Notes from Collection Development

Zombies: The New Vampire?!

You may have noticed a lot of Zombies appearing in fiction recently. A few titles customers can find and devour at JPL—


Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Booklist Reviews

This may be the most wacky by-product of the busy Jane Austen fan-fiction industry at least among the spin-offs and pastiches that have made it into print. In what's described as an "expanded edition" of Pride and Prejudice, 85 percent of the original text has been preserved but fused with "ultraviolent zombie mayhem." For more than 50 years, we learn, England has been overrun by zombies, prompting people like the Bennets to send their daughters away to China for training in the art of deadly combat, and prompting others, like Lady Catherine de Bourgh, to employ armies of ninjas. Added to the familiar plot turns that bring Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy together is the fact that both are highly skilled killers, gleefully slaying zombies on the way to their happy ending. Is nothing sacred? Well, no, and mash-ups using literary classics that are freely available on the Web may become a whole new genre. What's next? Wuthering Heights and Werewolves? Copyright 2009 Booklist Reviews.

The Zombie Survival Guide

PW Annex Reviews

Website: http://www.publishersweekly.com/In this outrageous parody of a survival guide, Saturday Night Live staff writer Brooks prepares humanity for its eventual battle with zombies. One would expect the son of Mel Brooks to have a genetic predisposition to humor, and indeed, he does, and he exhibits it relentlessly here: he outlines virtually every possible zombie-human encounter, drafts detailed plans for defense and attack and outlines past recorded attacks dating from 60,000 B.C. to 2002. In planning for that catastrophic day when "the dead rise," Brooks urges readers to get to know themselves, their bodies, their weaponry, their surroundings and, just in case, their escape routes. Some of the book's more amusing aspects are the laughable analyses Brooks proposes on all aspects of zombiehood, and the specificity with which he enumerates the necessary actions for survival-i.e., a member of an anti-zombie team must be sure to have with him at all times two emergency flares, a signaling mirror, daily rations, a personal mess kit and two pairs of socks. Comic, though unnecessarily exhaustive, this is a good bet for Halloween gag gifts and fans of Bored of the Rings-esque humor. 100 line drawings. (Sept.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

World War Z

Booklist Reviews

"The Crisis" nearly wiped out humanity. Brooks (son of Mel Brooks and author of The Zombie Survival Guide, 2003) has taken it upon himself to document the "first hand" experiences and testimonies of those lucky to survive 10 years after the fictitious zombie war. Like a horror fan's version of Studs Terkel's The Good War (1984), the "historical account" format gives Brooks room to explore the zombie plague from numerous different views and characters. In a deadpan voice, Brooks exhaustively details zombie incidents from isolated attacks to full-scale military combat: "what if the enemy can't be shocked and awed? Not just won't, but biologically can't!" With the exception of a weak BAT-21 story in the second act, the "interviews" and personal accounts capture the universal fear of the collapse of society--a living nightmare in which anyone can become a mindless, insatiable predator at a moment's notice. Alas, Brad Pitt's production company has purchased the film rights to the book--while it does have a chronological element, it's more similar to a collection of short stories: it would make for an excellent 24-style TV series or an animated serial. Regardless, horror fans won't be disappointed: like George Romero's Dead trilogy, World War Z is another milestone in the zombie mythos. ((Reviewed August 2006)) Copyright 2006 Booklist Reviews.

Monster Island: a zombie novel

Booklist Reviews

This is a zombie novel--a fantastic zombie novel. Most of the world has fallen to the undead, with pockets of survivors clinging to a precarious existence. At the behest of the leader of the Free Women's Republic of Somaliland, a shipload of those makes the ludicrous trip from Africa to New York in a desperate quest for medicine. New York is a wasteland, and everything depends on a small, incredibly dedicated band of teenage girls, armed to the teeth, and native guide Dekalb, formerly a UN arms inspector. Also, in NYC there is Gary, a zombie who, completely unexpectedly, retains live human mental faculties. The questers get ringside seats for some of the apocalypse's finest moments, and no matter how prepared they thought they were, something worse awaits in the depths of New York. When zombies have already overrun everything, that's saying something. There are many layers to this zombie apocalypse, and this book just gets things rolling. Stay tuned. ((Reviewed March 15, 2006)) Copyright 2006 Booklist Reviews.

Cell

Booklist Reviews

/*Starred Review*/ Think horror meister King's gone soft? Try this: Clay Riddell, on top of the world after finally signing a contract that pays off for his years of scrabbling as a comics artist, is fairly bouncing along Boston Common when an awful lot of the people nearby suddenly go berserk, using any weapon that comes to hand, including their teeth, to assault with deadly intent everyone in their paths. Motor vehicles collide or leap curbs to smash through windows and doors at high speed. Planes power-dive into buildings. And, of course, gunfire and explosions punctuate the soundscape. Instinctively, Clay puts his heavy portfolio between a small man about to be butchered by a middle-aged crazy, and thus meets Tom McCourt. Within the hour, they rescue 15-year-old Alice Maxwell, and another of King's many stories of a decent remnant struggling to survive in a world gone mad is off and running. During the course of what must be the most suspenseful, fastest-paced book King has ever written--a 'Salem's Lot without lulls--the trio expands to as many as six, though it is solely from Clay's perspective that King tells the story. Clay is concerned with more than survival, for his 12-year-son is out there, surely by himself, Clay thinks, given the time of day that the Pulse began. The Pulse, keenly perceptive Tom noticed right away, that all the crazies became so while using their cell phones. Tom's was broken that day, and Clay doesn't own one. Exploiting motifs and devices from Richard Matheson's vampire-world classic, I Am Legend (1954), and George A. Romero's living-dead movies (author and filmmaker are this book's dedicatees), King blasts any notion that he's exhausted or dissipated his enormous talent. ((Reviewed January 1 & 15, 2006)) Copyright 2006 Booklist Reviews.

The Living Dead

Booklist Reviews

Die-hard zombiephiles may be disappointed to find only one new story here (the Clive Barker and Stephen King entries are 20 years old), but they have to concede that it s full of good stuff. The real standouts tend to depart from the apocalyptic formula standard to the genre. A bully in Darrel Schweitzer s "The Dead Kid" torments an undead kid in a box that he keeps in the woods. David Barr Kirtley’s "The Skull-Faced Boy" features two teens who discover they re animated corpses after being killed in an accident. In Joe Lansdale s "Deadman’s Road," a gun slinging reverend hunts down a zombie who was a killer when normally alive. It s Dan Simmon’s brilliant, award-winning "This Year's Class Picture," however, that makes the collection worth the price of admission; in it, a teacher clings to her daily routine, teaching her "students" long after the Tribulations. Though it reprints so many oft-collected stories, this volume remains an excellent overview of the zombie genre. Copyright 2008 Booklist Reviews.