The New Dead: A Zombie Anthology [Paperback]

Christopher Golden (Editor)

Book Description

Release date: February 16, 2010

RESURRECTION!

The hungry dead have risen.  They shamble down the street.  They hide in back yards, car lots, shopping malls.  They devour neighbors, dogs and police officers.  And they are here to stay.  The real question is, what are you going to do about it? How will you survive?

HOW WILL THE WORLD CHANGE WHEN THE DEAD BEGIN TO RISE?

Stoker-award-winning author Christopher Golden has assembled an original anthology of never-before-published zombie stories from an eclectic array of today's hottest writers.  Inside there are stories about military might in the wake of an outbreak, survival in a wasted wasteland, the ardor of falling in love with a zombie, and a family outing at the circus.  Here is a collection of new views on death and resurrection.

With stories from Joe Hill, John Connolly, Max Brooks, Kelley Armstrong, Tad Williams, David Wellington, David Liss, Aimee Bender, Jonathan Maberry, and many others, this is a wildly diverse and entertaining collection...the Last Word on the New Dead. 

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. The 19 provocative, haunting, and genuinely unsettling original stories in this zombie anthology move the genre beyond its usual apocalyptic wastelands. David Liss's novelette What Maisie Knew is a stunning and gruesome meditation on the banality of capitalism and evil. Mike Carey's Second Wind is a haunting tale of an undead stockbroker who comes to question whether he ever truly lived. Lovers of more traditional zombie fare will also not be disappointed. Joe Hill's ingenious Twittering from the Circus of the Dead tells a classic slasher film story through Twitter posts, while Jonathan Maberry's heartbreaking Family Business describes a ruined America populated by kindly monks and zombie hunters. This powerful anthology shines a bright and unflinching light on the fears of death, decay, and loss that underpin America's longstanding obsession with the undead. (Feb.)
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From Booklist

The best-selling popularity of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2009) and the hit status of the movie Zombieland show that the living-dead subgenre still has legs. Zombie anthologies are invariably of varying quality, and this new one, curated by fantasy author Golden, is no exception. The best stories in it depart from the basic formula of living versus dead so familiar to zombiephiles. Among them are Rick Hautala’s nautical horror story, “Ghost Trap,” in which a gruesome discovery at the bottom of the sea awakens a long sleeping plague; David Wellington’s “Weaponized,” in which an undercover reporter investigates a mysterious new branch of the U.S. military; and Joe R. Lansdale’s grisly “Shooting Pool,” in which a hustler’s murder transforms the lives of a gang of teenagers. Meanwhile, those anticipating the promised movie adaptation of Max Brook’s World War Z (2006) will flock to his “Closure LTD,” set in the same milieu. Not every story here’s a success (a disastrous Twitter-format experiment may be the worst), but genre fans will still find plenty to satisfy them. --Carlos Orellana

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 1ST edition (February 16, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312559712
• ISBN-13: 978-0312559717
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #556,903 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A Few Clunkers but a Strong Anthology overall March 30, 2010

By Tim Janson HALL OF FAMETOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

The New Dead is an all-new zombie anthology edited by Christopher Golden and featuring nineteen never-before-published stories by an incredible cast of writers including: Joe R. Lansdale, Brian Keene, Tad Williams, Tim Lebbon, Kelley Armsrong, Joe Hill, David Wellington, Mike Carey, and more...

The anthology kicks off with John Connolly's "Lazarus", one of the best tales in the volume and a different take on the biblical tale of the resurrected Lazarus. Fans of urban fantasy writer supreme, Kelley Armstrong will no doubt enjoy her story "Life Sentence" that contains all of the elements that have made her an enormously popular writer in recent years. Hear a magician devises a way to become immortal while beating cancer.

I love Brian Keene, and his tale "The Wind Cries Mary" was a moving tale of a zombie outbreak but its only four pages long. Keene's work was one of the ones I was looking forward to the most and for it to be such a minor contribution was disappointing. Balancing this disappointment was Tad Williams' "The Storm Door". Known best for fantasy, Williams delivers a story about a supernatural investigator's horrific discovery. Other standout stories include "Among Us" by Aimee Bender, "Family Business" by Jonathan Maberry, "Weaponized" by David Wellington, and "What Maisie Knew" by David Liss.

More disappointing than the Keene entry was Joe R. Landsdale's "Shooting Pool". It's a fine enough story but, um...there's no zombies in it. It's the strangest and most out of place inclusion in the book and if you are scoring at home, that means that two of the biggest names contributed two of the most disappointing stories. Still most of the nineteen stories are above average and should satisfy the tastes of most zombie fans.

17 of 23 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A very uneven and dishonest book. March 10, 2010

By S. Hinson

Format:Paperback

There are some very strong entries in this book, Ghost Trap, The Wind Cries Mary, Lazarus, Second Wind, and Closure, Limited range from very solid to very good short stories.

However, some of the stories are very terrible. For example, the Zombie Who Fell From the Sky is poorly written and half the time doesn't even make sense. Among Us is another story which makes me wonder if Golden even read some of these entries. Among Us is pretentious and dull. Family Business starts out interesting but quickly becomes boring.

***Warning, Minor Spoilers ****
However, the worst stories have nothing to do with zombies. For example,The storm door is not about zombies, but rather spirit possession. The worst offender though is Shooting Pool. Not only does it not have a zombie it the story, but it contains zero elements of the supernatural, it is just a story about a guy getting shot in a pool hall. Seriously...

I wouldn't mind the inclusion of such stories, but the book makes it clear the stories are about zombies, the word "zombie" is used several times on the back cover. The front of the book have what most people would call "zombies." I found including nonzombie stories to be somewhat dishonest. Call me crazy, but when I buy a book about zombies I want all of the stories to include...guess what? Zombies!

However, the zombie stories that are included are pretty good, I just would wait until the book becomes on sale, or you can find it used.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars So-So Zombie Anthology December 16, 2012

By StackedAktor

Format:Paperback

Probably one of the weaker horror anthologies edited by a "big name" I've read in a long time. In fact, many of these stories were puffy and filled with the kind of prose that any editor worth his salt would eviscerate with a red pen.

The worst stories in the book, by far, are the tales by Homler, Bender, and Hautala. The tale by Homler (The Zombie Who Fell From the Sky) is, honestly, one of the worst things I've ever see make it to print. That story was so amateurishly written that most semi-literate people with no writing experience could pen a better zombie story.

I almost one-starred this, but the collection is redeemed somewhat by the two fantastic stories which close out the collection (by David Wellington and Joe Hill, respectively). LOVED the Twitter tale.

Borrow this one from the library, or better yet, don't borrow it and just read the last two short stories before you put it back on the shelf.