If you were visiting the site back in July, you remember ourrelease coverage of an all new anthology, from award winning editorChristopher Golden, called 21st Century Dead. If you weren't, then I suggest you go backand read our Roundtable discussion (1 and 2) and catch the free excerpt “A Mother’s Love,” from John M. McIlveen and Criminalelement.com (registration required).
Well, the book is now available for public consumption andit’s a damn fine time for a review…
21st Century Dead is a perfect follow-up to 2010’sgame changing splash The New Dead—which is currently one of the most andhighest rated zombie anthologies on Goodreads.com—wherein you will find a nice,tasty assortment of today’s freshest zombie varieties mixed in with a dash ofthe classic Romero-style Shambler.
Golden’s introduction, "Zombies are Good for You," is a well-crafted prelude to exactly thekinds of things you’ll find inside the book and why he chose to include them.He then steps back and lets you wander through the graveyard he’s created bycombining both seasoned veterans of the genre and promising new comers. The writingis fantastic, and right from the very first story, you know why he’s beennominated six times for a Stoker (and won, both on his own and as part of agroup) and twice for the Shirley Jackson. He has one of the best eyes in thebusiness for top-quality, captivating work and he’s not about to get out of thehabit.
The party gets started with Mark Morris’ story “Biters”where a little girl comes face to face with the father she thought she’d lostyears ago and then Morris does something not even the most seasoned zombie reader willexpect.
Orson Scott Card picks up the ball and drives it toward thegoal in his story “Carousel,” which takes me back to my childhood days of “TheTwilight Zone” and pulls the God card in a way I’ve never seen before.
Stephen Susco fumbles just slightly with “The Drop” beforeBrian Keene and the Stephanie Crawford/Duane Swierczynski duo recover and carry it right intothe home territory with “Couch Potato” and “Tender as Teeth,” respectively.
for the MVP, though, I have it as a dead heat between Jonathan Maberry’s "Jack and Jill," a troubling tale of what constitutes “dead” in Stebbins County, Pennsylvania, andThomas E. Sneigoski’s seriously unbelievable “Ghost Dog and Pup: Stay.”
Other notable entries include S.G. Browne's "Reality Bites," "Antiparalellogram" by Amber Benson, and the one-of-a-kind "Why Mothers let their Babies Watch Television: a Just-So Horror Story" by Chelsea Cain.
Considering you should be able to land the paperbackfor right around ten bucks, there is no way you could ever go wrong droppingyour hard earned cash in exchange. If audio is yourthing, you should be ready to pay about twice as much, but even for that price,you will be very happy with your purchase. Keep your eyes on the award circuitfor 2012 horror literature, this is definitely a title you’ll be seeing moreof.
Definitely,
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