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The Vegan Revolution... with Zombies
Presenting Stress Free Food! Animal suffering is a thing of the past. Hipsters can now enjoy bacon without guilt. Thanks to a new miracle drug the cute little pig no longer feels a thing as she is led to the slaughter. The only problem? Once the drug enters the food supply anyone who eats it is infected. From fast food burgers to free-range organic eggs, eating animal products turns people into shambling brain-dead zombies - not even vegetarians are safe! In Portland, Oregon, vegans, freegans, abolitionists, hardliners and raw fooders have holed up in Food Fight, one of the country's premier vegan grocery stores at the vegan mini-mall. There they must prepare for their final battle to take back the city from the hordes of roaming undead. Will vegans filet the flesh-eaters or will they become zombie chow? When there's no more meat in hell, the vegans will walk the earth.
160 pages, Paperback
First published August 30, 2010
4 people are currently reading
260 people want to read
About the author
David Agranoff
31 books209 followersDavid Agranoff is a novelist, screenwriter, and Horror and Science Fiction critic. He is the Splatterpunk and Wonderland book award-nominated author of 13 books including the novels the WW II Vampire novel - The Last Night to Kill Nazis, the science fiction novel Goddamn Killing Machines from CLASH BOOKS, The Cli-fi novel Ring of Fire, Punk Rock Ghost Story and People’s Park from Quoir books,
As a critic, he has written more than a thousand book reviews on his blog Postcards from a Dying World, which has recently become a podcast, featuring interviews with award-winning and bestselling authors such as Stephen Graham Jones, Paul Tremblay, Alma Katsu and Josh Malerman. For the last five years David has co-hosted the Dickheads podcast, a deep-dive into the work of Philip K. Dick reviewing his novels in publication order as well as the history of Science Fiction. His non-fiction essays have appeared on Tor.com, NeoText, and Cemetery Dance.
His most recent novel is the science fiction novel Great America in Dead World which you can buy now! He just finished writing a book, Unfinished PKD on the unpublished fragments and outlines of Philip K. Dick.
As a critic, he has written more than a thousand book reviews on his blog Postcards from a Dying World, which has recently become a podcast, featuring interviews with award-winning and bestselling authors such as Stephen Graham Jones, Paul Tremblay, Alma Katsu and Josh Malerman. For the last five years David has co-hosted the Dickheads podcast, a deep-dive into the work of Philip K. Dick reviewing his novels in publication order as well as the history of Science Fiction. His non-fiction essays have appeared on Tor.com, NeoText, and Cemetery Dance.
His most recent novel is the science fiction novel Great America in Dead World which you can buy now! He just finished writing a book, Unfinished PKD on the unpublished fragments and outlines of Philip K. Dick.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
January 5, 2011
This was almost too meta (I hope I'm using the word correctly), where the story was all about the topics it's deriding. Uh, did I make sense there? It hates hipsters, the rash of zombie mash-ups with classics, and animal cruelty. But these are used for the topics it's promoting. Which would be bashing hipsters (with something blunt and heavy), bashing zombie mash-ups, and preaching veganism.
I picked this up for the Portland, Oregon, setting and it doesn't disappoint, dropping locations that I know. Yay! Home turf! The message is very heavy-handed (the description of scrambled eggs used the phrase "liquified ovum" which I blinked at, but reminded me of the days I lived in a vegetarian rooming house with some militant vegans (awww, memories! (I guess I bring that up frequently, along with Oregon and being Asian))) but this is on purpose. While I don't think the mechanism he used to move the story along would ever be accepted by the public, the author obviously cares deeply about the treatment of animals who end up as food that is often trendy, unhealthy, and wasted. The equating of animal consumption to zombies was also heavy, but probably accurate.
I'm not sure if it had been given a thorough scrubbing by a stern editor, because it sounds like one of my book report efforts here, patching together statements with commas, that should've been separated out, not this long, but something like this. There were some basic spelling errors, but this one was just excellent, hah!: Dani felt like dropping to the dirty floor and crying. Balling her guts out at the inhumanity that caused this holocaust. (I added the boldface! Do you see it! Hahahhaha!)
Yo Caris, there's a death by shovel! Guess who's going to get this book next, along with a certain romance??? There's also a scene where the heroes had to go into a basement reminding me of a certain excerpt about hunting clowns that I'm so eager to see in full....
I picked this up for the Portland, Oregon, setting and it doesn't disappoint, dropping locations that I know. Yay! Home turf! The message is very heavy-handed (the description of scrambled eggs used the phrase "liquified ovum" which I blinked at, but reminded me of the days I lived in a vegetarian rooming house with some militant vegans (awww, memories! (I guess I bring that up frequently, along with Oregon and being Asian))) but this is on purpose. While I don't think the mechanism he used to move the story along would ever be accepted by the public, the author obviously cares deeply about the treatment of animals who end up as food that is often trendy, unhealthy, and wasted. The equating of animal consumption to zombies was also heavy, but probably accurate.
I'm not sure if it had been given a thorough scrubbing by a stern editor, because it sounds like one of my book report efforts here, patching together statements with commas, that should've been separated out, not this long, but something like this. There were some basic spelling errors, but this one was just excellent, hah!: Dani felt like dropping to the dirty floor and crying. Balling her guts out at the inhumanity that caused this holocaust. (I added the boldface! Do you see it! Hahahhaha!)
Yo Caris, there's a death by shovel! Guess who's going to get this book next, along with a certain romance??? There's also a scene where the heroes had to go into a basement reminding me of a certain excerpt about hunting clowns that I'm so eager to see in full....
August 10, 2022
I loved reading this. Awesome book, fun too.
February 27, 2011
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I apologize in advance for everything I'm going to say in this review. Please instead see:
caris
and
eh
"Vegans" bug me. not vegans those are fine, well they can be a pain to go out to eat with but as long as Kris doesn't make me pick out the restaurant and Alex doesn't spend time telling me about pigs I don't care. On the other hand "Vegans" and what I mean by this is the people you who feel the need to talk about how vegan they are. I mean here's the thing, I'm vegetarian but most of my friends didn't know for months, some still might not but eventually people ask why you aren't eating cheese burgers so most do. Or even like I'm an atheist and plenty of my friends don't know that. Because well this is my life and that is their life. Well "Vegans" from my experience are ridiculously righteously indignant and habitually tell you how terrible of a person you are. (The fact is I shouldn't be accosted for eating cheese just cause I walked into the room.) if you are this books you add weird multiple choice questions about bacon being scraped off a pigs ass...
Although perhaps I should have realized this book would be like that, this may be a personal failing.
This book made me feel like I was talking to those people... which always makes me want to eat a steak just to spite them and I don't even like steak.
I have an inner desire to give this book one star, but I feel like it probably is not a one star book.
I apologize in advance for everything I'm going to say in this review. Please instead see:
caris
and
eh
"Vegans" bug me. not vegans those are fine, well they can be a pain to go out to eat with but as long as Kris doesn't make me pick out the restaurant and Alex doesn't spend time telling me about pigs I don't care. On the other hand "Vegans" and what I mean by this is the people you who feel the need to talk about how vegan they are. I mean here's the thing, I'm vegetarian but most of my friends didn't know for months, some still might not but eventually people ask why you aren't eating cheese burgers so most do. Or even like I'm an atheist and plenty of my friends don't know that. Because well this is my life and that is their life. Well "Vegans" from my experience are ridiculously righteously indignant and habitually tell you how terrible of a person you are. (The fact is I shouldn't be accosted for eating cheese just cause I walked into the room.) if you are this books you add weird multiple choice questions about bacon being scraped off a pigs ass...
Although perhaps I should have realized this book would be like that, this may be a personal failing.
This book made me feel like I was talking to those people... which always makes me want to eat a steak just to spite them and I don't even like steak.
I have an inner desire to give this book one star, but I feel like it probably is not a one star book.
February 7, 2017
This was much better than I thought it had any right to be. Because we’re coming in heavy-handed with a message (as if you couldn’t tell by the title of the book) which could easily bog down the story. But, luckily, that rarely happens here and the self-deprecating and self-aware approach (there’s a short “quiz” at the end of every chapter to see if you’ve been paying attention) really makes the whole book a joy rather than a slog. And that self-aware approach extends far beyond the inherent animal activism you’d expect, right into the zombie story itself, as characters reference all the zombie fiction that came before it, as well as poke fun its latest trends. like adding “...With Zombies” to the ends of classic works of literature, ala Pride and Prejudice. Even the title of the book itself is a nod to that running joke, which I find hilarious. And lest I forget to mention what most zombie aficionados come for: Agranoff can write blood-splattering carnage like nobody’s business, and there’s plenty of that in this book to go around! All in all, this is a fun, quick read if you're in the mood for a gore-soaked afternoon.
August 9, 2011
Sharing a house with two zombie-obsessed teenaged boys has left me something of an expert on the walking dead. This book has decent zombie action - tons of violence and gore and the old standby of having the living holed up inside a building while the undead roam the parking lots and paw at the windows. Seen it all before, but never tire of it.
However, the first part of the title is actually the real premise of the book. The vegans are revolting AND rejoicing that the nasty meat-eaters are finally gone and at last they can build their utopian meat-free society. If you don't get the idea early on that eating animal flesh is wrong, don't worry, it will be pounded into your brain with every page. This is a vegan manifesto masquerading as a zombie novel. I haven't been this "preached at" since that time my mother dragged me to a prayer meeting.
The typos are innumerable and frustrating. (At least I hope they were typos!) How does one get a job as a book editor without knowing the difference between "to" and "too", and "there" and "their"? There are attempts at humor - namely the quizzes at the end of each chapter, but on the whole, the book is just mean-spirited. Every non-vegan is stereotyped, put into a little compartment and sentenced to death. About the only interesting character development occurs when there is a squabble within the ranks of the vegans - basically over which group is the "holier than thou". It was hard to choose a side. The smug group or the self-satisfied group?
It is an accepted fact of zombie fiction that zombies must be killed. But to have characters ENJOY killing the zombies because they didn't like the people the zombies USED TO BE - that's just wrong. And it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
However, the first part of the title is actually the real premise of the book. The vegans are revolting AND rejoicing that the nasty meat-eaters are finally gone and at last they can build their utopian meat-free society. If you don't get the idea early on that eating animal flesh is wrong, don't worry, it will be pounded into your brain with every page. This is a vegan manifesto masquerading as a zombie novel. I haven't been this "preached at" since that time my mother dragged me to a prayer meeting.
The typos are innumerable and frustrating. (At least I hope they were typos!) How does one get a job as a book editor without knowing the difference between "to" and "too", and "there" and "their"? There are attempts at humor - namely the quizzes at the end of each chapter, but on the whole, the book is just mean-spirited. Every non-vegan is stereotyped, put into a little compartment and sentenced to death. About the only interesting character development occurs when there is a squabble within the ranks of the vegans - basically over which group is the "holier than thou". It was hard to choose a side. The smug group or the self-satisfied group?
It is an accepted fact of zombie fiction that zombies must be killed. But to have characters ENJOY killing the zombies because they didn't like the people the zombies USED TO BE - that's just wrong. And it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Want to read
October 14, 2010Oh see, I saw this title and I thought, "That's probably clever, but I am so fucking sick of zombies." But still I clicked to the book trailer, the second line of which is "But I am so fucking sick of zombies!" Then at the end of the trailer a freegan gets shot in the head.
So, uh, points for being self-aware and timely and probably funny!
So, uh, points for being self-aware and timely and probably funny!
August 29, 2012
This book is a comedic satire with an interesting and funny premise: what if some chemical in all the animal products caused non-vegans to turn into zombies? However, in the execution of this idea the thing has lots of problems. I will just list them out:
1. It really should have been better copy-edited, or at all. It's full of typos, spelling errors, grammatical errors, and punctuation errors, to the point where I wonder if the author even re-read his work after writing it, and/or whether he ever passed an English class at a higher level than 7th grade.
2. The book is full of what i call "Portland exceptionalism" - the idea that Portland is some kind of ultimate mecca, different and better in every way. As a former Portland resident that would still be living there if I didn't need more sunshine, I understand the allure of the place, but this kind of attitude is something that keeps getting more and more common and more and more extreme.
3. Besides the poor English errors, it's just, frankly, bad writing. The sentences are very simplistic. The characters and any development they undergo are really obvious, stereotypical, and cliched. The plot is pretty by-the-numbers - at no point do I really worry about any of the heroes or the final outcome, there's no real suspense, since the zombies are so clearly weak, powerless, and easy to kill or avoid.
4. There's some fun humor in the book and great critique of various silly and hypocritical subcultures like freegans, raw-foodists, locavores, and many types of hipsters, juggaloes, and more, but: the book is basically a really overly didactic vegan sermon. Now, I'm sympathetic to the causes and the points made in the book, but it's just painful to read something that's so preachy, especially since there's not much else in the book plot or character-wise to make up for that.
The book is basically "liberal snuff porn" - what if you woke up one day and could finally really shoot in the head all those annoying yuppies and hipsters you hate? - which, as a liberal, I can agree can be fun for a while. But it's not going to change any minds and it's only going to really entertain some smug, simple-minded Portland vegans. If it had been a short story, maybe 10,000 words at most, instead of a novel, some of the above problems could have been mitigated or eliminated. To be sure, if it had been much longer I would not have finished it. I only wish my town still had a smug, simple-minded infoshop that I could leave the book at for some young, earnest traveller kids to find and confirm for themselves that Portland is just as cool as they already know it is.
1. It really should have been better copy-edited, or at all. It's full of typos, spelling errors, grammatical errors, and punctuation errors, to the point where I wonder if the author even re-read his work after writing it, and/or whether he ever passed an English class at a higher level than 7th grade.
2. The book is full of what i call "Portland exceptionalism" - the idea that Portland is some kind of ultimate mecca, different and better in every way. As a former Portland resident that would still be living there if I didn't need more sunshine, I understand the allure of the place, but this kind of attitude is something that keeps getting more and more common and more and more extreme.
3. Besides the poor English errors, it's just, frankly, bad writing. The sentences are very simplistic. The characters and any development they undergo are really obvious, stereotypical, and cliched. The plot is pretty by-the-numbers - at no point do I really worry about any of the heroes or the final outcome, there's no real suspense, since the zombies are so clearly weak, powerless, and easy to kill or avoid.
4. There's some fun humor in the book and great critique of various silly and hypocritical subcultures like freegans, raw-foodists, locavores, and many types of hipsters, juggaloes, and more, but: the book is basically a really overly didactic vegan sermon. Now, I'm sympathetic to the causes and the points made in the book, but it's just painful to read something that's so preachy, especially since there's not much else in the book plot or character-wise to make up for that.
The book is basically "liberal snuff porn" - what if you woke up one day and could finally really shoot in the head all those annoying yuppies and hipsters you hate? - which, as a liberal, I can agree can be fun for a while. But it's not going to change any minds and it's only going to really entertain some smug, simple-minded Portland vegans. If it had been a short story, maybe 10,000 words at most, instead of a novel, some of the above problems could have been mitigated or eliminated. To be sure, if it had been much longer I would not have finished it. I only wish my town still had a smug, simple-minded infoshop that I could leave the book at for some young, earnest traveller kids to find and confirm for themselves that Portland is just as cool as they already know it is.
March 30, 2011
It’s been a while since I read a book that, editing issues aside, got every damn thing right. Agranoff’s book is clever, satirical, gross, touching, sad, and filled with more pop cultural references than you can shake a stick at. Music, movies, hipsters, Juggalos, books, vegan culture, non-vegan culture. This book is a near perfect example of the saying that sarcasm is the body’s natural defense against stupid, or, in the case of one character, mindless regurgitation of useless pop culture trivia is the best defense against awkward situations.
This book also employs the most traditional use of zombies of all the story-oriented books I will discuss this week. The agent that causes zombie-ism makes people die and come back from the dead. The transition from life to death is slow but the living are sick, and then the next moment, they are zombies. They are brainless, driven only by the impulse to attack non-zombie humans. They tend to arrive in packs but they are not organized – they don’t have the mental capacity for it. These zombies are driven so exclusively by impulse that they no longer know how to climb, how to open doors, how to escape from the buildings many of them died inside. These are creatures that can also eventually starve to death if they don’t have access to fresh humans. The way these zombies came to exist precludes the already dead rising from the grave – if you weren’t alive when the agent struck, you won’t come back. Read my entire review here.
This book also employs the most traditional use of zombies of all the story-oriented books I will discuss this week. The agent that causes zombie-ism makes people die and come back from the dead. The transition from life to death is slow but the living are sick, and then the next moment, they are zombies. They are brainless, driven only by the impulse to attack non-zombie humans. They tend to arrive in packs but they are not organized – they don’t have the mental capacity for it. These zombies are driven so exclusively by impulse that they no longer know how to climb, how to open doors, how to escape from the buildings many of them died inside. These are creatures that can also eventually starve to death if they don’t have access to fresh humans. The way these zombies came to exist precludes the already dead rising from the grave – if you weren’t alive when the agent struck, you won’t come back. Read my entire review here.
February 7, 2012
Wow, it's like this book was written just for me! A quick, fun read with a great combo of vegan snark (the things I think but rarely say...), geek humor, and serious reflections on the animal rights movement.
January 14, 2011
Delivers on its promise - Vegan Revolution...with Zombies!
February 24, 2013
The Vegan Revolution... With Zombies is, as you might imagine, great fun for vegans and for zombie genre-lovers. Although I do own a DVD copy of the original (not the re-edited) zombie genre-inventing film Night of the Living Dead and I love it because it's really scary and a good story and great social commentary and I lived in Pittsburgh for a total of five years, I'm still not exactly a zombie genre-lover. In fact, I think the TV show The Walking Dead is so poorly written that it's unwatchable. No, I definitely think it's fair to put me in the other group of people for whom this book is great fun: vegans.
I mean, what a dream, right? Suppose eating animal meats and secretions zombified all the non-vegans, and those who remained could create a peaceable, sustainable future? It's true, I'd lose almost everyone I love, but imagine the world that would be created if everyone descended from people who lived according to their compassionate values? Amazing. I'm pretty jealous of this fictional future.
And the way that this book takes the likes of Michael Pollan (in the book, he's "Michael Poland") to task is practically pornographically pleasurable for people like me. Although the popularly-echoed "arguments" against veganism that vegans hear wax and wane in popularity, right now, the notion I hear the most regularly is that it's OK to eat locally-raised, free-range, organic meat/milk/eggs/whatever. The people who say this almost never actually DO only eat 100% locally-raised, free-range, organic animals, but they pay it lip service. Furthermore, no matter how you keep an animal for slaughter, we're talking about keeping creatures just for the purpose of taking their reproductive secretions and then slaughtering them for meat, all so that people can eat food that is terrible for us, and drives the leading causes of death. And it seems to me that Michael Pollan was the one who really popularized this erroneous, self-serving, and hypocritical path. So when the book's Michael Poland endorses the "Stress-Free" animal products, and it ends up turning carnists into zombies, well, that's cathartic to read. Thanks, David Agranoff.
Interestingly, the other big name Agranoff parodies is Peter Singer, who in the book is "Peter Sanger." Although Peter Singer's book Animal Liberation is on my Kindle to read, I never really looked into him or his ideas, nor was I aware that there was a disdain for him among many in the animal rights and vegan communities. After some Googling, I learned that Singer is a utilitarian, meaning he believes in reducing total harm to all creatures, and for that reason he embraces some things with which vegans do not relate. In particular, he defends killing human babies who are developmentally disabled, because in his view this will reduce total harm. What a shock for me to learn this! He is not someone who believes in the moral equality of all creatures, he believes in reducing harm to creatures who have "moral standing," which he does not grant to those with very low intelligence. OMGWTF. Obviously, I'll have to read more to understand what the effing eff this ish is about and how someone who promotes animal liberation could think this way, but once again I extend my thanks to the author, this time for tipping me off.
That said, ummm, OK, I'm really not the right person to read a zombie book, or any kind of genre purely-for-fun book. I'm too damn picky. I'm that person who's all, like, "Wait, didn't even ONE human try eating this Stree-Free meat before it went to market?" And, "So, this stuff was just rolled out in Portland and some other areas, had it gone national yet? How could EVERYONE have been zombified? There must have been some meat-eaters who hadn't had any Stress-Free label yet, right?" Also, why couldn't this one book have just been a little different and had it so that people didn't turn into a zombie just because a zombie bites you? There's no reason except for zombie tropes why one of them biting a vegan would zombify them. I just think it would have been better that way, but maybe that's crazy talk. And, yeah, the typos were kinda crappy.
It's also funny! The quiz at the end of each chapter consistently made me laugh. Somewhere toward the end, the quizzes stopped being consistent in format with the earlier quizzes, but I'm probably the only anal-retentive freak who noticed or cared. The skewering of the hipster obsessions with bacon, beards, 'bots, bicycles and, yes, zombies, was pretty right-on. Even though we vegans often get lumped in with all that (and we do agree about the bikes), really the defining characteristic of a hipster is their tendency to grab onto miscellaneous aspects of culture that have gained temporary currency which may, for a time, include veganism. But another key aspect of hipsterism is apathy, and vegans who delve into it for true reasons (not for short-lived social currency or a temporary excuse to have an eating disorder before they give it up because "they felt sick") are far too invested in caring about stuff to fit in with the people commonly called "hipsters."
My point is, terrific parody here that was incredibly fun and refreshing for me to read. Recommended for zombie fans, vegans, or people who really like the show Portlandia.
I mean, what a dream, right? Suppose eating animal meats and secretions zombified all the non-vegans, and those who remained could create a peaceable, sustainable future? It's true, I'd lose almost everyone I love, but imagine the world that would be created if everyone descended from people who lived according to their compassionate values? Amazing. I'm pretty jealous of this fictional future.
And the way that this book takes the likes of Michael Pollan (in the book, he's "Michael Poland") to task is practically pornographically pleasurable for people like me. Although the popularly-echoed "arguments" against veganism that vegans hear wax and wane in popularity, right now, the notion I hear the most regularly is that it's OK to eat locally-raised, free-range, organic meat/milk/eggs/whatever. The people who say this almost never actually DO only eat 100% locally-raised, free-range, organic animals, but they pay it lip service. Furthermore, no matter how you keep an animal for slaughter, we're talking about keeping creatures just for the purpose of taking their reproductive secretions and then slaughtering them for meat, all so that people can eat food that is terrible for us, and drives the leading causes of death. And it seems to me that Michael Pollan was the one who really popularized this erroneous, self-serving, and hypocritical path. So when the book's Michael Poland endorses the "Stress-Free" animal products, and it ends up turning carnists into zombies, well, that's cathartic to read. Thanks, David Agranoff.
Interestingly, the other big name Agranoff parodies is Peter Singer, who in the book is "Peter Sanger." Although Peter Singer's book Animal Liberation is on my Kindle to read, I never really looked into him or his ideas, nor was I aware that there was a disdain for him among many in the animal rights and vegan communities. After some Googling, I learned that Singer is a utilitarian, meaning he believes in reducing total harm to all creatures, and for that reason he embraces some things with which vegans do not relate. In particular, he defends killing human babies who are developmentally disabled, because in his view this will reduce total harm. What a shock for me to learn this! He is not someone who believes in the moral equality of all creatures, he believes in reducing harm to creatures who have "moral standing," which he does not grant to those with very low intelligence. OMGWTF. Obviously, I'll have to read more to understand what the effing eff this ish is about and how someone who promotes animal liberation could think this way, but once again I extend my thanks to the author, this time for tipping me off.
That said, ummm, OK, I'm really not the right person to read a zombie book, or any kind of genre purely-for-fun book. I'm too damn picky. I'm that person who's all, like, "Wait, didn't even ONE human try eating this Stree-Free meat before it went to market?" And, "So, this stuff was just rolled out in Portland and some other areas, had it gone national yet? How could EVERYONE have been zombified? There must have been some meat-eaters who hadn't had any Stress-Free label yet, right?" Also, why couldn't this one book have just been a little different and had it so that people didn't turn into a zombie just because a zombie bites you? There's no reason except for zombie tropes why one of them biting a vegan would zombify them. I just think it would have been better that way, but maybe that's crazy talk. And, yeah, the typos were kinda crappy.
It's also funny! The quiz at the end of each chapter consistently made me laugh. Somewhere toward the end, the quizzes stopped being consistent in format with the earlier quizzes, but I'm probably the only anal-retentive freak who noticed or cared. The skewering of the hipster obsessions with bacon, beards, 'bots, bicycles and, yes, zombies, was pretty right-on. Even though we vegans often get lumped in with all that (and we do agree about the bikes), really the defining characteristic of a hipster is their tendency to grab onto miscellaneous aspects of culture that have gained temporary currency which may, for a time, include veganism. But another key aspect of hipsterism is apathy, and vegans who delve into it for true reasons (not for short-lived social currency or a temporary excuse to have an eating disorder before they give it up because "they felt sick") are far too invested in caring about stuff to fit in with the people commonly called "hipsters."
My point is, terrific parody here that was incredibly fun and refreshing for me to read. Recommended for zombie fans, vegans, or people who really like the show Portlandia.
October 25, 2014
“My food is not that of man; I do not destroy the lamb and the kid, to glut my appetite; acorns and berries afford me sufficient nourishment. My companion will be of the same nature as myself, and we will be content with the same fare. We shall make our bed of dried leaves; the sun will shine on us as on man, and will ripen our food. The picture I present to you is peaceful and human.” — Frankenstein, (1818)
Did you know that Mary Shelley’s monster in Frankenstein is vegetarian?
Although perhaps not destined to be a classic, David Agranoff’s The Vegan Revolution…With Zombies, (2010), follows this tradition of using monsters to talk about issues and examine our behavior.
“That’s the point of a zombie movie, read deeper. The old way is decaying and dying.”
At the same time, it’s a romp of satire, irreverent bizarro fiction, perfect for Halloween reading. This fast-paced book bites into the apocalypse (brought on by meat-eating), post-apocalypse (what would vegans do) and utopia in 154 pages.
In this book, everyone’s a target: Portland hipsters, the overused zombie trope and factions of animal activists. Along the way, it offers a quick insider’s intro to vegan subcultures (freegan, straight edge, raw foodies) and history.
“The tension was as thick as 1990s style vegan cake.”
The main target: meat-eaters. They get skewered. The heroes: all vegan all the time.
The underlying issues are no joke. The protagonist, Dani, goes vegan moved by the idea that, “If it’s murder in my head I need to act like it’s murder in my heart.”
As she comes to see the world with vegan eyes, eating meat becomes more and more repulsive. Meat eaters look a lot like zombies (even before they literally shift),
“Watching most people eat their lunch was as grotesque to Dani as a scene in a movie of zombies ripping someone up and eating them.”
“Dani on the other hand felt great. Vegetables. Who knew?”
There’s a lot of silliness, swearing, and, unfortunately, too many typos in this novel of vegan wish-fulfillment.
The book’s final chapters and its epilogue are memorable though. Agranoff pays attention to an overlooked aspect of the apocalypse (It’s the animals!) and also takes the time to look past the initial catastrophe. Cult classic, perhaps?
Pairs well with:
Already read Frankenstein and ready for more monsters? How about some vegan vampires? Try The Lithia Trilogy by Blair Richmond. For more polished dark vegan humor, try David Liss' The Ethical Assassin.
For a nonfiction take on the vegan revolution try, Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food, Gene Baur’s account of his work for farm animal protection:
“I believe we can create a truly humane, sustainable, and health food production system without killing any animals. I imagine a revolution in veganic agriculture in which small farmers grow a variety of vegetables, fruits, grains, and legumes, all fertilized with vegetable sources.”
This book will definitely make you want to eat vegan food in Portland, Ore. and plan a visit to the Vegan Mini-Mall. Go to TryVeganPDX for resources.
June 26, 2012
I was really worried about this book. For one, I'm just plain sick of zombies (with very few exceptions) and have been since they remade Dawn of the Dead in 2004. I guess I more so hate the mainstream zombie craze that started shortly after proving that no one can think for themselves and like whatever they're presented with. The Walking Dead TV show sucks by the way. Secondly, I'm not a Vegan, nor a vegetarian for that matter. Hell, I really love meat!
I had this book sitting on my shelf for a while now and finally decided to read it. I really thought this book was going to come off preachy, but I was extremely surprised that it didn't. It actually raises a lot of good points and makes you think. The biggest one is why we as humans value ourselves so highly. In the grand scheme of things we are nothing. We are destroyers of this planet. People really should purposely stop breeding, at least for the sake of population control. YOU DON'T NEED 8 KIDS, YOU INCOMPETENT WHORE!
Anyway, David Agranoff's "The Vegan Revolution...with Zombies" is a breath of fresh air. He knows the zombie genre is played out so he sticks with the roots cramming in tons of nerd knowledge for the people who liked the genre before it was trendy. Plus there's a healthy dose of hipster bashing along the way. This made me smile. A LOT. Oh yeah, and Juggalos! I sincerely thank you David for putting Juggalos in your book. I was honestly waiting for a Bizarro writer to finally touch on the subject of Juggalos. Thank you.
In closing, this book KICKS ASS! If you're on the fence, READ IT!
I had this book sitting on my shelf for a while now and finally decided to read it. I really thought this book was going to come off preachy, but I was extremely surprised that it didn't. It actually raises a lot of good points and makes you think. The biggest one is why we as humans value ourselves so highly. In the grand scheme of things we are nothing. We are destroyers of this planet. People really should purposely stop breeding, at least for the sake of population control. YOU DON'T NEED 8 KIDS, YOU INCOMPETENT WHORE!
Anyway, David Agranoff's "The Vegan Revolution...with Zombies" is a breath of fresh air. He knows the zombie genre is played out so he sticks with the roots cramming in tons of nerd knowledge for the people who liked the genre before it was trendy. Plus there's a healthy dose of hipster bashing along the way. This made me smile. A LOT. Oh yeah, and Juggalos! I sincerely thank you David for putting Juggalos in your book. I was honestly waiting for a Bizarro writer to finally touch on the subject of Juggalos. Thank you.
In closing, this book KICKS ASS! If you're on the fence, READ IT!
February 22, 2018
This book is very special and dear to my heart. Being a vegan myself, I was super excited to check this out and I was totally blown away by the characters, their relationships, and the handling of the topics that are broached within the book. As Danger Slater has already pointed out, this could have been really preachy and that could have ruined the story. However, in the case of The Vegan Revolution... With Zombies, it's the story that wins out in the end.
There's so much I want to say about this book that one day I think I'll write an essay on it, or, if I ever get that coveted community college teaching job, my English students will definitely be studying this one. But, for now, in this small space, I just want to say:
I love, love, love this book!!!!
Definitely check this one out if you are into zombie fiction, or super smart horror-comedy, or great satirical horror, especially if you are looking for something with a non-mainstream point of view.
There's so much I want to say about this book that one day I think I'll write an essay on it, or, if I ever get that coveted community college teaching job, my English students will definitely be studying this one. But, for now, in this small space, I just want to say:
I love, love, love this book!!!!
Definitely check this one out if you are into zombie fiction, or super smart horror-comedy, or great satirical horror, especially if you are looking for something with a non-mainstream point of view.
October 11, 2011
This is a great read for zombie lovers, bizarro afficianados and the politically-minded alike. The main character is Dani, an editor who has just turned vegan. While she is adjusting to her new lifestyle, the zombie apocalypse hits and only she and her vegan friends seem to immune to zombification.
This book is much more political than I expected and I learned quite a bit about veganism and its subcultures. It's also a witty comedy that pokes fun at hardcore zombie fans, classic books rewritten to include zombies and Portland hipsters. Even though the book is hilarious, it carries a strong social message and makes an extremely compelling argument for the vegan lifestyle. After all, when the zombie apocalypse hits, being vegan just might save your life.
I highly recommend this fun and intriguing novella.
This book is much more political than I expected and I learned quite a bit about veganism and its subcultures. It's also a witty comedy that pokes fun at hardcore zombie fans, classic books rewritten to include zombies and Portland hipsters. Even though the book is hilarious, it carries a strong social message and makes an extremely compelling argument for the vegan lifestyle. After all, when the zombie apocalypse hits, being vegan just might save your life.
I highly recommend this fun and intriguing novella.
September 17, 2016
It's quite badly written, but I was still entertained by it. As a vegan, you kind of have to laugh at Dani having to endure the common arguments thrown at vegans: What if you were on a desert island with a cow? If we don't eat them, animals will take over the world! If we don't breed and eat them, the animals wouldn't even have a chance to exist! The Amazon is being destroyed to grow soybeans!
Probably not for omnivores, though.
It's also a great ad for Portland, Oregon. A vegan paradise, and the only place to be when the zombie uprising starts.
Probably not for omnivores, though.
It's also a great ad for Portland, Oregon. A vegan paradise, and the only place to be when the zombie uprising starts.
January 23, 2012
Finished it last night (aka early this morning.)
Awesome to an extreme. Several times, this book made me laugh out loud so much that I had to put it down for a few seconds.
The characters were slightly cardboard generic, but there were so many jokes and moments of poignancy that I didn't mind as much.
Also, for a book about an editor, this story had a lot of grammatical errors; but I overlooked that because I was having too much fun reading it.
Awesome to an extreme. Several times, this book made me laugh out loud so much that I had to put it down for a few seconds.
The characters were slightly cardboard generic, but there were so many jokes and moments of poignancy that I didn't mind as much.
Also, for a book about an editor, this story had a lot of grammatical errors; but I overlooked that because I was having too much fun reading it.
September 5, 2018
Absolutely phenomenal and spot-on satire. Deeply funny with a lot of extremely well reasoned anti-abuse & anti-cruelty messages throughout. I really enjoyed this from the minute I started to the minute I finished. I only wish it was longer, part of a trilogy, and made mandatory required reading for every meat eater on earth, clockwork orange style. I’d rate this 10 stars if I could!!
July 17, 2011
Shaun of the Dead and veganism in the awesome city of Portland, OR turns out to be a very fun read! A little too "anti-bacon" in some parts, but overall a good message about being good to yourself & the world that doesn't get lost amid the tofu snax.
January 21, 2012
After reading ten pages, I had found FOUR typos. Did anyone edit this thing? I mean, spellcheck would have been nice. I'm done with this one.
February 17, 2017
Brilliant.
I loved this book.
Funny, witty and really well executed, this is a great little horror story.
A wonderful concept that will appeal to everyone, not just vegans.
Grace
I loved this book.
Funny, witty and really well executed, this is a great little horror story.
A wonderful concept that will appeal to everyone, not just vegans.
Grace
March 10, 2019
If I had to compare this book to something, It would be The sitcom How I Met Your Mother.
Both where fun little reads/watches, with a fair amount of laughs coming from Me, and the endings completely ruined it for Me.
I won't say much, but I simply cringed at how preachy the last few chapters of this book. It just was so preachy in it's telling, I wasn't sure if it was as satirical as the rest of the novel or if that was the moment the author (who is A vegan himself) was overwhelmed by his own beliefs. Now I don't put that against Him...(unless He proves to be one of Those rude and/or fanatical ones that makes every decent vegan look bad), but as the ending stood aside from his beliefs, it was very underwhelming and frustrating.
Which is a shame too, since I did find everything else preceding it to be A good read. There were some nitpicks like the main character is kind of A b***h. But it had A satirical tone that made fun of various political and societal figures (such as Pols, celebs, activists, and even juggalos.) and gave some fun jabs at the zombie genre and famous icons/cliches within it.
As A whole, compared to the other Bizarro books I've read so far, It's probably My least-favorite. Aside from the bad ending, It's just pretty tame compared to most you'd expect from The genre.
Both where fun little reads/watches, with a fair amount of laughs coming from Me, and the endings completely ruined it for Me.
I won't say much, but I simply cringed at how preachy the last few chapters of this book. It just was so preachy in it's telling, I wasn't sure if it was as satirical as the rest of the novel or if that was the moment the author (who is A vegan himself) was overwhelmed by his own beliefs. Now I don't put that against Him...(unless He proves to be one of Those rude and/or fanatical ones that makes every decent vegan look bad), but as the ending stood aside from his beliefs, it was very underwhelming and frustrating.
Which is a shame too, since I did find everything else preceding it to be A good read. There were some nitpicks like the main character is kind of A b***h. But it had A satirical tone that made fun of various political and societal figures (such as Pols, celebs, activists, and even juggalos.) and gave some fun jabs at the zombie genre and famous icons/cliches within it.
As A whole, compared to the other Bizarro books I've read so far, It's probably My least-favorite. Aside from the bad ending, It's just pretty tame compared to most you'd expect from The genre.
April 25, 2019
There's a scene in this book where one of the character gets accosted by someone working for the evil chemical company and this person basically pamphlets the character then screams at them for not agreeing with what they're selling.
This book is that scene only 150 pages long.
The Vegan Revolution has good intentions and makes some VERY good points about being aware of what you eat, where it comes from and what is put in it. This book has definitely made me think about that.
Unfortunately, this book is that Vegan you know that hits you over the head with what a bad person you are because you eat meat. Unfortunately, it's also that person who sits and scoffs and lectures you about how you need to grow up because you like zombie fiction, and as someone who eats meat and likes zombie fiction, this book was a double whammy of annoyance.
It's not badly written, and the jokes are actually quite funny, but they were far and few between long stretches of being told how terrible I am as a person so I couldn't enjoy them that much.
And the zombie action, frankly, is insufficient. We go more than half the book before they really pop up and then it's rather average amounts of blood and gore.
If you dislike zombies and are a vegan, this book will be great for you. If you're not, I wouldn't bother.
This book is that scene only 150 pages long.
The Vegan Revolution has good intentions and makes some VERY good points about being aware of what you eat, where it comes from and what is put in it. This book has definitely made me think about that.
Unfortunately, this book is that Vegan you know that hits you over the head with what a bad person you are because you eat meat. Unfortunately, it's also that person who sits and scoffs and lectures you about how you need to grow up because you like zombie fiction, and as someone who eats meat and likes zombie fiction, this book was a double whammy of annoyance.
It's not badly written, and the jokes are actually quite funny, but they were far and few between long stretches of being told how terrible I am as a person so I couldn't enjoy them that much.
And the zombie action, frankly, is insufficient. We go more than half the book before they really pop up and then it's rather average amounts of blood and gore.
If you dislike zombies and are a vegan, this book will be great for you. If you're not, I wouldn't bother.
February 14, 2018
It's a cute, fun story, and I wanted to like it a lot more. But the writing is so amateurish, and every page is riddled with spelling and grammatical errors. It's like the author sent his rough draft in to Deadite Press and they sent it to the printer without any editing whatsoever.
June 16, 2020
This was alright. I felt most of the time that I was reading a 150 page pamphlet on the benefits and reasons for being vegan with little bit of zombie gore thrown in for good measure. Wasn't what I was hoping for since I'm already vegan I found protions of the book a bit monotonous.
July 15, 2023
Really enjoyed this book, picked it up over a year ago and forgot about it till now. The book does a good job of making its point regarding veganism. I wasn't a fan of the main character but enjoyed the changes she went through.
November 16, 2011
I got this gift from a friend because I do adhere to the plant-based diet lifestyle (ok, I'll call myself a vegan!). This is a super interesting concept and really unique. It was also a really quick read, funny, and easy to get through.
However, I do have some criticisms:
1) First, as others have pointed out, there are a lot of typos and grammatical errors in the book. I don't usually scoff at these, but there were enough in this one to disrupt the flow of reading.
2) Second, the character arc in the main character was totally unbelievable. First, I thought she was way too harsh and mean to her boyfriend, who -- aside from enjoying zombies -- was pretty freaking fantastic. Then she just lets him die and forgets about him so easily. And I'm also supposed to believe that she suddenly flips her character and becomes a strong leader of the non-zombie tribe?
3) The ending -- it was just not an ending. I flipped the page expecting another chapter, and there was the epilogue. All of it was too sudden for me.
4) I didn't feel any sense of closure from any of the characters. There were some great side characters: Samantha (is that the right name?) - a vegan who was against killing of any kind, including zombies; and Magik - So much potential for him to do something even bigger to go out.
Despite my low rating, I would actually recommend this as reading for folks. First, I got through it in hours. Second, it is a new concept -- and it's always refreshing to read something that isn't like all the other books out there.
However, I do have some criticisms:
1) First, as others have pointed out, there are a lot of typos and grammatical errors in the book. I don't usually scoff at these, but there were enough in this one to disrupt the flow of reading.
2) Second, the character arc in the main character was totally unbelievable. First, I thought she was way too harsh and mean to her boyfriend, who -- aside from enjoying zombies -- was pretty freaking fantastic. Then she just lets him die and forgets about him so easily. And I'm also supposed to believe that she suddenly flips her character and becomes a strong leader of the non-zombie tribe?
3) The ending -- it was just not an ending. I flipped the page expecting another chapter, and there was the epilogue. All of it was too sudden for me.
4) I didn't feel any sense of closure from any of the characters. There were some great side characters: Samantha (is that the right name?) - a vegan who was against killing of any kind, including zombies; and Magik - So much potential for him to do something even bigger to go out.
Despite my low rating, I would actually recommend this as reading for folks. First, I got through it in hours. Second, it is a new concept -- and it's always refreshing to read something that isn't like all the other books out there.
July 24, 2011
David Agranoff's VEGAN REVOLUTION... With Zombies is to veganism what Upton Sinclair's THE JUNGLE is to socialism. That's not an entirely fair assesment but it was the first reaction I had upon finsihing the story. VEGAN REVOLUTION does try to convey a message but never takes delivering that message too seriously.
Through out the read you can safely assume the author is vegan himself given the depth and passion of the prose dealing with the subject. Given that, your still never sure if the story is stumping pro or con for veganism. As many pro vegan arguments are presented, just as many cynical counter points are made as well. The tone of it all is jovial and tongue-in-cheek.
The plot is a great and unique zombie tale. The catalyst for the zombiefication os poinant and brillian. The vegan aspect is always secondary to the zombies. Until the end. That is where the story takes it's Upton Sinclair moment and starts to stump hardcore for veganism and animal rights.
I do not subscribe to the vegan lifestyle and thus found myself rolling my eyes quite often through the final chapter and epilogue. In totality however the politics are forgivable as it's all not so much soapboxing but the author presenting his point of view against the backdrop of a zombie apocalypse.
Your free to disagree with him and you won't fell belittled for it. But you should be prepared to become a zombie should you choose the meat eating route...
Through out the read you can safely assume the author is vegan himself given the depth and passion of the prose dealing with the subject. Given that, your still never sure if the story is stumping pro or con for veganism. As many pro vegan arguments are presented, just as many cynical counter points are made as well. The tone of it all is jovial and tongue-in-cheek.
The plot is a great and unique zombie tale. The catalyst for the zombiefication os poinant and brillian. The vegan aspect is always secondary to the zombies. Until the end. That is where the story takes it's Upton Sinclair moment and starts to stump hardcore for veganism and animal rights.
I do not subscribe to the vegan lifestyle and thus found myself rolling my eyes quite often through the final chapter and epilogue. In totality however the politics are forgivable as it's all not so much soapboxing but the author presenting his point of view against the backdrop of a zombie apocalypse.
Your free to disagree with him and you won't fell belittled for it. But you should be prepared to become a zombie should you choose the meat eating route...
July 1, 2014
First, the editing issues. Holy crap, "deadite press." The sentence fragments. There are comma splices, they are too numerous. And I could yell about the typos until I am horse.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed the first half of this book. There is a fun plot about the popularity of the "...with zombies" books and the editor who is forced to work on them against her will. Her observation of those around her going undead and her questioning of her own sanity also work well. (Does she have zombies on the brain, or are zombies trying to eat her brain?) And the author *nails* the experience of being a vegetarian or vegan and having everyone around want to convince you that you are wrong when you are just trying to mind your own business.
Unfortunately, once all the meat-eaters turn into zombies, the plot doesn't have many places to go. So it turns into an exposé on factory farm conditions thinly veiled as fiction, and the plot all but ceases to exist.
Residents of Portland will find things to identify with and laugh about. The quizzes at the end of each chapter were often very funny. David Agranoff is clearly talented, and despite my low rating for this book, I will check out some of his others. I hope they have better editors.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed the first half of this book. There is a fun plot about the popularity of the "...with zombies" books and the editor who is forced to work on them against her will. Her observation of those around her going undead and her questioning of her own sanity also work well. (Does she have zombies on the brain, or are zombies trying to eat her brain?) And the author *nails* the experience of being a vegetarian or vegan and having everyone around want to convince you that you are wrong when you are just trying to mind your own business.
Unfortunately, once all the meat-eaters turn into zombies, the plot doesn't have many places to go. So it turns into an exposé on factory farm conditions thinly veiled as fiction, and the plot all but ceases to exist.
Residents of Portland will find things to identify with and laugh about. The quizzes at the end of each chapter were often very funny. David Agranoff is clearly talented, and despite my low rating for this book, I will check out some of his others. I hope they have better editors.
May 28, 2011
"The Vegan Revolution . . . with Zombies!" is at times entertaining, and at times too knowing. A few of the characters are zombie movie aficionados, and many a line is devoted to a miniature sermon about the who is best zombie director or what is the best zombie film. The characters also frequently discuss the merits of veganism and pit these positives against the many evils of eating meat and living a non-sustainable life that depends upon widespread practices of animal cruelty. Author David Agranoff may claim, in his afterward, that he wrote this tiny book with satirical intentions, however the voluminous commentary that opposes meat-eating receives more emphasis--and emphatic delivery--than a satire warrants.
This book really is about a Vegan Revolution and it really is about zombies. The marriage between these two strains is credible by genre standards, and the writing that accomplishes this feat is serviceable. Agranoff makes some funny observations about Portland living, and especially about hipster dress and trends. I do have one major criticism: the edition that I read contains a host of typos and errors that interrupted the flow of an otherwise light and silly read.
This book really is about a Vegan Revolution and it really is about zombies. The marriage between these two strains is credible by genre standards, and the writing that accomplishes this feat is serviceable. Agranoff makes some funny observations about Portland living, and especially about hipster dress and trends. I do have one major criticism: the edition that I read contains a host of typos and errors that interrupted the flow of an otherwise light and silly read.
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