The Zen of Zombie on audiobook

My first book, The Zen of Zombie, has just been released as an audiobook from Tantor Audio.

Click here to read the related story in Publisher’s Weekly.

Zombie Resurrection on IndieGoGo

Above is the trailer to a new British zombie film called Zombie Resurrection.  It looks pretty cool.

The producers have a fundraising campaign going on IndieGoGo to raise the monies needed to finish the film.  For just $2,000, you can be the executive producer!  Click here for more info.

A zomb-ish book from Ben Marcus? (Or just zomb-ish marketing from Knopf?)

The above trailer for Ben Marcus’s new novel– The Flame Alphabet– was featured on BoingBoing this morning.  It comes out this month from Knopf.

I’d read an earlier description of it in Publisher’s Weekly that limned it thusly:

Sam and Claire are a normal Jewish couple with a sullen teenage daughter, Esther. But Esther and other Jewish children begin to speak a toxic form of language, potentially deadly to adults: with “the Esther toxicity… in high flower,” Sam watches in horror as the disease spreads to children of other religions, quarantine zones are imposed, and Claire sickens to the point of death. Heeding the advice of enigmatic prophet LeBov, Sam manufactures his own homemade defenses against his daughter’s speech. But he and Claire are soon forced to abandon Esther in order to save themselves.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Oh, excuse me.

Anyhow, it’s not a zombie story.  But also, it’s obviously not trying to be.  Ben Marcus is not a popular horror writer.  That’s not what he’s going for here (or, indeed, has ever gone for).   It looks like he’s taken a zombie outbreak story, removed the pesky zombies, and replaced them with… things that make English Ph.D. candidates go “Squeeeeeee!”  Things like performative speech, and societal alienation, and narrative forces that compel us to redefine notions of family.

Which is, you know, fine.  That’s Marcus’s right, of course.  You can write whatever you want.

Yet the images in the above book trailer are straight-up zombie contagion.  Abandoned houses.  Protective suits.  Virus dangers.  (At :35, the screen seems to show zombies held at bay by barred windows whilst workers inside wear hazmat suits.)  If I had seen this trailer alone, I’d be expecting something designed to excite devotees of Robert Kirkman…not Stanley Fish.

Hmmmmmmmmm.

Disclosure:  Coincidentally, Ben Marcus was one of my professors from 2000-2002 at the Columbia University MFA program.  The single class I took with him was pleasant.  He spent a lot of time criticizing Robert James Waller, which was fun to listen to.

Book Review: The Complete History of the Return of the Living Dead

Over the past few days, I’ve enjoyed the excellent and informative book The Complete History of the Return of the Living Dead by Christian Sellers and Gary Smart.  It’s a guide to every film in the ROTLD series, and features production photographs, promotional materials, and interviews with the cast and crew of each film.

As I’ve remarked on several occasions– and repeatedly on this blog– Return of the Living Dead is my favorite zombie film of all time.  It’s scary.  It’s funny.  It’s well-acted.  The soundtrack is awesome.  It has a rollicking sense of fun that’s just contagious.  Its variations and innovations on the zombie (“braaaaains“) have proved endearing and enduring, and it remains a cult classic to this day.

There are– however– many zombie fans who dislike ROTLD, feeling that its zombies are too goofy and buffoonish, or somehow not “real zombies.”  Into this camp fall such zombie luminaries as Max Brooks.  And though I respectfully disagree with Max, I love his line:  “If zombies were a race, that movie would be racist.” from our Comic Con discussion:

ROTLD was written and directed by Dan O’Bannon, who passed away in 2009.  O’Bannon also wrote such notable films as Dark Star, Alien, and Total Recall.  Throughout all the interviews with cast and crew, one constant that emerges is the profound effect O’Bannon had as the director of the production.  Indeed, one begins to see the first half of the book (which exclusively chronicles the first film) as a testimonial to the positive impact a truly ingenious director can have.  The book is filled with tales of O’Bannon coaxing an emotional performance from a reluctant actor, making an astute call about how an effects shot should come together, or correcting the production when it went off course.  It is remarkable how many of the memorable aspects of ROTLD can be ascribed to the direct intercession of O’Bannon.

Dan O'Bannon

The second half of the book considers the sequels in the series: Return of the Living Dead Part II, Return of the Living Dead 3, Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis, and Return of the Living Dead: Rave from the Grave.

Only a few actors from the original appear in any of the sequels, and they are– somewhat bafflingly– cast in different roles.  For me, the second half of the book was a study in how hard it is to get a movie made, and how feelings can be hurt regarding casting decisions.  For example, James Karen was cast in Return of the Living Dead Part II, but Don Calfa, who was also in the original, auditioned but was passed over in favor of another actor.  Bad feelings, accordingly, seem to have emerged.

Yet on a more positive note, it is impossible to read these accounts and fail to emerge with the impression that working on these films was anything other than an absolute joy.  (A harrowing, exhausting, nerve-racking joy perhaps, but a joy nonetheless.)  I was struck particularly by the accounts of actors from the first film who couldn’t get cast in the sequels, but who still inveigled off-camera FX and PA jobs on it, just so they could get to be a part of the film in some capacity.

Is The Complete History of the Return of the Living Dead a perfect book?  No.  I had some criticisms too.  Namely:

• There is not enough James Karen or Clu Gulager.  These are the two finest actors in the series by a lot, and the book should have been weighted to favor interviews with them.
• I would have appreciated hearing more about contemporary zombie filmmakers (and writers, and comic artists, and musicians) who have been influenced by ROTLD.
• The second half of the book feels almost apologetic, probably because the authors think everyone agrees–a priori–that the sequels were, at best, very inferior (and, at worst, should not have been made at all).  I agree that ROTLD is head and shoulders (and brains) above the films that followed it, but I can still find much to appreciate in several of the sequels.  I expect that many other zombie fans can too.

Whether you enjoy ROTLD or– like Max Brooks– find it offensive to your undead sensibilities, the fact remains that it has emerged as an influential work with enduring aspects.  It was the first film in which zombies requested “braaaaaaains” by name, and the iconic Tarman Zombie (who appears in the first and second films in the series) is one of the most recognized and reproduced zombies of all time.

Love it or hate it, ROTLD is a phenomenon that deserves to be chronicled and considered.  This new book is a nice step toward doing exactly that.

New jacket mechanical for Zen of Zombie, Chinese edition

New social network has zombie community

A new social network site called Chime.In has a special community, Gorify, designed exclusively for zombie fans.  It appears to post zombie stories and links, and to be curated by actual living humans.   Click here to take a look.

I have the sense that starting a new social networking site is a little like putting all your chips on one number in roulette, at least as far as internet startups go.  It’s like, probably, you don’t succeed…but if you do, you’re the next Tom Anderson or Mark Zuckerberg and you never have to work again a day in your life.  The key question seems to be how to do something that hasn’t been done before– something that sets you apart from all the competition and makes people leave other social networking sites for yours.  (Nearly 10 years ago, I dated a young internet entrepreneuse who was attempting to do just that.  Her social networking site– which I thought was very good– sought to distinguish itself by facilitating public arguments and debates that people could then vote on, eventually declaring one side the winner and one the loser.  I thought this was a brilliant idea [and similar to the "Dislike" button that so many Facebook users are clamoring for], yet, for whatever reason, her site did not catch on and was ultimately scrapped.)

According to a PR spokesperson for Chime.In, what makes their social network different and distinctive is “its focus on interests rather than social connections, and the behind-the-scenes community management team [that] spends a lot of time making sure the users are delivered relevant and interesting content.”

That sounds good to me, especially if it results in a nexus of zombie information that’s superior to anything else already on the web.

Bon chance, Chime.In!

ZOMBO on iTunes

“ZOMBO, a loveable member of the undead, has a strong craving for something other than human flesh.  He wants to be a singer in musicals.”

I expect the above description of the short film ZOMBO will elicit extreme reactions– either pro or con– from zombie fans.  (I neither hasten nor hesitate to note that many of the finest zombie films have been musicals or had musical elements, with the seminal Zombie Love probably standing atop the heap.)  If your reaction is amongst the “pro,” you may wish to note that ZOMBO has just been made available on iTunes, and for less than $2.

Speaking of musicals, I can’t help but think of zombies every time I get to “The Criminal Cried” in the Mikado:

Now though you’d have said that head was dead
(For its owner, dead was he),
It stood on its neck, with a smile well-bred,
And bowed three times to me!

So be it.

Zombie, Ohio the audiobook

This December, my novel Zombie, Ohio will come out as an audiobook, read by actor Danny Campbell.

You can pick it up on Amazon, or through the producer’s website.

New zombie game goes live

Zombie Wasteland Goners, the new zombie game from Jason Ozubko, has just released its first public alpha.

According to Jason:  Zombie Wasteland Goners is a free, online game of survival and betrayal set in the zombie apocalypse. You take turns with your friends, roaming the zombie-infested wasteland, fending off the undead, and fighting for survival; but that’s just the start. No two games of Goners are alike because each time you play you’re assigned new and random goals. Are you trying to save your best friend or get him killed? Are you trying to steal everyone’s stuff or just take down all the zombie bastards that you can? Are you trying to get to the chopper or trying to ensure that no one makes it out alive? No one knows your motives but you! So try your best to sneak and steal your way to victory, but just beware of the other survivors. Whether or not you are plotting against them, they may be plotting against you. And if there’s one thing worse than being a survivor, it’s being a goner…

For for information– or to play– click here.

“Aliens to Zombies” and “ZomBcon”

Last weekend I was a guest at Aliens to Zombies in Los Angeles, and ZomBcon in Seattle.  Both were fun, distinctive, and expertly run conventions!  Here are some photos I took, starting with Aliens to Zombies:

There were definitely aliens at Aliens to Zombies!

The view from my seat on the zombie panel. (Joe McKinney raises his hand to indicate that, yes, zombies are awesome!)

Now to ZomBcon…

A small swath of the giant vendor floor at ZomBcon...

 

Some zombie writers relaxing before dinner.