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).

Prise & Prejudice...and Zombies!

I've never considered myself to be a particularly girly girl. In fact, for the majority of my youth I was a consummate tomboy, swearing off things like lace, dolls, the color pink, and other decidedly girlish trappings. But I think there is one aspect of feminine identity that transcends any kind of personal choice, except maybe in the most extreme cases of butchness and/or illiteracy: Jane Austen.

She wrote several novels, but when someone talks about liking Jane Austen, they are really saying that they like Pride and Prejudice, her most celebrated book. I, like nearly all other members of my gender, have read Pride and Prejudice multiple times. I cannot explain this, it's not even in my top ten of favorite books, but I think I've re-read it more times than I have re-read any other book. I've seen every incarnation of the story in movie form as well, multiple times (well, except for Kate and Leopold, which is obviously the most open-mouthed kiss of a piece of fanfiction as I have ever heard of). This affinity for Austen is a firmly feminine constant, I've never even known a dude (and I've come across plenty of fey little English major type boys) who ever mentions having read her, certainly never one that speaks openly about enjoying her.

And speaking of Pride and Prejudice fanfiction, pictured above is the newest object of my reading pleasure, Seth Grahame-Smith's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I bought this a few weeks ago for my zombie fiction-loving husband's recent birthday; he was appropriately excited and, honestly, the cover and title alone made it a good gift, although he was not prepared for the quasi-Austen-like writing style. Grahame-Smith seems to be an actual male who has actually read P&P; he seems to get the tenor and spirit of Austen's overly-fussy Victorian dialogue more or less right, although he tends towards the Yoda-esque in his turns of phrase, and doesn't exactly embrace things like correct or sensible sentence structure, grammar, and punctuation.

Overall it is as silly as silly parody books go. I'm happily reading it as in-between fodder material before I start another sober biography or something, and it is certainly not disappointing me yet. I will admit that the first line really pulled me in:

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains."