Zombies: Encounters with the Hungry Dead

Huge book..good stories..some are a little out there but overall good

Back in 1989, John Skipp and Craig Spector, with the blessings of George Romero, unleashed the greatest zombie anthology of all-time (you can imagine that in all caps if you'd like, or, if you're a classy sort, blazing neon)THE BOOK OF THE DEAD. More than twenty years went by before another zombie anthology would come close to the living dead throne of that great book, and, oddly enough, or perhaps not odd at all, John Skipp is once again at the helm (this would be, I believe, his fourth anthology of zombie stories, but I could be off on that). In ZOMBIE, editor Skipp has drawn together a selection of stories ranging from the earliest example of zombie fiction to the most current. That's some might big ambition right there. That he pulls it off flawlessly is truly impressive. Some of these stories you may have read before. That tends to be the nature of good anthologies. But, the things is, stories, darn good stories, should be read more than once. And collected more than once. That's a no harm, no foul situation if there ever was one. For me, if I had to narrow it down to one story that really sent this anthology over the top and into the runner up position alongside THE BOOK OF THE DEAD, it would be Cody Goodfellow's "We Will Rebuild" because, I'll tell you, that one smacked me right between the eyes. So, while the Skipp & Spector classic zombie anthology will, so far as I'm concerned, continue to hold the crown, Skipp's new baby is no slouch and if you happen to have even just a hint of a passing interest in matters concerning the living dead, ZOMBIES: ENCOUNTERS WITH THE HUNGRY DEAD will feed your need and deserves and deserves a permanent spot on your shelves.

I found this book to be an extremely fun read while maintaining the overall feel of Zombies through the history of fiction. The stories are put together in a way that gives the reader a timeline of how the Zombie Mythos has evolved. The book itself is broken up into basically two sections, the first one dealing with Zombie stories "PRE-Romero" and the second half "POST-Romero" which is a pleasant surprise in this day and age when most publishers are putting out books with blood and gore splattered on every page and gives the reader no real sense of humanity, just apacolyptic gore and I am a fan of Apocolyptic Horror. I just don't need to read it on every page. The only thing I felt was a deterent to the book is that it is BIG AND HEAVY. You can't really read this lying down in bed while holding over your head but it will come in handy if you ever do get attacked by Zombies because you can use it as a weapon against them. And, while most of these stories have been published elswhere in books it is nice to see them assembled with thought and care as to their historical importance in Literature. The Editor, Mr. John Skipp, also gives his take on each story. I found his insights to be poignant and useful in many aspects of the stories as well as to the general history of Zombies. So, if your looking for an Anthology of Zombies and want to get a feel for how they have evolved through the history of Man's story telling here on earth you should pick this up and read it. In a time where most publishers are putting out anthologies with little or no background on how they selected the stories I believe tha Kudos should go out to Mr. Skipp for assembling an excellent collection of Stories and taking his time to share his views of the stories with the reader.

The latest edition of zombie stories overseen by John Skipp contain numerous solid tales from many instantly recognizeable authors. Unfortunately, if you are like me and have read quite a few anthologies out there, you are seeing a lot of repeats, so beware. This book is broken up into "Old School" and "Post Emancipation" tales. In other words, pre and post Romero type zombie stories. Its hard to go wrong with the likes of Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Max Brooks, Ray Bradbury, Theodore Sturgeon, Joe Lansdale, amongst others, but again, if you are like me and have picked up several different anthologies over the years you have read upwards of a third to a half of these stories already. This is not to say that this is not an excellent primer for folks who want to get a good cross section of zombie stories, from the extremly subtle to the up in your face, but be prepared to see a lot of familiar stories between these pages. Another reviewer has provided a TOC so I will pass on doing so here. My strongest recommendation for picking up this book will go to those who perhaps have only dabbled in zombie lit and want a really strong group of short stories to look over that go from one extreme (Ray Bradbury's tale, 'The Emissary,' is ominous and foreboding and only hints at the dead coming back to life) to the other (Adam-Troy Castro's story, 'Dead Like Me' has a man essentially destroying everything that resembles life inside himself until he so closely resembles a zombie he is virtually no different) in regards to how involved the zombies are in each story line. I am not a reader who laments the lack of literary refinement amongst authors who write in the zombie sub-genre today. In fact, I enjoy quite a bit that is coming out from some of the smaller publishing houses like Permuted Press and Library of the Living Dead. I also enjoy some of the bigger players in horror and beyond as they take their swipes at the rotting buggers. This book is a good combination of some of the best of both worlds, with today's raw, exuberate violent apocalyptic experience and the more subtle literature from days past. Again, this is a terrific anthology for anyone who wants to take a look at some really quality stuff in the zombie world, but be warned that if you already have a zombie anthology collection you probably will see plenty here that you have seen elsewhere.

What an amazing collection. I knew some of the authors, like Max Brooks, Neil Gaiman, and Stephen King, but a lot of these writers I've never heard of. Justine Musk and Adam Golanski's stories were amazing. How have I never heard of them before? Plus its great to read some of the classic writers, like Ray Bradbury and Robert R. McCammon. Highly recommend.