Guest review with Yolanda Sfetsos- Zombie: An Anthology of the Undead

ZOMBIE: An Anthology of the Undead

Let me start with this: I'm a huge zombie fan. I love all-things zombie. So, as soon as I saw the cover for this book online, I knew it was a book that I desperately wanted to read. Don't you just love that creepy, cool, and gross cover? It certainly captures the essence of this wonderful collection of stories.

LAZARUS by John Connolly is a zombie short of biblical proportions. It's a quick, well-written, and totally engrossing tale that I found to be a nice nibble-bite introduction for this very cool anthology.

WHAT MAISIE KNEW by David Liss: Wow, what an amazingly haunting story! This is the tale of a man who keeps a secret reanimate stashed away. Sounds pretty simple, right? Well, it's not. But it is a page-turner. I hung on every word and didn't want it to end. But when I got to the end, OMG... what an amazing way to end it. I should've seen it coming. The hints were there--amongst all that gross, intense awesomeness.

I LOVED it! Utterly brilliant.

COPPER by Stephen R. Bissette is a fragmented story told through the eyes of a very confused man. As the story progresses, he reveals enough for the reader to put the story together. But what actually happens isn't something I expected.

IN THE DUST by Tim Lebbon: Here's another amazing story. Toby, Jamie and Bindy are trapped inside their town. High fences keep them inside their dying town as the military and scientists keep an eye on them, to make sure they can keep the plague contained, as well as figure out how it started. Of course, they hate being trapped inside. After all, they haven't done anything wrong.

What I loved the most about this story--asides from the excellent writing and storytelling--was that their entrapment ends up being their salvation. Another brilliant tale!

LIFE SENTENCE by Kelley Armstrong is an awesome addition! I love Kelley's Otherworld series, and it was great to see that this story is set in the same world. I love how she does that. Anyway, this story's about a very powerful but sick man who is trying to cheat death and will do whatever it takes to do it. Another story with twists, turns, and an ending that satisfied my wicked side.

DELICE by Holly Newstein: Happens to be another delightful tale. I knew there had to be a voodoo zombi in this anthology and this one didn't disappoint. It's a revenge story. Even if that revenge is taken by someone else, but on behalf of tortured slaves.

THE WIND CRIES MARY by Brian Keene is a short and wonderful story with a twist ending. I enjoyed how quick, yet sharp it was. It captured the emotion of a powerful love that defied death. Great story.

FAMILY BUSINESS by Jonathan Maberry is an outstanding, well-written, and very sad story about a young boy and his older brother. A brother who people say is a killer in a world where zombies live outside the fences surrounding the town. When it's time for Benny to find his own job, he finds he has no other option but to go out with his brother to learn the business, and finds out the truth. A truth that leads to a very sad ending. This story made me cry. I loved it!

THE ZOMBIE WHO FELL FROM THE SKY by M.B. Homler: A hilarious tale that weaves an intricate tale where everything that happens is connected. Of course, you don't realise that at the beginning, but by the time you're reading the last word you just can't help but stare at the page in amazement. A story that starts with a zombie falling from the sky and getting stuck on the town's spire turns into one loser's struggle to survive with a chihuahua by his side. I did a lot of LOLing with this one.

MY DOLLY by Derek Nikitas. I don't know what to say about this one. I enjoyed the writing and couldn't wait to see where it was going... but in the end, I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. It was pretty average, to be honest.

SECOND WIND by Mike Carey: Oh, I loved this one! Nick's tale was an awesome adventure, and a totally different look at the zombie genre. Who would think to become a zombie by choice? And go through everything he does. I loved that in the end, he might be totally alone, but manages to hold onto some of his humanity.

CLOSURE, LTD by Max Brooks: I don't know if it's because I haven't read any stories in the World War Z world, but I just couldn't get into this one. The writing style kept jolting me out of the story. :/ Maybe the novel's better. I don't know.

AMONG US by Aimee Bender isn't really a story, but a collection of observations, really. I didn't enjoy this one. I'm glad it was short, because I was getting ready to skip ahead. :(

GHOST TRAP by Rick Hautala is a very interesting tale about a man who thinks he's helping to rescue someone he finds beneath the water, but actually turns into a nightmare. A nightmare that the residents of this town were positive had been buried beneath the water years ago. I particularly enjoyed that a zombie outbreak had already happened in the past, and had been cleaned up. Awesomely gruesome ending.

THE STORM DOOR by Tad Williams is another one that made it onto my favourite list. Instantly. I got caught up in the story as soon as I started it. What an amazing tale Tad manages to weave with this character, which I was hoping we'd get to read more stories about. But, um, I don't think so... not after what happens. Still, brilliant!

KIDS AND THEIR TOYS by James A. Moore: This is another excellent story. It's actually quite horrific. It's gross, and I found myself feeling sorry for the poor zombie that this group of boys find and decide to torture. And the ending, I'm still thinking about it. Poor Jack. :(

SHOOTING POOL by Joe R. Lansdale: Uh, next story.

WEAPONIZED by David Wellington is a story set in the near future, when the army has found a new solution to save lives and money on the frontline. A journalist initially sent to investigate one thing, winds up stumbling on these new soldiers--zombies. I'm usually not a fan of war stories, but I really enjoyed this one!

TWITTERING FROM THE CIRCUS OF THE DEAD by Joe Hill: While I enjoyed the uniqueness of this... story. Can I really call it a story? lol. I think it's great in a way that all of us who love to spend time on Twitter can appreciate. It was a fun, quick read.

Zombie: An Anthology of the Undead offers a fantastic mix of zombie stories that will satisfy any zombie lover. I think this is one of the best anthologies I've ever read, simply because I absolutely LOVED so many of the stories. There were only a handful that didn't satisfy my zombie itch, but that didn't matter because the other fourteen did! And that's an amazing accomplishment.

I think Christopher Golden did a great job at selecting and editing this gem of a book. This one's a definite keeper. I know I'll be picking it up again to re-read a bunch of these stories. :)

Zombie: An Anthology of the Undead, March 2010, ISBN 978-074-995293-8, Piatkus Fiction Paperback

Yolanda Sfetsos is a writer who loves reading and writing about the supernatural. She also loves to read, and collects books. Feel free to visit her website: www.yolandasfetsos.com

 

Guest post and contest with Jesse Petersen

As you know, Bite Club is expanding to include zombies and I am thrilled to have author Jesse Petersen here today to talk about her new book, Married With Zombies. Jesse will be stopping by throughout the day to answer any and all zombie related questions, and don't forget to read the end of the post for contest details. And now...here's Jesse!

Love is a Battlefield

Jesse Petersen

First off I want to say thanks so much to BiteClub for featuring me and MARRIED WITH ZOMBIES on the blog! What a big honor to be the first zombie book covered here. I happen be a little biased toward zombie fiction, so I think it’s awesome that the blog is expanding its horizons! And I’d also like to add that I shall lurk about on comments today, so if you have questions/comments on the zombie genre or MWZ, do shout them out and I’ll try to be a good advocate for the zombie-fied and brain-hungry.

A lot of people ask me how in the world I wrote a fantasy/urban fantasy zombie comedy, especially since this is not the background I come from as a writer (I actually write historical romance under another name and it’s all serious and dark and sexy). The answer is pretty much Sarah, my main character from MARRIED WITH ZOMBIES.

You see, I was minding my own business, writing my other stories and then one night I went to see “Zombieland” with my husband and some friends. This 2009 horror comedy featured zombies (sweet!) and Woody Harrelson (AWESOME) and how could anyone resist that potent and hilarious combination? Not me. I loved the movie and within twenty-four hours this scene started bothering me. Poking me. Whispering at me. Very distracting, I can tell you.

The scene is the opening one of MARRIED WITH ZOMBIES where Sarah and David, married couple of the brink of divorce, find that their marriage counselor has been turned into a zombie and is eating the couple on her schedule before them. And the scene was gory and funny. And the reactions of Dave and Sarah were funny (at least in my head). And somehow I decided that I HAD to write it down, even if it was only entertain myself.

But since I am a writer by trade, I could just write that scene and be happy. I really had to see where it went from there. And that meant I had to figure out what was up with Dave and Sarah. Why were they in counseling? Why were they so mad at each other? Could their marriage be saved by a zombie apocalypse? As I started to answer those questions, both in my head and on paper as I wrote, I started to have even more fun. These were modern people with a sense of humor and sensibility about the world that was pretty similar to my own (probably I’m a combination of Dave and Sarah, to be honest). So I got to throw all my sarcasm and swearing onto the page and just PLAY.

So who is Sarah? A harried woman married very young who had thoughts about what her life would be like and the ones she’s living is NOT it. She’s frustrated by her husband’s lack of ambition and her own dead-end job and life and little by little that has torn away at the foundations of why they liked each other to begin with. And that doesn’t sound very funny, but to me it was very real. These are real things that break up real couples every day. So if I was going to throw in zombies, I wanted the problems at the core of their marriage to be real and relatable.

And then there was David. Since Sarah narrates the story, I couldn’t get as deeply into his head, but through his actions I think it’s pretty clear that he’s not particularly happy about the direction of his life, either. He feels guilty that his choices have put them in a bad situation, but the more Sarah gets pissed, the more he retreats to a world of video games and tv. Luckily, he plays a lot of zombie killing games. That will come in handy when the zombies hit the fan.

So then I took these two people and threw them into a situation where they had to forget how irritated they were at each other and start working together. Will they remember why they got married in the first place? Will they escape Seattle with Brrrrraaaains intact? Will they even survive? Well, I guess you
have to read to find out.

To learn more about Jesse and her books, visit her new website!

Want a look at Married With Zombies? Click here.

My thanks to Jesse Petersen for stopping by at Bite Club! Jesse and her publishers have generously given me 3 copies of Married With Zombies to giveaway to 3 lucky Bite Club readers. If you want a chance to win, leave a question for Jesse or leave a comment answering the question: Why read zombies?

Official contest rules:

*You must leave a comment/ask a question to have a chance to win.

*Contest will run until September 29th and the winner will be announced on September 30th.

*Please leave your contact info if an email isn't listed in your profile.

Review: Married With Zombies by Jesse Petersen

From the Publisher:
Meet Sarah and David— a couple on the verge of divorce. On their way to marriage counseling, they notice a few odd things: a missing guard, a lack of cars on the freeway, and their counselor ripping out the throat of her previous client.

Now it’s up to David and Sarah to work together, save their marriage — and survive in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.

Review:
Zombies are gross and totally creepy so I was a little hesitant to read this book for fear of having nightmares for the next year or so. It's true. But I must like to be scared because I watch zombie movies even though they scare me senseless and I bravely put on my brave girl face and started reading my very first zombie book.

I'm so glad I decided to step out of my comfort zone because Married With Zombies was like reading Shaun of the Dead, funny and scary at the same time!

Some of the descriptions were completely whacked and left me with more than one disturbing visual. Vomiting black sludge was a total eww! moment, as was the image of a legless zombie dragging itself across the road. A few moments had me wanting to scrub out my brain so I wouldn't be forever traumatized by the thought of a therapist eating a patient, or a neighbor being bashed with a toilet seat. Okay, the toilet scene was actually kind of funny.

Sarah and David had issues but I loved how the zombie threat brought them closer together. Yes, they still bicker but they are committed to each other and also to fighting the zombies until the absolute end.

Some of my favorite lines/scenes are:

Beer.
F@#^ that sounded good.
Even though it was barely eight-thirty in the morning. But zombieism breeds alcoholism. It's true. Look it up.

and then,

These were times I was glad I had married a former Boy Scout. Those rope-tying skills had come in handy more than once during our relationship. What? Everyone experiments. Don't judge.

So if you want a good laugh and a fun-filled action adventure, give Jess Petersen a try. And to learn more about upcoming zombie books, or if you just want to send a zombie valentine...visit her website.

*This book was given to me by the publisher (Orbit/Hachette Book Group).
*Reviewed for Bite Club by Anna Dougherty.