Review: NIGHTS OF THE LIVING DEAD: AN ANTHOLOGY

A collection of short stories set in the world of the most iconic zombie (or ghouls as George A Romero called them, at least initially) film ever made? Written by some of the best talent the horror genre has to offer?

Yes!

This collection is great. Even if you're not big into the zombie scene there's enough here to satisfy all your dark and bloody horror cravings. The zombies are more a conduit of horror, rather than the center piece - this is largely due to the surprising depth and variety of the stories collected in this volume but also, due to the writers ability to instill a bevy of scares outside the flesh eating 'rotters'.

For instance, Brian Keene heightens the horror in his story PAGES FROM A NOTEBOOK INSIDE A HOUSE IN THE WOODS by throwing ghosts and a haunted house into mix, while David Wellington takes the walking dead to the stars in ORBITAL DECAY. 

Romance is rife among the dead in THE BURNING DAYS by Carrie Ryan and one of my favorite stories from this collection IN THAT QUIET EARTH by Mike Carey; a story about a scientist who manufactures a way to become a zombie (yet still retain some semblance of humanity) so he can lay in the grave with his long dead wife for eternity. 

There's so much goodness in this bloodbath that it's hard to pin down a handful of standouts. That said JIMMY JAY BAXTER'S LAST DAY ON EARTH by John Skipp is a hell of a read which features an action hero and female protagonist ripped straight from the pages of a men's adventure magazine; crazy fun. YOU CAN STAY ALL DAY by Mira Grant of Feed fame brings horror for profit in a showcase of splatter that isn't for those easily offended by gore, death, and A-grade horror; I lapped it up like a starving zombie to a masticated corpse. 

Some other notables from this collection of 19 short stories include; DEAD RUN by Chuck Wendig (this could be a scene from the Walking Dead! It's full of action, suspense, great characters, and damn good writing), JOHN DOE by George A Romero (could easily be a scene from Night of the Living Dead in which a pathologist finds out the hard way that the dead, on this night, don't die), and A DEAD GIRL NAMED SUE by Craig E Engler (I won't spoil this (too much) but will say that revenge is a dish best served...live, and to a pack of hungry zombies...). Honestly, I could go on but I don't want to spoil the fun.

This book is easily a 5 star read. If you're into horror, read this.