Book of the Dead (Book of the Dead, #1) in The Walking Read - A group for zombies and post-apoc fiction

From the Bookshelf of The Walking Read - A group for zombies and post-apoc fiction…

Book of the Dead (Book of the Dead, #1)

John Skipp (Editor),

Craig Spector (Editor)

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

No group discussions for this book yet.

What Members Thought

Jun 08, 2022 Zade rated it it was ok

One of the reasons I picked up this book, the ur-text of zombie short fiction, was to see how the genre has changed in the more than thirty years since its publication. I expected to find some attitudes and ideas that wouldn't be considered appropriate now, but even so, I was surprised at the blatant racism and other forms of bigotry in some stories. It's one thing to present a cruel or prejudiced character, another thing entirely when the omniscient narrator of a story mocks a character's stutt One of the reasons I picked up this book, the ur-text of zombie short fiction, was to see how the genre has changed in the more than thirty years since its publication. I expected to find some attitudes and ideas that wouldn't be considered appropriate now, but even so, I was surprised at the blatant racism and other forms of bigotry in some stories. It's one thing to present a cruel or prejudiced character, another thing entirely when the omniscient narrator of a story mocks a character's stutter.

What most turned me off, though, was the fact that so many of the "acclaimed" authors recruited for this anthology saw it as an opportunity to write graphic and explicit depictions of extreme violence and sexual assault against women. The crossover between sex, misogyny, and violence is nothing new, but some of these stories put American Psycho to shame and do it without a shred of satire.

As far as how the genre has changed, I'm surprised to find it's changed a lot. These early stories rely heavily on gore and body horror. Most of the stories are pretty far out there, in terms of fantasy. (Think Z Nation, not Walking Dead.) There's plenty of social criticism mixed in, as well. Many of the tales are written from the point of view of the undead and often they are little different from the living. But the attitude of the volume as a whole is much more grim than modern zombie fiction. Taken as a whole, these authors seem to believe that nearly all humans are selfish, violent, and just waiting for the strictures of society to collapse so they can indulge their most sadistic impulses without consequence.

Maybe nihilism is a reflection of the ethos of the time, but I much prefer the more hopeful (if no less gory) trend in zombie fiction today. There's a huge overlap between zombie fiction and post-apocalyptic survival fiction, but even the grimmest tales tend to believe humans will find a way to survive, that human connection is important to that survival, and that the virtues that make us human will not vanish. On the other hand, twenty-first-century zombie fiction tends to be more "realistic" and less laden with social commentary and satire. (I'm not including movies/TV shows in this generalization.) I, for one, would be thrilled to find an author who could meld the realism of today's writers with the critical point of view of early zombie fiction.

There are a few gems in this anthology. I particularly like (no surprise here) Joe Lansdale's entry. His characters are just as racist, sexist, and otherwise flawed as those of other stories, but they're written that way with a point. Lansdale both has a moral compass and allows it to show in his writing. His protagonist may be foul-mouthed and unreasonably horny (given the situation), but he's also capable of compassion and honor, despite the strange and truncated forms these qualities take in the world Lansdale creates. And of course he has gun-toting zombie hooker nuns for Jesus, so there's that.

(If you haven't run into Lansdale's ability to take the absurd and push it at least 20 notches further while also effortlessly generating hilarious turns of phrase, you're really missing out. Seriously, check out the Hap and Leonard series, but only if you aren't offended by colorful language.)

In the end, I'm glad I read this anthology, if only because it made me grateful for the more palatable zombie gorefests being written now. Would I recommend it? Meh. If you are interested in zombie fiction not just as brain candy, but as a growing, changing genre, it's worth checking out just to see how far we've come. For entertainment value? Not so much. ...more

4 likes · Like · see review