The Reader’s Corner

The New Dead - a Zombie Anthology edited by Christopher Golden.

Like with many anthologies, this collection had some that hit it out of the park and some that were less successful. There were definitely enough good ones to make it worth reading, though I did find myself a bit “zombie’d-out” after a while (I know - how can a person possibly get too much zombie action?! and yet, I did.) So I broke it up a bit by reading other things in between stories.

Some of my favorites were Lazarus by John Connolly, Second Wind by Mike Carey, Family Business by Jonathan Maberry, and The Zombie Who Fell From The Sky by M.B. Homler. They were all pretty good, interesting, and entertaining reads.

I was disappointed by Joe Hill’s entry, Twittering From The Circus of the Dead, which I expected to love. I think it was the end that failed for me. Among Us by Aimee Bender also fell short for me - I felt it just missed making the point it was trying to make. The Wind Cries Mary by Brian Keene was very lyrical and beautiful, but was missing something as well.

Overall, definitely worth a read-through, even if you skip some stories or certain ones aren’t for you. The great thing is there’s enough diversity that most people (maybe even people who don’t usually read zombie literature) will find at least one story they truly like.