Zombies: The Recent Dead (79 page)

Parable or not, Edelman’s “last supper” is, indeed, our final taste of zombie fiction. Hope you’ve enjoyed the meal!

Francesca Lia Block, “Farewell, My Zombie” © 2009. First publication:
Black Clock 10
, Spring/Summer 2009. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Gary A. Braunbeck, “Glorietta” © 2008. First Publication:
The World is Dead
, ed. Kim Paffenroth (Permuted Press, 2008). Reprinted by permission of the author.

Max Brooks, “The Great Wall: A Story from the Zombie War” © 2007. First Publication:
Dark Delicacies II: Fear: More Original Tales of Terror and the Macabre by the World’s Greatest Horror Writers,
eds. Del Howison and Jeff Gelb (Running Press, 2007). Reprinted by permission of the author.

Tobias Buckell, “Trinkets” © 2001. First Publication:
The Book of All Flesh
, ed. James Lowder (Eden Studios, 2001). Reprinted by permission of the author.

Steve Duffy, “Lie Still, Sleep Becalmed” © 2007. First Publication:
At Ease with the Dead: New Tales of the Supernatural and Macabre,
eds. Barbara and Chrostopher Roden (Ash-Tree Press, 2007). Reprinted by permission of the author.

Andy Duncan, “Zora and the Zombie” © 2004. First Publication:
Scifi.com,
February 2004
.
Reprinted by permission of the author.

Scott Edelman, “The Last Supper” © 2003. First Publication:
The Book of Final Flesh
, ed. James Lowder (Eden Studios, 2003). Reprinted by permission of the author.

Neil Gaiman, “Bitter Grounds” © 2003. First Publication:
Mojo: Conjure Stories
, ed. Nalo Hopkinson (Mysterious Press, 2003). Reprinted by permission of the author.

Nik Houser, “First Kisses From Beyond the Grave” © 2006. First Publication:
Gargoyle Magazine #51
, 2006. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Brian Keene, “Three Scenes from the End of the World” © 2010. Originally published as three separate stories as “The Ties That Bind” in
Unhappy Endings
(Delirium Press, 2009), “The Viking Plays Patty Cake,” and “Family Reunion” in
The Rising: Selected Scenes From the End of the World
(Delirium Press, 2008). Reprinted by permission of the author.

Alice Sola Kim, “Beautiful White Bodies” © 2009. First Publication:
Strange Horizons
, Part One: December 7, 2009; Part Two: December 14, 2009. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Joe R. Lansdale, “Deadman’s Road” © 2007. First Publication:
Subterranean
, Spring 2007. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Kelly Link, “The Hortlak” © 2003.
The Dark: New Ghost Stories,
ed. Ellen Datlow (Tor, 2003). Reprinted by permission of the author.

Tim Lebbon,
Naming of Parts
© 2000. First Publication:
Naming of Parts
(PS Publishing, U.K., 2000). Reprinted by permission of the author.

Gary McMahon, “Dead to the World” © 2009. First Publication:
The Dead That Walk
, ed. Stephen Jones (Ulysses Press, 2009). Reprinted by permission of the author.

David Prill, “Dating Secrets of the Dead” © 2002. First Publication:
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction,
June 2002. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Kit Reed, “The Zombie Prince” © 2004. First Publication:
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction,
June 2004. Reprinted by permission of the author.

David J. Schow, “Obsequy” © 2006.
Subterranean #3
, 2006. Reprinted by permission of the author.

David J. Schow, “Introduction” © 2010. Originally published as the “Introduction” and “Afterword” of
Zombie Jam
(Subterranean Press, 2003). Reprinted by permission of the author.

Michael Marshall Smith, “The Things He Said” © 2007. First Publication:
Travellers in Darkness: The Souvenir Book of the World Horror Convention 2007
. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Kevin Veale, “Twisted” © 2009. First Publication:
Weird Tales #354
, Fall 2009. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Tim Waggoner, “Disarmed and Dangerous” © 2009. First Publication:
Spells of the City
, eds. Jean Rabe and Martin H. Greenberg (DAW, 2009).

David Wellington, “Dead Man’s Land” © 2009. First Publication:
The World is Dead
, ed. Kim Paffenroth (Permuted Press, 2008). Reprinted by permission of the author.

Paula Guran is the editor of Pocket Book’s Juno fantasy imprint and nonfiction editor for
Weird Tales
magazine. In an earlier life she produced weekly e-mail newsletter
DarkEcho
(winning two Bram Stoker Awards, an International Horror Guild Award award, and a World Fantasy Award nomination), edited
Horror Garage
magazine (earning another IHG and a second World Fantasy nomination), and has contributed reviews, interviews, and articles to numerous professional publications. She’s also done a great deal of other various and sundry work in sf/f/h publishing. Earlier anthologies Guran has edited include
Embraces, Best New Paranormal Romance
, and
Best New Romantic Fantasy 2
. In addition to this anthology, she recently edited the first of the new
Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror
anthology series for Prime Books. Forthcoming anthologies for Prime include
Vampires: The Recent Undead
and
Halloween!
By the end of 2010 she will also have edited four dozen published novels and three collections.

[
1
] Yes, there is a grand literary and folkloric tradition of the undead. Some posit Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, some of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories and H.P. Lovecraft’s tales, etc. are the roots of the modern zombie. Romero himself has often acknowledged the Richard Matheson novel I Am Legend as his direct influence. But just read David J. Schow’s introduction, okay?
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[
2
] For in-depth background, please consult
The Complete Night of the Living Dead Filmbook
by John Russo (Harmony Books, 1985),
The Zombies That Ate Pittsburgh: The Films of George A. Romero
by Paul R. Gagne (Dodd, Mead & Co., 1987),
Night of the Living Dead
by John Russo (novelization based on the screenplay by Romero and John Russo, Warner, 1974),
Dawn of the Dead
by George A. Romero and Susanna Sparrow (novelization based on the screenplay by Romero, St Martin’s Press, 1978), and
Day of the Dead
, by George A. Romero and John Russo (novelization based on the screenplay by Romero, Simon & Schuster, 1988). Watching the movies might help you along, too.
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[
3
]The White House /
Living Dead
connection was explicated by Robert Bloch in one of the last short stories written before his death, “Maternal Instinct,” which depicts a President who proposes Nazi-like mass cremations to control the exponentially swelling numbers of unruly “necros,” while revealing himself to be a much better class of zombie—one killed with a fast-acting poison in order to reanimate with nearly all of his mental faculties intact, and thus remain in power in a world full of intellectually-dead cannibal corpses.
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[
4
] Bloch in fact cites Dr. Arnoldi in the text of “Maternal Instinct.”
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[
5
] The Great Green Wall: a prewar environmental restoration project intended to halt desertification.
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