Monday 5 October 2009

Book Review: The Zombie Cookbook

It had to happen.

With the current zombie craze sweeping the nation like a bad case of ebola virus, sooner or later someone was bound to put together a Zombie Cookbook.

The someone turned out to be the new small press horror publisher Damnation Books, who came out with The Zombie Cookbook anthology and several other great titles last month.

Personally, I don't care for zombie. I prefer venison or goat. Zombie is a bit gamey and odorous. Not as bad as kimchee, say, but a strong contender for second place. If there's a zombie takeover and I last long enough that food becomes an issue, I think instead of cooking zombies I'll be blasting away at them as I run into a ruined supermarket in search of cans of Spam.

Anyway, there are some fine recipes here for those who don't mind eating the undead, such as Beer-Battered Zombie (everything goes better with beer), Brain Salad, and Zombie Pastie, which sounds like something an undead stripper might wear. These recipes are suitable for vegetarians since no animal was killed to create the meal.

There's plenty of food-themed fiction too. The anthology starts out strong with a short story introduction by Dutch heavy metal band The Zombie Cookbook, who prove they can write as well as rock, and the story "Wokking Dead" by Karina Fabian. People in the writing community will recognize her as the EPPIE award-winning author of Christian science fiction. In this story she studies the work day of two desperate exterminators in a world where zombies are as numerous as cockroaches at a cheap Chinese restaurant.

As you can imagine, all of these stories are written tongue-in-rotted-cheek. This is a smart move, since zombie stories that take themselves seriously have a bad tendency to be inadverantly silly. So if you want a fun collection of writing that mixes humor, horror, and a dash of cilantro, pick up The Zombie Cookbook.

The anthology is on a virtual book tour right now, with lots of interviews and other goodies planned, so check out the website for more information. The next stop on the tour is New Book News.

3 comments:

Lisa Haselton said...

Thanks for the wonderful comments about our zombie-licious anthology, The Zombie Cookbook. My short story "Secret Ingredient" features Clete, the zombie from my poem aptly titled "A Zombie Named Clete". :)

Lin said...

A hearty zombie "Thank you!" for praising The Zombie Cookbook. They assured me they would eat you last. :)

Lin Neiswender, author of "The Right Recipe".

Karina Fabian said...

"Tongue in rotted cheek." LOL.

Thanks for the review. Incidentally, I'm also known for humorous fantasy. Check it out at www.dragoneyepi.net. I tried to get my dragon detective to tell me about his encounters with zombies, but he refused. He doesn't like to talk about food gone bad.

Lisa's "Secret Ingredient" is really cute, too!

Blessings,
Karina Fabian

Looking for more from Sean McLachlan? He also hangs out on the Civil War Horror blog, where he focuses on Civil War and Wild West history.

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