Zombies: More Recent Dead Paperback – September 2, 2014

love me some Z fiction...and this is a great followup to what might be the best collection ever...each story a gem, each unique, one doesn't feel like the same tone/style as the last one...and all top writers!

Fun to read!

Zombies have been increasingly popular the past few years, but stories and myths of zombies (or zombis) have been around for even longer. From Romeroesque zombies to radioactive robots, with everything in between, this is a great collection of everything zombie.And by everything, I mean EVERYTHING. Thirty six short stories are available within this collection. There are poems about zombies, stories about voodoo zombis, extra-short short stories, and longer short stories. Charles Stross brings with him a story from the same universe as Saturn's Children and Neptune's Blood, as Freya's descendents are victims of a gamma burst that drives the other workers on a colony ship to prey on and eat their fellow travelers for undamaged feedstock. Neil Gaiman is also present with his wit in showing that zombies may not be the worse thing that can happen... all on one horrible day. The other authors are equally talented with their shared nightmares of flesh-eating horrors.If you're a fan of zombies of any type, I recommend that you read this book. There is something in here for everyone, and you might find yourself intrigued by an idea you hadn't dreamt of yet.NOTE: I read this book courtesy of Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Most of the stories are downright awful, several of them are 1,2, or 3 pages long (not exaggerating) , which strikes me as just criminally lazy/greedy. Virtually nothing original aside from 2 stories, not even close to the best efforts of the "big name" authors whom you may be familiar with...I don't know what else to day- massively disappointing. Many of the stories try out cutesy little "twists" on the genre, all of which fail utterly and all of which have been done before, and done better. I absolutely adore the genre, such as it is, and this collection is basically an affront to said genre. Not scary, even a tad unsettling at any point, in any story. Yet not funny or witty either. Not profound enough by far either to pull off what it seems to be attempting. Just plain lame, by and large. Save your money

Let me start by saying I am a huge zombie film fan. Zombie books, I've read a couple of them but I am not an expert. I really like the intro to the anthology explaining the history of zombies and the impact they've had on television, film, and literature. I found some of the stories to be very engaging, yet disturbing and strange, while others seemed to miss something. For what it is, I very much enjoyed it.

[Full disclosure: I requested and received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]I’ve been suffering from a severe case of Walking Dead withdrawal for a few months, so I figured that I might as well get back into that zombie kind of mood with a new anthology from some well-known authors. Jonathon Maberry, Neil Gaiman and so many more authors that I actually like were included in this anthology. Where could it go wrong?Apparently, almost everywhere. This is a non-traditional zombie anthology, which I knew when I requested it. All of these zombies are either thinking zombies or just kind of dead shells of their former selves come back to life. I don’t mind reading about these types of zombies. It’s a newer (more terrifying in some ways) take on a creature that is a little over-hyped by pop culture. Of course, being that people are people, sometimes they would do disgusting things with these zombies: have sex with them, make them servants, etc. It’s sad to see that my faith in the worst impulses of humanity is still justified.Except, by the end of the anthology, I was really, truly struggling to finish it. This is not a long book, by the way. It’s only 480 pages and it should not have taken me so long to finish, but I really had to force myself to keep reading about 2/3s of the way through. Why? Because, for the most part, it was boring. Most of the stories, even by authors that I really liked, were quite boring. Yes, they showcased the new type of zombie very well but some of them didn’t seem to have a point (or a plot) and still others were so boring that you forgot how the story began by the time you got to the end. It’s not like I have a short attention span, either.None of the characters really stood out for me here and even though it’s only been a week since I read this, I couldn’t really name more than two or three of them. This anthology just did not pack the punch I’ve come to expect from authors like this. In the end, I was more disappointed than entertained, which is not something you want when you’ve just read through almost 500 pages.I give this anthology 3/5 stars.

This book has a ton of good stories. I haven't read any short stories in a while and had forgotten how satisfying it is to read something completed in one sitting. Also the introduction gives a great run down of history of the current demand for all things zombie that will make your to be read list even longer. A great book for Halloween. Read as a netgalley copy.