Good Lord, this series grossed me out in a big way. But also in a good way because it was an enjoyable read. Definitely not for the squeamish or faint of heart. The pregnant zombie woman…ohhh…UGH…:eek:
I also recommend the excellent Walking Dead. It’s just plain epic–and the coolest thing about it is that he covers every aspect and detail you could ever possibly think of relating to a zombie apocalypse. Granted it’s a 50+ issue series and ongoing, but it’s all in there. And I’m very envious of any of you who get to read it for the first time.
Oh, and I suspect that Henry S. Whitehead (old-school Weird Tales author) would probably have at least a couple of zombie stories. I can’t seem to find my copies of his books at the moment, so I can’t verify it, but it might be worth looking in to.
I am a big ol’ Zombie fanatic. Big fan. I have read most of the books mentioned here, actually, though I am missing the Keene stuff.
My problem with this book (and presumably it’s sequal) is that it was written by someone with no idea how the medical world works (you don’t shoot a subject in the chest to see if they come back from the dead, for instance. In a hospital. Bah.)
the other problem is that, if I remember correctly, the writer was a fan/forum member over at Hotel 23, JL Bourne’s site dealing with his excellent book “Day by Day Armaggedon”, and it’s slowly being written sequel (Bourne, being an active duty member of the military, has some other obligations that get in the way of his writing.)
Online, there is the Alpha Dog Livejournal, which starts out really good and then kind of peters out.
ETA: Put me down as one rotting for The Walking Dead. I loves me that series.
Also, there is a story out there, set up as a journal, about a zombie infestation on a remote research station in the arctic ocean (?). It was pretty good, if a bit silly at times.
I’ve read them online, and they were okay. Of course they might be better read in one go instead of bits here and there as I could get to them.
He’s also got vampire and werewolf stories on there. http://www.brokentype.com/monster/
Good reviews for The Walking Dead excite me – I’ve been fondling the books for a few months now and was anxious to hear positive things before plunking down the cash.
I was led astray by a zombie book display at Borders a while back – included among World War Z and some of the other books listed above, there was Dan Simmons’ The Terror. I bought it, and while it was a pretty good read, it was really not about zombies at all.
For the indiscriminate yet optimistic reader, may I call attention to Abaddon Books, a publisher of dark cheese fiction which, among other eclectic works, offers a series of mostly unrelated zombie novels entitled “The Tomes of the Dead.” I just finished reading The Words of Their Roaring, an adequately entertaining light read with a London setting which combines the generic zombie invasion with British gangland wars. That probably sounds more interesting than it actually is; but it’s a decent enough yarn, though it does leave a lot of questions unexplored (and the bogus science is sketchy enough to confuse bacteria and viruses on a regular basis, so be warned if that kind of thing bothers you).
Glancing over my booksheves, I note a somewhat older paperback that might be worth seeking out at the used book store: Out of the Night by Patrick Whalen, which mixes grave-bursting zombie goodness with a mystery cult looking to resurrect a bunch of quasi-Cthulhu monsters for no real good reason. It’s got a brisk pulpish Stephen King-lite quality to it (actually it hangs together a lot better than Cell, which admittedly is not saying much). Plus it teaches you how to defeat the Forces of Darkness with common household items from your own kitchen!
I don’t see the point in zombie literature either. The zombie thing has been going on for far too long. At least vampires have some cool points! Zombies are getting boring.
John Ringo’s Black Tide Rising series, somewhat ridiculous, occasionally offensive, generally good fun if you like killing hordes of zombies
Diana Rowland, White Trash Zombie series. I’ve wondered whether iZombie is based on these. A young woman wakes up as a zombie and works in a morgue to get access to brains. These are pretty good too. Less apocalypse, and more secret zombie network.
Mira Grant, Newsflesh series. You wouldn’t think there were that many “different” directions left to take on zombies, but this one seems fresh-ish.
Hmmm – a Zombie Thread about Zombie Literature. That’s pretty meta.
If you’re interested, you could read my humorous zombie story After the Bucket, about a zombie wandering through Boston’s North End after the Zombie Apocalypse, told from the point of view of said zombie. Here’s the thread where I posted about it when it came out five years ago:
For those time traveling forward from 2009, the best zombie series I’ve read is the V-Plague series by Dirk Patton. There are so far 16 novels in the series. Author started in December 2013 and the most recent one was published in December 2017. So that’s an average of a new book every 3 months! They are fast paced and the protagonist is a Jack Reacher type character.
The TV series of iZombie was based on the graphic novel series. That’s an interestingly parallel plot line, though - I wonder if lawsuits have happened?
For pure fluff (so far): Married with Zombies and its sequels. Couple is going to counseling because their marriage is on the rocks. Their counselor tries to eat them. They escape and flee the city, bashing zombies all the way, and growing closer. it’s not high literature, but as an ebook borrowed from the library it was entertaining enough.
