The Living Dead

Starred review from September 29, 2008
Recently prolific anthologist Adams (Seeds of Change
) delivers a superb reprint anthology that runs the gamut of zombie stories. There's plenty of gore, highlighted by Stephen King's “Home Delivery” and David Schow's classic “Blossom.” Less traditional but equally satisfying are Lisa Morton's “Sparks Fly Upward,” which analyzes abortion politics in a zombified world, and Douglas Winter's literary pastiche “Less than Zombie.” Also outstanding, Kelly Link's “Some Zombie Contingency Plans” and Hannah Wolf Bowen's “Everything Is Better with Zombies” take similar themes in wildly different directions. Neil Gaiman's impeccably crafted “Bitter Grounds” offers a change of pace with traditional Caribbean zombies. The sole original contribution, John Langan's “How the Day Runs Down,” is a darkly amusing twist on Thornton Wilder's Our Town
. There's some great storytelling for zombie fans as well as newcomers.

Starred review from October 15, 2008
The shambling animated corpses of George Romero's films have lurched into the bookstores in droves in recent months, headlined by high-profile titles like "World War Z" and "Monster Island". In this anthology, editor Adams ("Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse") does a remarkable job of collecting a sampling of variations on this theme. These stories range from the truly disgusting (Poppy Z. Brite's "Calcutta: Lord of Nerves") to the nearly wistful ("Followed" by Will McIntosh) and even one with no supernatural elements at all (Joe Hill's "Bobby Conroy Comes Back from the Dead"). Included are pieces by big names in horror like Stephen King and Clive Barker but also contributions by less obvious suspects like Harlan Ellison, Sherman Alexie, and George R.R. Martin. The final treat is John Langan's "How the Day Runs Down," a nasty little play best described as "Our Town" with zombies. Highly recommended for all horror fiction collections. [For more zombie fiction, see Neal Wyatt's The Reader's Shelf column, p. 106.Ed.]Karl G. Siewert, MLIS, Tulsa City-Cty. Lib.

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