Book: The Dead That Walk

Genre: Horror

Julia Rating: 10

Comments: The Dead That Walk is a short story book with zombie-esque shorts by authors like Joe Hill, Stephen King, H.P. Lovecraft, Kim Newman and many many more wonderful authors.

“What’s this?” you ask, “Julia actually read a book about zombies?  What is the world coming to?”

I know, I know, I actually did read an entire book full of zombie short stories. When I went to Portland, Oregon for my birthday in December, I went to the awesome bookstore – Powells – and looked around for a fantastic book. To be honest, I was looking for The Living Dead, which has several of the same authors, but also includes Neil Gaiman and George R.R. Martin.  Anyway, I didn’t find that book, so I got The Dead That Walk and found out that a) I loved it and b) it didn’t give me nightmares.  So, maybe I’ve outgrown the whole nightmare part of zombies.

One really cool thing about this collection is that there are so many different types of zombie stories here.  There is a traditional, voodoo zombie story, there’s several brain eating stories, there’s a story which points up how humanity could be affected by the walking dead, without actually showing you any zombies.  Some of these stories are chilling in how much they point to man’s inhumanity to man, while others are actually very touching and sweet.  I think it was an extremely well put-together collection with a story for pretty much anyone.

Also, I’ve come to really enjoy short story collections.  They are nice if you want to take a little break from a full length novel you may be reading, or something to read on your lunch break.  Also, I don’t feel obligated to read them like I do with a short story magazine.  With a magazine, you’re going to get another one in a month or two, so you’d better be done with your current issue by then.  With a book of short stories, you can be leisurely, you can skip stories only to come back to them later.   It doesn’t matter.  There’s no rush.

So, if you like zombies or zombie stories, check out The Dead That Walk. If you buy it from the link I provide here, Amazon will pay me.

Horror
For those friends and family members who like the thrill of fear crawling up their spines when they read:

- Salem’s Lot or The Shining or really anything by Stephen King
Salem’s Lot is a classic vampire novel (they don’t glitter) in which few survive and evil vampires overrun the town of Salem. The Shining is a freaky book that is WAY better than the movie and will send shivers up your spines. It’s a horror must read.

Because I’m such a King fan, I’ll recommend a few other books by him for your friends who love horror:
- It (I’m reading it right now and it’s scaring the crap out of me).
- Duma Key which I reviewed.
- Carrie which is an extremely disturbing story about a telekinetic misfit who kills most of her high school.
- Cujo – a tragic story about a rabid dog, a child and a mother.
Obviously Stephen King has written a ton, so just dive in.

- Edgar Allan Poe: Selected Works
This is a great compilation of Poe works. My favorite is The Masque of the Red Death. Extremely scary.

- Tales of H. P. Lovecraft
H.P. Lovecraft is the king of weird horror. It’s a compilation of H.P. Lovecraft’s short stories. I wouldn’t say his stuff scares me, but it’s pretty creepy.

- Infected by Scott Sigler
I’ve reviewed Infected previously and I still absolutely love it. The sequel is Contagious, which also absolutely rocks. I reviewed that one too. They are awesome books, horrific, extremely bloody and macabre.

- Crescent by Phil Rossi
I haven’t reviewed this one yet, but Crescent is a Sci Fi/Horror novel about a haunted space station which wants to consume every living inhabitant. It’s definitely rated R, so don’t get it for any young folk.

- Locke & Key by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez
This is a graphic novel series about the Locke family who, because of the father’s horrific murder, have moved to the family home “Keyhouse”. They think they’ve gotten away from their past, but the ghost haunting the well of Keyhouse proves them wrong in a macabre and bloody scene.

I’ve reviewed the first Locke and Key novel and am in the process of reading the rest of them. Book 2 – Locke & Key: Head Games is a great extension to the story. I can’t wait to read more.

- Pseudopod CDs
No Horror fan’s collection of books would be complete without a subscription to Pseudopod(which is free). Barring that, get them one of the cds of this fantastic podcast of short fiction. I happen to love all three of the podcasts in the Escape Pod/Pseudopod/Pod Castle network, but Pseudopod is what any horror fan needs to accompany them through their journey through short fiction. (I don’t get paid to recommend these guys, I just love them and the short stories they provide really are awesome.)

So now, to H.P. Lovecraft.  I know that he is one of the premier men of weird fiction (which includes horror, sci fi and fantasy), and Stephen King even said he is “the Twentieth Century’s greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale”.  However, I have not found an H.P. Lovecraft story that really struck me as frightening or anything but… well… weird. However, I found an H.P. Lovecraft spin-off that I really enjoyed.

So, unfortunately I don’t have any recommendations on this one.  He’s a very interesting writer and I’ve actually found his bio to be more interesting than the stories he wrote, but that’s just me.
 

Week 1 – New Books: October 1st – 11th
- Infected: A Novel by Scott Sigler
- Devil Bones by Kathy Reichs
- Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris (not a new book – but a new HBO tv show: TrueBlood is based upon this book.
- In the Woods by Tana French

Week 2 – Classics: October 12th – 18th
This is not a book review week, but a discussion of classic horror writers
- Ray Bradbury
- H.G. Wells
- Bram Stoker
- Edgar Allen Poe
- H.P. Lovecraft

Week 3 – Odds & Ends: October 19th – 25th
- The Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz
- Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
- Acceptable Risk by Robin Cook

Week 4 – Supernatural/Very Creepy: October 26th – 31st
- Duma Key by Stephen King
- Strange Candy by Laurell K. Hamilton
- World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks*
- Deadly Night by Heather Graham (as yet unreleased)

*Just so you know how far I’m going for you, you must know that zombies terrify me. The rest of these novels will give me a little zing – a bit of suspense, maybe a sick feeling in my stomach, World War Z will most likely make me paranoid all month.

**Another “just so you know”, I will put links to the posts in this post as I go, so if someone stumbles upon this mid horror month, they can track.

9/24/08: Revision to book list: I changed from The Shack: Special Edition by William P. Young to Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris. This is because as I read The Shack, I find that it’s more theological than anything else.  Sorry about the mix up.

10/31/08: I ran out of time in reading Deadly Night by Heather Graham, so I read and reviewed The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.