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Zombie Books
atat23
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I wasn't even really aware of the existence of books about Zombies till I heard about Max Brooks but reading WWZ has given me a taste for human flesh....I mean zombie literature. :P
I also know of the I am Legend books, haven't read them yet though (although that's vampires/zombie-vampires?)
So if anyone can recommend any decent novels they've read relating to zombies, that would be great. The scarier the better btw, I didn't find WWZ scary, just creepy at times but I think that was mainly down to the writing style. So if you know of anything that's brain meltingly scary, all the better.
I also know of the I am Legend books, haven't read them yet though (although that's vampires/zombie-vampires?)
So if anyone can recommend any decent novels they've read relating to zombies, that would be great. The scarier the better btw, I didn't find WWZ scary, just creepy at times but I think that was mainly down to the writing style. So if you know of anything that's brain meltingly scary, all the better.
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It's technically a vampire novel, but it effectively gave birth to the zombie genre - basically mass infection of one sort or another that turns everybody into some sort of human-pestering monster. Definitely read it because it's just bloody awesome and scary as hell.
There's a book called The Rising, first in a series of two or three, which I think was rather well received.
There's a series of short story collections based around Romero's 'universe'. Book of the Dead? Something like that.
Stephen King's Cell is often described as being a zombie novel.
You might find Brooks' Zombie Survival Guide amusing, if not scary. There are other books of that type available too - sort of, 'what would happen if zombies were real' type of things.
There's a book called Monster Island which I never got around to reading. I think a sequel came out to that, not sure if it's any good.
There are various zombie cartoons, not sure if any are good, but I'm sure you'll get input on those.
EDIT: There must be loads of old, cheap and cheesy zombie and ghoul stories in sci-fi/fantasy/horror magazines and anthologies. Quality debatable, I'm sure, but there must be a fair bit of it around.
I thought there were two I am legend books, the old one and the new screenplay adaption or is that just the original with a different cover?
Even watching the movie though I still thought they were zombies, didn't know they were vampires till my mother read the book and told me, still plan on reading the book though as the apocalyptic monster idea is one that interests me, it's just usually zombies that are the monster involved.
I'm pretty sure they've simply re-released the book with Will Smith on the cover. I really, really hope so, anyway.
If it does turn out that some 'based on the screenplay that was based on the book!' book exists, avoid it and read the original instead.
It is excellent. Yes, it's a comic series, but it's well worth the read.
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Seriously, it doesn't get much better than this. You'll love it even if you're not a fan of comics.
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Some of the following have been mentioned above, and I can recommend them highly.
First, for all your various types of Zombie fiction needs, may I suggest the "Flesh" Anthologies edited by James Lowder. Nearly all of the stories in all three books are excellent. They include The Book of All Flesh, The Book of More Flesh and The Book of Final Flesh
Other Worthy anthologies include The Undead by Eric S. Brown and the aforementioned Book of the Dead
The Rising and its sequels by Brian Keene are pretty good, if you don't mind slightly less than traditional zombies. Avoid Moody's Zombie anthology, however. It disappoints. (FYI, his book about giant worms is surprisingly good, however).
Dead City is not bad, but it isn't quite as good as the books above.
However, if you were going to buy only one zombie book, besides World War Z, it would have to be Day by Day Armageddon by J.L. Bourne. It is surprisingly good, and those who have read it are anxiously awaiting the author's safe return from active duty so he can write some more!
I believe you're referring to Brian Keene, not David Moody, at least as far as The Rising and its sequels are concerned. I was just about to post this series. And if you like those you might consider "The Cell" by Stephen King. Not your traditional Zombies(tm) per se but has that whole "people turning into creepy killing machines/small band of unlikely travellers finding their way through a zombified population" thing going for it.
Edit : Oh look, I failed to read the part where you already said that. Whoops.
but after seeing the movie 28 days later, a friend recommended me Day of the Triffids.
Yes, it doesn't actually have zombies, but reminded me of a great zombie holocaust survival book. minus the zombies.
I must warn you, if you read a short synopsis of it, it will sound lame. superlame. ("living" plants).
But if you give it a chance you'll find that it's a great book on survival horror. The opening scenes are simply amazing.
Yeah you're right. It was a case of posting one thing while thinking another. I was going to say that David Moody's Autumn series is somewhat inconsistent. Moments of brilliance sprinkled with a healthy dose of utter crap. I'm editing my post - thanks.
Seconded. One of the main characters in the book is voiced by Mark Hammill.
This book doesn't get the credit it deserves for being first-rate survivial-horror style zombie reading.
Highly recommended.
Also, Rob and Carl Reiner and Henry Rollins.
The audiobook is excellent.
Monster Island is the first of a trillogy of blogged novels. They're pretty darn good and they can be read for free, legally, right here.
I host a podcast about movies.
Also, thanks for the link to Monster Island. I've been meaning to read it, and had no idea it was free online. Looks like my weekend just filled up.
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I can't vouch for Monster Nation and Monster Planet (yet), but Monster Island was quite good, if not traditional when it comes to Zombies.
The ending is basically Halo 2 level of cliffhanger.
But without a sequel.
That same story is also in the excellent and aforementioned Book of the Dead, and the just released The Living Dead anthology (which is uneven in quality). Home Delivery is an excellent story.
Cell by Stephen King, while it has a strange ending, is actually a very engrossing and enjoyable novel with a different twist on zombies. The characters are engaging and it is just an all round great novel. I've read it twice, which is an achievement for me.
Plague Of The Dead was one of my favourites, I very much enjoyed it. There is a new book out in that series now (The Morningstar Saga), which I really need to get.
Someone else brought up The Walking Dead comic series. I will second this muchly. It's quite simply brilliant.
I hear the Autumn series by David Moody is meant to be quite good. He's a local British author, so I would be quite interested in reading them at some point, but can't as of yet recommend them myself. I've also noticed that a low budget movie has been made based on the first book, starring Dexter Fletcher and David Carradine! It's meant to be out next year, though I doubt it'll see a wide release... I suspect straight to DVD myself.
*Thanks Thanatos!
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I agree about the flaws, although I was able to suspend disbelief a bit by looking at the book as an actual survivor's journal - so it's not going to be perfectly written. Other than that, it does suffer from the whole head shots are easy syndrome, but what zombie fiction doesn't?
I seem to be in the minority on Monster Island. While I didn't hate it, I also didn't find it to be particularly compelling. It had its moments, sure, but not enough, I felt.
It's been a while but I remember reading both Monster Island and Monster Nation, I thought they were okay.
Try a dude called Brian Keene, a book called The Rising, and its sequel City of the Dead. Read them fairly recently and thought they were decent, and their zombies follow a similar mechanic to Monster Island.
I made it about two chapters into the first book and thought that it was awful.
I thought this book was libertarian survivalist masturbation full of misogyny and paper thin characters. It is probably one of the worst books I've ever finished reading (and that was probably because it was so short and simply written).
Dying to Live by Kim Paffenroth wasn't perfect, but I thought it was a much better book.
I pretty much have to agree about all of those points, but I don't believe it harms the book nearly as much as you seem to think. It's a super quick read, keeps you interested, I liked it quite a bit. (Even if the main character being some super commando takes a lot away from its potential.)
I'd love a good recommendation for a zombie novel where the zombies are basically just a force of nature. Something along the lines of The Walking Dead or WWZ. In fact, it doesn't even have to necessarily be zombies - I'm fine with survival horror in general.