Customer Reviews

Zombies: Encounters with the Hungry Dead

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Skipp's tastes and skills as an editor have evolved considerably since his Book of the Dead collaboration days with Spector. That seminal collection and its sequel Still Dead are highly prized collectibles viewed as being the foundations of modern zombie lit. (Those who have read stuff from Permuted Press' den of hacks understand what a mixed legacy this is...) The tendency towards mindlessly excessive sensationalism and lack of meaning in modern zombie fiction also can be seen in the first two Skipp & Spector books, so as anthologies they were both awesome and also a bit tiresome.

The years since these initial releases have not been kind to those zombie fans who value both literary quality and horror. Basically we have Brooks' World War Z and arguably David Wellington. Besides these two, we have mounds and mounds of shoot-em-up rip their guts out stuff that is part of the bipolar nature of the horror section at Borders. We have lame romantically idealized vampire / demon bodice rippers meant to appeal to goth chicks cutting junior hs classes, and at the other extreme there's zombiepocalypse end o the world entrail munching stuff meant to appeal to the nerdy guys reading Fangoria and Guns N Ammo in the back of study hall. It was pretty interesting to see a new Skipp anthology out; would he continue to wallow in nihilistic gore or would he seek a new path?

I am happy to say this new collection is balanced and entertaining, and shows a lot of talent without being much gentler or kinder. There is a two section divide, "classic" zombie tales with usually single cases of reanimated corpses like the old fashioned pre-Romero stuff, and then the more modern zombie plague stuff. To be precise, we have 12 "classics" and 20 "Romero" style tales.

The classics are what gives this anthology its dose of literary merit - the truly spooky and subversive "Lazarus" by Andreyev leads things off, and then we have some classic old school pieces by Sturgeon and Bloch, along with a witty tale by Saunders. The excerpt from King's "Pet Sematery" is going to be a tad confusing for those unfamiliar with the concept of that novel, but it still works as a stand-alone and is much better than the mediocre and over-anthologized "Home Delivery" tale also by King.

The Romero section also has a few surprises. Those of you who don't own "Book of the Dead" will be reasonably pleased to find that 9 out of the original 16 tales in that book are found herein. The good news is that they are probably the best portion of that original book (with the exception of the excluded Bryant "Diner of the Damned" piece which I loved.) The bad news of course is that if you do own that volume, you are now informed that you already own 9 out of the 34 stories in this book. There are 4 pieces from "Still Dead" in here also, so if you own both of the original S&S anthologies, you may want to think twice about picking this one up.

We also have a few pieces from the more recent "Mondo Zombie" anthology that 20 people in America bought, not including myself so I was happy to see these, except maybe for the somewhat annoying "Sparks Fly Upward" abortion rights piece that adds a tinge of odd political sensibility to a genre that IMO should not see any stump speeches except when someone gets a limb gnawed off...

Speaking of politics, I am thrilled to report that there are no "zombie political action campaign" (ZPAC) pieces here as were seen in Adams' uneven "Living Dead" anthology. That volume had zombies rising to vote for an anti-Second Amendment politician, zombies rising because of racist violence, zombies rising to protest hate-mongering in the War on Terror, zombies rising to protest anti-environmental corporate behavior, zombies rising to protest lack of affordable day care for the poor and middle class...well, only kidding on that last one. Blech. Thankfully we also have zombies in all of the Skipp stories, unlike three pieces in the Adams collection which, well, had no zombies in them. The absence of civics lessons and the presence of the subjects of the anthology's title in all of its stories is reassuring, at least in comparison with the other big collection of recent years.

How about overall story quality? Actually, surprisingly enough, I was very impressed. The Adams book though it had its flaws was a good read because of the high editorial standards exercised, and I was thinking Skipp was going to be more tolerant in letting kind of pulpy stuff in, but his collection though occasionally nasty, is of uniformly high quality. You may not like all of the stories, but they are not as deriviative and simplistic as some of the original Book of the Dead tales were, and they are head and shoulders above the various low budget zombie fic anthologies being cranked out by RPG companies and vanity presses.

Some of the pieces herein are elegant even in mainstream literary terms - the Bradbury piece, the Saunders one (which is pretty funny as well) and even the neat aqua-zombie story by Steve Duffy. Skipp also wins praise for his thoughtful and enthusiastic notes for each story. The "media and historical reference" section in the back of the book is both incomplete and kind of meandering so view this as a reading book not a reference one.

The only real problem with this anthology is that if you have been following the field of zombie anthologies diligently, you will already have read most of these stories. By my count, of the 32 stories here, a person owning Book of the Dead, Still Dead, and Adams' The Living Dead will have read 16 stories herein, i.e. ½ of the volume. If you don't own these earlier collections, or maybe if you just own the recent Adams one, this collection is a good buy.

Table of Contents (oddly not given by the publisher either on Amazon or on their own website)

"Old School Zombies" voodoo, usually single corpse events, supernatural causes

Lazarus by Leonid Andreyev
Dead Men Working in the Cane Fields by William Seabrook
The Return of Timmy Baterman (from Pet Sematery) by Stephen King
The Emissary by Ray Bradbury
A Case of the Stubborns by Robert Bloch
It by Theodore Sturgeon
Lie Still Sleep Becalmed by Steve Duffy
Bitter Grounds by Neal Gaiman
Sea Oak by George Saunders
The Late Shift by Dennis Etchison
A Zombie's Lament by S.G. Brown
Best Served Cold by Justine Musk

"Romero Zombies" plagues en masse, intestines, bullets in the head, etc.like the modern era films, etc

The Dead Gather on the Bridge to Seattle by Adam Golaski
The Quarantine Act by Mehitobel Wilson
The Good Parts by Les Daniels
Bodies and Heads by Steve Rasnic Tem
On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert with Dead Folks by Joe Lansdale
Like Pavlov's Dogs by Steven Boyett
Jerry's Kids Meet Wormboy by David Schow
Eat Me by Robert McCammon
The Visitor by Jack Ketchum
The Prince of Nox by Kathe Koja
Call Me Doctor by Eric Shapiro
The Great Wall by Max Brooks
Calcutta Lord of Nerves by Poppy Z. Brite
God Save the Queen by John Skipp and Marc Levinthal
We Will Rebuild by Cody Goodfellow
Sparks Fly Upward by Lisa Morton
Lemon Knives N Cockroaches by Carlton Mellick III
Zaambi by Terry and Christopher Morgan
The Zombies of Madison County by Douglas Winter
Dead Like Me by Adam Troy-Castro

The latest edition of zombie stories overseen by John Skipp contain numerous solid tales from many instantly recognizeable authors. Unfortunately, if you are like me and have read quite a few anthologies out there, you are seeing a lot of repeats, so beware. This book is broken up into "Old School" and "Post Emancipation" tales. In other words, pre and post Romero type zombie stories.
Its hard to go wrong with the likes of Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Max Brooks, Ray Bradbury, Theodore Sturgeon, Joe Lansdale, amongst others, but again, if you are like me and have picked up several different anthologies over the years you have read upwards of a third to a half of these stories already. This is not to say that this is not an excellent primer for folks who want to get a good cross section of zombie stories, from the extremly subtle to the up in your face, but be prepared to see a lot of familiar stories between these pages.
Another reviewer has provided a TOC so I will pass on doing so here. My strongest recommendation for picking up this book will go to those who perhaps have only dabbled in zombie lit and want a really strong group of short stories to look over that go from one extreme (Ray Bradbury's tale, 'The Emissary,' is ominous and foreboding and only hints at the dead coming back to life) to the other (Adam-Troy Castro's story, 'Dead Like Me' has a man essentially destroying everything that resembles life inside himself until he so closely resembles a zombie he is virtually no different) in regards to how involved the zombies are in each story line.
I am not a reader who laments the lack of literary refinement amongst authors who write in the zombie sub-genre today. In fact, I enjoy quite a bit that is coming out from some of the smaller publishing houses like Permuted Press and Library of the Living Dead. I also enjoy some of the bigger players in horror and beyond as they take their swipes at the rotting buggers. This book is a good combination of some of the best of both worlds, with today's raw, exuberate violent apocalyptic experience and the more subtle literature from days past.
Again, this is a terrific anthology for anyone who wants to take a look at some really quality stuff in the zombie world, but be warned that if you already have a zombie anthology collection you probably will see plenty here that you have seen elsewhere.

I found this book to be an extremely fun read while maintaining the overall feel of Zombies through the history of fiction. The stories are put together in a way that gives the reader a timeline of how the Zombie Mythos has evolved.

The book itself is broken up into basically two sections, the first one dealing with Zombie stories "PRE-Romero" and the second half "POST-Romero" which is a pleasant surprise in this day and age when most publishers are putting out books with blood and gore splattered on every page and gives the reader no real sense of humanity, just apacolyptic gore and I am a fan of Apocolyptic Horror. I just don't need to read it on every page.

The only thing I felt was a deterent to the book is that it is BIG AND HEAVY. You can't really read this lying down in bed while holding over your head but it will come in handy if you ever do get attacked by Zombies because you can use it as a weapon against them.

And, while most of these stories have been published elswhere in books it is nice to see them assembled with thought and care as to their historical importance in Literature.

The Editor, Mr. John Skipp, also gives his take on each story. I found his insights to be poignant and useful in many aspects of the stories as well as to the general history of Zombies.

So, if your looking for an Anthology of Zombies and want to get a feel for how they have evolved through the history of Man's story telling here on earth you should pick this up and read it.

In a time where most publishers are putting out anthologies with little or no background on how they selected the stories I believe tha Kudos should go out to Mr. Skipp for assembling an excellent collection of Stories and taking his time to share his views of the stories with the reader.

What an amazing collection. I knew some of the authors, like Max Brooks, Neil Gaiman, and Stephen King, but a lot of these writers I've never heard of. Justine Musk and Adam Golanski's stories were amazing. How have I never heard of them before? Plus its great to read some of the classic writers, like Ray Bradbury and Robert R. McCammon. Highly recommend.

A few hits and lots of misses.

The first part of the book, Zombies of the Old School, has a handful of classics, and clearly the best stories. "Lazarus" is brilliant; epic, dark, and eloquent. "The Return of Timmy Baterman" -- disturbing touch of evil. "The Emissary" -- lyrical, compelling, and ominous. "It" and "Lie Still Sleep Becalmed" are both decent reads. The remaining stories in this section are readable but forgettable.

The Romero-esque second part, Post-Emancipation, is mostly exercises in shock and gore. "The Visitor", "The Prince of Nox", "Zaambi", and "Dead Like Me" are modestly interesting, but leave no lasting impression. "Lemon Knives and Cockroaches" and "The Good Parts" both leave an impression -- revolting. Couldn't finish several stories that were meaningless and gratuitously gross -- "Far Side of the Cadillac Desert...", "Jerry's Kids Meet Wormboy", "Eat Me" and "Like Pavlov's Dogs". Disappointed in Max Brooks' "Great Wall...", no wonder it wasn't included in the outstanding WORLD WAR Z. Finally, near the bottom of the barrel is the ludicrous pro-choice manifesto "Sparks Fly Upward".

As for the editor, John Skipp, his sophomoric prose and trite observations subtracted value. And his story contribution, "God Save the Queen" started out with mild promise but fizzled into a grotesque absurdity.

There's got to be better zombie anthologies than this one.

This book is amazing with is grouping of stories. The book starts off with a smash of simply amazing zombie stories, none of that horde, i wanna eat your brains business....but the book DOES have that for those of us who LOVE IT. The book breaks it all down into two sections, the dead that come back, and the dead or not so dead that just wanna EAT YOU. Great read and a good variety of stories.

... would have liked a few more new stories as several of the stories I'd read before. But that having been said, the opener, "Lazarus" by Leonid Andreyev was brilliant. It is an old tale translated from Russian about Lazarus after he is risen from the dead and is positively grim. Theodore Sturgeon's "It" was also a beautifully written "thing in the woods" type zombie tale that had me hooked. Neil Gaiman's tale, "Bitter Grounds" was one I went back and re-read thrice just to make sure I understood what happened. Still not 100% sure, but it creeped me out, so I suppose that's a good thing. The other tale in the first half of this book, the "Zombies of the Old School" half is "Sea Oaks" from George Saunders-- a tale that appears funny on the surface with the witty dialouge and setting, but when you think about it is an extremely depressing, disturbing piece.

The second part of the anthology is the "Post Emancipation" and features 20 short stories. "The Good Parts" by Les Daniels was a good ole perverted gore fest that I couldn't help but enjoy. "The Quarantine Act" by Mehitobel Wilson and "Bodies and Heads" by Steve Rasnic Tem were both good, scary stories. And surprisingly, the Godfather of Bizarro fiction, Carlton Mellick III contributed a tale, "Lemon Knives 'n' Cockroaches" which is just as cool as the title sounds. Two of my alltime faves, Joe Lansdale and Jack Ketchum each have great stories in this as well. My favorite of this section of the book, though, has to be the last story, "Dead Like me," by Adam-Troy Castro. Something about it, maybe the second person narrative, the all-encompassing feeling of hopelessness and the indifference towards it? Anywho, this one stuck with me with its great writing.

All in all, there are 32 stories not to mention an article, "Zombie Roots: A Historical Perspective" and two insightful articles by John Skipp. Each story has an illustration as well-- I say it is worth the $20, but would advise you check the table of contents first to see how many of the stories you've already read.

This is a good collection of stories. By a broad spectrum of writers. I stayed up all night and read the whole thing the day it came in the mail. Now I am taking my time and rereading it. If you are on the fence about buying it, Go ahead.

This book contains dozens of zombie/undead stories from the mundane to truly insane. The topics in the book, though, are not for the light-hearted or children. These are mature situations that are not appropriate for younger readers. Each story is prefaced by a note from the editor and explains a little about the author, why the story was chosen and often a reference to other stories by the author and is a valuable addition to the book. Most stories are a few pages but a few are quite long. It is difficult to put the anthology down, the stories grip the reader and don't let go.

The anthology contains many different perspectives on zombies and the relationship between them and man. Some stories have you feeling bad for the zombies, others are typical "chain-sawin', shotgun shootin' romps". Some delve deep into the psyche of both zombie and victim.

This is a must have for any zombie enthusiast. But again, the topics covered are adult in nature and may not be appropriate for all.

I just got this book for my birthday. I've only read the first 4 or 5 stories but so far it's a fantastic anthology. I also really enjoy John Skipp's comments and essays about each story. It's not just the normal high school level essay "this is a story about" kind of commentary.
Highly recommended for the zombie lover in your li. . err death.. . afterlife. . whatever.