Zombie Fiction Round-up

As per my last post about Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, I thought I might draw from my (regrettably) vast experience with the zombie fiction genre and give any interested-yet-inexperienced parties the low-down on what to read (and what not to read) in this wildly inconsistant area of what I will generously call "literature."

This is actually a very easy task. Basically, you should avoid everything except two books by Max Brooks:

The Zombie Survival Guide

This is an amusing book of the Worst Case Scenario persuasion: a kind of tounge-in-cheek "non-fiction" book that is pretty much set up like your average guide book. I like it because it's the type of thing everyone runs through in their heads everytime they watch a zombie movie. Brooks indulges in applying serious practicality to goofy B-movie hijinks, and that's something I can really get behind. He is really thorough, and it's good for settling zombie-related arguments and getting ideas for your own zombie apocolypse survival plans.

World War Z

This is also written in a "non-fiction" format. It contains what is refered to as the "oral history" of a zombie plague that has already happened, essentially a collection of survivor stories. This is one of the few times I have been reading a book and have actually gotten a little scared--I had to turn on the lights in the next room. I'm not much for horror books (in fact, I don't like them at all), but there's a soft spot in my heart for zombie scenarios, and this book in particular satisfies that weakness.

And, that's about it as far as my recommendations go. A quick search has informed me that I have not nearly exhausted the coffers of what zombie fiction has to offer, so I cannot promise you that there is not some other gem out there to add to this breif list. I hope there is, as I really do enjoy the idea of a good zombie story. Unfortunately, it's one of those storylines that seem to get handled only by the quickie low brow, barely literate "hey, I'll, like, write my own book--how hard can it be?" types and/or the torture porn set. I suppose I could also recommend Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but, despite the title, it doesn't really dwell too much on zombies. Honestly, it's just a really poorly done re-write of Pride and Prejudice, minus the clever dialogue, plus a smidge of zombie carnage (NOT as fun as it sounds). I think it is worth adding to our "zombie shelf" just on merit of the cover and title--honestly, one doesn't really need to read it to enjoy it (in fact, more pleasure would likely be gained by avoiding the contents altogether).