The fast and dirty version is that I was entirely impressed with the anthology, and found it a thoroughly enjoyable read with some new and interesting spins on the broader zombie mythos.
Given that these are short-stories and I want to avoid spoiling anything, these are going to involve a short precis of what makes the story distinctive, before covering what I thought.
With that said, on to the details! In order of appearance, we have:
"Introductory Sections"
There is an introduction-in-three parts, comprising a "Preshamble" by Paula Guran that provides some crisply-written, useful context to how and where the points of tension and intersection between the modern zombie and the classical vodoun creature are. David J. Schow unpacks the concept further in his introduction, "The Meat of the Matter," which considers both a historical/literary history of zombies and modern popular culture, together with a life lived alongside the films and texts in question. A final "Deaditorial Note," also from Paula Guran, delves into the changes in the zombi-cultural landscape from 2003-2010, a period coming after the period considered in detail within Schow's piece.
I found these sections to be a very interesting start to the anthology, filling in all kinds of contextual details and references that I'd either missed or forgotten in my own encounters with the zombie mythos.
They are also clearly noted on the Table of Contents, so if you just want to skip to the stories they're hardly going to get underfoot. Personally, I found them well worth the time.
"Twisted," by Kevin Veale.
This story is mine, and the fact I'm discussing it personally is a little weird. In terms of style/content, it's a 'gonzo' zombie story inspired as much by Hunter S. Thompson as by Romero or voudou. All I can say is that I really enjoyed writing it, I was delighted to be included in this anthology, and that I hope you enjoy reading it.
"The Things He Said," by Michael Marshall Smith.
A powerful story with a very tight focus about the daily routine of a survivor. This is one of the pieces I found very memorable when I was reading the anthology, and it does a very good job of presenting an experience of rising dread.
I've liked Michael Marshall Smith's worth since I first encountered
Only Forward, and this story is a little haunting.
"The Naming of Parts," by Tim Lebbon.
A tale of a twelve-year-old boy witnessing domestic apocalypses swept away by external ones. I liked this story for the protagonist's voice, and the gnawing horror that even colour seems to be dying out of the world.
"Dating Secrets of the Dead," by David Prill.
An unusually dreamlike story about two dead people dating - which is a mostly redundant statement from the title, but I can't think of a better way to put it. I was intrigued by this story because it's an ambitious approach that could easily go wrong, but I thought it paid off. It didn't grab me as much as some of the other stories, but I'm not sure that's anything about the story itself.
"Lie Still, Sleep Becalmed," by Steve Duffy.
This was another one of the stories which stood out for me: a group of friends with their own internal frictions (another tasty zombie staple) go out for a night-trip off the Welsh coast. The characters are well rendered, and you can anticipate the ways in which external stresses are going to run right into the points of internal conflict at the worst possible time. It's also got a great tenor or rising dread, with events that are internally consistent, but have a nightmarishly inexplicable feel.
"The Great Wall: A Story From the Zombie War," by Max Brooks.
I loved
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, and thought this tale continues the dry tone which includes jibes at the failures of historical archivists for allowing the original treatise to be colloquially known as "World War Z." The story itself follows the creation and defence of the Great Wall of China from the perspective of a woman who is recording her memories for posterity.
It is a chillingly remorseless tale of exhaustion and desperation, yet also of cooperation and survival. Thoroughly recommended for any fans of WWZ. My only disappointment was that the story wasn't longer - not because it felt unfinished, but because I wanted to spend more time with it.
"First Kisses from Beyond the Grave," by Nik Houser.
I really liked this story. It has a real energy to it, and an appropriately black comic tone for a story about a boy sent to a school for the dead due to a bureaucratic screw-up.
I also which to note that Roland the gangsta fetus is genius, as are the traditional highschool football games where the school of the dead is ridiculously outclassed at every turn...
"Zora and the Zombie," by Andy Duncan.
This is another one of the stories which did not grab me as much as some of the others, but where I can't quite pin down why. It's about Zora Thurston, a woman writing about the histories and myths of Haiti who finds herself drawn to exploring them herself. There's no reason for the story not to have grabbed me - the concept is interesting, and the writing crisp with dark humour.
"Obsequy," by David J. Schow.
An excellent story with a vicious, slowly rising burn about what happens when the dead start coming back... and haven't forgotten a thing.
"Deadman's Road," by Joe R. Lansdale.
Another story that made a lasting impression, "Deadman's Road" features an implacable, gun-toting, wild-west preacher of a vengeful Old Testament God who is driven to test his faith against the supernatural darkness of the world. It's imaginative, well-characterised and sharply written.
I was left wanting more of this story, and I think I can safely recommend it for any fans of the Deadlands role-playing game. Fortunately, Joe R. Lansdale has written other stories featuring the same protagonist, and they're being reprinted by Subterranean Press as Deadman's Road.
"Bitter Grounds," by Neil Gaiman. (Also available in
Fragile Things)
A melancholy, dreamlike and delicate story about someone left emotionally dead who finds himself pulled absently into occupying someone elses' life. The details are excellent, from the detached narrative voice through to touches of life at an academic conference that can be all too accurate. As an additional bonus within a gently-written story, the understanding of what it might be to be a zombie is one of the creepiest I've encountered.
"Beautiful White Bodies," by Alice Sola Kim.
A standout story within an anthology that's full of them: beauty seems to become infectious at a small-town school, and girls start to become so pretty that they hardly seem human anymore...
There is barbed humour here together with the genuine horror, a spiky self-awareness about the state of the media image machine, and some quotes that are perfect (and vicious) but which I'll let people find on their own.
"Glorietta," by Gary A. Braunbeck
An imaginative story that comes as a real punch to the gut. I'm not sure I can summarise it in a way that will do the tale justice, but it's about zombies at christmas.
"Farewell, My Zombie," by Francesca Lia Block
A detective story featuring a woman working as a PI who is approached by someone convinced of a zombie-kidnapping - a problem only she can help with. A well-written story with onion-layer depths to it.
"Trinkets," by Tobias S. Bucknell.
A historical story with a very neat concept, "Trinkets" is another story that isn't quite what it seems. Unfortunately, it's also another one that I can't quite think how to describe in a way that isn't going to ruin the fun. What I can say is that I think it's well done, and I enjoyed it.
"Dead Man's Land," by David Wellington.
A true post-apocalypse story, "Dead Man's Land" is set in a fallen America where the gigantic malls see themselves as the last islands of civilisation in an unclean land, and where the protagonist is hired to squire a princess from one fiefdom to another. It's chilling for a wide number of reasons, and the different viewpoints on society it presents is one of them.
"Disarmed and Dangerous," by Tim Waggoner.
An entertainingly noir tale about a zombie PI-of-sorts trapped in a parallel city of monsters. The concept is rich, the narrative voice fits both the protagonist and the overall vibe of the story, and I enjoyed the ending.
"The Zombie Prince," by Kit Reed.
This considers the zombie mythos from an entirely different lens, producing a supernatural encounter that feels very original. It also reminds me of the film Shadow of the Vampire in terms of how it raises questions regarding who, and what, the real monsters are.
"Selected Scenes from the End of the World: Three Stories from the Universe of `The Rising,'" by Brian Keene.
This is a trifecta of shorter pieces that imply a larger whole rather than standing alone. They're certainly evocative, and contain some of the more directly threatening zombies I've run into. However, I'm not sure how effective they are in this context at making readers interested in the wider narrative that they're part of.
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