Zombie CSU: The Forensics of the Living Dead [Paperback]

Jonathan Maberry (Author)

Book Description

Release date: September 1, 2008

When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth...

And law enforcement is ready to take them down!

Since Night of the Living Dead, zombies have been a frightening fixture on the pop culture landscape, lumbering after hapless humans, slurping up brains and veins and whatever warm, fleshy matter they can clench in their rotting limbs. But what if they were real? What would happen if, tomorrow, corpses across the nation began springing up out of their graves and terrorizing the living?

Employing hard science and solid police work not—to mention jaw-dropping (literally!) humor—Zombie CSU is the only guide you need to make it through alive—not undead. At last you can:

Investigate zombie crime scenes, collecting and analyzing evidence of zombie attacks, and create a "murder book"

Examine the psychology of the zombie and develop a perp profile.

Observe medical science pros as they probe felled zombies for forensic clues.

Devise a zombie apocalypse survival scorecard and more!

Complete with lists of must-see zombie flicks from around the globe and tons of tips for kicking undead butt, Zombie CSU features hundreds of interviews with real zombie experts, forensics experts, detectives, filmmakers, and more.

Special guest stars: Tony Todd, Brian Keene, Patricia Tallman, David Wellington, James Gunn, Robert Kirkman, Dr. Wade Davis, Robert Sacchetto, Zombie Squad, Ramsey Campbell, Kim Paffenroth, Jamie Russell, Michael CJ Kelly, Bruce Andy Bohne, and dozens more!

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Fascinating! An indispensable tool for anyone contemplating tackling a festering corpse onslaught." ---- Fearzone.com

"Candid, eye-opening, cutting-edge, startling . . . the existence of zombies may not be so far-fetched after all." ----Rue Morgue

About the Author

Jonathan Maberry is a writer, lecturer, and motivational speaker. He is the author of Ghost Road Blues, which won the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel, as well as Dead Man's Song, Bad Moon Rising, and several nonfiction books, including Vampire Universe and The Cryptopedia, which won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Nonfiction. He is a writing mentor for the Horror Writers Association and the Mystery Writers of America, a founding partner of The Writers Corner USA, a speaker for the National Writers Union, co-founder editor of The Wild River Review, and publisher of Cryptopedia Magazine, an online horror magazine. He is co-creator and consulting producer for "On the Slab" a web-based horror and SF entertainment news show for stage 9/Disney. He lives in Warrington, Pennsylvania , with his wife, Sara, and son, Sam.

Product Details

• Paperback: 404 pages
• Publisher: Citadel Press; First edition (September 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080652877X
• ISBN-13: 978-0806528779
• Product Dimensions: 1.3 x 5.7 x 8.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #694,452 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

JONATHAN MABERRY is a New York Times best-selling and multiple Bram Stoker Award-winning horror and thriller author, comic book writer, magazine feature writer, playwright, content creator and writing teacher/lecturer. His books have been sold to more than a dozen countries.

He writes in several genres. His young adult fiction includes ROT & RUIN (2011; now in development for film; named in Booklist's Ten Best Horror Novels for Young Adults, a Bram Stoker and Pennsylvania Keystone to Reading winner; nominee for several state Teen Book Awards; winner of the Cybils Award, the Eva Perry Mock Printz medal, Dead Letter Best Novel Award, and four Melinda Awards); DUST & DECAY (winner of the 2011 Bram Stoker Award; FLESH & BONE (September 11, 2012; and FIRE & ASH (2013). His thrillers include The Joe Ledger Thrillers from St. Martin's Griffin (PATIENT ZERO, 2009, winner of the Black Quill and a Bram Stoker Award finalist for Best Novel; THE DRAGON FACTORY, 2010; HE KING OF PLAGUES, 2011; ASSASSIN'S CODE, 2011; EXTINCTION MACHINE, 2013; CODE ZER0, 2014, and JOE LEDGER: THE MISSING FILES, 2011 from Blackstone Audio.

His horror novels include The Pine Deep Trilogy from Pinnacle Books (GHOST ROAD BLUES, 2006, winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel; DEAD MAN'S SONG, 2007; and BAD MOON RISING, 2008), as well as DEAD OF NIGHT, 2011 and its forthcoming sequel, FALL OF NIGHT, 2014. And the movie novelization, THE WOLFMAN, 2010, winner of the Scribe Award for Best Adaptation.

He is also editor and co-author of V-WARS, a shared-world vampire anthology from IDW.

Jonathan was an expert on the History Channel documentary, ZOMBIES: A Living History. He will also be featured in That $#(!'ll Rot Your Brain: How the Monster Kids Transformed Popular Culture, a forthcoming documentary on horror movies directed by Robert Tinnell.

His many nonfiction works include VAMPIRE UNIVERSE (Citadel Press, 2006); THE CRYPTOPEDIA (Citadel, 2007 -winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction; co-authored by David F. Kramer); ZOMBIE CSU: The Forensics of the Living Dead (Winner of the Hinzman and Black Quill Awards and finalist for a Stoker Award; 2008); THEY BITE! (2009 co-authored by David F. Kramer); WANTED UNDEAD OR ALIVE (2010; Bram Stoker finalist; co-authored by Janice Gable Bashman); THE VAMPIRE SLAYERS FIELD GUIDE TO THE UNDEAD (2001, written under the pen name of Shane MacDougall); ULTIMATE JUJUTSU (Strider Nolan, 2001); ULTIMATE SPARRING (Strider Nolan, 2000); JUDO AND YOU (Kendall Hunt 1991); and many others.

He writes a variety of projects for Marvel Comics involving CAPTAIN AMERICA, BLACK PANTHER, DOOMWAR, WOLVERINE, DEADPOOL, THE X-MEN, FANTASTIC FOUR, the NY Times bestselling MARVEL ZOMBIES RETURN, MARVEL UNIVERSE vs THE PUNISHER. MARVEL UNIVERSE vs WOLVERINE and the upcoming MARVEL UNIVERSE vs THE AVENGERS. All of Jonathan's comic book collections are released as Graphic Novel collections within a month or two of individual comic publication.

Recent short stories include "A Footnote in the Black Budget" (MADNESS OF CTHULHU, 2013), "Pegleg and Paddy Save the World" (HISTORY IS DEAD, Permuted Press 2007), "Doctor Nine" (KILLERS, Swimming Kangaroo Press, 2008; and reprinted in THE STORIES (in) BETWEEN Edited by Greg Schauer, Jeanne B. Benzel, and W.H. Horner. Fantasist Enterprises, 2009), "Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Greenbrier Ghost" (LEGENDS OF THE MOUNTAIN STATE 2, Bloodletting Books, 2008), "Clean Sweeps" (AND SO IT BEGINS, Dark Quest Books, 2008), "Family Business" (THE NEW DEAD, St. Martin's Press, 2010), "Like Part of the Family" (NEW BLOOD edited by Patrick Thomas and Diane Raetz, Padwolf Press, 2010), "Zero Tolerance" (THE LIVING DEAD 2, Night Shade Books), "Flint and Steel" (GI JOE: COBRA WARS, 2011), "Saint John" (THE MONSTER'S CORNER, 2011, St. Martin's), "Spellcaster 2.0" (An Apple for the Creature, Ace Books, 2012), "Jack and Jill" (21st Century Dead, St. Martin's Griffin,2012), "The Death Song of Dwar Guntha" (Under the Moons of Mars: New Adventures on Barsoom, 2012, Simon & Schuster), "The Wind Through the Fence" (an original e-story available for all e-readers), "Property Condemned" (scheduled for the premier issue of NIGHTMARE MAGAZINE), "Chokepoint" (included in THE UNINVITED, Vol 2), and many others. His essay, "Take Me To Your Leader" is included in the nonfiction book, TRIUMPH OF THE WALKING DEAD: Robert Kirkman's Zombie Epic on Page and Screen edited by James Lowder (BenBella Books/Smart Pop, 2011).

In 2012 Blackstone Audio released two collections of Jonathan's short stories: Tales from the Fire Zone and Hungry Tales.

All of Jonathan's novels are available on audio, including the audio-only collection, JOE LEDGER: THE MISSING FILES (Blackstone), which includes the short stories "Countdown", "Zero Tolerance", "Deep Dark", "Material Witness" and "Dog Days". Another Joe Ledger short, "Mad Science", will appear in the audio anthology LIAR LIAR from The Liars Club.

Jonathan is the co-creator (with Laura Schrock) of ON THE SLAB, an entertainment news show in development by Stage 9 for ABC Disney / Stage 9. He was also a 'blog correspondent' on Sony's zombie-themed web show 'WOKE UP DEAD'; and was a recurring character on Laura Schrock's 'IT'S TODD'S SHOW'.

Jonathan's Big Scary Blog (www.jonathanmaberry.com) focuses on the publishing industry. Jonathan's interviews include Sandra Brown, Gayle Lynds, Alafair Burke, Charlaine Harris, James Rollins, Harlan Coben, Jeff Abbott, John Saul, Jonathan Kellerman, Barry Eisler, CJ Box, Laurell K. Hamilton, Jack Ketchum, Tom Piccarilli, Dale Brown, Kevin J. Anderson, Joe Lansdale, Peter Straub, Ramsey Campbell, Carrie Ryan, and many other best-selling authors.

He is a frequent keynote speaker, guest of honor and workshop leader at genre cons, libraries, writers conferences and publishing industry events, including KeyCon, ThrillerFest, Zombie Fest, Heather Graham's The Writers for New Orleans, Central Coast Writers Conference, NeCon, NY Comic Con, Texas Library Association Annual Conference, Sisters in Crime, BackSpace, PennWriters, Dragon*Con, PhilCon, Horror-Realm, Boucher Con, HorrorFind, Monster Mania, Philadelphia Writers Conference, Balticon, Romance Writers of America, American Library Association, The Write Stuff, Hypericon, AnthoCon, KillerCon, NAIBA, LunaCon, and many others.

Jonathan has sold more than 1,200 feature articles and 3,000 columns; as well as greeting cards, song lyrics, poetry, technical manuals, call-floor scripts, and two plays, including Tales from the Fire Zone. He is developing a psychological thriller novel based on that play.

Jonathan is a Contributing Editor for The Big Thrill (the newsletter of the International Thriller Writers), and is a member of SFWA, IAMTW, MWA, SCBWI, SFWA and HWA, as well as a jurist for the Edgar and Stoker Awards.

Jonathan was the Executive Director of the Writers Room of Bucks County (2005-06) and co-owner of the Writers Corner USA (2006-2009). Jonathan regularly visits local middle schools, high schools and colleges to talk about books, reading, publishing and the writing life. He is a board member of the River Union Stage, a professional equity theater based in Stockton, New Jersey.

Jonathan is a founding member of The Liars Club, a group of networking publishing professionals that includes celebrated authors Merry Jones, Gregory Frost, Jon McGoran, Ed Pettit, Dennis Tafoya, Keith Strunk, Don Lafferty, Kelly Simmons, Marie Lamba, Solomon Jones, Stephen Susco, Chuck Wendig, Sara Shepard, William Lashner, and Laura Schrock. The Liars Club works to support booksellers, raise awareness and support for public libraries, and cultivate a joy of reading and books. The late NY Times bestseller L. A. Banks was a founding member of the Liars Club.

On the last Sunday of every month Jonathan hosts the Writers Coffeehouse, a free three-hour open-agenda networking and discussion session for writers of all genres and levels of skill. The event is held at the Barnes & Noble in Willow Grove Pennsylvania. The Liars Club has begun launching additional Writers Coffeehouses throughout the region.

Jonathan has been a popular writing teacher and career counselor for writers for the last two decades. He teaches a highly regard series of classes and workshops including Write Your Novel in Nine Months, Act Like a Writer, Revise & Sell, Experimental Writing for Teens, and others. Many of his students have gone on to obtain representation and/or publish in short and novel-length fiction, magazine feature writing, nonfiction books, TV, film, and comics.

In 2004 Jonathan was inducted into the International Martial Arts Hall of Fame largely because of his extensive writings in that field.

Jonathan lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Sara Jo, to whom he dedicates all of his published works, and their dog, Rosie. His stepson, Sam West-Mensch, serves a general manager of Jonathan's writing business.

Visit his website/blog and sign up for his free newsletter at www.jonathanmaberry.com
www.facebook.com/jonathanmaberry, www.twitter.com/jonathanmaberry

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Nice companion piece to the Zombie Survival Guide September 16, 2008

By Patrick S. Dorazio VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

So you love zombies? NO, I mean you really LOVE zombies? You spend time in chat rooms debating over the best methods to survive a zombie outbreak or zombie apocalypse. You argue with non-believers about how likely a zombie plague actually is. You love the mechanics of the various zombie incarnations and how society and more specifically the police, the military, and the every day Joe would actually react? You have dug so deep that you actually can vividly imagine the whole process of the zombie invasion would take place, including the discovery of "Patient Zero", the initial victim, and the expansion of the plague or whatever process would take place that caused the initial infection and where it goes from there.
This book is for you.

Jonathan Maberry has done exhaustive research, conducting interviews with over 200 experts in various fields who have as much of a fascination with zombies as he does. This book serves as a research tome for not only the zombie fan but those who might direct a zombie flick or write a zombie story. No stone was left unturned in the process of going through a theoretical zombie apocalypse...well, a lot of it argues the validity of the idea of an apocalypse actually occuring if we are talking about a plausible scientific explaination for zombies rather than a supernatural process. Slow vs. fast, spiritual vs. plague infected, it is discussed here and far beyond that.
My favorite parts of this book had to be the smaller insertions, including the ongoing debate of fast vs. slow zombies as discussed by numerous authors, directors, and other experts in the field. There is also a great deal of zombie art in this book with the artists comments on what they were conceiving and thinking about when they created a particular piece.

I have always felt that in many zombie movies the police and military are treated with limited respect-they are made to be less than competent so a zombie apocalypse is that much more likely. This book presents a fair and balanced view of how the police, SWAT, and the military might actually respond. Good stuff for a real zombie zealot but the author still acknowledges the excitment that goes along with the fantasy that is zombies. Perhaps this book peels back too many layers of this onion in exposing what is realistic and possible but the author says more than once in the book, as a reminder to the reader, that we are talking about zombies here, the modern variation concocted by George Romero in Night of the Living Dead, not something we have ever really seen or that has ever actually really existed...as far as we know.

This is the book for the zombie fanatic. Perhaps a little too dense and complex for the casual zombie observer, someone who digs the occasional zombie flick or book. But if you really are fascinated with everything zombie in all its gory incarnations, if you can imagine hunkering down in a bunker cleaning your guns waiting for the undead to break down your reinforced doors, then this book is a great read.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Boring book that just rambles on January 30, 2010

By Brian Brocksmith

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I bought this book due to my love of all things Zombie. What a disappointment. It took forever to get to the point. It looked like the author was copying information from a book on typical police procedure. He would then awkwardly adjust the data to fit in a Zombie reference. Don't waste your money, their are plenty of other good Zombie books out their.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating read, with a few minor problems May 3, 2009

By J. Clark

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I'm a sucker for fantastic ideas treated realistically, so books like World War Z, which look at zombies and attempt to place them in our world are pure gold to me. This looked like the same sort of thing (though obviously not a narrative, more of a long essay), but from a completely different perspective, and I wasn't disappointed.

The focus here is on law enforcement, and other government and medical authorities. Experts in these fields are interviewed and asked to imagine various zombie scenarios and comment about the response to it, and the final outcome. This is both the greatest strength, and greatest weakness of this book.

The strength is obvious, these people know what they do inside and out, and are far more qualified than most to imagine these scenarios. The SWAT and legal experts, in particular, had some detailed and interesting ideas. That's why I devour books like this, to see what actual experts with real world experience will say.

The weakness comes from the fact that most of these experts seem incensed at the idea of being overtaken by the undead. To take this book's word for it, every cop is expertly trained and always cool under pressure. Most probably are, and they usually do get unfair treatment in zombie stories, but I've met enough cops to know that not all are (one actually told my friends and I that we made him nervous... and I am NOT a scary or aggressive person). I also thin that a bit too much faith is shown in the abilities of the CDC and WHO to react to and contain a fast spreading virus. Not that I doubt their abilities so much as I don't really buy that they could react fast enough to most of the zombie scenarios depicted in movies. There are dissenting opinions present, which is good, but the author is definitely on the side of "the authorities will handle it."

Finally, some points are raised that have been addressed in some works, but those works are not referenced. One specific example is the fact that zombies will eventually rot to the point of not being able to move. In the World War Z world (which is referenced other places), the zombie virus retards the decomposition process by making the flesh of the undead inedible to bacteria. Maybe not a likely scenario, but it would have been nice for that to be mentioned, rather than holding up eventual decomp as a likely way we would win.

I don't mean this to sound as negative as it does, I loved this book start to finish. The ideas and perspectives presented are fascinating, and the artwork scattered throughout is mostly of very high quality. It gets you thinking in new ways about old scenarios, and that's worth the price of admission right there.

PS: One last, minor quibble: The author mentioned the old "science can't explain how bees fly" notion to suggest that while science is exact, is it incomplete. The sentiment is right on, but the example is all wrong. We can explain exactly how bees fly, there is no mystery there (their wings create a tiny vortex above then that essentially sucks them up), we just couldn't explain it back when linear aerodynamics (which can explain how birds fly) were all that was known. Foolish ideas like this, and the idea that we only use 10% of our brains, just refuse to die.