I never knew there were so many ways to tell a zombie story. I pretty much thought that the George Romero version was it – dead people wandering around holding their arms out in front of them and calling out “braaaaaaains,” looking to munch on the living. I never did know why they had to hold their arms that way, but they all did – I thought.

John Joseph Adams, who has appeared on the reprint anthology scene with six reprint anthologies in the last two years (including Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse (post-apocalytic science fiction), Federations (about future intergalactic governments), and By Blood We Live (vampires), has chosen his material wisely in this collection of short stories about zombies by some of the biggest and best names in the horror business, as well as the newest and hottest. I resisted this book for a long time because I’ve never been fond of zombies, but upon diving in, I discovered that the zombies aren’t really the point; the point is to tell a good story. And these authors do that, with a vengeance.

My favorite story is “Almost the Last Story by Almost the Last Man” by Scott Edelman, a metafiction about a writer caught in the library when the zombie plague hits. He tries to tell the story of what has happened in several ways, meandering through several false starts, before he latches onto the notion of just telling the truth without any veneer of fiction. It doesn’t have an ending, exactly, because our author is still alive when we leave him, unable to write of his demise – he doesn’t know yet how the end will come. This Stoker-Award nominee is just flat out brilliant.

John Langan gives Edelman a run for his money in the only original tale in the anthology, “How the Day Runs Down.” This take on the classic play “Our Town,” written as a script narrated by the Stage Manager, will likely never be performed, but it brings vivid images to mind (particularly if you ever cried your eyes out watching your baby sister play the lead in the original). Langan is a remarkable new talent on the horror scene; I have yet to read anything he’s written without being bowled over. I can’t wait to read his first novel, House of Windows, due out next month from Night Shade Books.

“Death and Suffrage,” by Dale Bailey, will make anyone who has ever hailed from Chicago chuckle, as the dead line up to vote. Sherman Alexie’s “Ghost Dance,” which turned out to be the only story in The Living Dead that I’d read before, finally lets the Native Americans get their revenge on Custer. Susan Palwick looks at zombies from a completely different angle in “Beautiful Stuff,” portraying the dead as infinitely distractible beings with no malign intent – until one zombie shows signs of thinking for himself. Clive Barker contributes “Sex, Death and Starshine,” in which the dead seek only to continue doing what they loved doing in life, with a single-minded passion. Joe Hill, another fairly new horror writer who seems never to set a word in the wrong place, is represented by “Bobby Conroy Comes Back from the Dead,” something of an aberration in this anthology as it is about filming a zombie movie, rather than actual zombies, though it does speak – movingly – of the end of things.

There are 34 stories in this mammoth anthology, with contributions by almost every horror writer a regular reader of the fantastic will want to see: Dan Simmons, Kelly Link, Jeffrey Ford, Norman Partridge, Joe R. Lansdale, Neil Gaiman, George R.R. Martin, Poppy Z. Brite, Robert Silverberg and Harlan Ellison among them. Usually anthologies have a few throw-away stories, a few that just don’t work as well as the others do; one expects it, understanding that one’s own taste will not correspond 100% with the editor’s. But either John Joseph Adams had such a wealth of stories at his disposal or he and I are utterly simpatico, because there was not a single story here that I feel one could skip without regret. Everyone who wants to understand contemporary horror fiction needs to read this book. If you’re a critic, reviewer or scholar, you’ll most definitely want to own a copy.

The Living Dead is offered by small publisher Night Shade Books, which has been producing high-quality work in recent years. Lately I’m finding that I want to read almost every book it publishes, and I have a pile of its books vying for my attention. I’m glad Night Shade is out there. ( )

This anthology was a bit uneven for me: some of the stories were just AMAZING, but quite a few....*sigh*. Let's just say I read them to get it over with so I could go on to something else. Personally, my favorite story in this collection by far was "This Year's Class Picture", by the always fabulous Dan Simmons. Granted, it may appeal to me more than you, unless you too are a.) a teaher b.) a zombie fanatic c.) slightly disillusioned with the job and/or d.) have ever considered the laudable defense capabilities of most elementary schools (specifically in the North East) built in this country. :) ( )

I’ll admit that zombies can be tiresome; not much personality, kind of slow, easily defeated on a one-to-one basis. Certain liberties must be taken with the mythos to make such creatures interesting over the course of 400+ pages, but Adams puts in just the right mix of classic monster mayhem and mythological experimentation to make the whole of The Living Dead an absolutely spectacular collection. There is everything a zombiphile could want; gore, satire; parody, gore, emotion, comedy, gore, sex, nostalgia, and gore.

Read the rest of the review here. ( )

This book was fantastic. If you are a fan of zombies like I am then you totally dig this book. Some of the stories weren't that great and some others weren't what you'd expect when thinking of a zombie story, but all in all I thoughly enjoyed this book. It was pretty neat to see a whole bunch of different perspectives on zombies. You woouldn't think there'd be so many different ways to write about them. This book stands as my #2 favorite zombie book. My first definately being Brain Keene's City of the Dead. ( )

This short story collection from indie publisher Night Shade Books gathers together 34 examples of the best of the zombie short story genre. And yes, it's a larger genre than you might think, and home to some very unexpected authors (Sherman Alexie, anyone?) as well as some very familiar to fans of horror (Joe R. Lansdale and, yes, Stephen King.) Although there's very little original work here, it's a treat to have a sampling from such diverse sources and spanning so many years collected under one cover. For anyone who just can't get enough zombie apocalypse in their lives, this is the book for you. ( )