Zombies: Encounters with the Hungry Dead

Zombies: Encounters with the Hungry Dead

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Editorial Reviews

From a master of zombie fiction and a founding father of “splatterpunk” comes a mind-bending anthology of 32 new and classic stories from both renowned writers and rising stars

In the tradition of Black Dog & Leventhal's bestselling

Vampires and Ghosts, this anthology of 32 stories is set in a world where the dead have risen from the grave to consume the living. This rich collection showcases the best of the genre—from short-story masters such as Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Ray Bradbury, and Poppy Z. Brite; zombie stalwarts such as David J. Schow and Jack Ketchum; “bizarro” founders such as Carlton Mellick III; and popular up-and-comers such as Max Brooks and S.G. Browne—and will satisfy the insatiable hunger of zombie fans everywhere.

A series of captivating essays about zombies in folklore and in popular culture by John Skipp, award-winning zombie anthologist and author, enrich an already extraordinary collection by discussing the past, present, and future of the living dead. And a resources section encompassing the best of long-form fiction, movies, websites, games is included for any reader interested in learning more about the wider world of the undead.

Sure to sate the hungriest zombie fans with classic as well as contemporary servings of tangled entrails and other unspeakable meals, Zombies: Encounters with the Hungry

Dead will be shambling out of bookstores in October 2009.

 

Customer Reviews

ZOMBIES: Encounters with the Hungry Dead

Reviewed by Kent Gowran, 2010-02-12

Back in 1989, John Skipp and Craig Spector, with the blessings of George Romero, unleashed the greatest zombie anthology of all-time (you can imagine that in all caps if you'd like, or, if you're a classy sort, blazing neon)THE BOOK OF THE DEAD. More than twenty years went by before another zombie anthology would come close to the living dead throne of that great book, and, oddly enough, or perhaps not odd at all, John Skipp is once again at the helm (this would be, I believe, his fourth anthology of zombie stories, but I could be off on that).

In ZOMBIE, editor Skipp has drawn together a selection of stories ranging from the earliest example of zombie fiction to the most current. That's some might big ambition right there. That he pulls it off flawlessly is truly impressive.

Some of these stories you may have read before. That tends to be the nature of good anthologies. But, the things is, stories, darn good stories, should be read more than once. And collected more than once. That's a no harm, no foul situation if there ever was one.

For me, if I had to narrow it down to one story that really sent this anthology over the top and into the runner up position alongside THE BOOK OF THE DEAD, it would be Cody Goodfellow's "We Will Rebuild" because, I'll tell you, that one smacked me right between the eyes.

So, while the Skipp & Spector classic zombie anthology will, so far as I'm concerned, continue to hold the crown, Skipp's new baby is no slouch and if you happen to have even just a hint of a passing interest in matters concerning the living dead, ZOMBIES: ENCOUNTERS WITH THE HUNGRY DEAD will feed your need and deserves and deserves a permanent spot on your shelves.

An Excellent Overview of Zombie History

Reviewed by Aloysious Novak Jr., 2010-02-12

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.

repeats abound

Reviewed by Joe Gregory, 2010-02-11

So I buy this book and what do I find? repeats? Is this network TV. What a crock. Oh wait. There is WWZ story that was a reject from the WWZ book. oh that's better.
There are a lot better anthos out there by better editors, not the hack, has-been who edited this one. Save your money and buy a better antho. You wont regret it.

SAVE YOUR MONEY

Reviewed by Will Readanything, 2010-01-27

This is a collection of stories that have already been published elsewhere. The only really interesting story is by Stephen King.
The rest are - how shall I put this - trying to make great statements about life, politics, etc. And not very well. If they could actualy write they wouldn't need to use this genre to cover up lack of talent with blood and gore. That's why you've (okay, me) never heard of most of these guys.

Read the introduction by the editor. If what he has to say strikes you as profound you'll probably like this book. If you find yourself going what is whith this guy, you probably won't.

Whatever happend to plain old scary stories. I want plot too!

Good except for the editor/hack John Skipp

Reviewed by D. Payton, 2009-11-29

Good except for the editor.

This is a decent collection of zombie lit. It runs the gambit on all the genres and styles of zombie/horror writing. I would say that about 30-40% is really good and another 30% or so are solidly entertaining. There is, of course, a solid percentage that is terrible. Mostly the bad ones use shock, gore, or violence (or all three)to cover up uninspired bad writing. The good ones do make up for it with some original and thought provoking work. Lastly, the reason I have to give this work a three instead of a four stars is because of the imbecile editor John Skipp. I am unsure why the book needed this hack telling us what asinine thoughts he had about every story. His ramblings really took away from the book. I have not encountered his work before but I think I will pass and try something more interesting to read like the back of a bottle of window cleaner. So if you like the genre. Buy the book, just skip the preambles from the witless editor.

By the way, If you were a WWZ fan there is a story in this work that did not make it into WWZ but is still great.