Skipp & Spector - Still Dead: Book of the Dead 2

[andydecker]

John Skipp & Craig Spector (eds.) – Still Dead: Book of the Dead 2 (Mark V. Ziesing, 1992, hc, this edition Bantam Falcon, 1992, 303 pages)

Contents:

Tom Savini - Fast Foreword
John Skipp and Craig Spector - Introduction: Nineteen New Ways to Kick Dead Ass or Resisting the Urge to Decay
Mort Castle - The Old Man and the Dead
David J. Schow [as Chan McConnell] - Don't/Walk
Nancy A. Collins - Necrophile
K. W. Jeter - Rise Up and Walk
Glen Vasey - One Step at a Time
John Skipp and Craig Spector - The Ones You Love (poem)
Dan Simmons - This Year's Class Picture
Simon McCaffery - Night of the Living Dead Bingo Women (1990)
Elizabeth Massie - Abed
Gahan Wilson - Come One, Come All
Kathe Koja - The Prince of Nox
Gregory Nicoll - Beer Run
Maxwell Hart and Douglas Morningstar - Prayer
Poppy Z. Brite - Calcutta, Lord of Nerves
Roberta Lannes - I Walk Alone
Jay Russell - Undiscovered Countries
Brooks Caruthers - Moon Towers
Nancy Holder - Passion Play
Douglas E. Winter - Bright Lights, Big Zombie

Content is already listed under the first volume Book of the Dead, but I thought a separate thread would be nice. The introduction by the former bad boys of horror - whose contributions to the field appear more tame every passing year - is chilling in hindsight, considering this must have been written in 1992:

"They [apocalyptical myths] help us prepare, on the inner plane, for the impending Historical Crisis ... in whatever form it might ultimately choose to take. Because whatever it is, it's in the air, and a lot of us can taste it. Something is about to happen. We don't know what, but we know it's there, and a lot of us are bracing ourselves. The turning of a century is always greeted with religious hysteria, political upheaval, the rumblings of unprecedented change. This one will be no exception."

Not a bad piece of writing, and I wonder how much of this was a thoughtful contemplation and how much just hyping the content of an apocalyptic zombie anthologie. But they sadly got three of three, which is not bad.

I can't remember ever reading this book, even if a few tales stir some remote memories and not charitable ones in all cases. Tempted to do a re-read.

[dem bones]

I'm sure there was some kind of controversy surrounding this one. Maybe distribution problems or something? Book of the Dead was arguably splatterpunk's finest moment - not sure I ever read a good word about the sequel. Could be wrong, but very few of these stories seem to have reappeared in later Zombie anthologies (Nancy Holder's Passion Play being an exception). A rematch might prove interesting.

[dorisvsutherland]

I'm currently reading my way through this one, and so far it seems solid enough to me. If it had a poor reception upon publication in 1992, I'm wondering if this might have been because zombies were a bit passe at the time, and serial killer narratives like Silence of the Lambs and American Psycho were in. There's some irony in how the first Book of the Dead opened its introduction with that famous Robert Bloch quote ("What's going to come out of those people who think Night of the Living Dead isn't enough?") given that it was the children of Norman Bates who won out over Romero's ghouls. Well, until the zombie renaissance of the 2000s, anyway.

As an aside, it's interesting that while the first Book of the Dead had an all-male crew, Still Dead had a number of stories by women.

[andydecker]

Aug 8, 2023 7:05:56 GMT dorisvsutherland said:

 If it had a poor reception upon publication in 1992, I'm wondering if this might have been because zombies were a bit passe at the time, and serial killer narratives like Silence of the Lambs and American Psycho were in.

As an aside, it's interesting that while the first Book of the Dead had an all-male crew, Still Dead had a number of stories by women.

You are right. The serial killer narrative had the advantage of being a mainstream success. Mainstream, the merciless and greedy virus it is, swallowed some of the horror trends and made its original meaning, well, meaningless. As it usual did and does with most of pop culture.

The female writers included were all at the time a part of the already struggling horror crowd. They were very visible.

[dem bones]

Ignore me. Robert Morrish, writing in the Scream Factory; Night of the Living Dead special (1993) awarded Still Dead 3 stars out of 4, opposed to Book of the Dead's 2½, as "even though there are better stories in BOTD the nineteen stories in STILL DEAD hold up better as a whole." And now I think, Bright Lights, Big Zombie and Calcutta, Lord of Nerves for two have since returned more than once.