Zombie: An Anthology of the Undead - edited by Christopher Golden

Zombie: An Anthology of the Undead

Edited by Christopher Golden

Ok, ok I know. A collection of Zombie short stories. Look, I've read Dostoevsky, Melville, Joyce & Dickens. I enjoy Steinbeck, Hemmingway and Austen. But I like Zombies too. I was embarrassed enough reading this on the train (the Kindle can't come soon enough). Get over it. 

Anyway, the other interesting thing here is that I dont often read short stories or collections of them. I find that you're just getting into the characters and situation, and then the thing ends. They often read like first chapters of a novel rather than a complete story. I also find that when I finish a book, I need a day or two of not reading anything heavy before I'm ready to start the next one - tough to do when you're trying to get through 450 pages of 20 page stories. 

At the back of this book, we get a little biopic of all the writers. I would seem a lot of them are well known - maybe if you're really into your horror or sci-fi you know them, but the only writer I knew was Max Brooks (who wrote the excellent World War Z). I think I've maybe heard of Tad Williams too? (anyone?).

I really really enjoy a good (or bad) Zombie film, but I was wondering if there was really room for 25 new spins on the Zombie mythology.  Was I proved wrong? Sort of. Mostly. I suppose if you tell the story well, you don't necessarily need to create a whole new paradigm.

There were quite a few of "life after the Zombie apocalypse" stories - one of which: "Family Business" by Johnathan Maberry was good enough to make me want to read more of his work - a man is hired by the living to seek out undead family members and kill them permanently.

There was stuff that was pretty clever - 'Lazarus' by John Connolly suggested that when Jesus brought Lazarus back to life, he came back as a member of the undead.'Second Wind' by John Carey had the hero as a millionaire businessman, who arranged to reanimate after his death, so he could continue amassing his fortune - death was no match for ambition, and 'What Maisie Knew' had zombies being used as home help, manual labourers and sex toys.

There was plenty of stuff that was forgettable too - Max Brook's effort felt like a left out chapter from World  War Z, 'Kids and Their Toys' by James A. Moore felt like Stand By Me with a zombie thrown in. There was also a story where a local tough guy kills a pool hustler in front of some local kids, which didn't seem to have any zombies in it at all - unless I was missing something.

Overall I would say that if Jodi Picoult or Thomas Pynchon is your normal read, then this probably isn't going to change your mind. However if you have a liking for the work of George A Romero - you could do a lot worse than this. 

The Sisters Brothers

The Sisters Brothers

By

Patrick DeWitt

Sometimes, reading a book is just like listening to someone telling you a story. Someone who has skill in story telling - they have warmth, humour and know how to pace it. With these books, reading them feels like no work at all. So it is with 'The Sisters Brothers'.

Set in gold rush era America - the book follows the story of Eli and Charlie Sisters - hired killers and brothers -  as they travel across America in pursuit of their target - the wonderfully named: Herman Kermitt Warm.. 

As with a lot of good books, its not the outcome of their journey that is the main thing, but their experience on the way. The story is narrated by Eli - the younger, softer and more philosophical of the two. In my head, Eli's voice sounded something like Nicholas Cage's voice in Raising Arizona, a friendly, curious and slightly simple fellow. He tells us of the brothers bickering relationship, how they came to be in this line of work, Charlie's weakness for Brandy and Eli's own longing to be out of the murder business for something far simpler. 

While Charlie finds comfort in Brandy, accumulating wealth, and being the most feared man in the west, Eli contemplates the wonderful invention of toothbrushing, gives his money to anyone who will treat him kindly, and sticks by his slow and troublesome horse: Tub, when he should have gotten rid of it some time ago. The brothers come across a wide range of eccentric characters - giving the book a feeling that it  might have been written by the Coen Brothers. There's that mix of black humour, strange characters, philosophy and cold blooded murder.

I can certainly see the influence of things like Charles Portiss' True Grit and Deadwood through the book  - both of these are very good things. I flew through the 300+ pages of this in about 5 days. Can't recommend it highly enough. 

The Player of Games

The Player of Games

By Iain M Banks

It feels strange to review this book. After all, it was first published 24 years ago. It means my opinion is even less relevant than usual. You would imagine that most people who were going to read it, have already done so.

However, I got my copy as part of World Book Night (http://www.worldbooknight.org/) - a scheme designed to encourage people to read. I signed up to be a 'giver' and listed TPoG as my 3rd choice book (The Book Thief and The Time Travellers Wife btw). I was duly selected as a giver, and was told I could hand out 24 copies of my it to whomever I wanted to. 

TPoG was the only book on the list that I hadn't read, but still wanted to - so my reasons for picking it weren't entirely altruistic. I've never really enjoyed Science Fiction novels (yes I've read Neuromancer, yes I've read Enders Game etc etc), despite enjoying Sci-Fi in films and comics. However, I've read most of Iain Banks's fiction output and I remain a big fan of his work. He adds the 'M' to his name to distinguish his Sci-Fi from his plain old 'Fi'. 

So to the book. TPoG takes place in a futuristic human society called 'The Culture'. A place where both humans and computers are considered sentient - where the need for money has long gone and living to survive is a thing of the past. People can devote themselves to travel, learning and other lofty pursuits. Within this safe environment - highly intelligent people can find themselves easily bored. So it proves with Jernau Gurgeh - one of the finest game players in the entire Culture -master of any form of strategy game in existence. 

In a bungled attempt to cheat and ensure a spectacular win, Gurgeh finds himself blackmailed and encouraged to help 'Special Circumstances' (the part of The Culture that deals with difficult situations) investigate a newly discovered Alien species called The Empire of Azad. The entire Azad culture revolves around a hugely complex game (also called Azad) - and a persons success in playing it dictates their social standing. The Culture are keen for Gurgeh to learn and play the game in an attempt to find out more about the potentially troublesome Empire.  

It's hard to go into too much more detail without giving away the story and much of what makes the book engrossing. Aside from doing an excellent job in creating not one, but two new societies and explaining how they work, Banks also manages to build tension around the playing of games that we don't know and don't understand (there is no attempt to explain the full rules of any of the games mentioned). Gurgeh starts off as a slightly arrogant and unsympathetic character, but you can't help cheering him on as the book develops. 

This story is as much about politics, psychology, power and ideologies as it is about anything particularly 'science fiction-y'. If you can accept or enjoy the futuristic setting, then there's a lot to be enjoyed here. 

What's the next best 'culture' novel then?