A week ago, I posted about a few anthologies that John Joseph Adams had edited. At the time, I mentioned that his zombie anthology, The Living Dead, was soon to be released. In this instance, soon means today. But who’s in the book you ask? Well, there might be one or two names you recognize:
Stephen King, Harlan Ellison, Robert Silverberg, George R. R. Martin, Clive Barker, Poppy Z. Brite, Neil Gaiman, Joe Hill, Laurell K. Hamilton, and Joe R. Lansdale (know any of them?)
The anthology gathers up three decades worth of zombie short fiction. The complete table of contents is available here. I’ve read a bunch of these stories previously, so I know that there’s some great stuff in here.
Douglas Winter’s “Less Than Zombie” might be one of my favorite zombie stories. I hated it the first time I read it, then I learned it was a send-up of Bret Easton Ellis’s novel Less Than Zero, and I gained a new appreciation of it. I’ll admit, though, that for a long time my appreciation only came through the movie version of the Ellis novel. A few years back I read the novel, and I can truly see what a great job Winter did with his story, since the movie version and the novel are radically different.
If you remember the post I made last week, you can safely assume that Adams is going to give some teasers, some free stuff, to pull you in and get you wanting to read the whole thing. First, there’s a page of interviews with the authors about writing their stories as well as some general thoughts about zombie fiction. Second, this page offers up links to full stories and excerpts. To make it a little easier for you, here are the complete free pieces from the anthology:
Introduction & Acknowledgments by John Joseph Adams
HTML | PDF | Mobipocket
Some Zombie Contingency Plans by Kelly Link
HTML | PDF | Mobipocket
Death and Suffrage by Dale Bailey
HTML | PDF | Mobipocket
Dead Like Me by Adam-Troy Castro
HTML | PDF | Mobipocket
Stockholm Syndrome by David Tallerman
HTML | PDF | Mobipocket
And I promised something fun about the cover. If you click on that link, it will take you to the cover image for the anthology. I happen to know that fellow Tor.com blogger and Tor Art Director extraordinaire Irene Gallo is on the cover. Don’t believe me? Click for yourself!
[image from Flickr user doviende; CC licensed for commercial use]