Better Off Undead

by Martin H. Greenberg

From vampires to mummy con artists, this lively collection explores the many forms the undead can take in stories that range from the chilling to the hysterical. There are those who people the Afterlife, others who wander the lands of the living in ghostly form, and even those who walk about in the flesh. For anyone whos ever wondered if the grass is greener on the other side of this mortal coil, this collection will provide a wide range of intriguing answers from those who are undead...and loving it!

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fantasy, Anthologies, Paranormal, Science Fiction

320 pages, ebook

First published October 10, 2008

About the author

Martin Harry Greenberg was an American academic and speculative fiction anthologist. In all, he compiled 1,298 anthologies and commissioned over 8,200 original short stories. He founded Tekno Books, a packager of more than 2000 published books. In addition, he was a co-founder of the Sci-Fi Channel.

For the 1950s anthologist and publisher of Gnome Press, see Martin Greenberg.

Reviews

[Riley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave this book a 3.5 - it was a solid effort, no different from any of the myriad of anthologies that I've read. That is to say, a lot of the stories were at least decent, if not good; there were some that were pretty great, and then a few fantastic ones.
I'm not great with even mildly scary things, so I basically read a lot of this in daylight with my mom home. Don't expect Stephen King kind of scary, but there's some messed up stuff in there that really make you empathize with the main character, whoever and whatever they are (with a few exceptions).
My favorite would have to be "Two All Beef Patties", by Jay Lake, although Museum Hauntings by Irene Radford was great as well. (Thank you to Goodreads reviewer Susan for putting the stories and their authors in the comments)

tl;dr I rediscovered this book on my shelf, read it, and it was pretty great. especially for horror or paranormal fans.

I lent this book to a friend, so I can't post trigger warnings here, but they are needed for a smattering of the stories.

[Patti Tindal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Run of the mill. Meh stories.

I can’t say I truly enjoyed any of the stories and I skimmed through several. Very disappointing. Even the vampire stories which are my favorites….. disappointed.

[Susan]

A Grain of Salt • shortstory by Sarah A. Hoyt
The Post Gnawreate and the Taxman • shortstory by Dave Freer
The Infernal Revenant Service • shortstory by Laura Resnick
Mummy Knows Best • novelette by Esther M. Friesner
Genius Loci • shortstory by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Ah, Yehz • shortstory by Alan Dean Foster
Gamma Ray versus Death • shortstory by Carrie Vaughn
Museum Hauntings • novelette by Irene Radford
♥"My Tears Have Been My Meat" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman RE-read 8/18/2015
The Perfect Man • shortstory by Fran LaPlaca
Two All Beef Patties • shortstory by Jay Lake
That Saturday • shortstory by Devon Monk
Walking Fossil • shortstory by Robert A. Hoyt
Night Shifted • shortstory by Kate Paulk
Twelve Stepping in the Dark • shortstory by Rebecca Lickiss
Gooble, Gobble, One of Us • shortstory by Charles Edgar Quinn
Bump in the Night • shortstory by Amanda S. Green
Separation Anxiety • novelette by S. M. Stirling

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was divided into four sections: Afterlife, Spirit, Flesh and Undead. The best section was the first one. The strongest story was the one about a man who is sent to hell because of an administrative error. The weakest section was "Spirit." I felt the stories didn't move as quickly and they were too dark. Shifting from the humorous section to this dark section was a difficult transition.

Of course, there are some classic vampire stories at the end that were entertaining, too. The story I thought was the funniest (and it was hard to choose, since there were so many that made me laugh out loud) was "Two All Beef Patties" because it combined humor, cooking and explained the reason why zombies came to enjoy eating brains.

[Ciarán Williamson · Rating 2 out of 5]

An overall disappointing collection of stories, even though there are a few gems. I wound up selling it back to the bookstore after finishing it, which is a pretty good indication that I wasn't crazy about it.

Still, I'm glad I picked it up. The first "section" definitely had the strongest stories, but there are a couple in the vampire section that are amusing. There were quite a few in the zombie section that were just perplexingly horrible. I don't know how they were included in the collection at all. I'll refrain from elaborating for the sake of not spoiling anyone, but I wouldn't waste my time on this one if you have other horror/supernatural collections waiting for your attention.

[Bitten_by_Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better Off Undead is a collection of 18 original stories about all the forms the undead can take - from ghosts to zombies to vampires and more...

For the entire review please go to the Best Paranormal & Urban Fantasy Review site on the web, Bitten By Books for the review of Better Off Dead in it's entirety. You won't be sorry.

[Erika · Rating 3 out of 5]

A breezy quick read of an anthology of undead themed stories. Some were well written, some were too short and abrupt and some were just not worth my time reading. It was an interesting concept to look at and I have some more new authors to explore.

The one with the infernal revenue service, the fossilized dinosaur and the zombie chef ones were cute.

[Ruby Hollyberry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really good stories in here so I give it four stars. I didn't think I was going to rate it well at all when the first seven stories sucked, but there were plenty of better ones further on. Nearly all the rest were good!

[Stacey Costas · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent and diverse collection of short-stories.

[Karen Desmond · Rating 4 out of 5]

4

[Caleb · Rating 2 out of 5]

mediocre at best. I bought this anthology because several of my authors had stories in it I hadn't read. Sadly their stories were amongst the weakest of the collection. Oh well...