The Ultimate Undead: 23 Tales of terror

by Anne Rice (Editor), Byron Preiss (Editor), John Gregory Betancourt (Editor)

Celebrating the strange and unusual, some of the best-known authors of the fantastic and the horrific explore the myths and legends surrounding a creature both dead and the undead the zombie! From Anne Rice's chilling portrait of a woman more dead than alive to Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's future where nobody dies forever, from Nina Kirki Hoffman's powerful story of the dead returned for love to Gene Wolfe's tale of computer-driven corpses, The Ultimate Undead feature spectacular zombie stories of the modern ages.

Genres: Horror, Zombies, Short Stories, Ebooks, Fiction

390 pages, Paperback

First published September 5, 1993

About the author

Anne Rice (born Howard Allen Frances O'Brien) was a best-selling American author of gothic, supernatural, historical, erotica, and later religious themed books. Best known for The Vampire Chronicles, her prevailing thematic focus is on love, death, immortality, existentialism, and the human condition. She was married to poet Stan Rice for 41 years until his death in 2002. Her books have sold nearly 100 million copies, making her one of the most widely read authors in modern history.

Anne Rice passed on December 11, 2021 due to complications from a stroke. She was eighty years old at the time of her death.

She uses the pseudonym Anne Rampling for adult-themed fiction (i.e., erotica) and A.N. Roquelaure for fiction featuring sexually explicit sado-masochism.

Reviews

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

This was good, as all the "Ultimate" short story collections have been. I liked some stories better than others, and while none were true stand outs, I didn't really hate of them either. Some of the stories are about traditional zombies, and others are a little more esoteric. Overall this is a well done collection.

[Bogdan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn`t like all the stories, but there are indeed some good ones among them.

I loved the not so ordinary subject and the diversity of the vast majority.

That`s why I give it four stars. Because it was well worth my time.

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read had lots of really good storys

[Brett Minor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This had my undivided attention from the beginning. Great premise. I had no idea where it was going and was reading quickly to find out. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars was due to the ending which was a bit disappointing.

[Clota · Rating 3 out of 5]

In my opinion, the very last story was the best one. That earned 2 stars. 1 star was for... Well, because I'm nice?

[Ankit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty solid curation.

Standout stories: The Other Dead Man // The Doctor // The Third Dead Body // Passengers

[TheDenizen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A hit or miss collection of short zombie tales, but there's a couple of gems in there.

[Janice Fahrney-rudeen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great stories

It has been quite a while since I came upon a collection of short stories that I found this entertaining.

[Benjamin Stahl · Rating 2 out of 5]

The body of a rape-and-murder wakes from the dead and hunts down the killer. Should have been gruesomely satisfying Feminist revenge fantasy (something I would usually hate) but alas, the end was weak and soft.