The Living Dead is an anthology of zombie stories compiled by John Joseph Adams and it is quite a collection. The zombies are not necessarily the shambling, ravenous dead that we’ve all grown to love (or loathe) over the years. True, the collection contains plenty of monsters desperate to feast on flesh but some have been re-animated as our tools, some are on a mission to fulfil desires other than hunger. As such it is a mixed and very enjoyable bag of goodies where not everything is as it seems.
The table of contents also shows a rather varied list of authors many of which I’m familiar with (Stephen King, Dan Simmons, Neil Gaiman, Harlan Ellison & Robert Silverberg, Clive Barker, David J. Schow). However, on this occasion, I enjoyed reading the authors I’m less familiar with more. Specifically, Bobby Conroy Comes Back From The Dead by Joe Hill, Deadman’s Road by Joe Lansdale, Prairie by Brian Evenson, Those Who Seek Forgiveness by Laurell K. Hamilton and How the Day Runs Down by John Langan – after all, anthologies are a good way to discover new writers and their work.
Despite my preference for those stories listed above, all of the tales presented here are very good. They are also of varied length and intensity which gives the collection a nice sense of balance. Each story is accompanied by a blurb which introduces the author, mentions other examples of their work and a note on how they came to write the story. I’ll be going back through these in due course so that I can sample some of the longer works by the contributors.
If you’re a fan of horror and zombies, and zombie-horror, then go pick up a copy and read it for yourself. If you’re merely curious about such things then The Living Dead is a good place to dip a cautious toe in the water and find out more.