It will probably come as no surprise to learn that this is the ONLY zombie romance anthology ever.
Lori Perkins' Introduction is a must read explanation for how this seemingly insane project ever came to be; as you no doubt expected, some daring, even some "double dog daring" was involved. Suffice it to say that Ms. Perkins encountered some skepticism: "We posted the thesis on Facebook, and hundreds of readers said they couldn't imagine romance with rotting corpses."
"Oh, ye of little faith."
The only clanking comes from her attempts to justify people's fascination with vampires and (some) people's fascination with zombies in terms of recent sociopolitical and economic events.
Please.
Stick with mortal humanity's age old quest for immortality paired with the price that must be paid for it, and you'll be on firmer ground. We'd ALL love to live forever, depending on the price we'd have to pay for it, and we'd all expect (Someone) to have to pay a heavy price for it.
Jeremy Wagner's "Romance Ain't Dead" kicks off the lunacy with an old-fashioned (pre-Romero) tale about the kind of zombies your grandmother used to make,...
if your grandmother was from Haiti. Chicago North Shore resident Bruce loses the love of his life in a tragic Lake Michigan boating accident, but neighbor Doctor Wyclef Moliare, leading brain surgeon and Haitian immigrant, offers him an alternative. The result is surprisingly touching and sweet,...
in a stomach-churningly creepy way, and the romance anthology you swore could never be written is well and truly underway.
Francesca Lia Block's "Revenants Anonymous" arguably comes the closest to using zombism as a metaphor, in this case for giving up on life because of tragedy and "living" as if you were undead. A couple of Revenants Anonymous attendees find hope and laughter and love and maybe even life together.
In Jaime Saare's "I Heart Brains" the zombie virus is in full swing, and as always, Capitalism has risen to the challenge: Bodies For Your Brains is kind of like a Best Buy for the brain dead for those victims wealthy enough to afford it, and thanks to some fortunate investment decisions by his parents, Derrick Quinn, DOA this very morning, can afford it. However, the newly widowed and impoverished seller of the successful suicide has made an unusual stipulation: "She wants to meet the buyer." Is love really better the second time around, and does this really count as the second time around?
Elizabeth Coldwell's "Everyone I Love is Dead" explores the complications of mixed-mortality couples for the zombie-curious,... or is that triples?
S. M. Cross' "Through Death To Love" chronicles what happens when a speech therapist experiences a growing attraction to her zombie patient, "There are the mindless, shambling dead, and there are the thoughtful undead, men and women of heart and soul, certainly more human than not. Robert is definitely one of the latter."
Stacey Graham's "Eye of the Beholder" is a short, funny bit about "the worst first date in history" between a couple of the pulse-challenged.
Jan Kozlowski's "First Love Never Dies" is a grim tale about a couple of cops in a crooked town trying to take down the local power and alleged zombie pimp and also trying to rescue a lost high school love.
R. G. Hart's "My Partner the Zombie" is a film noir detective story parody with a couple of likable characters as the detectives somewhat wasted in a tale that is too silly and too short.
In Regina Riley's "Undying Love" a witch receives a visit from a very unusual zombie with a very unusual request. A couple of likable characters in an engrossing story that unfortunately comes to an abrupt end, I'd like to read the rest if she ever finishes it.
Brian Keene's "Captive Hearts" is a grim little tale of how the Zombie Apocalypse allows a woman to get a wickedly appropriate revenge on a well deserving slimeball.
Gina McQueen's "Apocalypse as Foreplay" is a hilariously grim little tale about a couple blowing away the all too familiar zombified residents of her home town as they try to make it home alive to meet her parents.
Lois H. Gresh's "Julia Brainchild" is a hysterically over the top parody about a couple of chefs fighting for control of a brain cooking TV show while they struggle with their growing lust for each other. Naturally, the "living challenged" get worked into the plot eventually.
Steven Saus' "Kicking the Habit" tells the story of a group of zombies traveling the country convincing others of their kind to give up eating human brains. It is also a sweet and poignant tale of lost love regained.... Seriously.
Isabel Roman's "Zombified" is the simple tale of a couple of strangers who co-inherit "a no-doubt ramshackle former plantation on Martinique". Of course the only thing they raise on the plantation now is....
Mercy Loomis' "White Night, Black Horse" is another gripping tale of more traditional zombies, and a worm finally turning.
Jeanine McAdam's "Inhuman Resources" reveals a truth we have long suspected: some of our coworkers don't just look and act like zombies; they actually ARE zombies. "They could be paper pushers counting their days until retirement or flesh-eating monsters looking for their next meal." Sometimes it's hard to tell.
Stacy Brown's "The Magician's Apprentice" is another satisfyingly zombified tale of true love finally found, worms turning, and how a famous magic trick is actually performed.
Vanessa Vaughn's "Some New Blood" is another zombie as a metaphor story. A couple whose marriage is dead in more ways than one, find a way to revitalize it.
Kilt Kilpatrick's "Last Times at Ridgemont High" is a sometimes grim, sometimes hilarious tale of the brain deadening routine of high school interrupted by the Zombie Apocalypse and every male high school student's fantasies come true.
Dana Fredsti's "First Date" is about a truly awful first date fortunately brought to an early conclusion by the Zombie Apocalypse. Fortunately? Yes, they were just that incompatible.
Finally Michael Marshall Smith's "Later" is another sweet and touching if unbearably creepy tale of love lost and regained.
Well, that's it. The romance anthology that you just knew couldn't be written, shouldn't be written, and wouldn't be written, has been written, and it wasn't half bad!
Note: The original Ravenous Romance Kindle edition is still available
Hungry for Your Love: An Anthology of Zombie Romance.
Note: The zombie-curious might also be interested in the best zombie football novel ever:
Play Dead.
