudiced character, another thing entirely when the omniscient narrator of a story mocks a character's stutter.
What most turned me off, though, was the fact that so many of the "acclaimed" authors recruited for this anthology saw it as an opportunity to write graphic and explicit depictions of extreme violence and sexual assault against women. The crossover between sex, misogyny, and violence is nothing new, but some of these stories put American Psycho to shame and do it without a shred of satire.
As far as how the genre has changed, I'm surprised to find it's changed a lot. These early stories rely heavily on gore and body horror. Most of the stories are pretty far out there, in terms of fantasy. (Think Z Nation, not Walking Dead.) There's plenty of social criticism mixed in, as well. Many of the tales are written from the point of view of the undead and often they are little different from the living. But the attitude of the volume as a whole is much more grim than modern zombie fiction. Taken as a whole, these authors seem to believe that nearly all humans are selfish, violent, and just waiting for the strictures of society to collapse so they can indulge their most sadistic impulses without consequence.
Maybe nihilism is a reflection of the ethos of the time, but I much prefer the more hopeful (if no less gory) trend in zombie fiction today. There's a huge overlap between zombie fiction and post-apocalyptic survival fiction, but even the grimmest tales tend to believe humans will find a way to survive, that human connection is important to that survival, and that the virtues that make us human will not vanish. On the other hand, twenty-first-century zombie fiction tends to be more "realistic" and less laden with social commentary and satire. (I'm not including movies/TV shows in this generalization.) I, for one, would be thrilled to find an author who could meld the realism of today's writers with the critical point of view of early zombie fiction.
There are a few gems in this anthology. I particularly like (no surprise here) Joe Lansdale's entry. His characters are just as racist, sexist, and otherwise flawed as those of other stories, but they're written that way with a point. Lansdale both has a moral compass and allows it to show in his writing. His protagonist may be foul-mouthed and unreasonably horny (given the situation), but he's also capable of compassion and honor, despite the strange and truncated forms these qualities take in the world Lansdale creates. And of course he has gun-toting zombie hooker nuns for Jesus, so there's that.
(If you haven't run into Lansdale's ability to take the absurd and push it at least 20 notches further while also effortlessly generating hilarious turns of phrase, you're really missing out. Seriously, check out the Hap and Leonard series, but only if you aren't offended by colorful language.)
In the end, I'm glad I read this anthology, if only because it made me grateful for the more palatable zombie gorefests being written now. Would I recommend it? Meh. If you are interested in zombie fiction not just as brain candy, but as a growing, changing genre, it's worth checking out just to see how far we've come. For entertainment value? Not so much.
What most turned me off, though, was the fact that so many of the "acclaimed" authors recruited for this anthology saw it as an opportunity to write graphic and explicit depictions of extreme violence and sexual assault against women. The crossover between sex, misogyny, and violence is nothing new, but some of these stories put American Psycho to shame and do it without a shred of satire.
As far as how the genre has changed, I'm surprised to find it's changed a lot. These early stories rely heavily on gore and body horror. Most of the stories are pretty far out there, in terms of fantasy. (Think Z Nation, not Walking Dead.) There's plenty of social criticism mixed in, as well. Many of the tales are written from the point of view of the undead and often they are little different from the living. But the attitude of the volume as a whole is much more grim than modern zombie fiction. Taken as a whole, these authors seem to believe that nearly all humans are selfish, violent, and just waiting for the strictures of society to collapse so they can indulge their most sadistic impulses without consequence.
Maybe nihilism is a reflection of the ethos of the time, but I much prefer the more hopeful (if no less gory) trend in zombie fiction today. There's a huge overlap between zombie fiction and post-apocalyptic survival fiction, but even the grimmest tales tend to believe humans will find a way to survive, that human connection is important to that survival, and that the virtues that make us human will not vanish. On the other hand, twenty-first-century zombie fiction tends to be more "realistic" and less laden with social commentary and satire. (I'm not including movies/TV shows in this generalization.) I, for one, would be thrilled to find an author who could meld the realism of today's writers with the critical point of view of early zombie fiction.
There are a few gems in this anthology. I particularly like (no surprise here) Joe Lansdale's entry. His characters are just as racist, sexist, and otherwise flawed as those of other stories, but they're written that way with a point. Lansdale both has a moral compass and allows it to show in his writing. His protagonist may be foul-mouthed and unreasonably horny (given the situation), but he's also capable of compassion and honor, despite the strange and truncated forms these qualities take in the world Lansdale creates. And of course he has gun-toting zombie hooker nuns for Jesus, so there's that.
(If you haven't run into Lansdale's ability to take the absurd and push it at least 20 notches further while also effortlessly generating hilarious turns of phrase, you're really missing out. Seriously, check out the Hap and Leonard series, but only if you aren't offended by colorful language.)
In the end, I'm glad I read this anthology, if only because it made me grateful for the more palatable zombie gorefests being written now. Would I recommend it? Meh. If you are interested in zombie fiction not just as brain candy, but as a growing, changing genre, it's worth checking out just to see how far we've come. For entertainment value? Not so much.
tbr2_read-now_tip-top-pile
February 27, 2015Scary-shit. Nonetheless, it was titillating.
Here, I give you a taste of it:
[ She expected him to go for the knife again, to stroke her nipples with its razor edge or tease her nerve endings with mock danger. Instead, he reached into a headboard compartment and brought out a rubber mask festooned with sewn leather and buckles and shiny gold zippers. It almost made her laugh. She protested. The contraption engulfed her head like a thick,too-tight glove. She thought of getting stuck in a pullover sweater, only this material was definitely nonporous. Her lungs felt brief panic until the thing was fully seated and she could gulp air through the nose and mouth slits.Then Quinn resumed pushing himself into her, his prodding more urgent now. He broke rhythm only to zip the holes in the mask shut.
Fear blossomed loud in her chest, becoming a fireball. She pulled in a final huge draught of air before he zipped the nose shut, and wasted breath making incomprehensible muling noises against the already-sealed mouth hole. ]
[ She began to buck and heave, thrashing. Quinn loved every second of it, battering her lustily despite her abrupt lack of lubrication. The friction vanished when he came inside her. ]
You dare? Cos what happen after this IS the scary part.
June 16, 2007
An excellent collection of zombie stories, with an introduction by George Romero no less. Particularly memorable stories are by Stephen King, David Schow, Edward Bryant, and Robert McCammon, and a great one by Joe R. Lansdale.
November 22, 2012
This book belonged to my uncle (not sure if he still has it)and I remember reading this when I was about 12. "A Sad Last Love At The Diner Of The Damned" naturally got my attention by the title, alone. That short story has remained fixed in my memory all these years later. I do recall enjoying others, though none have remained in my memory. As usual with anthologies there are always at least one or two that go a little "out there" and leave you wondering Just where in the hell was this particular writer going with this? But overall a very good collection. Particularly that short story I already mentioned. I had to do some creative Googling today just to find the book that contained one of the best horror short stories I have ever read in my life. No surprise that A Sad Last Love At The Diner Of The Damned won not just one, but *two* awards! I definitely recommend this book. (Come on, just read the premise behind this collection! - Oh, and Stephen King just happened to be one of the contributors, though not the author of "A Sad Last Love...") If you can find it at a used book store or thrift shop, you will not regret getting it. :)
June 4, 2018
* Like Pavlov's Dogs by Steven R. Boyett
* A Sad Last Love at the Diner of the Damned by Edward Bryant read 1/26/2005
* It Helps if You Sing by Ramsey Campbell read 1/24/2005
* The Good Parts by Les Daniels read 1/30/2005
* Dead Giveaway by Brian Hodge
* Home Delivery by Stephen King read 1/20/2005
* On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert With Dead Folks by Joe R. Lansdale
* Mess Hall by Richard Laymon read 1/22/2005
* Eat Me by Robert R. McCammon read 12/21/2004
* Blossom by Chan McConnell read 1/21/2005
* Wet Work by Philip Nutman read 1/25/2005
* Saxophone by Nicholas Royle
* Jerry's Kids Meet Wormboy by David J. Schow read 12/20/2004
* Bodies & Heads by Steve Rasnic Tem 1/27/2005
* Choices by Glen Vasey 1/28/2005
* Less then Zombie by Douglas E. Winter
the story by Stephen King was reprinted with comic-style illustration in Secretary of the dead and Joe Lansdale's story was adapted into a comic book ooh, and a chapbook!
* A Sad Last Love at the Diner of the Damned by Edward Bryant read 1/26/2005
* It Helps if You Sing by Ramsey Campbell read 1/24/2005
* The Good Parts by Les Daniels read 1/30/2005
* Dead Giveaway by Brian Hodge
* Home Delivery by Stephen King read 1/20/2005
* On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert With Dead Folks by Joe R. Lansdale
* Mess Hall by Richard Laymon read 1/22/2005
* Eat Me by Robert R. McCammon read 12/21/2004
* Blossom by Chan McConnell read 1/21/2005
* Wet Work by Philip Nutman read 1/25/2005
* Saxophone by Nicholas Royle
* Jerry's Kids Meet Wormboy by David J. Schow read 12/20/2004
* Bodies & Heads by Steve Rasnic Tem 1/27/2005
* Choices by Glen Vasey 1/28/2005
* Less then Zombie by Douglas E. Winter
the story by Stephen King was reprinted with comic-style illustration in Secretary of the dead and Joe Lansdale's story was adapted into a comic book ooh, and a chapbook!
January 11, 2020
If you want to read a short story collection of stories mostly involving the living dead where the authors try to out-gross each other with as much gore and sex as possible, this makes as fine a choice as any. Stephen King's Home Delivery is easily the best one because it doesn't involve a zombie having sex with another zombie and tries to leave some violence up to the imagination.
April 13, 2023
Right from the start Book of the Dead’s credentials are impressive. Published in 1989, the anthology boasts a foreword from George A. Romero and features sixteen short stories, supposedly set in the aftermath of the same zombie plague seen in his original Dead trilogy (although it’s debatable whether anyone actually stuck to that brief properly). With authors such as Stephen King, Joe R, Lansdale, Ramsey Campbell and Richard Laymon contributing tales, this is an A-list affair, especially given that many of the featured writers were at the peak of their popularity at the time the book was first published.
Following Romero’s foreword, Skipp & Spector’s introduction entitled “On Going Too Far” sets the agenda for the book and it’s a schema enchantingly rooted in its era of origin. Talking about Tipper Gore’s crusade against violence in film, desensitization at the hands of video nasties, “an era of serial killers, Khmer Rouge, drive-by shooters and day-care rapists, hijackings and knee-cappings, death squads and body dumps”, it’s like a rough cut flashback to the nihilistic nineteen-eighties, recorded on fourth generation pirate VHS tape. It’s a trip down memory lane to the bad old days when mutually assured destruction had many dreaming of a nuclear winter rather than a white Christmas, Mrs. Thatcher and Cowboy Ronnie sending out cards from their private underground bunkers. Truth be told, watching a Police Academy marathon, listening to Culture Club on a Sony Walkman, wearing roller boots, a Mr. T t-shirt and Deelie-Boppers whilst trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube and drinking Cherry Coke could not even come close to being as authentically eighties as this intro is. But alas, the fact that Book of the Dead was so culturally spot on when it was first published actually meant that some parts of the collection didn’t quite work for me as a reader nearly twenty years later.
Anthologies by their very nature are a mixed bag and Book of the Dead is no exception. There are some really enjoyable tales in the book: Stephen King’s Home Delivery, a gloriously gory EC comic book in short story form, somehow packs more plot into twenty-seven pages than many people (King included) usually manage to squeeze into a hundred. Joe R. Lansdale’s On The Far Side Of The Cadillac Desert With Dead Folks is a true to form bad taste B-Movie romp effortlessly executed. Ramsey Campbell’s It Helps If You Sing, the only story set in Britain so far as I can make out, is a vision of a claustrophobic, grey-concreted place, and brought to mind Anthony Burgess’s vision of a near future Albion from A Clockwork Orange. Campbell goes for discomfort and creeping menace, perhaps deliberately avoiding the no holds barred splatter which drips off the surrounding pages and I think it really pays off.
Then there are the bad parts and these are more general, more to do with the book as a whole and the way things sort of add up from story to story. I’m a little freaked out to realise that I really haven’t read much modern horror; I’m just getting into Joe Hill and I enjoy Max Brooks’ writing, of course, but there’s not really anyone writing horror at the moment whose books I feel I have to get hold of as soon as they appear. When I was first getting into horror in the early nineties James Herbert was the author whose work I was truly hungry for and raced through as fast as I could. Returning to his work years later I was actually quite shocked and disappointed by some of the material in there, especially when it came to sex. Book of the Dead suffers from the same problem; it’s gratuitously littered with sex and rape for no real reason that I can make out. Of the sixteen stories in the book more than half of them feature the loss of at least one penis, which is both tragic and hilarious; these ‘masters of horror’ being asked to contribute to an anthology and all handing in stories that feature what is obviously the worse thing they can imagine. “Ah man, imagine if you lost your dick! That would suck!” The general attitude to women is pretty dodgy for the most part too but the thing that bugged me the most was the sense of apathy that pervades much of the book. Douglas E. Winter’s Less Than Zombie, supposedly a parody of Brett Easton Ellis’ 1985 novel Less Than Zero but which reads more like a mere appropriation of Ellis’ style with a zombie or two (barely) crow-barred in, is perhaps the worst offender. There’s this underlying sense that the zombie plague is an inevitable thing; just another fucked up part of fucked up life in the fucked up eighties. Culturally and historically interesting though that may be, in terms of horror storytelling it often doesn’t really work. For me, there needs to be an ‘us’ and a ‘them’, even if those roles are swapped and re-swapped during the course of a story. Once an author starts saying “does any of it really matter?” and there’s no one in the story prepared to stand up and say “yes”, the whole thing becomes rather futile. Is there any point in reading a horror story where you’re not supposed to care who lives and who dies? Sometimes maybe, but you’d have to be a masterful author to pull it off.
All of that said, I really enjoyed the book generally. A real stand-out story for me was Choices by Glen Vasey, whose work I have never encountered before. It’s an intelligent, thoughtful piece telling the tale of a traumatised traveller, forever alone even when his journey brings him into contact with others. Choices manages to capture the right atmosphere and achieve a real sense of balance; lots of humanity, lots of pathos but still plenty of horror and action. Overall, Book of the Dead is a very enjoyable and important anthology, though you may have to take certain stories with a pinch of salt. Certainly it is well worth tracking down if you haven’t done so already and the paperback edition is still pretty easy to get hold of.
Following Romero’s foreword, Skipp & Spector’s introduction entitled “On Going Too Far” sets the agenda for the book and it’s a schema enchantingly rooted in its era of origin. Talking about Tipper Gore’s crusade against violence in film, desensitization at the hands of video nasties, “an era of serial killers, Khmer Rouge, drive-by shooters and day-care rapists, hijackings and knee-cappings, death squads and body dumps”, it’s like a rough cut flashback to the nihilistic nineteen-eighties, recorded on fourth generation pirate VHS tape. It’s a trip down memory lane to the bad old days when mutually assured destruction had many dreaming of a nuclear winter rather than a white Christmas, Mrs. Thatcher and Cowboy Ronnie sending out cards from their private underground bunkers. Truth be told, watching a Police Academy marathon, listening to Culture Club on a Sony Walkman, wearing roller boots, a Mr. T t-shirt and Deelie-Boppers whilst trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube and drinking Cherry Coke could not even come close to being as authentically eighties as this intro is. But alas, the fact that Book of the Dead was so culturally spot on when it was first published actually meant that some parts of the collection didn’t quite work for me as a reader nearly twenty years later.
Anthologies by their very nature are a mixed bag and Book of the Dead is no exception. There are some really enjoyable tales in the book: Stephen King’s Home Delivery, a gloriously gory EC comic book in short story form, somehow packs more plot into twenty-seven pages than many people (King included) usually manage to squeeze into a hundred. Joe R. Lansdale’s On The Far Side Of The Cadillac Desert With Dead Folks is a true to form bad taste B-Movie romp effortlessly executed. Ramsey Campbell’s It Helps If You Sing, the only story set in Britain so far as I can make out, is a vision of a claustrophobic, grey-concreted place, and brought to mind Anthony Burgess’s vision of a near future Albion from A Clockwork Orange. Campbell goes for discomfort and creeping menace, perhaps deliberately avoiding the no holds barred splatter which drips off the surrounding pages and I think it really pays off.
Then there are the bad parts and these are more general, more to do with the book as a whole and the way things sort of add up from story to story. I’m a little freaked out to realise that I really haven’t read much modern horror; I’m just getting into Joe Hill and I enjoy Max Brooks’ writing, of course, but there’s not really anyone writing horror at the moment whose books I feel I have to get hold of as soon as they appear. When I was first getting into horror in the early nineties James Herbert was the author whose work I was truly hungry for and raced through as fast as I could. Returning to his work years later I was actually quite shocked and disappointed by some of the material in there, especially when it came to sex. Book of the Dead suffers from the same problem; it’s gratuitously littered with sex and rape for no real reason that I can make out. Of the sixteen stories in the book more than half of them feature the loss of at least one penis, which is both tragic and hilarious; these ‘masters of horror’ being asked to contribute to an anthology and all handing in stories that feature what is obviously the worse thing they can imagine. “Ah man, imagine if you lost your dick! That would suck!” The general attitude to women is pretty dodgy for the most part too but the thing that bugged me the most was the sense of apathy that pervades much of the book. Douglas E. Winter’s Less Than Zombie, supposedly a parody of Brett Easton Ellis’ 1985 novel Less Than Zero but which reads more like a mere appropriation of Ellis’ style with a zombie or two (barely) crow-barred in, is perhaps the worst offender. There’s this underlying sense that the zombie plague is an inevitable thing; just another fucked up part of fucked up life in the fucked up eighties. Culturally and historically interesting though that may be, in terms of horror storytelling it often doesn’t really work. For me, there needs to be an ‘us’ and a ‘them’, even if those roles are swapped and re-swapped during the course of a story. Once an author starts saying “does any of it really matter?” and there’s no one in the story prepared to stand up and say “yes”, the whole thing becomes rather futile. Is there any point in reading a horror story where you’re not supposed to care who lives and who dies? Sometimes maybe, but you’d have to be a masterful author to pull it off.
All of that said, I really enjoyed the book generally. A real stand-out story for me was Choices by Glen Vasey, whose work I have never encountered before. It’s an intelligent, thoughtful piece telling the tale of a traumatised traveller, forever alone even when his journey brings him into contact with others. Choices manages to capture the right atmosphere and achieve a real sense of balance; lots of humanity, lots of pathos but still plenty of horror and action. Overall, Book of the Dead is a very enjoyable and important anthology, though you may have to take certain stories with a pinch of salt. Certainly it is well worth tracking down if you haven’t done so already and the paperback edition is still pretty easy to get hold of.
September 22, 2023
This is an excellent anthology of end of the world zombie apocalypse horror. I enjoyed each story. Some were gross others humorous but all fun. My favorites stories were by King, Lansdale, McConnel, Laymon, & Schow.
July 23, 2022
Metto una stella perché di meno non è possibile.
March 24, 2009
I enjoyed this book. It had a variety of different takes on zombies. I think King was back to form in this collection. Overall there were several good offerings. I feel I am better prepared for the upcoming zombie apocalypse!
Want to read
October 10, 2012McCammon's, Lansdale's, and Schow's stories are must-read. Laymon's Mess Hall was sadly disappointing. Same with Winter's tale. There was promise in Bryant's Sad Last Love, but overall I remember it as disappointing. The rest need to be reread before commenting.
October 23, 2010
Mess Hall still sticks with me. Great rereadable anthologies.
January 9, 2013
Not your typical collection of zombie stories.
October 29, 2018
Antologia di racconti scritti da vari autori; la Bompiani ha furbescamente messo in evidenza il nome di Stephen King, facendo credere all'allocco di turno (io), non tanto che fosse un libro scritto interemente da lui (in quanto leggendo la trama si capisce subito che si tratta di una raccolta di più autori), ma che King ne fosse il curatore, cosa per niente vera.
Di Stephen King si legge un solo racconto, già presente peraltro in un'altra raccolta, e fine.
Ci tengo a precisarlo perchè a me sarebbero interessati dei racconti scelti da lui, e non da altri pincopallini come in questo caso.
Ma andiamo oltre...
I racconti presenti in questo volume hanno come trait d'union gli zombi, tema che però passa in secondo piano rispetto all'aspetto splatterpunk della maggior parte di essi.
Alcuni di questi sono talmente splatter e volgari che, arrivati alla fine del tomo, tutto questo sangue/budella/cervella, perde di efficacia, anestetizzando il senso del disgusto che dovrebbero provocare.
Il troppo stroppia.
Lo so che avendo a che fare con gli zombi immancabilmente ci saranno scene splatter e ributtanti, ma l'esagerazione, l'ossessione per i dettagli più ripugnanti, di questi autori svilisce di contenuto i loro racconti, rendendoli quasi delle parodie dell'orrore.
L'unico racconto che mi ha fatto drizzare i peli sulle braccia è stato per l'appunto quello meno splatter, in cui l'autore è riuscito a creare una suspense e un'atmosfera orrorifica senza bisogno di artifizi particolarmente disgustosi o licenziosi.
I racconti:
Fioritura - Splatter, volgare, insignificante - NO
La mensa - praticamente come sopra - NO
Fa meno male se canti - non male ma sa di poco -NI
Parto in casa - carino - SI
Lavori sporchi - non male - NI
Un triste ultimo amore allo snack dei dannati - carino ma osceno - SI
Corpi e teste - affatto splatter o volgare, il più pauroso - SI
Scelte - carino (ricorda "La strada" di McCarthy) - SI
I pezzi migliori - Assolutamente volgare e insignificante - NO
Meno di zombi - Estremamente violento, volgare,squallido e allucinante - NO
Come cani di Pavlov - interessante (anche se i protagonisti mi hanno fatto saltare i nervi) - SI
Sassofono - confuso, sa di poco - NI
Nel deserto cadillac con i morti - molto volgare ma intrigante - NI
Rischiamorto - praticamente una parodia, comico - SI
Vermone e i figli di Jerry - volgare ma comico - NI
Mangiami - romantico, dolce - SI
Ultima riflessione.
Sembrerà strano ma alla fine di questi racconti ci si accorge che ancora una volta è l'essere umano il vero mostro.
Di Stephen King si legge un solo racconto, già presente peraltro in un'altra raccolta, e fine.
Ci tengo a precisarlo perchè a me sarebbero interessati dei racconti scelti da lui, e non da altri pincopallini come in questo caso.
Ma andiamo oltre...
I racconti presenti in questo volume hanno come trait d'union gli zombi, tema che però passa in secondo piano rispetto all'aspetto splatterpunk della maggior parte di essi.
Alcuni di questi sono talmente splatter e volgari che, arrivati alla fine del tomo, tutto questo sangue/budella/cervella, perde di efficacia, anestetizzando il senso del disgusto che dovrebbero provocare.
Il troppo stroppia.
Lo so che avendo a che fare con gli zombi immancabilmente ci saranno scene splatter e ributtanti, ma l'esagerazione, l'ossessione per i dettagli più ripugnanti, di questi autori svilisce di contenuto i loro racconti, rendendoli quasi delle parodie dell'orrore.
L'unico racconto che mi ha fatto drizzare i peli sulle braccia è stato per l'appunto quello meno splatter, in cui l'autore è riuscito a creare una suspense e un'atmosfera orrorifica senza bisogno di artifizi particolarmente disgustosi o licenziosi.
I racconti:
Fioritura - Splatter, volgare, insignificante - NO
La mensa - praticamente come sopra - NO
Fa meno male se canti - non male ma sa di poco -NI
Parto in casa - carino - SI
Lavori sporchi - non male - NI
Un triste ultimo amore allo snack dei dannati - carino ma osceno - SI
Corpi e teste - affatto splatter o volgare, il più pauroso - SI
Scelte - carino (ricorda "La strada" di McCarthy) - SI
I pezzi migliori - Assolutamente volgare e insignificante - NO
Meno di zombi - Estremamente violento, volgare,squallido e allucinante - NO
Come cani di Pavlov - interessante (anche se i protagonisti mi hanno fatto saltare i nervi) - SI
Sassofono - confuso, sa di poco - NI
Nel deserto cadillac con i morti - molto volgare ma intrigante - NI
Rischiamorto - praticamente una parodia, comico - SI
Vermone e i figli di Jerry - volgare ma comico - NI
Mangiami - romantico, dolce - SI
Ultima riflessione.
Sembrerà strano ma alla fine di questi racconti ci si accorge che ancora una volta è l'essere umano il vero mostro.
July 21, 2023
Foreword, by George Romero: Mr. Romero talks about the times he saw and photographed the living dead in the '60s, '70s, and '80s. Neat!
“Introduction: On Going Too Far,” by the editors: Pretentious.
“Blossom,” by “Chan McConnell” (David J. Schow): Wow. Short but very effective. Would have fit well into a Hot Blood anthology.
“Mess Hall,” by Richard Laymon: It’s always interesting when human monsters meet real ones.
“It Helps if You Sing,” by Ramsey Campbell: A different kind of zombie. Hypnotized cult members. Campbell's almost always very good.
“Home Delivery,” by Stephen King: Those Maine islanders may be backwards, sexist, clannish, and anti-Semitic, but aren’t they wonderful? Real salt-of-the-earth types! (No, I don’t like them.)
“Wet Work,” by Philip Nutman: Made little impression on me. Apparently it was expanded into a novel.
“A Sad Last Love at the Diner of the Damned,” by Edward R. Bryant: This one really did go too far. I wish I hadn’t read it. It seems to exemplify the kind of “extreme horror” that Edward Lee said gives the subgenre a bad name.
“Bodies and Heads,” by Steve Rasnic Tem: I found it boring.
“Choices,” by Glen Vasey: Second-longest story in the book. Heart-wrenching. A very intelligent and sensitive protagonist. I think the author pushed the wretchedness and horror too far.
“The Good Parts,” by Les Daniels: Disgusting, but funny and refreshingly short.
“Less Than Zombie,” by Douglas E. Winter: Funny but horrifying parody of a book that I think I will skip reading.
“Like Pavlov’s Dogs,” by Steven R. Boyett: Longest story in the book. A depressing look at the dark side of humanity. I didn’t care for it much, despite a tough heroine who should be played by Lucy Liu.
“Saxophone,” by Nicholas Royle: Somewhat similar to “Wet Work,” did not make a huge impression on me either.
“On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert with Dead Folks,” by Joe R. Lansdale: Wow. More wow. Third-longest story in the book, and I think it’s just great. Bad men can be heroes too.
“Dead Giveaway,” by Brian Hodge: HA! Un-Hodgelike, I would say, in that it's not written in very lofty language; but it is scary and funny. Those poor, poor cheerleaders. That jerk gameshow host!
“Jerry’s Kids Meet Wormboy,” by David J. Schow under his real name: Blech. I hated this one.
“Eat Me,” by Robert R. McCammon: Er…romantic, I guess. But disgusting.
In summation, this anthology was pretty high quality, but overall I preferred the sequel, Still Dead.
“Introduction: On Going Too Far,” by the editors: Pretentious.
“Blossom,” by “Chan McConnell” (David J. Schow): Wow. Short but very effective. Would have fit well into a Hot Blood anthology.
“Mess Hall,” by Richard Laymon: It’s always interesting when human monsters meet real ones.
“It Helps if You Sing,” by Ramsey Campbell: A different kind of zombie. Hypnotized cult members. Campbell's almost always very good.
“Home Delivery,” by Stephen King: Those Maine islanders may be backwards, sexist, clannish, and anti-Semitic, but aren’t they wonderful? Real salt-of-the-earth types! (No, I don’t like them.)
“Wet Work,” by Philip Nutman: Made little impression on me. Apparently it was expanded into a novel.
“A Sad Last Love at the Diner of the Damned,” by Edward R. Bryant: This one really did go too far. I wish I hadn’t read it. It seems to exemplify the kind of “extreme horror” that Edward Lee said gives the subgenre a bad name.
“Bodies and Heads,” by Steve Rasnic Tem: I found it boring.
“Choices,” by Glen Vasey: Second-longest story in the book. Heart-wrenching. A very intelligent and sensitive protagonist. I think the author pushed the wretchedness and horror too far.
“The Good Parts,” by Les Daniels: Disgusting, but funny and refreshingly short.
“Less Than Zombie,” by Douglas E. Winter: Funny but horrifying parody of a book that I think I will skip reading.
“Like Pavlov’s Dogs,” by Steven R. Boyett: Longest story in the book. A depressing look at the dark side of humanity. I didn’t care for it much, despite a tough heroine who should be played by Lucy Liu.
“Saxophone,” by Nicholas Royle: Somewhat similar to “Wet Work,” did not make a huge impression on me either.
“On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert with Dead Folks,” by Joe R. Lansdale: Wow. More wow. Third-longest story in the book, and I think it’s just great. Bad men can be heroes too.
“Dead Giveaway,” by Brian Hodge: HA! Un-Hodgelike, I would say, in that it's not written in very lofty language; but it is scary and funny. Those poor, poor cheerleaders. That jerk gameshow host!
“Jerry’s Kids Meet Wormboy,” by David J. Schow under his real name: Blech. I hated this one.
“Eat Me,” by Robert R. McCammon: Er…romantic, I guess. But disgusting.
In summation, this anthology was pretty high quality, but overall I preferred the sequel, Still Dead.
October 16, 2024
A typical anthology experience: a few high points, a number of low points.
Blossom by Chan McConnell
A consensual sexual assignation takes on rapey characteristics before veering into a zombie encounter.
I want to ding this story for taking me to a place I really didn't want to go. But the characters and their tryst are (painfully) realistic and the writing is riveting so I'm going with 5 stars.
-------------------------
Mess Hall by Richard Laymon
A serial killer cuffs a woman to a tree but before he can do his thing his past victims appear and zomb out.
Graphic and gruesome. 4 stars.
-------------------------
It Helps If You Sing by Ramsey Campbell
Two grinning gray religious solicitors create a new convert via a cassette with a hidden needle.
The first part of the story is a badly written layout of the neighborhood and had me lost, but the cult-as-zombies take was interesting. And the cult's leader is so bent on sex=sin that new converts are...well you have to read it. 4 stars.
-------------------------
Home Delivery by Stephen King
The zombie apocalypse from the point of view of the residents of a small island off the coast of (where else) Maine.
King loses the thread somewhat--there's a non sequitur about alien worms attacking an international space rocket, when it's clear that it's not spaceworms animating the dead. But this is otherwise a worthy tale of salt o' the earth types doing the hard work necessary to protect their islet from the end of the world. 4 stars.
-------------------------
Wet Work by Phillip Nutman
A government assassin team cleans out an infested school.
This story only exists to deliver an awkward twist: The plot fails to sell the twist. 2 stars.
-------------------------
A Sad Last Love at the Diner of the Damned by Edward Bryant
The author tries to make a point about the parallels between the rapaciousness of zombies and that of misogynists who see women as procurable meat and I can't get past the graphic, extensive, explicit zombie gangrape to appreciate it. This had been shaping up to be one of the better stories. 1 star.
-------------------------
Bodies and Heads by Steve Rasnic Tem
Zombies are hospital patients who involuntarily shake their heads frantically and interminably.
Bored and confused. 1 star.
-------------------------
Choices by Glen Vasey
Incoherent zombie-free philosophizing. I can't tell whether zombies are a metaphor for something or if they're out there shaping the world in which the incomprehensible narrator flounders. 1 star.
-------------------------
The Good Parts by Les Daniels
Two zombies engage in vaguely recollected sex and give birth to a baby girl and teach her to use a can opener. The end.
Short and devoid of internal logic. 2 stars.
-------------------------
Less than Zombie by Douglas E. Winter
Addict party kids hear a news story about zombies and make a snuff film to see if the victim will turn.
I liked the quirky run-on writing style that sort of aped the sensation of being high. Too bad it didn't lead anywhere. 2 stars.
-------------------------
Like Pavlov's Dogs by Steven R. Boyett
A year into the zombie apocalypse, an experimental biosphere in the Arizona desert is populated by eight disillusioned scientists who detest each other. A gangster decides to take the place down.
It was great that there were actual zombies in this zombie siege story, but that ending... 3 stars.
-------------------------
Saxophone by Nicholas Royle
Amidst war in central Europe, zombies are just people whose hearts don't beat. They lose no cognitive or physical function.
This reads like a chapter plucked from the middle of a novel, with all the downsides of a short story but none of the upsides. 2 stars.
-------------------------
On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert With Dead Folks by Joe R. Lansdale
Kind of a Mad Max American West. The zombie apocalypse persists but is more or less contained. A bounty hunter and his prisoner are forced to work together when captured by a Jesus-sex cult (yep) that has mastered the art of training zombies.
Joe Lansdale can be a tough read, an endless train of scatological descriptions, remarkable blasphemies, and rape references. But he spins a good yarn. 4 stars.
-------------------------
Dead Giveaway by Brian Hodge
A celebrity emcee hosts a gameshow in which the contestants are zombies and the prizes are human captives.
Now that's a short story: twelve pages, makes its point, banger ending. 5 stars.
-------------------------
Jerry's Kids Meet Wormboy by David J. Schow
Jerry is a fire-and-brimstone evangelist who feeds 'sinners' to his Kids, pet zombies that he controls with rattlesnake venom. Jerry launches an assault on the redoubt of Wormboy, a ferocious survivalist who eats zombie meat.
Schow writes some great turns of phrase, such as 'ate a bullet and changed tense from present to past' and 'hopped around with Donald Duck fury'. A character doesn't prosaically 'try to open his eyes', no; he 'files a formal request to roll back his eyelids and it takes about an hour to go through channels'. The man paints a picture; 5 stars for the writing alone. I just wish he'd use his powers for something other than grossing me the hell out.
-------------------------
Eat Me by Robert R. McCammon
Another world in which zombies are sentient and fully functional. A lonely dead accountant meets a lonely decaying woman and they fall in love and eat each other. Literally. I was puzzled and bored and a little put off my lunch. 2 stars.
Blossom by Chan McConnell
A consensual sexual assignation takes on rapey characteristics before veering into a zombie encounter.
I want to ding this story for taking me to a place I really didn't want to go. But the characters and their tryst are (painfully) realistic and the writing is riveting so I'm going with 5 stars.
-------------------------
Mess Hall by Richard Laymon
A serial killer cuffs a woman to a tree but before he can do his thing his past victims appear and zomb out.
Graphic and gruesome. 4 stars.
-------------------------
It Helps If You Sing by Ramsey Campbell
Two grinning gray religious solicitors create a new convert via a cassette with a hidden needle.
The first part of the story is a badly written layout of the neighborhood and had me lost, but the cult-as-zombies take was interesting. And the cult's leader is so bent on sex=sin that new converts are...well you have to read it. 4 stars.
-------------------------
Home Delivery by Stephen King
The zombie apocalypse from the point of view of the residents of a small island off the coast of (where else) Maine.
King loses the thread somewhat--there's a non sequitur about alien worms attacking an international space rocket, when it's clear that it's not spaceworms animating the dead. But this is otherwise a worthy tale of salt o' the earth types doing the hard work necessary to protect their islet from the end of the world. 4 stars.
-------------------------
Wet Work by Phillip Nutman
A government assassin team cleans out an infested school.
This story only exists to deliver an awkward twist: The plot fails to sell the twist. 2 stars.
-------------------------
A Sad Last Love at the Diner of the Damned by Edward Bryant
The author tries to make a point about the parallels between the rapaciousness of zombies and that of misogynists who see women as procurable meat and I can't get past the graphic, extensive, explicit zombie gangrape to appreciate it. This had been shaping up to be one of the better stories. 1 star.
-------------------------
Bodies and Heads by Steve Rasnic Tem
Zombies are hospital patients who involuntarily shake their heads frantically and interminably.
Bored and confused. 1 star.
-------------------------
Choices by Glen Vasey
Incoherent zombie-free philosophizing. I can't tell whether zombies are a metaphor for something or if they're out there shaping the world in which the incomprehensible narrator flounders. 1 star.
-------------------------
The Good Parts by Les Daniels
Two zombies engage in vaguely recollected sex and give birth to a baby girl and teach her to use a can opener. The end.
Short and devoid of internal logic. 2 stars.
-------------------------
Less than Zombie by Douglas E. Winter
Addict party kids hear a news story about zombies and make a snuff film to see if the victim will turn.
I liked the quirky run-on writing style that sort of aped the sensation of being high. Too bad it didn't lead anywhere. 2 stars.
-------------------------
Like Pavlov's Dogs by Steven R. Boyett
A year into the zombie apocalypse, an experimental biosphere in the Arizona desert is populated by eight disillusioned scientists who detest each other. A gangster decides to take the place down.
It was great that there were actual zombies in this zombie siege story, but that ending... 3 stars.
-------------------------
Saxophone by Nicholas Royle
Amidst war in central Europe, zombies are just people whose hearts don't beat. They lose no cognitive or physical function.
This reads like a chapter plucked from the middle of a novel, with all the downsides of a short story but none of the upsides. 2 stars.
-------------------------
On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert With Dead Folks by Joe R. Lansdale
Kind of a Mad Max American West. The zombie apocalypse persists but is more or less contained. A bounty hunter and his prisoner are forced to work together when captured by a Jesus-sex cult (yep) that has mastered the art of training zombies.
Joe Lansdale can be a tough read, an endless train of scatological descriptions, remarkable blasphemies, and rape references. But he spins a good yarn. 4 stars.
-------------------------
Dead Giveaway by Brian Hodge
A celebrity emcee hosts a gameshow in which the contestants are zombies and the prizes are human captives.
Now that's a short story: twelve pages, makes its point, banger ending. 5 stars.
-------------------------
Jerry's Kids Meet Wormboy by David J. Schow
Jerry is a fire-and-brimstone evangelist who feeds 'sinners' to his Kids, pet zombies that he controls with rattlesnake venom. Jerry launches an assault on the redoubt of Wormboy, a ferocious survivalist who eats zombie meat.
Schow writes some great turns of phrase, such as 'ate a bullet and changed tense from present to past' and 'hopped around with Donald Duck fury'. A character doesn't prosaically 'try to open his eyes', no; he 'files a formal request to roll back his eyelids and it takes about an hour to go through channels'. The man paints a picture; 5 stars for the writing alone. I just wish he'd use his powers for something other than grossing me the hell out.
-------------------------
Eat Me by Robert R. McCammon
Another world in which zombies are sentient and fully functional. A lonely dead accountant meets a lonely decaying woman and they fall in love and eat each other. Literally. I was puzzled and bored and a little put off my lunch. 2 stars.
October 4, 2020
Adequate collection of zombie short stories. As one would expect from a book with Skipp and Spector as the editors, more than half are splatterpunk. Others include straight-out horror and at least one body horror story. The stories take place from early in the outbreak to later dystopias where the living cannot even imagine a world without the walking dead. Some of the zombies are straight out Romero zombies - mindless shamblers who become animated more or less as soon as they die. In others, the plague is transmitted by bites - possibly from animals as well as humans. In some stories, the causes of this disaster is inexplicable, in others it's aliens, or manmade viruses. There are even a few where the living dead can think and feel to varying degrees. All pretty much can only be "killed" by destroying their brains. None of the stories really grabbed me; some were interesting enough and a number, pretty basic. 2.5 stars.
February 28, 2023
3.5 stars. This book contained a wide variety of zombie tales, some novel approaches to the genre.
April 30, 2018
This was an excellent collection of short stories about zombies from the 1980s, back before The Walking Dead was on TV and you had to wait for them to play Dawn of the Dead on late night cable to get your fix. I picked this up at the local drug store back in Hampden, Maine when I was probably too young to be reading this stuff. I particularly liked Joe R. Lansdale's "On the far side of Cadillac Desert with dead folks," and "Like Pavlov's Dogs" by Steven Boyett. Lansdale is now known for Hap and Leonard mysteries, but he is really the master of the horror short story. Don't read it if you don't like really graphic violence, and I don't mean that in any cute, wink-wink way. This book probably goes over the line, but I find it a guilty pleasure.
August 16, 2023
I went into this under the impression that it was a collection of short stories tied into the Romero zombie apocalypse, that's not the case though. Just about every story has it's own version of how zombies came to be and the rules for the zombies. Some are your typical zombies as seen in the Romero films but quite often not. Several contain zombies who have normal intelligence and the only difference between them and humans is how their bodies function. One story doesn't have any of that and just has voodoo zombies as in they aren't walking dead but just people dosed with a zombie drug.
I could deal with a collection of random zombie stories but the problem is that so many of these are AWFUL. About 2/3 of the writers decided to go for sexual shock value. It's just penis this, vagina that, a zombie raping somebody over here, a person raping a zombie over there, bestiality and of course zombie on zombie. I'm not a prude but I came into this for zombie apocalypse stories and instead I get a bunch of crap that feels like it was written by 14 year old boys after a discussion about whether or not zombies "do it".
There are 2-3 decent stories in this book. The Stephen King story is probably the best but it was also published in Nightmares And Dreamscapes so most King fans have probably already read it. There's one that would probably be forgettable in any other collection but in this one it becomes decent, it's like a mashup between Dawn Of The Dead and Bio Dome.
I could deal with a collection of random zombie stories but the problem is that so many of these are AWFUL. About 2/3 of the writers decided to go for sexual shock value. It's just penis this, vagina that, a zombie raping somebody over here, a person raping a zombie over there, bestiality and of course zombie on zombie. I'm not a prude but I came into this for zombie apocalypse stories and instead I get a bunch of crap that feels like it was written by 14 year old boys after a discussion about whether or not zombies "do it".
There are 2-3 decent stories in this book. The Stephen King story is probably the best but it was also published in Nightmares And Dreamscapes so most King fans have probably already read it. There's one that would probably be forgettable in any other collection but in this one it becomes decent, it's like a mashup between Dawn Of The Dead and Bio Dome.
March 1, 2012
Given the recent popularity of zombies, it's hard to believe this anthology hasn't been brought back into print. It seems to me that many of the stories have been reprinted elsewhere, so perhaps there are now legal issues surrounding that?
Inner workings of the publishing industry aside, this is one hell of a book. Heavy hitters like Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell, Robert McCammon (back when he still got his hands dirty writing horror), and Joe Lansdale serve up some really good reanimated corpse tales. Douglas Winter's "Less Than Zombie" is a hilarious Brett Easton Ellis parody that brings zombies and bored rich kids together in a very splatter-ific story.
And that's the thing. The emphasis here is on splatter, which is not wholly surprising given that splatterpunk was still being hailed as the next big thing back when this book was published. I'd argue that not all zombie lit need be splatter oriented. Even Romero's Day of the Dead--when stripped of a few gory set pieces--had a heavy philosophical bent. Most of these stories just go for the throat, not necessarily a bad thing, just a little monotonous.
Now that there are a million zombie anthologies out there, you could do worse than this one.
Inner workings of the publishing industry aside, this is one hell of a book. Heavy hitters like Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell, Robert McCammon (back when he still got his hands dirty writing horror), and Joe Lansdale serve up some really good reanimated corpse tales. Douglas Winter's "Less Than Zombie" is a hilarious Brett Easton Ellis parody that brings zombies and bored rich kids together in a very splatter-ific story.
And that's the thing. The emphasis here is on splatter, which is not wholly surprising given that splatterpunk was still being hailed as the next big thing back when this book was published. I'd argue that not all zombie lit need be splatter oriented. Even Romero's Day of the Dead--when stripped of a few gory set pieces--had a heavy philosophical bent. Most of these stories just go for the throat, not necessarily a bad thing, just a little monotonous.
Now that there are a million zombie anthologies out there, you could do worse than this one.
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