Zombie Week is coming! Zombie Week is coming!

This post originally appeared on I Read Odd Books

I know things have been quiet here at IROB. I’ve been busy doing all the usual things I do, like steam cleaning the carpets every other day, baking for assorted family members, getting a bone marrow biopsy, and having a complete personality meltdown after a mega dose of Versed. Pretty much a normal March. You know how it is.

But now that the voices in my head have stopped telling me to eat my own hair, I’m back in the saddle and ready to talk odd books, so look for some reviews this week. But mostly you need to look out for Zombie Week, which will begin on 3/28/11.

Now, bear with me, because not all of the zombie books I am going to discuss are full-bore odd. Some are incredibly violent, and some take the definition of what is a zombie to a new place, but these books may push my own admittedly liberal criteria of what is “odd.” But you know, what’s the point of having your own site to discuss books if you can’t do whatever the hell you want from time to time.

Like all my past themed weeks, I will be giving away free books. This time, I am giving away all five books to one winner. All you have to do to enter is to leave a single comment here to any of the Zombie Week reviews. Give me a comment before 9:00 pm CST on 4/1/11 on any entry for Zombie Week and you’ll be entered to win ALL FIVE BOOKS. You can leave as many comments as you want but I will only count one each day, a max of five (5) entries. So that means that if you get into a multi-comment thread discussing whether or not combining zombies and vampires is the best thing ever, only one of those comments will count. But hey, five chances to win a big ol’ box of zombie books isn’t bad. Not bad at all.

So come and comment and comment often, not only because winning five books will be AWESOME, but also because I am a zombie novice. I generally am not one for supernatural monsters (aside from Gary Oldman as Dracula because he righteously owned that role), and this is my first heavy-duty foray into the zombie genre. I wanna know what you think. I want you to recommend books. I did my best to avoid the usual ringers, like all the Max Brooks novels, because I suspect they are mainstream enough that people who read here regularly might e-moon me, but I think I found some excellent books to talk about. So keep your eyes peeled, because Zombie Week is coming!

The books I plan to discuss:
3/28: Dr. Dale’s Zombie Dictionary: The A-Z Guide to Staying Alive
3/29: Dead Bitch Army by Andre Duza
3/30: Vegan Revolution… with Zombies by David Agranoff
3/31: Jack’s Magic Beans by Brian Keene
4/1: Dust by Joan Frances Turner

59 thoughts on “Zombie Week is coming! Zombie Week is coming!

  1. For me the best Dracula portrayal is the 70’s german remake of nosferatu called Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht , it has that dash of rotten that makes him perfect , like blue cheese

    I once had coffee and cakes in the supposed house where he was born(the guy who inspired the novel, who ironically was a much more ruthless fucker )
    Have fun with them zombies Anita!

    1. See, I need my vampires not to smell or in any way remind me they are undead because I’m girlie like that.

      Wait, you had coffee and cakes in the house where Vlad Tepes was born? Ted? Really? 😮

  2. I really wanted to impress you with some review of obscure Zombie books that I’ve known and loved, but sadly, as I read your list I realised that nothing I have can match the obscurity of your finds.

    I pride myself on reading everything, and devouring books, okay so maybe not chicklit as much but we all have a stopping point somewhere, and yet against your lists I fall somewhat short.

    Tough times if you are me.

    Any way, I look forward to your reviews.

    Also, as a side note, recently I’ve been reading, reading, reading, just waiting for the book to pick me up and shake me, and I feel, if anything, as if I’m getting further from my desired state. Any prescriptions from the Dr of Odd Books would be well received.

    Okay, one too many commas later and I’m off. Thank you for letting me babble in this space.

    1. Babble as much as you want. Babbling is why I exist, I think.

      Never hesitate to recommend a book to me because I read lots of books that never get discussed on this site. Lots of people are reluctant to recommend books for fear I will not consider them odd enough but there is nothing I like more than being steered towards an excellent book, regardless of genre.

      The first book that comes to mind in terms of just being the sort of book that will punch you in the face is The Orange Eats Creeps by Grace Krilanovich. This one has been on people’s radars for a bit but I am always behind. I have a hard time being on the cutting edge, but I started reading it and am just absorbed. And I always tell people to read How to Eat Fried Furries by Nicole Cushing. I still get… freaked out when I think of some scenes in that book.

    1. Wow, thanks for reading magpie – please be sure to enter the drawing for the free books. Free books are how I show love.

  3. I’m curious to see the other side of the zombie world. As a person who loved World War Z but had never previously been into the zombie genre, I am looking forward to seeing your reviews. (I think my love of World War Z stems so much from my childhood of watching way, way too much CNN and Headline news and how the book captured that strange documentary for cable television feel.)

    1. See, Mr Oddbooks is one of the reasons I am reluctant to read the book, despite so many people telling me to read it. He didn’t groove on the report to the UN thing but I need to just shut up and read it, I think because I think I like that sort of watching the world die on TV feeling. I think our generation really did embrace the idea that the revolution/disaster/epidemic/zombie apocalypse will be televised.

      I still have a book for you, Anton. Ugh, you know I am 85% headcase, 10% cat hair and 5% focus. I’ll send you an e-mail soon.

      1. Regarding World War Z – I highly recommend the audio book. I’m not much fir them, but this one is SO well done. Max Brooks narrates it and each interview is read by another actor. Alan Alda, Henry Rollins, and the list goes on! I’ve read the book, but I keep going back to the audio anytime I have to make a road trip. It is so very enjoyable.

    1. Oooo, Stephanie, you need to be sure to read here on Wednesday because The Vegan Revolution… with Zombies has a character who edits for the book’s version of Quirk Books. The zombies in Vegan Revolution are not charming, but the book is both satirical and earnest, which is no small feat.

    1. Oh wow, be sure to leave comments on all of the five book discussions and good luck! Glad to be of potential help to another zombie novice. 😉

  4. Zombie books and movies are a real passion of mine. There is something very frightening about a creature that has no thought or emotion, and cannot be dissueded or bargained with.
    I can’t wait to read the books on your list

    1. Chris, I have had a hard time pinning down why I am finding myself fascinated with zombies. I am beginning to think it is a relic from being a child of the ’80s, wherein I was waiting for the nuclear apocalypse. I think the zombie apocalypse fits neatly into the part of my brain that was trained to find the end of the world both fascinating and inevitable. I had not considered the implications of being unable to reason with zombies but I’m certain that will start niggling around in my brain.

    1. Gah, you aren’t kidding. From the first day alone I have enough recommendations to ensure I would read nothing but zombies for the rest of the year. I really am in my own bizarre little headspace that I never noticed how many zombie books there are out there.

    1. It was a very interesting take on zombies and absolutely not what I expected. Be sure to leave a comment on at least one of those five discussions so you get entered to win the five books!

  5. This is exceptionally exciting. Though I’m not new to zombie fiction, those titles are new to me and would make an amazing addition to my overgrown book collection. Zombie week begins today YEY

    1. Yay! Thanks for reading, Bandit and if you have the time, be sure to share your zombie knowledge. It’s only day one and it’s already proving to be the liveliest discussion I’ve had on this site yet.

    1. Thanks, Ian! That’s so awesome of you to offer. I should mention that I always buy the books I give away, mainly because authors don’t make enough money as it is. Authors sometimes send me books to read but I do my best to make sure as much money flows to the writers as I can. I have added Grey Dogs to my wish list – seriously repellent cover, by the way. Good stuff!

  6. I’ve watches a lot of zombie movies, but I’ve read very few zombie books. That’s slowly changing, though as I find them just as scary as the movies! Zombies always scare the bejeezus out of me.

    1. I’m like you – I have seen way more zombie movies than I have read zombie books. I think the books are better, and frankly, far more involved and varied in content than the movies.

      Zombies scare me too. I think they trigger something very primal, that childish fear of being eaten that comes up so much in fairy tales. A creature that wants only your viscera is something wholly unlike what we as humans can deal with. People want our money, our possessions, our mates, our jobs, our pride, but a creature that wants only the nutrition your body can offer is a kettle of fish few of us can deal with unarmed.

  7. My favorite odd zombie book is zomboapolypse(i’m sure my spelling isn’t right) but it is a choose your own adventure zombie book. It is a riot. And of course Brian Keene is the number one zombie author. I also read Brian Tripp- Risen recently and that was a really good zombie story.

    1. Adding Brian Tripp to my list of writers I need to check out. I actually wanted to discuss Brian Keene’s The Rising because it was one of the first zombie books I ever read but given the clusterfuck that is going on with Leisure/Dorchester, there was little sense in doing it. If I’m gonna buy two copies of a book and hopefully drive sales for a writer, the money better end up in that writer’s pocket, so Jack’s Magic Beans it is.

    1. You know, there may well be more zombie weeks. People have given me some really awesome book rec’s. So yeah, there may well be more zombies…

  8. I love this idea — A zombie week is just what the doctor ordered.

    I would throw in Jeff Strand’s The Sinister Mr. Corpse — Stanley Dabernath is killed in a freak accident where he drowns in milk and weeks later is brought back to life on national T.V. — Only Stanley is still something of a jerk . . . and there’s lots of people who think he should die — again.

    I’ve read a couple of books by Mr. Strand and he’s one of the few authors who make me howl with laughter — I’m a third of the way through and The Sinister Mr. Corpse has so far proven to be no exception.

    Thanks for this week and contest.
    –Greg

    1. Just bought The Sinister Mr Corpse for my Kindle based on this recommendation. It sounds absolutely demented. Thanks! It’s clear I am going to need to host a second, third and possibly fourth zombie week in the future.

      Thanks for the recommendation and thanks for reading, Greg.

  9. This is a great idea!! I love zombie books, movies, anything really. A few good and off the wall zombie books i’ve read are Zombies for Zombies: Advice and Etiquette for the Living Dead, and Hungry for Your Love: An Anthology of Zombie Romance.

    Of course the obvious ones to read are Brian Keene’s The Rising and City of the Dead, as well as Dead Sea, uhg I could list so many more haha!

    1. Zombie romance, eh? OMG. I have to wonder how that works.

      Brian Keene’s zombie novels are excellent. Be sure to check out the site on Thursday as I will definitely be talking about one of his books.

  10. A long forgotten gem that was pre-zombie craze was Rick Hautala’s Moonwalker. Give him a chance. The real horror in the 80s was all in print.

    1. I added a couple of his recent Kindle books to my wish list so his name will be in my head. He’s actually got a bunch of titles to check out. Thanks for the recommendation!

    1. It’s not really a zombie book as much as it is about berzerkers but I stretched the definition to include it because I was unable to review The Rising. It’s an awesome book – be sure to check it out on Thursday.

  11. I am so excited about zombie week! There are just so many great titles out there!! I would love to make mention of David Moody, Joe McKinney, and J.L. Bourne as well as some of the others that have already been mentioned. There is an anthology called The New Dead that, in my opinion, is one of the best ones out there right now. Hooray zombie week!!

    1. Bourne’s name has come up several times. I definitely plan to check out his or her books (JL doesn’t give me the necessary gender marker). Thanks for reading and hopefully I will tackle a few books that appeal to you.

  12. I haven’t read any zombie books lately that stand out to me, just another good read. This odd books quest is fabulous, I can’t wait to check out some of these and maybe end up with one that resonates enough to remember..we shall see

    1. Two of these books were excellent and one was quite good. I hope they are far enough off the beaten path without wandering out of zombie territory entirely, but it’s always a risk with odd lit.

  13. J.L. Bourne’s Day by Day Armageddon is very good, as is David Wellington’s Monster Island. If you want a zombie book with some thinking, Kim Paffenroth’s Dying to Live is also quite good.

    BTW,if you decide to do this again, let me know and I’ll send a copy of Zombie Night in Canada for you to peruse.

    1. Bourne’s name has come up enough that I know I will read some of his or her books. Interestingly, Paffenroth was almost on this go around. I came across his name because a zombie author sent me a book, reusing an envelope that Paffenroth had used to send something to him. The name caught my eye and a Google almost landed him in the illustrious ZOmbie Week. So I will definitely be sure to check him out.

      And if you have a PDF of your book and it is odd, go ahead and send it to me at anitadalton at gmail dot com. Because though I am almost certain I will do this again, it never hurts to go ahead and read it sooner than later. 🙂

  14. Hi. Awesome giveaway! I would love to win these books. I just finished reading Warm Bodies and am reading Zombie Autopsies. Night of the Living Trekkies is totally on my list too! Oh. Just read Zombie, Ohio. Totally great!

    1. Oh man, another zombie, Star Trek crossover. I find it fascinating that there is this entire world of zombie lit that I had no idea existed. Thanks so much for the recs. I have really widened my horizons during this ZOmbie Week.

  15. I thought I was ahead on the ‘reading everything zombie’ game, but dang me if you don’t have five books I haven’t read yet! Which gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside since there can never be too many books on my TBR pile…

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