Book of the Dead

Authors who doodle: Exhibit BZombie anthologies are a time a dozen nowadays but in the 80s this book was Da Bomb. The premise was to write short fiction based on what happened after George Romero's The Night of The Living Dead. The authors had a field day with this. Most of them go for dark comedy laced with splatter-punk horror. Best stories? Stephen King's "Home Delivery". Joe R. Lansdale's "On the Far side of the Cadillac Desert With Dead Folks", Edward Bryant's "A Sad Last Love at the Diner [...]

In the 1980s, the only person that was doing anything significant with zombies was the Godfather himself, George Romero. In horror fiction, zombie stories were as dead as the zombies themselves. Then, in 1989, this little gem of a collection came along and among it's pages were some heavy hitters from the horror and sci-fi genre. If you're looking for chills and scares, keep moving. You won't find them here. But, if you're looking for good, campy fun ala Tales from the Crypt types of zombie stor [...]

This book was ok, but j did expect a lot more out of it. Some of the stories were really good, but a lot of them didn't appeal to me as much & didn't really go with the zombie feel like I thought they would. Some of the stories took me really long to finish because I just wasn't interested in them, but I only finished because I hate leaving books half finished. The concept of the book was really cool & I like the idea of it, but I feel like some of the writers & stories should have b [...]

Scary-shit. Nonetheless, it was titillating.Here, I give you a taste of it:[ She expected him to go for the knife again, to stroke her nipples with its razor edge or tease her nerve endings with mock danger. Instead, he reached into a headboard compartment and brought out a rubber mask festooned with sewn leather and buckles and shiny gold zippers. It almost made her laugh. She protested. The contraption engulfed her head like a thick,too-tight glove. She thought of getting stuck in a pullover s [...]

Right from the start Book of the Dead’s credentials are impressive. Published in 1989, the anthology boasts a foreword from George A. Romero and features sixteen short stories, supposedly set in the aftermath of the same zombie plague seen in his original Dead trilogy (although it’s debatable whether anyone actually stuck to that brief properly). With authors such as Steven King, Joe R, Lansdale, Ramsey Campbell and Richard Laymon contributing tales, this is an A-list affair, especially give [...]

I’m starting to feel a little like the host on “Saturday Night Live” when the show’s almost over and they have to introduce that week’s music guest for the second time. “Once again, ZOMBIES.”Yawn.On the bright side, this zombie anthology, BOOK OF THE DEAD, is not only a mass market anthology, but it’s pretty much the forerunner to just about every other zombie book out there. Published in 1989 and edited by John Skipp and Craig Spector, BOOK OF THE DEAD is a collection of zombie [...]

A friend of mine lent me this book, and I read it over the Christmas holiday of 2003. I know that zombies aren't proper Christmas undead (ghosts are - just ask Charles Dickens), but what the hell?To be honest, I couldn't remember all of the stories, so I pulled the contents from and will make a note of what I remember about each of them. Like a lot of fiction from this genre, some were really good, but most weren't - and an attempt at social commentary was usually the deciding factor in either [...]

This book belonged to my uncle (not sure if he still has it)and I remember reading this when I was about 12. "A Sad Last Love At The Diner Of The Damned" naturally got my attention by the title, alone. That short story has remained fixed in my memory all these years later. I do recall enjoying others, though none have remained in my memory. As usual with anthologies there are always at least one or two that go a little "out there" and leave you wondering Just where in the hell was this particula [...]

McCammon's, Lansdale's, and Schow's stories are must-read. Laymon's Mess Hall was sadly disappointing. Same with Winter's tale. There was promise in Bryant's Sad Last Love, but overall I remember it as disappointing. The rest need to be reread before commenting.

* Like Pavlov's Dogs by Steven R. Boyett* A Sad Last Love at the Diner of the Damned by Edward Bryant read 1/26/2005* It Helps if You Sing by Ramsey Campbell read 1/24/2005* The Good Parts by Les Daniels read 1/30/2005* Dead Giveaway by Brian Hodge * Home Delivery by Stephen King read 1/20/2005* On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert With Dead Folks by Joe R. Lansdale* Mess Hall by Richard Laymon read 1/22/2005* Eat Me by Robert R. McCammon* Blossom by Chan McConnell read 1/21/2005* Wet Work by [...]

Classic!

Mess Hall still sticks with me. Great rereadable anthologies.

2.5. Don't get me wrong - I enjoyed it but sometimes it was really 'meh' because it tried too hard to be scary.

Not your typical collection of zombie stories.

This zombie-themed anthology came out in the 1980s and shows it. At the very least, it makes obvious the more complex view of zombie lit as a genre. These tales stem from an era when zombies had not broken out of B horror films. Many cliches plague the narratives. And often times the zombies don't move and act in a consistent way which takes seriously the defining situational characteristics they've been assigned. That's a problem. Zombies, by cultural definition, are humans deprived of free wil [...]

This was just a pleasant surprise. A ton of fun--as long as you accept that you're in for the most outrageous zombie stories that the authors could come up with. No masterpieces, a couple of duds--I'll let you decide on those yourself. Enjoy :)

Събрана през вече далечната 1989 година, антологията е посветена на „Нощта на живите мъртви“ на великия Ромеро. Произведенията, естествено са в зомби поджанра, който тогава не е толкова комерсиален и още не са му набили никакви ограничаващи пранги.Разказите са коренно разл� [...]

I love the original George A. Romero Dead Trilogy. I picked this difficult to come by book up with high hopes but unfortunately they were not met.Things began pretty badly with an introduction from Skipp and Spector which waffled on interminably about how splatterhouse was the future of horror fiction and was being used to create and push new storytelling boundaries. As much as I love violent stories and movies this, to me at least, was nonsensical and more than a bit pretentious. Splatterhouse [...]

To say the least, regardless of the reviews - I was reserved going into reading this book. Although I tend to read lots of horror novels I tend to steer clear of zombie novels for a simple reason - they are nine out of ten times "gorefest". If you've read enough horror novels you know what I mean. When the subject matter is cannibals in any way, shape or form - odds are it's a gorefest top to bottom.This book surprised me but not from the first page. In all honestly - it wasn't until the third s [...]

Given the recent popularity of zombies, it's hard to believe this anthology hasn't been brought back into print. It seems to me that many of the stories have been reprinted elsewhere, so perhaps there are now legal issues surrounding that?Inner workings of the publishing industry aside, this is one hell of a book. Heavy hitters like Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell, Robert McCammon (back when he still got his hands dirty writing horror), and Joe Lansdale serve up some really good reanimated corpse [...]

Cosa accadrebbe se improvvisamente i morti uscissero dalle loro tombe e cominciassero a divorare i vivi? Ogni istituzione crollerebbe; la morte, il caos e la violenza regnerebbero sovrani in un mondo da incubo. Questo è il succo dei 16 racconti de "Il libro dei morti viventi", un omaggio al grande regista George Romero, creatore degli zombi e di tutto ciò che ne segue. Tra i vari racconti citiamo: "La mensa" di Richard Laymon, dove un serial killer affronta le donne che ha ucciso; "Parto in ca [...]

I am a huge fan of the Zombie genre and my Grandmother found this book at her local Goodwill years ago. Of course knowing what types of movies/novels I seemed to enjoy, she snatched it up without hesitation to give to me as a gift. The Book of the Dead is a short story collection based on the zombie infested world created by George Romero. While that's the basis for the stories here, not every story feels like it was written specifically for this collection. I guess being zombie-centric was enou [...]

A good friend of mine recommended this book to me, said it was age old, and the copy I bought looks as though it's been around since the dawn of time. It was a good read though, well worth the couple of pounds I spent to have it flown over from America.It's an excellent collection of zombie literature with works from names such as Stephen King and Robert R. McCammon.One or two stories missed the mark with me, but only slightly, while others took a bit of convincing, such as the piece "Like Pavlo [...]

Zombie fanfic? Basically. And what a selection. I recommend it to anyone who loves a good zombie festDI have another funny Mom story about this book. She's a tremendous Robert R. McCammon fan and had been looking forward to the story for a while. It's called "Eat Me" and isum, interesting. Disturbing and kind of funny, in a way.Well, we were in a mall shortly after it was released. She found it and was overjoyed. I was in the back of the bookstore, good old B. Dalton, and called out to me as she [...]

Finally finished. This will get bumped up to a 3.5 when GoodReads gets around to activating that capability. Definitely some great stories in this hard-to-find collection. My absolute favorite was Wet Work. I had to read it twice. HoweverCaveat Lector: To be consumed in small doses! Wait at least an hour after eating before picking this up! (ugh)Despite the authors' penchant for being just plain gross, I did enjoy the allegories some of the stories hold. True to Romero's films, zombification mak [...]

Though I'm a bit burnt out on zombie material, this collection was appealing for it's place as a direct successor to the Romero trilogy. Allegedly, this is all original content written specifically for this book. It boasts a rock star list of horror authors so each story has a distinctive voice and the writing quality is excellent. No slouches in the bunch. My favorite, Jerry's Kids Meet Wormboy, was by an author new to me - David Schow - so, as I'd hoped when I picked up Book of the Dead, I hav [...]

Great anthology of zombie stories that range across a number of styles. I've read it a couple of times. Stories that really stand out from this collection: Home Delivery by Stephen King, Wet Work by Phillip Nutman (later expanded into a full novel), Like Pavlov's Dogs by Steven R. Boyett, On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert With Dead Folks by Joe R. Lansdale and Jerry's Kids Meet Wormboy by David J. Schow.

In the words of the editors: These stories go too far.This collection of stories is often humorous, always gory. However, there is also a lot going on "upstairs" so to speak. My favorites are Blossom, On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert with Dead Folks, Less than Zombie, Wetwork, The Mess Hall, The Good Parts, and Home Delivery.

I remember when I read this book that after the first few stories were read, I made the deal with myself to ONLY read this book during the day. Reading it at night was just punishment as it actually gave me nightmares.Don't let that dissuade you though, the book has a lot of very interesting takes on the zombie millieu. Worth a read if you can find it.

Come abbia fatto questa chicca a sfuggirmi per tanti anni non me lo spiego. Una signora serie di racconti, un gruppo di autori che definire coi controcazzi sarebbe riduttivo e una prefazione firmata da un certo signor Romero. Natale è arrivato in anticipo con un carico di non-morti da non perdere. Consigliatissimo agli amanti dell'horror.