Zombies: The Recent Dead

 (8 customer reviews)

Sometimes originality can be a blight If you don't expect it. That seems to be the case here, where many people expeected shambling walkers and got a mixed buffet of zombies doing all sorts of interesting stuff. I have to say that I like the original stories, too, and cannot dismiss something when it is changed. Still, a change that is interesting is good news and traditional zombie tales can be found everywhere. So, if you want something a tad bit different, read on. If you don't, I can understand that and say you will be disappoint with almost all of the tales. Honestly, keep an open mind about the book.

In the Max Brooks story, he sticks to something from the Zombie Wars. He also does this in the collection The New Dead, where he explores this topic. Here he looks at the Great Wall and what it meant to the Chinese and the world overall, and it hints to other things that transpired. good stuff BUT hinged on a bigger book. In Brain Keene's Slected Scenes From the end of...Read more

The fast and dirty version is that I was entirely impressed with the anthology, and found it a thoroughly enjoyable read with some new and interesting spins on the broader zombie mythos.

Given that these are short-stories and I want to avoid spoiling anything, these are going to involve a short precis of what makes the story distinctive, before covering what I thought.

With that said, on to the details! In order of appearance, we have:

"Introductory Sections"

There is an introduction-in-three parts, comprising a "Preshamble" by Paula Guran that provides some crisply-written, useful context to how and where the points of tension and intersection between the modern zombie and the classical vodoun creature are. David J. Schow unpacks the concept further in his introduction, "The Meat of the Matter," which considers both a historical/literary history of zombies and modern popular culture, together with a life lived alongside the films and...Read more

I love anthologies, they give you a glimpse into the work of authors previously unknown to you. That being said, this book was only so-so. There are some great bits from well known horror authors, like Brian Keen and Max Brooks, as well as some authors I had not heard of before, but there are a few wastes of time in this one too. One story was sooo bad I didn't even finish it- that almost never happens! Really a mosh up of some really great stories including different takes on zombies or post apocalyptic survival, but it almost felt like some stories were thrown in as 'fillers' without thought to quality. Very few stories were just 'ok' they were either great or a waste of print. You get your traditional flesh eaters to your romantic figure soul sucking zombies and voodoo zombies, good mix of takes on the character. If you have read a lot in the genre, worth a skim to pick through the good ones, but if you're just diving in to zombie fiction, there are much better anthologies out...Read more