Zombie Apocalypse! Fightback

[dem bones]

Stephen Jones (creator) - Zombie Apocalypse! Fightback (Robinson, October 2012)

JoeRoberts.co.uk

Jo Fletcher - Tabloid Tales
Christopher Fowler - From Prof. Margaret Winn
Christopher Fowler - From Simon Wesley #1
Reggie Oliver - Lord Of The Fleas
Jo Fletcher - The Hobbs End Horror
Christopher Fowler - From Simon Wesley #2
Brian Hodge - Morphogenesis
Jo Fletcher - Hard News
Paul Finch - Dead Air
Amanda Foubister - Consent Form
Christopher Fowler - From Simon Wesley #3
Christopher Fowler - The Well Of Seven
Christopher Fowler - From Simon Wesley #4
Anne Billson - Paris When It Sizzles
Guy Adams - Pages From A British Army Field Manual
Sarah Pinborough - Peace Land Blood
John Llewellyn Probert - ZZ Experiment Camp
Neil Gaimon - Down Among The Dead men
Simon Strantzas - #zOmBEY
Paul McAuley - Rendition
Brian Hodge - Fright Club
Peter Crowther - The World According To Bernie Maughmstein #1
Pat Cadigan - In The Cloud
Peter Crowther - The World According To Bernie Maughmstein #2
Peter Crowther - Corpse Gas
Peter Crowther - The World According To Bernie Maughmstein #3
Michael Marshall Smith - Getting It Right
Peter Crowther - The World According To Bernie Maughmstein #4
Roz Kaveny - A Shamble Of Zombies
Lisa Morton - Day Of The Dead
Amanda Foubister - To Serve Man
Peter Atkins - You Are What You Eat
Peter Crowther - The World According To Bernie Maughmstein #5
Robert Shearman - The Play's The Thing
Peter Crowther - The World According To Bernie Maughmstein #6
Lisa Tuttle - Island Life
Peter Crowther - The World According To Bernie Maughmstein #7
Nancy Holder - My Fellow Americans

Picture credits: Reggie Oliver, Les Edwards, (MM) Smith & (S) Jones, Leonardo da Vinci & 'Thomas Moreby', Simon Strantzas, Shuttercock com.

Blurb:
Science Fiction
THERE IS NOTHING TO FEAR BUT FEAR ITSELF .... AND ZOMBIES!
Following the outbreak of Human Reanimation Virus — more commonly known as "The Death"— from a hidden crypt beneath a south London church, the centuries-old plague quickly spreads throughout the world, turning its victims into flesh-eating zombies.

As we learn more about the mysterious Thomas Moreby — "Patient Zero"— the surviving members of the human race begin their fightback against the legions of the walking dead, and the Infected themselves begin mutating into something ... different.

Told through interconnected eyewitness accounts — emails, text messages, reports, diaries, found video footage, and graphic adaptations — the remnants of humanity battle to survive in a world gone mad.

This isn't due in shops until October - think the launch is set for Fantasycon at close of September - but Vault being a special needs case, those-lovely-people-at-Robinson have forwarded a preview copy. So for first, but certainly not last time on-line (by close of today this post will likely be appearing uncredited on a horror forum-that-rates-Vault-as-s**t near you), here's the luscious line-up. My excitement is tempered with a certain degree of trepidation. Can Fightback possibly live up to standard set by it's illustrious predecessor? Stay turned for terror ...

[oatcakeredux]

Marvellous news! A shame that Kim Newman's giving this one a miss, but Neil Gaiman, Anne Billson, Pat Cadigan, Roz Kaveney and multiple pieces by Christopher Fowler lead me to reckon that it will live up to its predecessor. And I rather like the idea that this one will largely focus on the fightback by the uninfected - that rarely tends to be dealt with.

[dem bones]

If i'm honest, on this occasion can't say i'm that disappointed at lack of Kim Newman, as his contribution to the otherwise magnificent Zombie Apocalypse struck me as ill-judged. But them i'm a surly bastard, so ignore.

Have sworn not to give it another look 'til i've finished Fright Night, Sundown ... Sunrise and finished notes for Paperback Fanatic 23, but it's a tough ask. Will try not to make any commentary too spoiler heavy (tougher ask still). I will say this: it sure LOOKS the part. Judging by the gravestone graffiti on p.5 (of 544), Smith & Jones have been listening to Devo.

Due to typical hilarious On The Buses style mix-up, the package also contained something called Mammoth Book Of Best New SF 25 edited by Gardner Dozois, so suppose it's only right i post the details over coming days.

[dem bones]

Much as i'm enjoying, and determined to finish, Best New Horror 23, could no longer resist the allure of ZA:F!

Jo Flecher - Tabloid Tales: A report in The News Of Britain on the Coalition's controversial decision to scrap the Olympics in favour of a cheaper alternative, the Festival of New Britain, to be held in South London. The "haunted" Church of All Hallows, Blackheath, is among the properties to be demolished. Celebrity Ghost-hunters investigate the long-disused Hobbs Lane tube station for an episode of their trash TV show. It does not pass without incident.

Christopher Fowler - From Prof. Margaret Winn/ From Simon Wesley #1: Prof. Winn (see Ground Dead Zero in the first book), concerned at the haphazard nature of the excavation of the Blackheath plague pit, forwards a series of documents to a historical epidemiologist with a covering letter expressing her fears for her job. These documents include:

Reggie Oliver - Lord Of The Fleas: (1). "There was much talk of the dead gnawing at each others' bones beneath the ground and suchlike." An unpublished fragment from Boswell's Life Of Dr. Johnson, dated June 1782, relating to the "famous" 'Hob's Lane Disturbances', dismissed at the time as a hoax in the tradition of the Cock Lane Ghost. Dr. Johnson felt otherwise. He had visited the property in question, Mrs. Hackett's 'Education House' for young ladies, and, while some of the poltergeist activity was unquestionably the work of her mischievous "pupils", an inspection of the cellars beneath left him in no doubt that he was in the presence of pure Evil. Johnson would later clash with Thomas 'The Zombie King' Moreby, Architect, Satanist and enthusiastic admirer of plague-carrying fleas, who warned him against meddling in that which did not concern him.

(2) Moreby's short poem, dedicated to Sir Francis Dashwood, founder of the Hellfire Club and doyen of today's Brimstone Mob. Concludes: "With wisdom from Beneath we'll strike the sky/ When Life's consumed, then Death Himself shall die."

(3) A series of letters from Anne Whitby, eighteen, to Catherine, her cousin and confidante, covering the months August to October, 1803.

Anna's widowed father, a wine merchant, is among the super-wealthy Thomas Moreby's several business associates. The old man has amassed huge gambling debts and faces ruin and a long stay in the Fleet prison unless he can persuade Anna to accept Moreby's proposal of marriage. Anna is suitably horrified. She despises Moreby as creepy, and her heart is set on young Mr. Melville, the impoverished lawyer. Eventually her father's pathetic pleading wears her down and she reluctantly condemns herself to a loveless marriage to save his honour. Small consolation. Moreby's fixation with the Black Arts means there will be no consummation of their union until a certain favourable date in October. Can our heroine persuade Mr. Melville to abandon his lofty principles and make her an adulteress, thereby ruining whatever ghastly scheme Moreby has up his sleeve?

Secret passages, duelling, Necromancy, Cannibalism, Child-sacrifice, mutant fleas, Mrs. Hackett's bawdy house, brimming chamberpots, a terrifying visit to Bedlam to visit the raving lunatic that is Mr. Verney (a gifted architectural model-maker who fell foul of Moreby) - yes, of all things, a full-on Gothic novella, and an early best-of-book contender.

Jo Fletcher - The Hobbs End Horror: More press clippings. We learn of Anna's dire fate - and that of her husband - from a report in the London Intelligence dated 11th October, 1803. Prof. Winn has also included snippets on the alleged mass- hysteria triggered by Orson Welles' infamous Halloween 1938 radio dramatisation of The War Of The Worlds, and it's relation to 'The Hobbs End Horror': several columns devoted to child abductions in Blackheath during the late 1950's and further disturbances in, around and above All Hallows church during the Summer of Love.

Brian Hodge - Morphogenesis: US based biologist Josef Koczac pays a clandestine visit to the vaults of All Hallows Church to obtain DNA samples from all corpses removed from the plague pits. One is of way too recent vintage and so infested with fleas, she appears to be in perpetual motion (we met her in Zombie Apocalypse). Koczac returns to his hotel, flea-bitten and feverish. From his sick bed he can hear disturbances in the street ....

Jo Fletcher - Hard News: Janet Ramsey, she who revealed the plot to reanimate Princess Di in Zombie Apocalypse, reports on the Coalition's plans to press ahead with the demolition of All Hallows, red tape, by-laws and and public opinion be damned! Greenwich and Blackheath residents complain to the council about the recent flea epidemic.

Paul Finch - Dead Air: A transcript of increasingly urgent messages received by Police radio controller Uma Bhupathi during the full-scale riot involving her colleges, demonstrators and ... a third party, at All Hallows on the night of May 1st. As Uma slowly pieces together the incredible, horrendous truth of what is going on all around, she abandons her post to try save her family over Peckham way. Inspectors Ray Bertelli and Jean Cooper, Sergeants Maybury and Oggleby and PC Keith Cosgrove are among those she abandons to their grisly fates, though it's unlikely there was much anyone could do for them.

Companion piece to Mr. Finch's Special Powers, one of my picks of the first book, and every bit as effective.

Amanda Foubister - Consent Form: Susan Jenkins, recently bitten, agrees to undergo genetic testing. Much cause for celebration among shareholders in New World Pharmaceuticals!

Christopher Fowler - From Simon Wesley #3/ The Well Of Seven/ From Simon Wesley #4: The biologist has grown increasing concerned for the welfare of his colleague. Against all his scientific training, he also believes there's a link between the diabolical dabbling of evil genius Moreby & his disciples (the Well of Seven) and the horrific developments in South London. Sandwiched between his letters, the exploits of Kane, Zak, posh-boy Stone, Mercia and Tabby, five mismatched first year students at St. Martins Art College who narrowly escape a zombie attack on the local Prêt-à-Manger and break into the long-defunct station on York Road, one floor of which has been used as a London Transport storage depot. Kane still has his laptop and keeps a journal of their every horrible moment.

There have been a number of Subterranean Cannibal moments in ZA:F to date, but this is the pick. Plenty for fans of pop culture references too: Lady GaGa, current state of Madonna's career, chicken-sandwich scoffing "vegetarians", etc..

Which brings us up to p. 137 and Anne Suckers Billson's on-the-spot report of a second Siege of Paris .....

[dem bones]

Anne Billson - Paris When It Sizzles: A fashion journalist in the French capital to interview the industry big-shots instead files a report on the May Day celebration which fast degenerates into a bloody conflict between Riot Police, revellers and what is first taken to be an Anarchist mob bent on trouble. Our girl can't help but note - not without a hint of sarcasm - that the French zombies are still better dressed than the English counterparts and carry the new look with a certain élan. She and a party of trendies move into Notre Dame and watch the city go to pieces - there's a particularly gruelling 9/11 flashback - until there's little else to eat but them. One of the party prefers to take a leap from a gargoyle ....

No fightback as yet, but finally some small hope. Despite another huge body count, the journalist and her hip drug-dealer friend live to tell the tale and join other survivors in the vast city beneath the city which has, for several decades, served as refuge to the homeless and artistic communities.

Guy Adams - Pages From A British Army Field Manual: A father's journal to his soon-to-be-born son, explaining why he enlisted with the National Peacetime Reserve to "make a difference", "shine" and "put the Great back in Great Britain" just like it said in the brochure. A few days as a Disposal Officer is enough to disillusion him of all that bullshit. Nuking London has failed to prevent the spread of infection and soon his quiet country town is under siege, leaving his six strong Disposal unit and a bunch of council workers to fight off the zombies. The maternity wing of Hospital is breached .....

No matter that you maybe guess the ending, it still comes as a shock. The Field Manual itself is a masterpiece of pitch black comedy.

Sarah Pinborough - Peace Land Blood: Next to Moscow and a Student massacre in Red Square. Lenin and Boris Yeltsin return from the grave to unite the living and the dead against Putin. Brian Carter, Head of Communications at the British Embassy, request immediate repatriation but, the cabinet having retreated to a bunker after giving the order to terminate London, his increasingly desperate messages fall on deaf ears. Lady Cartledge's affair with a journalist proves fatal to all.

This put me in mind of Kim Newman's contributions to Zombie Apocalypse. Very enjoyable in their own right but somehow out of sympathy with the rest of the material.

[dem bones]

Back with the program.

John Llewellyn Probert - ZZ Experiment Camp: Wales having, as yet, escaped relatively lightly in terms of casualties, those good folk at New World Pharmaceuticals commandeer the nature reserve at Ramsey Island, hastily erect a complex, and helicopter in the best medical brains available to get busy on a cure to the zombie virus. Consultant cardiologist Dr. Clare Fremont, 30, is horrified to learn that, along with the infected she'll be experimenting on humans, and makes the mistake of committing her outrage to print. NWP see all.

Clare's casual lover, Dr. Graham Harman, proves himself the company man by cheerfully performing all manner zombie-to-human grafts, transplants and amputations. And he was beginning to tire of Dr. Fremont in any case ...

Neil Gaimon - Down Among The Dead men: Graphic novelist Rod Ostler, holed up in a renovated lighthouse as he completes work on the latest volume of his popular My Bad Bad Brother series. There have been no radio broadcasts for a fortnight, but the news was so awful he hardly misses them. And then he's bitten by a rat - make that half a rat: weirdest thing, it should've been dead but kept going.

Ever the professional, Rod continues drawing ....

Simon Strantzas - #zOmBEY: Rainbow Bridge, Niagara Falls. The US has sealed it's borders. Street artist Gary Spender, aka Spider98, reckons those idiotic Yanks have got themselves all worked up over nothing more than a bunch of bums acting weird, and dreams up a publicity stunt involving a huge zOmBEY poster. While he and co-conspirator Peter paste the design to the side of an army truck, Darlene and Martin film their exploits for YouTube, until they're all chased off by .... border patrol? Maybe. It's too dark to tell.

Peter can't keep up, and the trio dodge inside the derelict Boris Karloff Wax Museum to wait for him. Darlene, who has been acting cranky all night, suddenly turns on Martin and slashes hin with her nails whereupon they brawl their way out into the night and disappear. Gary, abandoned and uneasy that there's something stalking him through the chamber of horrors, keeps up a running commentary on Twitter, until it's clear there ain't nobody left to pay any attention.

We've now passed p. 300 (of 550 approx.), the plot is wobbling this way and that, and still little prospect of any "Fightback"... and it's a great read. The Ann Billson, Simon Strantzas, John L. Probert and Guy Adams stories join those by Reggie Oliver, Chris Fowler and Paul Finch on personal 'best of book' contenders' list.

Here's a press release.

Attachments:

[Johnlprobert]

Sept 14, 2012 15:43:26 GMT dem bones said:

The Ann Billson, Simon Strantzas, John L. Probert and Guy Adams stories join those by Reggie Oliver, Chris Fowler and Paul Finch on personal 'best of book' contenders' list.

Many thanks Mr D! Delighted that my bit did the business for you!

[dem bones]

Have you had a complimentary copy yet, John? Must say, as with the first book Zombie Apocalypse! Fightback is a roller-coaster of a read and I'm thinking it can only be a matter of pages before the whole thing collapses under it's own weight, but am through 350 of them now and it has me hooked. The full implications of Amanda Foubister's understated (in this company) Consent Form only impact mid-way through ZZ Experiment Camp. The time-line is difficult to follow but three stories on from his death, Dr. Harman still seems to be accepting correspondence, so good to know he's dusted himself down and bounced back firing on all cylinders! Just finished Brian Hodge's all-too-horribly-plausible-in-the-circumstances Fright Club, easily among the most gripping novellas i've read since we started the board. It's also left me another three sides of impenetrable scrawl to decipher ...

The way the book is shaping up, any 'Fightback' would surely have to take the form of a united human-zombie front versus New World Pharmaceuticals, and which side would Thomas Moreby come out on? No word as yet on the situation in Africa, Asia or the Middle East ....

Anyway, we're finally seen the back of the ConDem's, so every Zombie Apocalypse has it's silver lining. Meanwhile, back in Wales, and fuck me, guess who's turned up?

Paul McAuley - Rendition: Thomas Moreby, restrained Hannibal Lector-style, in the custody of a renegade British agent. The Spook, Ralph, on the run from the special forces, turns to his old flame Dr. Alison McReady for help. Ralph needs her to tend the most celebrated walking corpse of them all until his colleagues can spirit them both away. The hastily assembled interim Government plan to extradite Moreby to America in return for arms. Alison privately agrees with him that this would not be in anyone's interests, and accompanies Ralph and prisoner to the designated pick-up point, an Oxford barn.

Moreby takes a shine to Alison, who, he tells her, reminds him of a particularly pleasing whore he slept with back in the day. According to the Zombie King, he controls his fellow dead by means of telepathy, which, if true, explains the reanimated Lenin's ability to bind Russia's living and dead into a unified force, so more fool me for finding that particular episode ridiculous.

Except Dr. McReady is sure he's lying. She thinks he communicates orders via his beloved fleas.

New World Pharmaceuticals soon find the fugitives. All they had to do was follow the migration of zombies toward the barn. Moreby, who wants to go to the States, surrenders himself and nobody is too bothered when Ralph and Alison are sprung from military detention mid-torture. With a flash-pen's worth of classified documents, and blood samples taken from Thomas Moreby, Dr. Alison McReady can put her flea theory to the test. "I'm with Ralph now. I'm part of the Human Resistance." It's taken a long time but finally, the fightback is up and running.

Brian Hodge - Fright Club: Mr. Hodge has a flair for post-mortem entertainment. Back in the late 'eighties he nightmared up a zombie game-show, Dead Giveaway, for Skipp & Spector's Book Of The Dead. Now, via Rolling Stone journalist Evaline Yates, he introduces Mark Vanderhoven, star of internet TV sensation, Apocalypse Death Match. As ADM president Noah Carver explains, cage-fighting is an evolving sport, and if it is to challenge the monopoly of showbizzy, family-orientated wrestling, it has to move with the times, so human versus zombie bouts were only a matter of time. Yes, the fights are rigged in the humans favour - the zombies are gloved and have their mouths wired shut - but there's always the possibility that something can go wrong, as was the case when young black fighter Anthony Chapell dislodged his opponent's rubber bite block (grainy mobile phone footage of Anthony's appalling death has since become a global internet sensation). Odd thing. Nobody knows what became of his corpse, though there have been rumours ....

Evangeline gets to interview Mark Vanderhoven (seems an intelligent, decent young man) and Noah Carver (" ... if that means I've got to get my inner Nazi on so people who look and smell like you and me still have our place in this world a year from now - so be it."), then spends a day on the road with Mia Mayhem and her Wrangling Crew, who have the unenviable task of prowling the streets for the Champ's next opponent. Mia wants to become the first female versus zombie cage-fighter. Each of the crew are of the opinion that the walking dead are gaining in intelligence ....

Before a capacity crowd, Mark steps into the cage to face the toughest fight of his career ...

Added bonus for fans of pop culture references. Hodge name checks Working Man by Canadian Stadium Rockers, Rush, and, of perhaps greater significance to us, Now I'm Feeling Zombified, "a tune by British band of Goth-punk weirdoes, Alien Sex Fiend" (they'll be so proud!). Will leave you to figure why that should be, or better still, read the book!

[dem bones]

Peter Crowther - The World According To Bernie Maughmstein #1: Remember the rather louche gent with the mic on the cover of the Dark Terrors hardback? That's Bernie, a wilfully "controversial" stand-up comedian with more than a touch of the Right-wing shock jock about him. "Hey, fuck all this PC shit, right?", etc.

Les Edwards

Pat Cadigan - In The Cloud: "She's right. We're in Delaware." There's something nasty about to happen to Manhattan Island ....

Private Joleen Lindbloom sees to it that her lesbian partner, Raquelle la Fontaine, is evacuated to a secure shelter New Jersey among the families of army personnel.

There is no longer any such thing as a 'secure shelter', least of all a hastily erected inflatable tent, and soon the party of six soldiers, a doctor and eight refugees come under attack from both outside and within as first a pensioner with a pitchfork goes psycho and then Dee Dee, a sulky fourteen year old, is bitten by an infected boy. Dee Dee is unceremoniously dragged outside and shot (little sister, Kit, takes it in her stride).

The survivors relocate to Pennsylvania where the residents believe lesbianism equals child molesting and refuse to provide Raquelle a roof. It's the best the Army sergeant can do to persuade them to part with some medical supplies. As it turns out, the doctor won't be needing them as she too has the virus. Only swift action on Raquelle's part prevents further grisly casualties. She accepts an invitation to enlist.

Told in a series of text files and transcripts of video's uploaded to the Cloud. A proper horror story, but for all the tragedy, betrayal and loss, an optimistic one. Maybe Joleen is still out there, maybe she's already dead and turned, but Raquelle, a far stronger person for her experience, will keep looking.

Are New World Pharmaceuticals calling the shots the world over? The nuking of yet another major city serves humanity no good, but it's a major boost for the enemy, breeding a whole new batch of zombies, radioactive zombies at that ....

Peter Crowther - The World According To Bernie Maughmstein #2: Second of six doses of Bernie's wit.

[dem bones]

Peter Crowther - Corpse Gas/ The World According To Bernie Maughmstein #3: Just about as busy as a forty page story has any right to be, and buried not far beneath the evil scientist/ zombie mayhem, a Poe-esque psychological ghost story. With Thomas Moreby now safely in US custody and undergoing extensive medical testing at NWP nerve-centre 'The Bunker', security is paramount. Dr. Jason Willson, in pieces after the death of his beloved wife Marianne, has taken to breaking into the cemetery nights and reading to her from the Bible. It's clear he'll do anything to bring her back. Amid concerns that the man charged with overseeing the operation has become a loose cannon, Senior Controller Paryder and special agent Fletcher pass the order that he and his known acquaintances be kept under constant 24 hour surveillance.

Their concerns are understandable given NWP's cavalier attitude toward their 'volunteers'. Those duped into signing consent forms now discover exactly what it is they've let themselves in for, and the boffins exhaust the supply at such a rate that they've begun working through the non-consensual too.

Moreby, tiring of playing the compliant guinea pig, demonstrates a previously unsuspected flair for escapology, slips his chains and, in one of the books grisliest episodes, settles the score with the despicable Prof. DêeShamê. But will he grant Dr. Willson his heart's desire?

Michael Marshall Smith - Getting It Right: After the cannibal horrors of Corpse Gas and Bernie's latest side splitter, another change of pace. A transcript of CCTV footage taken 4th July on Lake Tahoe beach. The black sheep of the Stegnaro family is it's last living member, and northing's going to stop him from righting past wrongs by hosting the annual barbecue. He rounds up his brother, slaps some burgers on the grill, and sits back with a bottle of Jack Daniels, confident the rest of the clan will respond to his open invitation and join them.

Peter Crowther - The World According To Bernie Maughmstein #4: His 1287th joke (fact). Jim Davidson consulting his lawyer even as we speak.

Roz Kaveny - A Shamble Of Zombies: My first thought was .... poetry at a time like this?!! Just goes to show that, even amidst the carnage of a zombie uprising, you'll still find the odd individual with too much time on their hands. But it's deadly effective, quite jaunty in the circumstances, and the passages detailing an indiscriminate massacre confirm a bitter truth; they'll mow down the enemy, but that doesn't mean the army are fighting on your side.

Think i'm getting why it's called Fightback now ...

[dem bones]

.... or maybe not.

Lisa Morton - Day Of The Dead: Field reports from the war in Southern California. The insatiable appetite on legs that is Major General Harlan Dawson leads the New Zombie Order in what should be a routine victory over plucky but limited Resistance fighters. Irritated beyond endurance by the close attentions of his aide, Captain Drew Hatch, Dawson disregards orders, eats a "normal captive" as opposed to an adversary of rank to becomes an early victim of YAWYE (You Are What You Eat) syndrome. With every brain a zombie devours, he takes on something of the victim's personality, and Dawson finds himself sympathising with his last meal, Hector Robles, to the point where he writes to the man's widow, Alejandre, and warns her of an impending NZO raid on a rebel hideout. His natural Darwinism contaminated by humanity, Dawson, urges the zombies to defy President Moreby, call off the holocaust and make peace with the living. Because without them the walking dead will be a spent force within six months. No surprise he tops the NZO's most wanted list.

Amanda Foubister - To Serve Man: A fashionable restaurant goes the extra mile to please its malodorous but discerning clientèle.

Peter Atkins - You Are What You Eat: Case of Martin Gifford, serial killer, sexual pervert and human cannibal who gets his kicks from screwing young women as they hover between death and reanimation (he dresses them in cheerleader outfits first, obviously). The zombies assign the case to the rotting remains of a former detective. They soon discover that Sergeant Bertrand has a few kinks of his own ....

The World According To Bernie Maughmstein #5/ #6: Worlds greatest rubbish zombie comedian back on the offensive.

Robert Shearman - The Play's The Thing: His father was a feared Sunday Times theatre critic, so perhaps it was inevitable that Richard Hardy jnr. would become a playwright, his driving ambition, to create something even his Dad would appreciate. The zombies catch up with Richard in Watford but, rather than eat him, make a proposition. Write them a play to commemorate their victory, and they'll see to it that Hardy senior is present on opening night. Richard knocks out the first two acts of a zombie-human love story, Sally & Steve, and all might have gone to plan had not that "walking sack of death", Sir Andrew Lloyd-Webber, muscled in on the action .....

Lisa Tuttle - Island Life: Christmas Eve. A ferry drifts toward a tiny island in the Outer Hebrides. Sighting zombies on deck, the community launch a successful fire-bomb attack. But a survivor of the inferno, Ben, walks out of the sea and into the welcoming arms of his mother, Lucy. Ben bites a chunk from her and slashes the gallant old Colonel who rushes to her side, leaving Tommy, the narrator's husband, the grim task of terminating all three. Pity he overlooked Lucy's two Doberman Pincers, also infected. Within days, every dog on the island is coming on like Cujo.

Told in a despairing letter to the narrator's daughter, last known whereabouts Glasgow before it fell to the living dead. Interspersed with extracts from the mother's YA supernatural novel, Shadowlands. Life and death imitate art.

Peter Crowther - The World According To Bernie Maughmstein #7: Bernie delivers his verdict on Zombie Apocalypse, created by Stephen Jones.

Nancy Holder - My Fellow Americans: Outrageous daughter of Kim Newman's Epilogue: The Queen's Christmas Speech from the first book. From the safety of her secret bunker, 'H.', the true President of the USA, urges her fellow human Americans to stand strong, we are winning the war, Thomas Moreby will never triumph over this great nation, etc..

And there you have it. Shock City - I actually finished a book! Multiple author horror story? frustrated graphic novel? cry of despair/ howl of rage? political satire? surreal zom com? Maybe I'll be able to come up with some vaguely coherent critique of Mr. Jones & friends' wild and - at times - just plain weird opus over coming days. For now the best I could do was knock out above rotten story notes without throwing in too many spoilers.

Volume three? The graffiti on page 541 would suggest it's a stone cold certainty!

[dem bones]

"Written and narrated by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Les Edwards and directed by Sean Hayden, with original music composed by Stephen Parsons, DOWN AMONG THE DEAD MEN is a witty and scary zombie story that reveals why you should never try to befriend a bedraggled rat . . ."

Many thanks to Stephen Jones for inviting me along to the screening of Down Among The Dead Men at Uli Meyer Animation Ltd, Camden High Street on Thursday evening, and to Robert Shearman, Michael Marshall Smith, John Gilbert, Amanda Foubister, Mandy Slater, Jo Fletcher, Les Edwards and Stephen Parsons for making me welcome. Turns out that the contributors had yet to see a copy of Zombie Apocalypse (from which the story is taken), so mine has not only been thumbed by the famous it's signed to the point of lunacy, mostly by people who aren't actually in it . I guess sometimes it must be a little disconcerting to have some bundle of rags prowling about the room droning on and on about nothing, but if they minded nobody seemed to show it. Stephen confirmed that, yes, there will be a third book in the Zombie Apocalypse series, some spin-offs too, and he's also compiling a Robinson Mammoth which will be of especial interest to fans of a certain legendary US pulp magazine. Have asked him to keep us informed. As with the book, the film will receive it's official launch at Fantasy Con next weekend, and i'm almost certain Mr. Jones said it will eventually be available online.

Had a good chat with John Gilbert about Frighteners magazine and Graham Masterton's notorious Eric The Pie, a story which, you'll remember, so offended W. H. Smith they refused to stock the issue. Twenty year on from what we thought would be it's final issue, John is reviving Fear magazine! Must admit, what with all the beer and wine, I was coming over even more unintelligible than usual by the time I got into a chat with Rob Shearman, but he and his lady were utterly charming, and he seemed genuinely delighted that i love the zombie Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber in his contribution to ZA:F.

Well, i'd certainly not been expecting to spend Thursday evening in Amy Winehouse country surrounded by contemporary horror legends! It was a lovely gesture on Stephen and Mandy's part,and i hope from the above you can tell how much I enjoyed the night.
Even made it to Charing Cross Rd on way home in time to finally snag a copy of Henry S. Whitehead's Voodoo Tales.

Couldn't smuggle you out any booze, but here's a cut out and keep Zombie Apocalypse! Fightback bookmark ....

.... and a Bela Lugosi serviette!

[Craig Herbertson]

Worth it for the serviette alone which I hope you nicked. Sounds like a great day though.

[andydecker]

Sounds like a lovely evening!

[Johnlprobert]

Sept 22, 2012 14:07:09 GMT andydecker said:

Sounds like a lovely evening!

Yes, and well done for flying the Vault flag Mr D! We were invited along to this but it was a school night. And over a hundred miles away. Glad it went well.

Hopefully I'll get my contributor copies at some point!