|
Post by dem bones on Jan 5, 2011 20:51:30 GMT
i do vaguely recall mr J going on about a follow up in the pub after zardoz, but can't recall if it was a zombie continuation or applying the format to another horror scenario. the latter, one would hope. i might be misremembering now you've said it, but i do recall Robinson were delighted with the sales, which were astonishly good for a UK paperback these days - even some names would struggle to sell a first printing that large so quickly. if i had to put money on it, i'd bet against me, but i clearly remember he was very excited by the sales figures. Robinsons really got behind this one; probably mentioned this before, but the press release looked the part and i noticed plenty of those snazzy ZA bookmarks hanging about at the Zardoz pulpfair. one thing i know for sure is that, all going to plan, come March, Robinson are reissuing Mr. Jones's The Mammoth Book of Dracula (1997). This was perhaps a less ambitious dry run for Zombie Apocalypse in that the stories purport to tell the old count's life stories via a series of globe-trotting, century-spanning adventures. i began reacquainting myself with the original last year and found it a lot more fun than i did at the time - there were so many vampire collections published in the 'nineties, i think most of us were all Dracula'd out by the centenary.
|
|
|
Post by vincentstark on Jun 1, 2011 10:21:32 GMT
I very much enjoyed this one. I love the episodic way it's set out - it helps create that sense of mayhem right from the start. It also feels very modern with all those rolling news reports. I found it seamless, one section flowed easily into the other, which should be applauded given how many different hands were involved. At times it is scary as hell but it can also be gut busting funny and painfully poignant.
This would make one hell of a dramatised audiobook.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Sept 30, 2011 16:59:59 GMT
The good news is that, according to the inside cover of Mammoth Best New Horror 22, we didn't imagine it and there's a second volume due in the new year, Zombie Apocalypse!: Fightback. More details when some of the contributors blab!
|
|
pc83uk
New Face In Hell
Posts: 2
|
Post by pc83uk on May 15, 2012 0:47:04 GMT
Hi, apologies for bumping an old thread. I am unfamiliar with the etiquette of the board, I've rashly signed up to post in this thread (found via a Google search). So if I have acted improperly, please do shame me into getting it right.
I've just read the book and found it endlessly gripping, there were several sections or specific lines I kept going back to and re-reading because they particularly haunted or stuck with me. "Maggie, you have no eyes" probably most of all. The book has got me wanting to look into the plague more as well, I found it fascinating at (primary? Early secondary?) school but haven't delved into it at all since. I enjoyed the book a great deal, moreso before it went international and reached the Youtube song parodies and Hollywood screenplays. Although I read a lot of screenplays and imagine the writer of that section does too, there was some great stuff in there.
I'm generally not a big horror or anthology reader, but a big fan of zombie films. Though not talking zombies, which brings me to what I wanted to ask. Several of the authors are/were on this board, so I'm wondering about the overall mythology in Zombie Apocalypse... Are there specific multiple kinds of zombies? Some of the stories contain only the Romero-esque shufflers (with varying degrees of speed) that mindlessly hunt and ignore each other. Then others that are more cerebral pack hunters. Others still that can converse and articulate and manipulate, some as well as they ever could. What constitutes what kind of zombie the infected becomes? I was wondering if the huge differences in intelligence -- and more than that, in sentience -- between the zombies was purely down to whatever each author wanted to do in their story or if there was an overall design to it.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on May 15, 2012 13:52:44 GMT
I enjoyed the book a great deal, moreso before it went international and reached the Youtube song parodies and Hollywood screenplays. Although I read a lot of screenplays and imagine the writer of that section does too, there was some great stuff in there. i was concerned that ZA might go downhill once the action shifted overseas, but enjoyed everything up to and including the Peter Atkins story. The zombie novelty tracks, Presidential address and Queen's speech didn't make for the strongest ending. no worries about bumping old threads - we welcome it. thanks for joining and i hope some of the guys who participated in the book will be able to answer your question.
|
|