The Zombie Autopsies: Secret Notebooks from the Apocalypse [Hardcover]

Steven C. Schlozman (Author), Andrea Sparacio (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 25, 2011

"Humanity has a new weapon against the living dead and that weapon is Steven Schlozman!"
--New York Times bestselling author Max Brooks

"I've written and made films about zombies for over forty years. In all that time, I've never been able to convince my audience that zombies actually exist. On page one of THE ZOMBIE AUTOPSIES, Steven Schlozman takes away any doubt. This fast-moving, entertaining work will have you chuckling...and worrying."
--George A. Romero, director of Night of the Living Dead

"Gruesome and gripping! Steven Schlozman reveals the science behind zombies from the inside out."
--Seth Grahame-Smith, New York Times bestselling author of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

"With THE ZOMBIE AUTOPSIES, Steven Schlozman redefines 'weird science' for the 21st Century. Brilliant, bizarre and wonderfully disturbing."
--Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author of Rot & Ruin and Patient Zero

"Dr. Steve's 'Zombie Autopsy' will charm and excite a new generation into loving science."
--Chuck Palahniuk, New York Times bestselling author of Fight Club

As the walking dead rise up throughout the world, a few brave doctors attempt to find a cure by applying forensic techniques to captured zombies.

On a remote island a crack medical team has been sent to explore a radical theory that could uncover a cure for the epidemic. Based on the team's research and the observations of renowned zombie expert Dr. Stanley Blum, THE ZOMBIE AUTOPSIES documents for the first time the unique biology of zombie organisms.

Detailed drawings of the internal organs of actual zombies provide an accurate anatomy of these horrifying creatures. Zombie brains, hearts, lungs, skin, and digestive system are shown, while Dr. Blum's notes reveal shocking insights into how they function--even as Blum and his colleagues themselves begin to succumb to the plague.

No one knows the ultimate fate of Dr. Blum or his researchers. But now that his notebook, THE ZOMBIE AUTOPSIES, has been made available to the UN, the World Health Organization, and the general public, his scientific discoveries may be the last hope for humans on earth.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Presented as the journal kept by a neuroscientist investigating the medical causes of zombiism, Schlozman's clever debut shows that there's still life left in the overworked horror theme of the living dead. Dr. Stanley Blum is already infected (as is two-thirds of humankind) with ataxic neurodegenerative satiety deficiency syndrome (ANSD)—the virus that makes flesh-eating zombies lurch and lunch—when he decamps to Bassas da India, an island overseen by the U.N., to vivisect captive zombies in the hope of isolating the pathogen before he succumbs to it. Schlozman makes the science both accessible and plausible. In lieu of a meaty plot, he provides a grim vision of zombie apocalypse and a surprise explanation for the virus's origin. Printed as a handwritten diary and illustrated in gory glory with clinical drawings by Andrea Sparacio, this book is sure to be scarfed up by ravenous zombiephiles. (Apr.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

With the recent successes of films like Zombieland and the TV series The Walking Dead, zombies have never been trendier. In this fictional "secret notebook" describing a zombie research project, Harvard-trained physician and avowed horror fan Schlozman capitalizes on the undead craze with an inventively framed apocalyptic tale embellished with black humor. Embedded within the recovered journals of zombie expert Dr. Stanley Blum is the story of a viral research team quarantined on a remote island with specimens from a future worldwide plague dubbed Ataxic Neurodegenerative Satiety Deficiency Disorder, otherwise known as zombiism. Alas, the team inevitably succumbs to the illness themselves but not without, apparently, finding the cure. Hence, the World Health Organization's urgent "release" of the notebooks, complete with illustrations of zombie anatomy and graphic descriptions of toothsome mayhem. While medical professionals may reap a few laughs from Schlozman's meticulous faux scientific research, the target audience is comprised of horror fans and zombie enthusiasts. --Carl Hays

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; First Edition edition (March 25, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446564664
• ISBN-13: 978-0446564663
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 0.8 x 8.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #57,969 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Steven Schlozman studied English and Biology in Northern California and taught
high school English and science before starting medical school in New England.
After training in psychiatry and child psychiatry, he joined the faculty at
Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School where he is currently an assistant professor of psychiatry. Long a fan of popular culture and especially a fan of horror movies, he has written about movies, books, pop songs and sports in blogs for the Boston Globe, Psychology Today and in academic journals. Most importantly, he has wanted for a very long time to write a novel. This is Schlozman's first novel.

He lives in suburban Boston with his wife and two daughters, a big and ill-defined dog named Corduroy, a very fat cat named Daisy and a skinny black and white cat named Oreo. In retrospect, the inspiration for this novel most likely derives from the unlikely longevity of his daughters' pet crayfish, who, despite a purported life span of less than two years, continues to live happily and for much longer than predicted in his tepid tank, feeding on lettuce and occasional wisps of sliced turkey. He is the first true zombie that Schlozman has encountered and looks only slightly more healthy than the typical walking dead.

More information on The Zombie Autopsies can be found on his website, thezombieautopsies.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but left me wanting more March 23, 2011

By Media Man VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

[This review is based on an Advanced Reading Copy - 196 pages.]

The world has been infected by the ANSD (Ataxic Neurodegenerative Satiety Deficiency Syndrome) virus which has effectively turned the majority of civilization into semi-mindless, flesh eating zombies. With zombies being all the craze these days, we've heard this all before right? Yes, for the most part. The "Zombie Autopsies" attempts to put somewhat of a new spin on the zombie apocalypse by presenting a last days diary of a scientist attempting to understand the outbreak by performing/recording autopsies on the infected "NLH" (No Longer Human) subjects. Enter Dr. Stanley Blum, a neurodevelopmental biologist, researcher and zombie expert for the CDC (Centers for Disease Control). Blum volunteers to travel to a research facility on Bassas da India (a small island between Madagascar and mainland Africa) to work with several other scientist in efforts to gather information about the virus and possibly create a cure. Nicknamed "The Crypt," as the life expectancy of the non-infected is a little over a week after arriving, Blum and his fellow associates are on a tight schedule to ascertain any answers about the ANSD virus. In order to find answers the scientists must perform live autopsies on their former associates who have since become the undead. Here are my thoughts on Steven Scholzman's, The Zombie Autopsies;

Pros

+ Written by an actual doctor.

+ Excellent hand drawn illustrations of the zombies and the autopsies.

+ Autopsies are extremely graphic and well described.

Cons

- Autopsies and illustrations may be too graphic for some readers.

- Premise has been done before.

- Medical jargon can lose the average reader.

- Some of the appendices are dry and boring reads.

- Way too many acronyms. I felt like I was at work.

- A world map detailing the spread of the infection would have been nice.

- Too short considering the cover price.

My biggest issue with this book was that it felt unfinished. The potential for a really great story is there but it just didn't happen. On another review I read the author's response where he states that he has more of the story written so hopefully that will be coming in the future. It's unfortunate that this extra bit of story couldn't be included in this initial book. All in all, "The Zombie Autopsies" was in interesting and sometimes informative read. But, I just felt that the story could have been a lot more fleshed out (no pun intended). Hopefully, upcoming releases will fill in more of the gaps.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Delivers what it promises April 6, 2011

By Mike

Format:Hardcover

Though Zombie Autopsies: Secret Notebooks from the Apocalypse will never be a hallmark of classical literature, it is a good fun read. It falls short of being "good clean fun" because doing an autopsy on a humanoid whose frontal lobe is turned to mush while tertiary infections are causing his skin to fall apart will never be clean as such. But, I digress.

The book follows Dr. Blum as he engages on what he knows will be a self-sacrificial mission to hopefully uncover the secrets of the ANSD infection which has wiped out the majority of the world's population and turned them into mindless, stumbling, flesh-craving monsters. Dr. Schlozman provides medical information that is plausible for the layman, though you may have had to pay attention during your high school anatomy lessons to follow along. Though Schlozman quite obviously has a medical degree, he doesn't expect you to have one in order to read the book. The explanation for this verbiage is that Dr. Blum (whose perspective we are following) cannot be assured that his notebooks will be found by medical professionals, and so anyone should be able to follow the autopsies he performs.

The tension is kept pretty consistent throughout the book, and does not follow the normal pattern of presenting a climax and resolution as a novel would. So, the question becomes, "Is this exploration into the zombie anatomy a chronical worth following?" The answer is an unqualified yes. The details of the procedures and the fantastic art make the journey the fun that it is, and leaves you wanting more. There is obviously so much to this world that Schlozman has created, and this book is only one window into it. The only reason why this is a four star and not a five star review is that most readers will probably want to understand a bit more about the secondary infection that causes ANSD to be as devastating as it is. Schlozman has left several clues as to its nature and origin, though the pieces arranged in such a way that the laymen cannot put them together.

In the end, it is a highly entertaining book with incredible illustrations. When Dr. Schlozman releases his next work I will not hesitate to pick it up.

Just remember folks, cover your mouth when you sneeze, because every droplet you spew could be making another zombie.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars More of an essay than a book. May 16, 2011

By Naven Johnson

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

To say it's a quick read is an understatement. I read it in about 3 hours. I'm a physician and didn't find the medical explanations too profound. It's a good idea for an actual novel, but there just isn't enough substance to this.