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Science Fiction and Fantasy Association of New Zealand |
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Zombie Edited by Christopher Golden Piatkus Supplied for review by Hachette New Zealand |
Reviewed By: Simon Litten |
| Zombie, an anthology of the undead as it is
subtitled, as you may guess is a themed collection of short fiction about zombies (quelle
surprise). And what a surprise it is. One would think that a set of stories about zombies,
given their portrayal in film and television, would be one note song – interesting
for ten seconds, but very boring thereafter – but this anthology dispels that notion. Zombie presents almost as many different takes on the zombie tale as there are authors in the collection (nineteen). From zombie-killers who offer the zombies’ relatives a compassionate release, to those living as zombies, to new cheap soldiers, to a story told through posts on Twitter, this collection is a rich and interesting collection. Certainly every author played straight with no tongue on cheek satire, slapstick buffoonery, or sly romance. Each story was a rock solid story of coping, or not, with the return of the undead: sometimes as the undead, but generally as the living. Viewing the names gives a reason for why this is such a strong collection: Joe Hill, Kelley Armstrong, Tad Williams (not well known for his short fiction), Derek Nikitas to name a few. Almost all the contributors to Zombie have been listed in Gardner Dozois’s honour roll of selected works or honourable mentions for his annual year’s best collection. So if you enjoy your fiction at the less than novel length and don’t mind a dash of horror, then I whole-heartedly recommend Zombie to you – you won’t be disappointed. |
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SFFANZ is a non-profit organisation
and registered charity designed to bring together fans of the fantastic in New Zealand |
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Contact us by email at: enquiries@sffanz.org.nz |
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