Book review: Empire, by David Dunwoody

Empire is a zombie novel by author and short story writer David Dunwoody.  The book takes place, as many zombie novels do, in post-apocalyptic America.  The zombie plague has been around for a hundred years or so, and much of the United States has been overrun and is now considered "badlands."  The book chronicles the adventures of residents of Jefferson Harbor, Louisiana, struggling to eke out a day-to-day existence and fight off the ever-growing legions of shambling undead.

Where the book strays from the typical zombie novel plot is the addition of one more character: Death.  Death, or the Grim Reaper, has come to Jefferson Harbor to slay zombies, whose very existence is an affront to everything he knows.

The book has its pros and cons, but Dunwoody's treatment and personification of Death is nicely done.  The concept alone deserves recognition, and Dunwoody handles it very well.  The Grim Reaper enters the story to collect a dying man's soul and slice a zombie in half, and over the course of the book develops into a full-fledged character.

At under 300 pages, Empire is a short novel that doesn't waste much space with unimportant details or unnecessary info dumps.  The book starts out with a letter written by a soldier, used as exposition for the reader.  While most of the information in the letter helps to set the scene, it reads a little awkwardly at times, and could easily have been cut in half without much loss to the story.

Zombies have been done to death (no pun intended) in books and movies lately, and Dunwoody makes every effort to separate Empire from the pack.  He even introduces new slang to replace the over-used terms "zombie" and "undead," which for many readers may come as a welcome change.

Dunwoody is clearly a talented writer, and his action scenes are intense and well-described.  There are many typos throughout the book, especially in the latter half, that over time tend to draw the reader out of the story (which is never a good thing).  The book's main fault is its ambition: so many characters come and go that it is hard to keep track of them all.  More than once as I started a new chapter I found myself trying to remember who the character being mentioned was.

The problems I had with Empire were minor (and mostly technical issues).  The author's character-oriented style and superior storytelling ability make this book stand out from the horde of other zombie novels on the market.  I would heartily recommend Empire to any fan of apocalyptic horror, or horror in general.

The 2010 edition currently available from Amazon ($11.48), Bookshop ($19.99) and others is a newer edition than the one I read.  It may be slightly different (and hopefully fixed the typos).

At the time of this review, the author was working with the publisher on a sequel.

(Originally posted on Helium.com 3/22/09)
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Book review: Bits of the Dead, edited by Keith Gouveia

From the dark minds of 38 horror writers comes a collection of short zombie fiction, appropriately enough titled Bits of the Dead.  The anthology includes a tiny tale from each writer (most are less than two pages) tackling the subject of zombies from every angle.

Many of the writers included in this book are well-known and highly-respected authors.  Some of the numerous recognizable names include (in no particular order) Tim Waggoner, Kurt Newton, Steve Vernon, Piers Anthony, Charles Gramlich, and Marcie Lynn Tentchoff.  All of the stories come illustrated by Sean Simmans.

Most of the stories chosen by editor Keith Gouveia deserve to be included.  There are a few misses (as there will always be), but for the most part, this is an anthology of good, strong zombie stories.

Lee Thomas starts the anthology off with a three-paragraph-long story, "Tuesday."  While besieged by hungry zombies, a small group of survivors discovers that the two species are not quite as different as they thought.

Nate Southard's story, "Another Lonesome Day," brings one man's loneliness to a whole new level.  In "The Courting," Piers Anthony shows that even in a world full of zombies, there's no escaping sexual harassment.

One of the best stories of the lot is Drew Brown's "Run."  A father's love for his family is tested, and Brown paces the story perfectly for maximum effect.

Another stand-out story is Charles Gramlich's "Once Upon a Time with the Dead."  The story is action-packed, and you can almost see it playing out in your head as a movie.

Ed Dempster's "Carson's End" had a lot of potential, and the tone of the story made it interesting, but in the end it just failed to deliver.

Another story that I wouldn't have missed is "It's a Shame It Had to End Like This," by Michael Laimo.  The plot is interesting, and the story is well-written -- especially the action -- but the climax is told to the reader, rather than shown, and it's a bit of a letdown.

Overall, Bits of the Dead is a worthwhile collection of zombie flash fiction.  Horror fans will enjoy this book, especially those that are constantly on the go or prefer very short stories.  If you've read Bits of the Dead and are in search of another dark flash fiction anthology, try Book of Shadows from Brimstone Press.

Bits of the Dead is a 171-page paperback published by Coscom Entertainment and edited by Keith Gouveia.  The book is available online from AbeBooks and Amazon.

(Originally posted on Helium.com, June 2009)

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Book Review: Inhuman, by Joshua Gage

I've had this book for a year or so now, but haven't been able to find the time to read it until this week.  Zombies have invaded popular culture for a while now, and there's plenty of zombie poetry to be found.  Some of it is good, and some of it is crap that people are just throwing out there to try to make money.  Inhuman: Haiku from the Zombie Apocalypse is a strong collection of zombie poetry that can stand with the best of them.

Inhuman is a small chapbook of zombie poems, written by Joshua Gage.  It's almost pocket-sized (5.5" x 8.5") and it's only 36 pages long.  The book is broken into four sections: Genesis, Outbreak, Invasion, and Survival.

The haiku in this book paint a vivid picture of how the zombie apocalypse begins.  Gage shows you exactly what takes place, in stark snapshots of terror and confusion.

open grave
the moonlight glistens
on coffin splinters

Some of the poems bring the scenes into focus, while others are jagged action shots.  All are good, and make this an outstanding collection.

subway doors
the stretch of its skin
before it rips free

There are far too many good poems to list or describe them all here.  Gage is a master poet, using the haiku form effectively.  Punctuation is minimal, letting the images speak for themselves.  The haiku are spread out enough that they don't seem crowded on the page.

The book includes poems that have been published in journals and magazines, including Fear and Trembling, Niteblade, Scifaikuest, and more.  There is an excellent introduction by Deborah P. Kolodji that discusses both zombie poetry in general and this collection in particular.

Inhuman: Haiku from the Zombie Apocalypse is #18 in The Poet's Haven Author Series, published in May 2013.  It sells for $6 on both the Poet's Haven website and Amazon.com.  It is well worth the price.  Inhuman is the best collection of zombie haiku I've read.

Book review: Breathers, by S.G. Browne

It seems like a new zombie novel is being written everyday. Many of them are the same -- zombies come back to life, attack people, eat people, and cause major havoc. But Breathers, by S.G. Browne, is a totally different kind of zombie novel (sort of).

Breathers is a zombie novel in the sense that it's "about" zombies. In fact, it's much more about zombies than any other zombie novel I've read. The book delves into social, political, and humane issues that focus on the undead but could really pertain to any minority in some way. In addition to being somewhat allegorical, Breathers is hilarious.

Andy Warner is a zombie. He died in a car crash and came back to life, much to his family's (and his own) surprise. He's not the first person to reanimate, and like all the other zombies, Andy is treated like a pariah.

Breathers chronicles Andy's undeath, giving readers valuable insight into the mind and spirit of a modern California zombie and his struggle for equality. The book is written in the first person present tense, which works well for this story and which the author has a genuine knack for. S.G. Browne's conversational tone and darkly comic first-person narration are strongly reminiscent of another talented author, Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club, Choke).

Browne has a keen ability to bring his characters into sharp focus, which -- even though they're not alive -- makes them real to the reader and keeps the story flowing along. Never before have zombies been so easy to sympathize with and so natural to root for.

Breathers starts off slow, as a drawn-out flashback, but the story builds toward a roller-coaster climax that any horror fan will enjoy. The book will also appeal to readers who like dark humor and those who love to see the underdog put up a good fight.

In the words of the main character: "Is it necrophilia if we're both dead?"

Book review: Zombie Haiku

Okay, so I finally got around to reading Zombie Haiku by Ryan Mecum. I've had the book (suggested to me by Don Wentworth) for many months now, and last week I wrestled it out of my growing pile of unread books.

As a fan of both zombie poetry and haiku, I was really looking forward to reading this book. The idea is unique -- the book chronicles the life and times of a zombie, in haiku form. HOW Books did a great job producing the book; it's very professionally printed, with a full-color cover and interior photos and illustrations. There is even a whole website set up to promote the book (ZombieHaiku.com), complete with a three-minute YouTube trailer and zombie haiku written by famous people like Billy Collins and Doug Benson.

But the book itself didn't lived up to the hype. I was expecting more from the author -- from what I've read by him on the Internet, he has a great sense of humor and a talent for writing.

Zombie Haiku isn't bad, it just isn't as good as I thought it would be. The haiku are all written in 5-7-5, which seems arbitrary and unnecessary to me. Very few poets can put together a good haiku using that strict syllable count.

There were certainly some haiku that stood out from the others

little old ladies
speed away in their wheelchairs,
frightened meals on wheels.

and made me either laugh or cringe

Blood is really warm.
It's like drinking hot chocolate
but with more screaming.

but for the most part, the haiku were more narrative than anything else. The same joke (which was funny the first time)

He tends not to flinch,
though I'm yelling in his ear,
which is in my hand.

was repeated twice more with different body parts.

The book is 140 pages long, which is a lot of haiku to write about the same subject. I give Mr. Mecum kudos for writing the book, but if he had developed the poems more as haiku (drop the syllable count, focus on things like juxtaposition and the haiku moment) rather than just as a vehicle to tell the story, I would have liked the book a lot more.

As a whole, I sort of liked the book. It takes a pretty cool idea and presents it in an interesting way, but the majority of the haiku would not stand so well on their own. I would recommend this book for fans of horror poetry, but not for fans of haiku. If you love zombie poems, then you'll probably want to pick up a copy of Zombie Haiku, regardless of what I say. And you'll probably enjoy reading it.

You can get the book from HOW Books, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or the F+W Publications Bookstore for $9.99.

Zombie Haiku and a haiku contest

What better way to combine haiku and horror than with a book called Zombie Haiku: Good Poetry For Your...Brains? Written by Ryan Mecum, the book is a collection of haiku written from the point of view of a zombie. I haven't read the book, but after checking out the Zombie Haiku website, I'm ordering it now. There is an awesome 3-minute YouTube video, featuring some of the poems from the book read by blood-soaked zombies, as well as zombie haiku written by famous people, from Billy Collins to Michael Ian Black. (Thanks to Don Wentworth, editor of Lilliput Review and Modest Proposal Chapbooks, for the link!)

And speaking of haiku, if you're a member of FanStory.com (which I think is free, but I could be wrong), they've got a haiku contest running right now, with a $100 Visa gift card top prize. Deadline is December 10th, and second and third place poems win "member dollars." I'm not sure exactly what member dollars will buy you, but I'm pretty sure they'll buy you more than no dollars at all.

Get your stories and poems ready... both Apex Digest and Star*Line will reopen to subs on January 1st.