4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
John Skipp is GOD!, October 26, 2006
This review is from: Mondo Zombie (Hardcover)
Okay, so ten years is a looooong time to wait to sink your teeth into another zombie anthology. But when you've got half of the genius zombie-editing duo known as Skipp and Spector doing duty, even ten years is worth the wait.
Take a look at the table of contents page. The names alone should make you hungry for its bloody, pulsing contents. And when you find that not one of the stories is anything less than brilliant and respectful to the Romero-esque vision of a living dead Hell, then you know you've got something close to a 'new classic' in your hands.
The authors' takes on the zombie end world theme in MONDO ZOMBIE are many and varied. The internal cover blurb says it all "samurai zombies, wrestling chainsaw zombies, political zombies, sex with zombies, heartbreaking zombies, hardcore zombies, celebrity zombies, wannabe zombies, zombies in love, zombies in pieces, zombies in power, over a world turned to dust..."
With "the rising" of renewed interest in zombie fiction, Skipp brings together some of the genre's best, but also manages to throw a variety of new voices into the mix, all of which most certainly hold their own against the veterans of horror.
There are stories of gory, knee slapping hilarity alongside tales of emotive brilliance. There's even previously unpublished stories from two of the genre's masters whom have passed on: Richard Laymon and Robert Bloch. Reading them reminds one of the heyday of horror, and what a master can do with so few words.
Some of the highlights for me?
Caitlin R. Kiernan's "Two Worlds. And In Between" (dig that awesome borrowed title from The Sisters of Mercy!) was an exceptionally gruesome take on the end of the world, as seen through the eyes of a pair of very lost Goth young adults. I admit it: I'm a sucker for her work, novel or short. She has such a textural power in her words that I was actually a nauseous by story's end.
Adam-Troy Castro's story of a zombie penis, "From Hell It Came", was just good B-movie fun- maybe one of the funniest stories I've ever read. He hits the over-the-top buttons with abandon and takes no prisoners.
As does the great (and where the hell have you been?) Del James with "Eye-Gouge", a story of chainsaw welding zombies that makes you want to take a hot shower.
Dana Fredsti's "You'll Never Be Lunch In This Town Again" is Hollywood satire at its best, as a young director reassesses his real priorities as tinsel town collapses around him and his dwindling cast and crew.
John Skipp & Marc Levinthal's "God Save The Queen" does more than justice to their adaptation of Clive Barker's 1993 graphic novel partnership with Steve Niles, "Night of the Living Dead, London". That ending is pure sublime beauty.
Robert Devereaux's "Holy Fast, Holy Feast" is the best literary take on the concept of infinite possibilities I've ever had the pleasure to read. His skill in weaving and bobbing the multiple parallel stories is stunning.
Douglas E. Winter really digs deep and opens his soul in "The Zombies Of Madison County", a tearjerker of a tale that examines the concept of lost true love.
Lisa Morton's "Sparks Fly Upward" takes on the political/religious topic of abortion in a world of the living dead and limited resources for its survivors.
Brian Hodge's "Naked Lunchmeat" is a drug-addled junkie's prayer- something Hunter S. Thompson and William Burroughs would have loved. What will be the drug of choice in the living dead future? As usual Hodge makes it all look so simple, but the power of his style is deceptive. This guy is a master of words and image and this story will haunt you.
And M. Christian's "The Buried And The Dead" is a nasty little ditty that leaves no hope for humanity.
But this by no means delineates the other stories as less than great. Let's put it this way: I finished this almost 500-page book in less than a day. This is gore, and blood, and all things zombie that we've been waiting for. The anthology manages to encompass all of the various schools of style in horror- splatter, erotica, quiet, humorous, slipstream, and some I'd even be tempted to classify as Bizarro. Editorially speaking, finding such a range, with such quality, seems easy, but it isn't. If there was any doubt about how well Skipp does solo, let this collection end all future uncertainty. This is the anthology your children will be slavering for in ten years' time. This is classic zombie fiction as its best.
My only complaint is about Alan M. Clarke's art. It's good, but there's not enough of it to really standout, something the publisher might want to re-think in future anthologies, especially one with stories so good that they each deserved their own art plate.
Bottom line: Skipp and Cemetery Dance Press deliver the goods in MONDO ZOMBIE.
But do us a favor, guys...try not to wait another ten years for the next one, huh?
Some of are very hungry, indeed.
--Nickolas Cook
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
AN ALL-STAR ZOMBIE BASH!, October 15, 2006
This review is from: Mondo Zombie (Hardcover)
Zombies are hot! Over the past few years the surge in popularity of the zombie film has been incredible. Films such as "28 Days Later", "Dawn of the Dead", "Land of the Dead", "Resident Evil" and "Shaun of the Dead" have certified the living dead as reigning stars in horror. This has not been overlooked in horror literature as there have been numerous outstanding books released over the past years dealing with the undead. The latest ghoul-fest comes from Cemetery Dance's Mondo Zombie. The book features 27 stories from the likes of Richard Laymon, Jack Ketchum, Yvonne Navarro, Steve Rasnic Tem, Robert Bloch, Douglas E. Winter, and more. The only theme is zombies, as each writer presents the flesh-eaters in their own unique way...sometimes with pure horror, sometimes with humor, and sometimes with even tragic sadness. It's the eclectic nature of the stories that make them so appealing. While many draw upon the influences of film with a mysterious plague causing the dead to return to life, it's what direction the story goes in after setting up that preface.
Anne Abrams gets things rolling to a ghoulish start in "Next to Godliness" in a story that not only involves zombies, but necrophilia as well. Adele is a compulsive clean freak, afraid of even being touched by a man. Her job in a funeral parlor finds her many sexual partners, all freshly cleaned and well groomed and perfumed...until the dead start to rise and rot...
Richard Laymon's "Rise" is a gory, twisted erotic tale of two lovers escaping the city from the zombie hordes to what they think is the safety of the country where they hideout on a small mound in the middle of a small lake, keeping a vigilant eye out for the undead. But then a moment of passion changes everything.
"The Visitor" by Jack Ketchum is perhaps the most tragic, saddest story in the book. A man comes to visit his wife in the hospital every day after she is bitten by a zombie. He brings flowers and balloons and regales her with old stories, until she finally dies. But that doesn't stop the man from continuing to show up at the hospital, and visit each new plague victim that is put in the same room...and sharing the same old stories with them. Ketchum so evocatively captures the feeling of loneliness of the man, desperately wanting to share time with someone...anyone.
Robert Bloch's "Maternal Instinct" shows that not all undead are created equal. Jill, the head of a think tank trying to come up with a solution to the zombie plague is summoned to the White House to meet with the President and Surgeon General to reveal her findings. Jill will find out that not all zombies are mindless...
"LeVanta Muertos" from Steve Antczak and Gregory Nicoll is the comedy relief in the book...and what relief! Two rednecks Steve & Rett are in their pickup truck (what else!) and on their way to the only safe haven left called The Compound. But only certain people are allowed inside...certain people who can contribute something special. Steve and Rett are convinced that their special zombie killing chili will get them inside. It's as if the Blue Collar Comedy guys met George Romero!
No matter how you like your undead...rotting or clean...irreverent or horrific, you'll find them all in Mondo Zombie. It's a simply superb collection of zombie tales with many new and fresh ideas from this talented bevy of writers.
Reviewed by Tim Janson
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