Isaac Marion
This may surprise and confuse you, but I don't have a favorite zombie novel. I've never read one that I liked.
Zombies are fascinating creatures but they're so rarely used for anything that interests me. Human beings who have lost their identities and exist as hollow shells of themselves, following destructive instincts they can't understand or control--that's an amazing concept that's ripe with potential, but it got hijacked by incurious minds and reduced to its most boring elements: violence and disgust. Just one more voiceless, implacable threat for protagonists to run from. In most zombie fiction, you could swap the zombies with aliens, robots, disease, or bad weather and the story would barely change at all. That's boring to me. People running from things is boring to me. People shooting things is boring to me. I need curiosity and emotion and exploration of ideas. If there's going to be something as unique as a walking human corpse in your story, I need you to do something unique with it. I need a compelling reason for it to be zombies instead of sharks or tornadoes or some combination thereof.
There are a lot of zombie MOVIES that I love, especially the comedies like Shaun of the Dead, Return of the Living Dead, and Fido, but I need a little more substance out of novels since they're such a huge commitment of time and mental energy, and I haven't come across many zombie novels that even claim to offer substance. So unless you consider The Road a zombie novel, the only one that's intrigued me enough to read it is Zone One, by Colson Whitehead, because I was curious what an ultra literary author like Whitehead would do with the genre. I'm still not really sure what it was he did with it--it's a very opaque story--so the search continues.
And yes, I'm very aware of the irony of a guy who built his career on a zombie novel saying he doesn't like any zombie novels. But the genre has gotten so mired in its lowest-common-denominator, gross-out horror roots that it's rare to see anyone trying something ambitious with it. If I ever heard about a zombie novel that promised to be fresh and different and to push boundaries in some way, I'd be excited to read it. But most seem content to wallow in genre conventions, and nothing is more boring to me than contentment.
Zombies are fascinating creatures but they're so rarely used for anything that interests me. Human beings who have lost their identities and exist as hollow shells of themselves, following destructive instincts they can't understand or control--that's an amazing concept that's ripe with potential, but it got hijacked by incurious minds and reduced to its most boring elements: violence and disgust. Just one more voiceless, implacable threat for protagonists to run from. In most zombie fiction, you could swap the zombies with aliens, robots, disease, or bad weather and the story would barely change at all. That's boring to me. People running from things is boring to me. People shooting things is boring to me. I need curiosity and emotion and exploration of ideas. If there's going to be something as unique as a walking human corpse in your story, I need you to do something unique with it. I need a compelling reason for it to be zombies instead of sharks or tornadoes or some combination thereof.
There are a lot of zombie MOVIES that I love, especially the comedies like Shaun of the Dead, Return of the Living Dead, and Fido, but I need a little more substance out of novels since they're such a huge commitment of time and mental energy, and I haven't come across many zombie novels that even claim to offer substance. So unless you consider The Road a zombie novel, the only one that's intrigued me enough to read it is Zone One, by Colson Whitehead, because I was curious what an ultra literary author like Whitehead would do with the genre. I'm still not really sure what it was he did with it--it's a very opaque story--so the search continues.
And yes, I'm very aware of the irony of a guy who built his career on a zombie novel saying he doesn't like any zombie novels. But the genre has gotten so mired in its lowest-common-denominator, gross-out horror roots that it's rare to see anyone trying something ambitious with it. If I ever heard about a zombie novel that promised to be fresh and different and to push boundaries in some way, I'd be excited to read it. But most seem content to wallow in genre conventions, and nothing is more boring to me than contentment.
More Answered Questions
Nishtha
asked
Isaac Marion:
Hello Sir, I find your books quite exciting and funny. Hope the next book of 'Warm Bodies' is coming out soon. Also, I find your writing a bit similar to John Green, I read his books before yours. Are you going to write something other than zombies? I love your books but I'd love even more to read something normal. I was never a zombie fan, nor am I now but 'R' has become my favourite protoganist.
Sierra
asked
Isaac Marion:
Hello, I was curious if you were going to write other stories as well, besides for sentient zombies? I loved your writing style of Warm Bodies, but the topic was not something I am personally interested in. I would love to read more from you, your style is unlike any others I have found.
C.J. Sullivan
asked
Isaac Marion:
This might be too late since it's the day after Halloween. Anyway, loved Warm Bodies and can't wait to read the new installment! My question: let's say zombies are "mythical creatures" for lack of a better term. Are you drawn to the idea of writing a story about any other type of mythical creature, and if so, which one?
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Oct 16, 2015 12:45PM · flag
Oct 28, 2015 05:30PM · flag