Stephen L. Antczak

DAW anthology collections draw some criticism because they're usually just average in terms of overall talent and enjoyment. Even when 'big names' in certain genre fields have a story involved, readers tend to believe it's not their 'best' work. I'm an anthology lover--I have two whole book shelves dedicated to anthologies in fact, a fair chunk of which is DAW because a lot of these stories aren't reprinted again.

Zombiesque is a better than average anthology however. I enjoyed more of the show more stories then I didn't enjoy and even the ones I didn't like were intriguing in how they approached zombies. This is an anthology from the 'zombie' point of view, but no two authors zombies are the same.

Tim Waggoner's short "Do No Harm" is about a former Doctor, now zombie, who understands the way she is (unable to harm the 'Warm Ones') is hurting her dependents (other zombies who have grouped under her to former a Hive like atmosphere). She knows she can't be something she isn't, but wants to be help her Hive. The resolution was unexpected, as was her reaction to it.

Robert Sommers story "Into That Good Night" is about a recently deceased family man who has only one goal in mind: to return home. Interspersed throughout are his memories--important moments in his life that give him some resemblance of ability to think. Oddly enough it was an uplifting story about a family and how much the man loved them.

The funniest story was Seanan MacGuire's "Gimme a Z!" about a cheerleader who recently died and is resurrected. She doesn't see any reason why even though she's dead she can't, you know, wash her hair or go out to get a soda or like be a cheerleader. The story is really ridiculous and what ultimately keeps her from being one of the shambling, flesh eating dead is just short of absurd, but its immensely entertaining.

Jim C. Hines' short "In the Line of Duty" made me a little tearful. A special force of zombies are utilized by the public to do high risk situations--they're more or less impervious to death after all. We follow them on a mission in which they have to hunt down a man who is part of a cult who believes zombies are the herald of the end of times and is using children in experiments.

Overall these are intriguing stories. Even the ones who made me uneasy (like Robert Lee Byers "Zombie Camp") kept me reading because this was a different viewpoint for me. Fiction from a zombie's view isn't plentiful (though Tim Waggoner does have the Matt Richter Zombie Detective series, everyone should read it) and as this collection showed, there's more than one way to view things. show less

Tom and Sparrow, his lover, are part of the punk music scene in present-day Gainesville, Florida. Sparrow is part of a band that has a gig at Dave-O’s, the local punk music club. Earlier that day, they score some LSD, that was not meant for them, from Galactic Bill, the local drug source.

Meantime, near Atlanta, Georgia, a young woman named Hanna wakes up in a suburban house next to a fat, hairy guy. She has no memory of who she is or how she got there, except for flashbacks of having show more served in the Vietnam War, even though she is nowhere near old enough to have served. Hanna gets in a car and heads south, not knowing where she is going. Along the way, she meets The General, an older man in uniform who certainly remembers Hanna.

When they reach Gainesville, Hanna realizes that The General is some sort of alien whose task is to absorb certain people, and thereby become part of Jovah. She realizes this after seeing The General swallow Galactic Bill whole, like a snake eating a rat. Back at the punk club, the LSD begins to have an effect, and suddenly, everyone at the club is flying, as long as the music keeps playing. When a malfunctioning amp stops the music, gravity takes over, violently. While in the air, Tom, Sparrow and their friends watch as a giant mechanical dragon lays waste to Gainesville, like a modern-day Godzilla movie. They can’t help but think that this is the ultimate drug trip, but this is reality (that’s the magic word). They meet Hanna and The General, who must absorb Hanna to become "whole."

This book does a fine job at messing with conceptions of reality. One can almost hear the punk music in the background. This one is really strange and really good. show less

I would have given it one star, but The Hollow Hounds; The Mechanical Wings; and, to a lesser extent, Fair Vasyl were actually good stories (and based on some of my favorite fairy tales). Most of the stories were predictable, and poorly thought out. Most were somewhat racist, many did not actually have anything to do with clockwork, a couple were not actually retellings of the fairy tales that "inspired" them, and one featured the main character lusting after and bathing nude with a girl who show more is cannoncally a child. Gross. I do not recommend this book show less

I think this anthology is definitely worth a read, more good than bad. With anthologies I usually just post my notes from each story (and my rating on a 10-point scale) and they usually have spoilers to remind me of what he story was about. So beware: SPOILERS

K.W. Jeter - La Valse (7.0) Rich people are a-holes and they die horribly in the clockwork dance machine - just like they should.

Jay Lake - You Will Attend Until Beauty Awakens (7.0) Liked the writing, setting and characters but the show more ending wasn't really a surprise. Also not sure why everyone in the castle fell asleep instead of just her.

Kat Richardsons - The Hollow Hounds (7.5) This was fun with all the mechanical contraptions. I still don't understand where the music box originally came from. Liked the period and the scar where he had to wind himself up.

Paul Di Filippo - The King of the Golden Mountain (8.0) Great writing, cool idea. Invention puts souls into other bodies. Takes over Ulysses Grant to become president.

G.K. Hayes - The Clockwork Suit (6.0) Good story but the ending is pretty lame. No big surprise and not much closure.

Gregory Nicoll - The Steampiper, the Stovepiper, and the Pied Piper of New Hamelin, Texas (6.5) This works as a pulpy adventure story but the ending is kind of disturbing just to make a joke. The girl needed to be older.

Pip Ballantine - The Mechanical Wings (8.0) Cool floating cities, "countries" named after birds, cool magic/clockwork mix. Very fairy tale feel but not too lite.

Nancy A. Collins - Mose and the Automatic Fireman (7.0) Very cool setting. He's basically a superhero and a legend. Fun.

Steven Harper - Fair Vasyl (6.0) Not bad but seemed kinda light. Steampunk elements seemed kinda forced. Broom was too powerful solved all problems. show less