Vampire/Zombie books

[murphy]

There's The Madness Season by C. S. Friedman, that I mentioned before. It's about a vampire in the future helping the world to fight off alien invaders. Pretty good story and very different.

[j. d. worthington]

I may have overlooked this being addressed, but I think part of the problem with having good zombie novels (or stories in general) is that there's no real character to zombies, in most instances. The personality is gone -- they're walking corpses, with the most primitive of instincts (at best) working... so it doesn't leave much room for variations on a theme, and lots of books hitting the same note over and over again just gets rather dull.

Now... if someone could write a zombie novel from the point of view of a self-aware zombie -- that is, one whose conscious mind is locked away from controlling the instincts and the physical motions of his/her walking corpse, but able to perceive what that body does, and the interaction with and reactions of the world around -- you might have a book that could be both genuinely frightening, creepy, and poignant at the same time. Perhaps it's been done, and I'm not aware of it. If not... it would be very interesting to see a talented writer take up the challenge.....

[Connavar]

Originally Posted by murphy

There's The Madness Season by C. S. Friedman, that I mentioned before. It's about a vampire in the future helping the world to fight off alien invaders. Pretty good story and very different.

Holy crap thats prolly the most original thing i have heard


Is the writing good? Just wondering since it sounds almost too good to be true.

[Marvolo]

Originally Posted by j. d. worthington

I may have overlooked this being addressed, but I think part of the problem with having good zombie novels (or stories in general) is that there's no real character to zombies, in most instances. The personality is gone -- they're walking corpses, with the most primitive of instincts (at best) working... so it doesn't leave much room for variations on a theme, and lots of books hitting the same note over and over again just gets rather dull.

Now... if someone could write a zombie novel from the point of view of a self-aware zombie -- that is, one whose conscious mind is locked away from controlling the instincts and the physical motions of his/her walking corpse, but able to perceive what that body does, and the interaction with and reactions of the world around -- you might have a book that could be both genuinely frightening, creepy, and poignant at the same time. Perhaps it's been done, and I'm not aware of it. If not... it would be very interesting to see a talented writer take up the challenge.....

Death's Dominion by Simon Clark. I'm only a chapter in, but it starts off (best I can tell so far) from the point of view of a self aware child zombie who is fleeing executioners. The entire premise of the novel surrounds a society which reanimated corpses for servant or entertainment purposes only to eventually decide against it and be faced with the problem of extermination. Out of the masses a leader emerges from the doomed horde and begins to fight back. The first chapter is very good. I'm looking forward to the rest.

Cell by Stephen King also has a different take on Zombies as I've said before. There is interesting behavior followed by an overal consciousness, a flock type mentality, which is very well done.

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by Marvolo

Death's Dominion by Simon Clark. I'm only a chapter in, but it starts off (best I can tell so far) from the point of view of a self aware child zombie who is fleeing executioners. The entire premise of the novel surrounds a society which reanimated corpses for servant or entertainment purposes only to eventually decide against it and be faced with the problem of extermination. Out of the masses a leader emerges from the doomed horde and begins to fight back. The first chapter is very good. I'm looking forward to the rest.

Cell by Stephen King also has a different take on Zombies as I've said before. There is interesting behavior followed by an overal consciousness, a flock type mentality, which is very well done.

Not yet read Cell, as I've received mixed reactions to this one, nor Death's Dominion, as I wasn't aware of that one at all. Good to know someone's taking a different tack with the idea, and I may have to look these up at some point to see what they do with it. Thanks for bringing these in to the discussion.

[ravenus]

I recall reading a short story in one of the Best New Horror (Stephen Jones ed.) anthologies which is told from the point of view of a corpse that is being used as a prop in a kinky sex show. I think it was by David Schow but not sure there.

[Sathai]

Found this when surfing...The Ultimate Zombie Book List.

[murphy]

Originally Posted by Connavar of Rigante

Holy crap thats prolly the most original thing i have heard


Is the writing good? Just wondering since it sounds almost too good to be true.

Yes, I'd say the writing is good. There's also her Coldfire Trilogy which is about a pyschic vampire, one who lives off the fear he engenders is beautiful girls.

[Critical Matt]

Originally Posted by Sathai

Found this when surfing...The Ultimate Zombie Book List.

Checked out that site and found that one of the books has been dramatized into an audiobook type of presentation with a full cast. It's a zombie book and I will be doing some travelling today, so I'll load it up and check it out.

[Critical Matt]

Originally Posted by Sathai

Found this when surfing...The Ultimate Zombie Book List.

Checked out that site and found that one of the books has been dramatized into an audiobook type of presentation with a full cast. It's a zombie book and I will be doing some travelling today, so I'll load it up and check it out.

It's called Autumn and the audio can be found here.

[N3croscope]

Greatest Vampire Series has to be Brian Lumley - Necroscope - see left. Original 5, the 3 Vampire world and the Lost years were amazing - kinda lost his way after that, and never came up with a character as good as Harry Keogh. I am Legend (R Mathis I think) is also extraordinary esp if you just want a quick read 100+ pages, and off course Ann Rice of which Memnoch was my fav tho am sure there'll be much disagreament

[Puck]

There is zombie book titled The Phoenix Gene. I ordered the book from barnes and noble. The print date is listed as May 2007. Will let you know how it reads when I finish reading it. Not alot of information at their website about the book. Does not matter it will just add to my collection of zombie books and movies.

[Puck]

I found a ton of zombie books listed at amazon.com. Just go to their book section and type in zombie

Originally Posted by Zeewolf

Hi guys,

I really want to read some vampire & zombie genre books, could you help me out and recommend me some please? Many thanks, I appreciate your help.
I imagine there are a quite a few vampire books out there but I've never really heard of any zombie genre books.

Thanks in advance.

[Connavar]

Vampire Hunter D by Hideyuki Kikuchi is a very good read. Its a series of 17+ books so there is a major story to look forward to.

D is a very very interesting hero and cool as very few.

The english translation i read didnt hurt the story.

[Winter Lord]

A zombie trilogy by David Wellington

Monster Nation
Monster Island
Monster Planet

I think one of them has been opitioned by a movie studio. You can find them serialized online.

Here are some vampire novels, by Christopher Golden (The Shadow Saga)

Of Saints and Sinners
Angel Souls and Devil Hearts
Of Masques and Matyrs
The Gathering Dark

(spoiler) If you are a Christian, you might not want to read them, as Jesus was supposed to be first human vampire. He destroyed a group of demons, but in doing so, he started to turn into one of them, but his divine nature caused him to turn into something else, the first Vampire.(spoiler)