Status Updates From Zombies: More Recent Dead

Poem, “The Children’s Hour” by Marge Simon. Meh. Doesn’t tell enough, too short. 2, weak, stars. This book doesn’t get better, DNF. I’ll give it one more story.

“The Day the Music Died” by Joe McKinney. Sigh. This book is just showing me that people are evil and stupid. Maybe that’s what zombie stories are really about? 0 stars

What the absolute F*CK?!? They wanted the zombie to be the final man for their baseball team and they found him eating their friend and they don’t tell his family, just get him on the field so they can play baseball?!? DNF, 0 stars, Rocket Man by Stephen Graham Jones

“What Maisie Knew” by David Liss. DNF, dude’s a huge jerk. Don’t want to read about how he hurt his wife and Maisie. 0 stars

“Selected Sources for the Babylonian Plague of the Dead (572-571 BCE)” by Alex Dally MacFarlane. Meh. 3 stars. Not bad, but didn’t blow my socks off either.

“The Naturalist” by Maureen F. McHugh. Also messed up, not my fav. 2 stars.

“Becca at the End of the World” by Shira Lipkin. Effed up, but in a completely different way that I don’t agree with at all. I guess I’ll never understand. 1 star.

“Pollution” by Don Webb. F********CK! 5, that is MESSED UP, stars.

“Iphigenia in Aulis” by Mike Carey seems to be the seeding of “The Girl With All the Gifts”. Interesting ending. My favorite thus far. 4.5 stars, rounding up to 5. I hope the rest are this good. The first two were...lacking.

“Dead Song” by Jay Wilburn. Definitely creepy, but not really zombie-scary. More the horror of what people can do if given the opportunity and power. 3, queasy stomach, stars.

“The Afflicted” by Matthew Johnson. Meh. Kind of moral tale, as older people turn into zombies after getting progressively sicker and sicker. They are kept quarantined in the wild and roaming nurses take care of them while they are still human. 2.5 stars.