Skyhorse Publishing, 2009
ISBN: 9781602396487
Available: New

Z.E.O is a small, off-sized book that’s part humor, part business survival guide and part “for dummies” book. Presentation seems to be as important as content, with sidebars, zombies in the workplace illustrations and chapters that one suspects would make excellent PowerPoint presentations. Nonfiction, yet completely silly, Z.E.O shows a strong correlation between the sort of minds that conquer the business world and zombies- not an entirely kind metaphor, though it has an amusing point.

Because of the over-the-top comical writing and the lack of a story, Z.E.O is really a gift book, particularly for office Secret Santas or zombie fans, or even not-quite gag gifts to college grads, because the kind of person who would adore this book should own it, not borrow it.
Contains: Gory illustrations

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls (prequel to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies) had me from page one.

“Mr. Ford was as well behaved as any corpse could be expected to be. In fact, he lay stretched out on the bier looking almost as stiff and expressionless in death as he had been in life, and Oscar Bennet, gazing upon his not-so-dearly-departed neighbor, could but think to himself, You lucky sod.”

Mr. Hockensmith, you had me at “well behaved corpse”.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls is a ironic, sassy romp through the England of classic literature (and zombies). It’s a “Hell Yes!” inducing book for anyone who ever had to dissect stodgy, self-important prose in high school English class.

Despite deserved criticism on the concept (but I doubt any of these mash ups are intended to be lasting, stately examples of “literature”) this book brings a sorely needed element to the both the zombie and high literary genres–humor. P&P&Z: Dawn of the Dreadfuls is a reminder that reading, first and foremost, is supposed to be an enjoyable experience. In times like this, especially, we need to know that it’s okay kick back and enjoy, rather than analyzing and studying until the world around us lacks context and meaning. We can temper the horrible, the bloody and the overbearing and self important with skilled writing, enchanting characters and make reading a pleasurable way to spend the time again.

And speaking of fun If you go here (Quirk’s webpage) and post that my review sent you there we (that is you too!) will be entered to win one of 50 Quirk Classic Prize Packs (worth over $100), which include:

• • An advance copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls
  • Audio Books of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters
  • A password redeemable online for sample audio chapters of Dawn of the Dreadfuls
  • An awesome Dawn of the Dreadfuls Poster
  • A Pride and Prejudice and Zombies Journal
  • A box set of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies Postcards

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Zombies by Michael P. Spradlin

Harper, 2009
ISBN: 9780061956430
Available: New

The book’s premise is simple, Christmas carols rewritten as zombie Christmas carols. The book includes such favorites as “Zombie the Snowman”, “I Saw Mommy Chewing Santa Claus”, “We Three Spleens” and “Good King Wenceslas Tastes Great”. There are familiar songs that tweens will find hilarious, and more obscure ones that adults will love as well. This is an excellent gift book, and could be fun for sing-alongs at horror-themed library holiday parties for older kids or adults as well. The illustrations are somewhat gory (rotting bodies, zombies decorating Christmas trees with entrails and bare brains). Being black and white blunts them, but kids under ten or so might be bothered. Still, it’s a great community or group interaction type book that will make people laugh and get new holiday songs stuck in their heads. Recommended for gifts, collections for zombie lovers and older kids/adults.

Contains: Mildly disturbing art, humorous/cartoonish descriptions of violence

Bizzaro fiction is something of a new experience for me. I’ve read small bits of it before, but it’s not a genre I consider myself well versed in so this is going to be a less neutral review that takes the experiences of an inexperienced reader into account. What I’m looking for in a good weird story is intelligence despite absurdness, a story I’m capable of understanding despite skewing the idea of reality and an emotional response with some aspect of the story.

Polluto # 2, dubbed “Apocalypses & Garden Furniture”, is a hefty collection of tales.

First off, “The End” by Dave Migman, is a short and to-the-point tale of an apocalypse that’s worthy of the more traditional science fiction tales on the subject. As a quick introduction to Polluto it’s a solid, enjoyable tale.

“Scenes of Creation” by Grant Wamack centers on a very interesting idea, an artist/creator’s discards taking on a brutal-filled life of their own. A commentary on creativity controlling the creator, it wiggles into too much for my tastes at brief moments, but is otherwise solid.

“I’m Going Through Changes” also by Dave Migman is similar to many “crazy-serial killer” stories one finds in the horror genre. However it possesses a beauty and meaning that other such stories lack, mostly because it’s not trying to be brutal, flashy or horrific. It’s just being.

Chet Gottfriend’s “The Ragnarok Seduction” is deviously hilarious, and worth the price of this issue alone. The tale of Jack, a much-suffering husband to a Valkyrie who is a bit over-enthused about the impending end of the world it’s very clever and amusing from beginning to end. A highly recommended read.

“Twins” by Rosalia Sanfilippo is an excellent poem that challenges the icons of religion and our need for and perceptions of higher powers. It’s also very readable and understandable, with good imagery.

Next, Steve Redwood’s “The Burden of Sin” is a parallel to the Highlander movies and television shows. Not quite a copy, it uses the familiar reference to make more musings about religions and the ideas of belief and sin. When McLoud, a Scottish brute and one of the last immortals, begins badgering Foplamov, the other last immortal who has used his gift to enjoy life rather than to build himself up into a monstrous fighting machine, Foplamov hatches a plan to use the true believer’s own fears to even the odds between them. What follows is a strange, paradoxical tale of belief and the irrational power it holds over people.

“Cracking Nuts with Jan Hammer” by Rhys Hughs is a study on Hell as told from a flat, compassionless progressive rock musician. During the course of the story readers learn that all prog rockers go to Hell and serve food to other, better musicians, and that the lead character suspects the Devil himself might be a prisoner in Hell. But nothing much is done with any of these ideas, leaving the story with an overall noncommittal feel.

“Murk” by Robert Lamb is a long and vivid Elder Gods sort of tale about a man who runs into something terrible and strange in the twisting tunnels of the subway. Rescued from the subway wreck he thinks everything is fine until he starts to gain weight and feelings the incredible urge to return to the scene of the crime. This tale flirts with heavy-handedness but mostly remains on the side of dark, toxic, unknowable storytelling.

“Gloomy Countdowns” by William Doreski is a poem that takes several different versions, or scenes, of the end times. Some religion capitalized, some the bitter destruction of beautiful things. They don’t quite come together, but each stands fine on its own.

“Hard Landscapes” by P.J. Nolan is another mini-collection of poetry, but this one lost me. The words seemed to collide and refuse to melt together into visual scenes. Only the last part jumped off the page, reflecting on the story’s over all title.

Deb Hoag’s “Church of the Bitter Raygun” misses for me, getting tangled in its attempts at clever use of phrases, familiar in our time, in a post apocalyptic world. But I found no deeper meaning, or even a world setting, just a mix and match of science fiction aspects and brand names.

Next is “Zombie Love Song” by Adam Lowe, a different kind of zombie tale. Set in India, it’s a biohorror testament to the core nature of the world, beauty and rot.

“Love and Gasoline” by Michael Colangelo is a post apocalyptic love story, of sorts. It’s purposefully shallow and hopeless, mirroring the plot itself and reinforcing it.

Deb Hoag’s “Meatloaf of the Apocalypse” is an almost -sweet tale of genetic mutation, nuclear irradiation and a lonely man. It’s partly about the junk we fill our bodies with and what happens when you leave a man home alone and he gets bored. Dark, and it shifts the magazine back to a amusing tone.

“The Art of Survival” by Steven Archer is a rambling piece on the nature of art, quoting a number of truisms that are also found elsewhere. From there Polluto moves on to “Ahlana Demona” by MP Johnson. The title character is a pre-op male-to-female transgendered monster hunter who sweeps up a zombie rights activist into her attempts to find out who has been killing people and blaming innocent zombies. The story is a long rip on urban fantasy, complete with a female lead that’s too butch to really be a woman, and a monster love story. Its jumps of logic, cliché baddies and convenient breaks of plot only add to the farce feel of the story.

“The Man Who Flirted with Mother Nature” by Mike Philbin reveals a serious problem with sex issues, as it sets Mother Earth up as a rapist and torturer and humans as her poor, ignorant sex toys. The lead character has a “I’m the only one that is awesome enough to see the truth” attitude and the prose itself lacks a flow and is at times wordy rather than precise. This matches the whole structure of the story, which makes its point quickly, then proceeds to keep reiterating it for seven more pages, killing any interest it manages to build.

“Sex, Lies, Religion” by Micci Oaten of Paparazzi Whore, a nonfiction piece about being yourself comes next. Following is “Camille O’Sullivan: Trickery or Magic” by Patti Plinko, another nonfiction piece on the feeling of being a subject rather than the artist/performer for once.

Then comes “Hobo Poet” by RC Edrington, a triad of punk rock poems and “Live Without a Net: Self-Loathing” also by Edrington. The latter is a prose piece that gives a frighteningly real glimpse inside the mind and life of an addict. This one is one of the darkest and most horrific tales of the issue.

The next fiction tale is “Agent Apocalypse” by Dave Migman. True to title it’s a tale of a man who is trying to push the apocalypse closer, not through elaborate measures, but by simple, annoying ones that leave the rest of us wondering if people do these things on purpose. This story says boldly, “Yes, I do.”

“Emerging” by Ellen Kombiyil is a final poetic offering, a slice of post apocalyptic that becomes beauty for one of our most underrated icons.

Finally comes “The Beginning” by Dave Migman, one short final word on the apocalypse that reduces it not to a cosmic end, but to one more part of the a natural cycle.

I found Polluto #2 to be an overall enjoyable read, most of the stories containing all the truth and humor I’d hoped to find. The number of good stories to lackluster makes this one a good buy in my opinion, with a nice re-read quality.

]]> http://www.michelelee.net/booklove/2009/07/polluto-2/feed/ 0 http://www.michelelee.net/booklove/2009/06/tales-from-the-crypt-3-zombilicious/ http://www.michelelee.net/booklove/2009/06/tales-from-the-crypt-3-zombilicious/#comments Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:38:21 +0000 Michele Lee http://www.michelelee.net/booklove/?p=795

Click to buy

Tales from the Crypt #3: Zombilicious by Mort Todd, Marc Bilgrey, Jared Gniewek, Jim Salicrup, Allison Acton, Rick Parker, and illustrated by Steve Mannion and Exes
Papercutz, 2008
ISBN: 9781597070911
Available: New

For horror fans this is just the sweetest little book–a digest-sized hard back collection of four (new) Tales from the Crypt comic stories, a complete throwback to horror’s roots modernized with slick art and shiny packaging. This volume features four tales; “Extra Life” by Neil Klied and Chris Noeth, “Queen of the Vampires” by Marc Bilgrey and Mr. Exes, “Graveyard Shift at the Twilight Gardens” by Rob Vollmar and Tom Smith 3 and “Kid Tested, Mother Approved” by Jared Gneiwek and James Romberger.

Oddly enough, in spite of the title, none of these tales feature a zombie (though there is a vampire). If you loved the old cheesy Tales from the Crypt comics and HBO show this book is right up your alley. Its literary merit is debatable, making its place in collections lean more toward those that include comprehensive or pop-culture titles than high brow, classic-worthy tales. But if horror is your passion, this book is eye-catching, familiar, and utterly groan-worthy.

Reviewed for MonsterLibrarian.com