News: Zomfic Up for Hugo Nominations

One of the highlights of 2010, in terms of zomfic, was the utterly brilliant The Living Dead 2 anthology from Night Shade Books, edited by John Joseph Adams. Now, as nominations open for the annual Hugo Awards, zomfans have an opportunity to show their appreciation for the contribution that Adams - and a whole bunch of extremely talented authors - have made to the zombie fiction subgrenre.

From John's personal blog:

2011 Hugo Awards Nomination Period is Now OpenThis year’s Hugo Awards nomination ballot is now online. The 2011 Hugo Awards will be presented in Reno, NV during Renovation, the 69th World Science Fiction Convention (August 17-21). Deadline for nominating online is March 26, 2011 23:59 PDT.

Anyone who has a supporting or full membership of Renovation as of January 31, 2011 and all members of Aussiecon 4 (last year’s Worldcon) may nominate works. If you didn’t attend Aussiecon, and you don’t plan to attend Renovation, you can still nominate by purchasing a supporting membership.

Already registered? Go and nominate your favorite works!

A full list of works edited by John that are eligible in the various Hugo categories (including stories from The Living Dead 2) is up at: http://www.johnjosephadams.com/2011/01/2011-hugo-awards-nomination-period-is-now-open/

Don't be shy, folks - let's get some top-notch zomfic up for the Hugos in 2011!

Review: The Living Dead 2

Ed. John Joseph Adams, 2010, Night Shade Books

About a year back, I reviewed Night Shade's The Living Dead, and proclaimed it the best zombie anthology I'd ever read (HorrorScope review here). Well, there's a new anthology due in September that actually surpasses The Living Dead - and it's The Living Dead 2!

I just want to take a moment to emphasise what an amazing achievement this is: where the original anthology comprised reprints of classic zombie tales, thereby guaranteeing a top-quality publication, The Living Dead 2 includes only original and recently-published work. Editor John Joseph Adams (who also compiled The Living Dead) demonstrates a brilliant understanding of exactly what makes a damn fine zombie tale, and deserves major kudos for the same.

As with its predecessor, TLD2 includes contributions from a veritable Who's Who of zombie fiction, including Robert Kirkman, Cherie Priest, Mira Grant, David Wellington, Jonathan Maberry, Carrie Ryan and John Skipp, among many, many others. The tales cover a range of themes, with plenty of new takes on familiar tropes, and all are of a standard that prevents me from singling out any particular favourites.

Having said that, I must make mention of one particular tale - S. G. Browne's 'Zombie Gigolo' - which, in a subgenre that has become progressively darker and more serious over the past few years, provides a joyfully disgusting reminder that zombies can sometimes just be fun. A warning, though: this story is far, far sicker than it sounds.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that The Living Dead 2, and all who contributed to her, will be be well-represented across the various genre literature awards over the next year. In the meantime, zombie afficianados should place this publication at the very top of their Want List, above firearms, bottled water, and chainsaws.

Review: The Living Dead

Ed. John Joseph Adams. Night Shade Books, 2008


According to the cover blurb, The Living Dead gathers together some of the very best zombie-themed short fiction from the past three decades, and covers a broad spectrum of types of zombie, from Romero-style flesh-eaters to traditional Haitian revenants to psychological zombies, and everything in-between.

All I can say to this is: believe the hype.

The Living Dead is absolutely the best zombie anthology I've ever read (and I've read many), which should not come as a shock, given that the editor has included some of the very best stories from some of the very best zombie anthologies (as well as various collections and magazines) previously published, including such revered tomes as Skipp's The Book of the Dead and Lowder's The Book of All Flesh. The contributor list alone reads like a 'who's who' of award-winning horror writers, which in my opinion makes it a worthy addition to the collection of any genre afficianado.

If you have even a vague interest in zombie fiction, you MUST buy this book (which, by the way, is also very reasonably priced for a publication running to almost 500 pages). Grab a copy now, before They rise and walk.