#Spooktober ‘Zombies: More Recent Dead’ Edited by Paula Guran

About the book…

The living dead are more alive than ever! Zombies have become more than an iconic monster for the 21st century: They are now a phenomenon constantly revealing as much about ourselves – and our fascination with death, resurrection, and survival – as our love for the supernatural or post-apocalyptic speculation.

Our most imaginative literary minds have been devoured by these incredible creatures and produced exciting, insightful, and unflinching new works of zombie fiction.

We’ve again dug up the best stories published in the last few years and compiled them into an anthology to feed your insatiable hunger….

Published by Prime Books in 2014, ‘Zombies:More Recent Dead ‘ is available in e-book, audiobook and paperback formats.

There is nary a misstep in this reanimation of a classic genre creature, the zombie.

From Roxanne Gay’s devastating traditional voodoo tale which is brilliantly turned on its head, to Eric Gregory’s ‘The Harrowers’,which is a post apocalyptic tale via The Dark Tower, this collection shows this corpse laden landscape still has more tricks up its sleeve.

Zombies,by their nature are terrifying abominations that stand against morality, religion and science alike and yet they remain emblematic through modern TV shows and films of the way we shamble through society whilst opting out of it altogether.

The motif of a zombie as a loved one returned to us by forces beyond our control,duels with the kill or be killed rhetoric that pits loved one’s against each other.

It may be the 21st Century but this meaty, thematically driven anthology has plenty to say via talented authors on what the nature of a reanimated corpse is.

The genre invented by a 17 year old girl in the 1800’s has so many more ways of being explored but it takes a talented editor to assemble such a fine collection where I had to read thoughtfully,slowly and think about each tale.

Some have startling images if resurrection and survival tactics that make you question just how far you would go to make it.

And , in the end,are we not all zombies in training as we advance towards our death and desperately try to make sense of what comes next?

Highly recommended and not for the faint of heart.

About the editor…

Paula Guran is senior editor for Prime Books. She edited the Juno fantasy imprint from its small press inception through its incarnation as an imprint of Pocket Books.

She is also senior editor of Prime’s soon-to-launch digital imprint Masque Books. Guran edits the annual Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror series as well as a growing number of other anthologies.

In an earlier life she produced weekly email newsletter DarkEcho (winning two Stokers, an IHG award, and a World Fantasy Award nomination), edited Horror Garage (earning another IHG and a second World Fantasy nomination), and has contributed reviews, interviews, and articles to numerous professional publications.

Links-http://paulaguran.com/

Twitter @paulaguran