Has anyone else noticed a recent surge in Zombie Literature?
World War Z
Day by Day Armageddon
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies…
Just to name a few. But man, these things are popping up faster than (insert rising from the dead joke here)
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Not to mention the whole video game angle…
Left 4 Dead, anyone?
Zombies have been know in literature since the earliest history. per wikipedia: Such as in the Epic of Gilgamesh:
“I will knock down the Gates of the Netherworld,
I will smash the door posts, and leave the doors flat down,
And will let the dead go up to eat the living!
And the dead will outnumber the living!”
The mere fact that the media is more accessable leads us to beieve that this type of thing is a recent surge.
I am not under the impression that this is the first time for such an event. As our previous scare was caused by swamp gas from a weather balloon which was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus. The resulting anomaly caused the dead to rise from their graves and walk the earth.
However, While zombies have alays been a topic of popular discussion.It does seem that since 2007 (maybe 2006) there has been a significant jump.
Thanks @Bluefreedom !
I can’t even count the number of zombie questions I’ve answered on fluther.
@shockvalue. You’re welcome. I’ve felt compelled to respond to quite a few zombie questions myself. =)
Zombie Survival Guide is a good one
@Bluefreedom Awesome links!
I am quite a fan of zombies. My favorite is the Pride and Prejudice one.
@shockvalue: And Resident Evil…. FIVE.
I’m pro-rise of the Zombies. Zombies and vampires are things that when they get popular are generally done decently—I like ‘em in the off season, I love the air they get in the on season. I’m worried about the rise of the werewolf. I hear it is the next big monster, and frankly I’ve never seen a wolf big media thing done well. That genre seems best left to urban fantasy novels. (They do a great job with it.)
Definitely! I was noticing this over the last couple years myself. More guides keep coming out, but definitely with the rise of the “survival horror” genre created by Resident Evil 1 games have just been springing up. And the movies, too. Tons of zombie movies keep getting made. Some of them B rated so we don’t hear about them, but I felt like they were being made faster and faster.
More like vampire literature. There is a motherf*cking VAMPIRE ROMANCE SECTION in Barns & Noble.
Also how did you guys miss the Zombie Survival Guide?
@fortris : we didn’t miss it. @Triiiple mentioned it already… I didn’t add it to my list as it’s a bit older. but still just as relevant. I actually have copy of it on my nightstand. ...right next to a copy of the The Prince, By Machiavelli
Yep, must be zeitgeist. It’s always interesting to look at the movies/books/games and see how people became zombies. Seems to always reflect current cultural fears (environmental pollution, nuclear war, science experiments gone wrong, etc).
My current personal fave is Zombie Haiku: Good Poetry For Your…Brains by Ryan Mecum.
World War Z was awesome but I didn’t like Day by Day Armageddon so much. Since it was told through “journal entries” there was absolutely no character development whatsoever and it was kinda boring.
Gonna get pride and prejudice and zombies next, it sounds awesome.
@YARNLADY Who are you and what have you done with my YarnLadyNeedsYarn???
Don’t forget the Zombie Survival Guide! [edit: as mentioned above]
I’d say yes, a definite surge. I’d attribute it to Internet Pop Culture, zombie movies and the gaming culture (popularity of games such as Zombie Panic, Left4dead, Resident Evil..)
The good news is you don’t have to know much about zombies to write a book, just have an interest and a bit of imagination. It’s an easy subject to write on and obviously with the Dawn of the Dead remake, Land of the Dead, Dead Rising, Left4Dead games… it has increased in popularity. Sadly so have the amount of films being made. If you treasure your life don’t waste it by watching “Zombie Wars”... bleh, epic fail.
Perhaps Thomas Jefferson was onto something when he said,
“Bodily decay is gloomy in prospect, but of all human contemplations the most abhorrent is body without mind.”
If that doesn’t explain the terrible fascination with the living dead Jefferson should have been a little clearer.
@shockvalue
I read the Zombie Survival Handbook and liked the humorous but slightly obsessive tone. I read World War Z thinking it would be kind of the same thing. That book is one of the few things I’ve read lately that really scared me!
Yes, I have. Pride and Predjudice and Zombies, World War Z, Patient Zero, Queen Victoria Vampire Hunter (or something like that) and that new book where Lincoln, in addition to being president, was some kind of Vampire or Zombie hunter.
It is a fun genre, won’t hear me complaining.
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