Zombies
The Zombies story has grown to such an extent that it is now considered a sub-genre in it's own right, most often combining elements of post-apocalyptic and horror elements. It has often been seen to have emerged as a sub-genre after the publication of the "Book of the Dead" anthology in 1989. Edited by John Skipp and Craig Spector all the stories in this collection depict a worldwide outbreak of zombies and the subsequent reactions to such an event.
The origin of the Zombie goes back much further and could be argued to have begun as far back as the 18th century BC and the earliest surviving work of literature, that infamous poem "The Epic of Gilgamesh" in which the goddess Ishtar promises:
I will knock down the Gates of the Netherworld,
I will smash the door posts, and leave the doors flat down,
and will let the dead go up to eat the living!
And the dead will outnumber the living!
It was Richard Matheson's 1954 novel I Am Legend that had the biggest impact with the depiction of the modern rotting, brain eating, shambling corpse that we are all familiar with today. Although I am Legend concerned Vampires, this classic work (by way of the 1964 film adaptation The Last Man on Earth) directly influenced George A. Romero and his influential films.
Noted Series
David Moody's Autumn Series
Keith Blackmore's Mountain Man Series
Jason Kristopher's The Dying of the Light Series
Books Reviewed
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![VivisepultureAndy Remic]()
FantasyVivisepulture is an ebook collection of weird tales from some seriously talented authors, edited by the singular Andy Remic. (According to the online dictionary Vivisepulture is the act of burying someone alive by the way and you get some odd articles looking that one up on Google I can tell you!)....
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![Where Decay SleepsAnna Cheung]()
HorrorI do not like to think about death much as it makes it seem a little too real for my liking. I am still sticking to the hope that they invent that infinity pill before it is my time. If you are going to explore death, you may as well make it as beautiful as you can, and poetry can have a beauty. It...
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![Man Against the FutureBryan Young]()
Science FictionMan Against The Future is a collection of short stories by Bryan Young, author of “Lost at the Con”. I love short story collections, not just because I have the attention span of a small yapping dog, but they can be a great introduction to a new author or genre. They can be quite hit and miss though...
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![Knee-Deep in the DeadDafydd ab Hugh]()
Science FictionDOOM is a recognizable brand to any 90s kid or true gamer from the PC age of first person video gaming. One of my most vivid memories as a kid is sitting in my underwear at the large IBM PC a kid, around the age of six, blasting away demons, boneys, and hell-princes until late into the night. DOOM c...
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![Zom-BDarren Shan]()
FantasyOk this was my first time reading one of Mr. Shan’s novels and I must admit I wasn’t wholly impressed. However, reflecting back maybe I am being a bit too harsh. My experience as an adult is to read books aimed at my audience and not one of a younger audience. In that respect, yes, I got it and it w...
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![AutumnDavid Moody]()
FantasyAutumn was originally self published and given away by the author ten years ago, since then it has been read by hundreds of thousands of people and even turned into a film starring David Carradine and Dexter Fletcher. It's now published by those fantastic people over at Gollancz and I must say that...
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![Autumn - PurificationDavid Moody]()
FantasyCarrying on right from where we left the survivors back in Autumn: The City, Purification takes us further down the Zombie survival road. Pretty much imprisoned within the underground Army base this small group sit and wait while on the surface the crowd of shuffling corpses is growing in size every...
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![Autumn - The CityDavid Moody]()
FantasyAutumn - The City is the follow up to the sensational zombie novel Autumn, promising the same power and subtle horror of the first. It takes a lot of guts to start a story again right from the beginning but told from a different perspective - a brave move that could have gone horribly wrong. Instead...
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![Autumn - DawnDavid Moody]()
HorrorIt's good to see that we are slowly getting used to living our lives in a pandemic / post-pandemic society. It's a tough time for most people (unless you happen to be a space faring billionaire) but we have vaccines and some promise that with enough people vaccinated, we should at least be able to c...
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![This Book is Full of SpidersDavid Wong]()
HorrorSpiders seem to tap into a primeval fear inside humans. Perhaps in the days of cavemen there were 20 foot spiders that ate those that travelled at night? What I do know is that the average domestic spider in the UK is unlikely to spring off the wall and eat through your skull. This set of events is...
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![Legends 2: Stories in Honour of David GemmellIan Whates]()
Launched on the evening of the 2015 Gemmell Awards at Nine Worlds, Legends 2 is a strange beast. Robert Silverberg edited three volumes of Legends, entitled Legends , Legends 2 and Legends 3 , but this book, published by Newcon Press, introduced by Stan Nicholls and edited by Ian Whates is unconnect...
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![The Dying of the Light: EndJason Kristopher]()
FantasyI must admit that I am developing a bit of a soft spot for Zombie novels, I love the way that each I have read recently has something different to offer, from the pseudo first person account of World War Z to the subtle and gradual style of David Moody's Autumn, even though they are all descended fr...
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![The Dying of the Light: IntervalJason Kristopher]()
FantasyThe world has ended and the few who remain are faced with a struggle to survive, not only with a lack of food and heat (not to mention any real form of civilisation) but also against the hordes of shambling undead who look to rip, tear, kill and eat not to mention the possibility of an even more dan...
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![ThreeJay Posey]()
Science FictionIt's true that I have a soft spot for a good post-apocalyptic story, there is just something about the setting that appeals to me. I'm clearly not alone in this regard either, post-apocalyptic scenarios are dominating the film world this year while in the world of books we have excellent examples li...
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![HellifaxKeith Blackmore]()
FantasyAnother episode is the Mountain Man series always brings a degree of eagerness; not only with knowledge that you just know the dialogue will be entertaining but in the authors wonderfully rewarding tone too; Hellifax is no exception. Gus, the reluctant hero of the previous two Mountain Man novels is...
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![Mountain manKeith Blackmore]()
FantasyMountain Man introduces us to a world that is now mostly inhabited by the walking undead and Augustus Berry lives a day-to-day existence that is largely composed of getting drunk, foraging for supplies and preparing for the day when the Zombie horde will come up the side of the mountain and penetrat...
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![SafariKeith Blackmore]()
FantasyWe are once again re-united with one of the few survivors in a world infested with the undead. Gus is a little more dishevelled than the last time we saw him, more bruised and a bit more reckless too as his daily existence of waking up, getting drunk and preparing for the inevitable zombie horde beg...
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![Well FedKeith Blackmore]()
FantasyAfter all the years spent fighting off the Zombie hordes in isolation at his home in Annapolis, Gus has finally found a new life of peace. A daily routine of tending and policing the fields of the little community, rarely interupted by shambling corpes. It seems the epidemic is finally beginning to...
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![Asian Ghost Short StoriesLee Murray]()
HorrorEditing a collection of short stories must be a task. Whittling down all the possibilities to just a few that represent a vision. The key is to make the subject matter attainable; stories about monsters in pubs or griffons on an aeroplane. Taking on all Asian Ghost Short Stories is an almost impossi...
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![Survivor SongPaul Tremblay]()
HorrorReleasing a book about a pandemic during the middle of a real pandemic is a bold move but one that Paul Tremblay has taken. Although there are some parallels between what is happening in the world today and those within the pages of Survivor Song , they are not enough to make the book off put...
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![The Pale House DevilRichard Kadrey]()
HorrorI read a lot of spooky and downright horrific books in the run up to Halloween this year, but the horror books that work well stick in the mind all year round. The Pale House Devil by Richard Kadrey is not your typical horror novel, nor is it your typical comedy book, or buddy story. This is a book...
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![The Winter Hunt and Other StoriesSteve Lockley]()
Steve Lockley and Paul Lewis form a British writing duo ( although they also publish individually) whose work has been appearing in various genre anthologies during the years. Fifteen of their tales of horror and terror are now assembled in an enjoyable collection from Parallel Universe. The overal...
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![Death Most DefiniteTrent Jamieson]()
FantasyDeath Most Definite is an urban fantasy novel by Trent Jamieson. Steven de Selby has a most unusual career, he helps spirits pass to the underworld, and stops Zombies (stirrers) walking the earth. He and his parents are necromancers, also known as "pomps". This being the 21st century, these pomps ha...
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![The Return ManV. M. Zito]()
FantasyThe Return man is a post-apocalyptic Zombie novel that manages to offer a few surprises and original ideas in this rapidly expanded sub-genre. The story goes that a mass "outbreak" divides America in two, on the east the untouched survivors remain safe while the west has become truly wild - a ravage...
Book of the month
