Tuesday, July 17, 2012

21st Century Dead: A Zombie Anthology by Christopher Golden

The Stoker-award winning editor of the acclaimed, eclectic anthology The New Dead returns with 21st Century Dead, and an all-new lineup of authors from all corners of the fiction world, shining a dark light on our fascination with tales of death and resurrection... with ZOMBIES! The stellar stories in this volume includes a tale set in the world of Daniel H. Wilson’s Robopocalypse, the first published fiction by Sons of Anarchycreator Kurt Sutter, and a tale of love, family, and resurrection from the legendary Orson Scott Card. This new volume also includes stories also from other award-winning and New York Times bestselling authors, such as: Simon R. Green, Chelsea Cain, Jonathan Maberry, Duane Swiercyznski, Caitlin Kittredge, Brian Keene, Amber Benson, John Skipp, S. G. Browne, Thomas E. Sniegoski, Hollywood screenwriter Stephen Susco, National Book Award nominee Dan Chaon, and more!
This is a collection of horror stories staring our favorite horror creature, zombies! The collection runs the gamut of stories. Some quite grotesque, and some with nary a brain in site. However, some will make you think, and even shed a tear. In fact, one had me hugging my puppy after reading it. Oh that one I could shake a fist at... I hate to cry!

In many of the stories, there are much more frightening things than the zombies. Even if the zombies weren't horrifying and quite docile, or even those that could not be stopped, the true horror resided in the humans left. Even within a couple of those stories a few heart-strings could be tugged.

I give this zombie anthology 4 stars. It is one of the best anthologies I have read. Of course there were a couple of stories that didn't appeal to me, but I still admired the way it was written. All of the stories were creative and explored all the different aspects of zombieism. Even comparing the few zombies we may know that love potatoes to those that eat flesh. I recommend this book to anyone who loves the zombie genre.
I received this book from Library Thing's Early Reviewers Program and the publisher and no compensation for my review was given.

12 comments:

  1. yay! always so nice to have some great zombies story. I understand I don't really like to cry either, it doesn't happen a lot but it's possible. I need to read more anthologies I think.

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  2. OMG are you really like hitting the zombie challenge with a bang? I haven't even heard of this. How is that possible? Are you hogging the zombie goodness :)

    Great Review!

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  3. I think it's safe to say I will be staying far, far away from this one and all it's zombie epicness. I'm sure it's awesome, especially if you gave it a 4, but zombies and horror stories are so not for me! Wuss, party of one.

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  4. I want to read this one very bad. I love zombie books and this zombie anthology sounds super good. ;) Next to drama, creepy makes me happy too. lol. :)

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  5. This sounds super cool! A zombie book that made you cry! Wow! Anthologies are always tricky but i am so glad that overall this proved to be a great read for you. Thanks for sharing! Adding this to the pile!

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  6. I'm not a zombie fan so I don't think this would be for me, but it would be a great way to sample the genre if you didn't know. I know! But worse than zombies? Are you sure?? I don't think I can think of anything I've read so far that is worse than a zombie. I am curious.... Love LT Early Reviewers!

    Heather

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  7. Eeep! Oh noooooo!! Zooooombbbbieeeees!!! Run for your lives!

    LOL!

    Ew. More of those gross zombie things. lol. So glad to hear you enjoyed it so.

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  8. cool, I've had my eye on this one! glad to hear it is worth the read, thanks :)

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  9. ZOMBIES! I had to stop reading zombie books cause they were giving me nightmares, yet I still want to read them. LOL

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  10. A zombie story that made you hug your puppy afterwards?...awww! I love anthologies in general because there's usually a story to match my every mood.

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  11. You know, it's been a while since I've read a really good anthology. I think I will have to grab this one up, but I would save it to read around Halloween time. LOL

    I can't imagine anything more frightening than a zombie...well, then again, there is my sister in the mornings, but I've kind of grown used to that imagine. LOL

    P.S. Don't tell her I said that.

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  12. More Zombies!!!!! This is so going on my wishlist!

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