Common knowledge suggests that taking living advice from the undead is not the best idea. They mill around, they don't eat right, they're falling apart. To quote law enforcement officials, "their dead, their all messed up." But perhaps this is a misconception, perhaps zombies are closer to living a healthy, well-centered life than most members of the living community. That the undead, by way of example, can teach the living a great deal about living fruitfully is the premise behind Scott Kenemore's new book, The Zen of Zombie.
Poking fun at Tao of _____ books (with the blank filled with Winnie the Pooh, the Mac operating system or Womanhood) Kenemore's Zen explains how even zombies, the most virulent and dangerous of ungodly creatures, have traits and abilities which can be learned and duplicated by the average person to reach a more peaceful and fulfilling existence. An excerpt:
Remember, It's Just StuffWhen in pursuit of a victim, a zombie may lose articles of clothing on tree branches or door frames. It may leave one or both of its shoes when it chases someone through a muddy field. Eyeglasses or glass eyes. Tiaras or tube-tops. Once they're gone, a zombie isn't sopping to pick them up. Attachment to possessions would only hold a zombie up an waste time. Stopping to retrieve a lost shoelace or a treasured childhood knick knack would only distract it that much from its prize (a victim's brain). You see, a zombie understands that time is valuable, and material possessions are expensive in more than one way. It's [an understanding and] a resolve that humans could stand to cultivate
You can't beat that logic. Not only is Zen of Zombie packed with treasures such as this, it also features entertaining illustrations every few pages to accompany important tips and lessons. If you would like to read more we suggest you pick up Zen of Zombie soon. In the meantime, enjoy this video of Zombies doing yoga in support of Zen and the zombie health movement. Who knew the dead were so flexible?
We recently had the pleasure of passing around a copy of The Living and the Dead by Norweigian artist Jason. A graphic novel, published by Fantagraphics in 2006, The Living and the Dead is a story about a lonely dishwasher working and saving so he can afford a night with a working girl whom he fancies, only to be interrupted by a meteor-prompted rise of the living dead before he has the chance to collect his pay and proposition her. For those who have never read Jason's work, and especially those who are entertained by the undead, this book is a highly enjoyable piece which allows the reader to become familiar with Jason's silent-movie style and tounge-in-cheek humor without feeling too far out of their depth.
The Living and the Dead by Jason is available directly from Fantagraphics for under $10 (US). For those who enjoy this title or are thinking about placing an order, we at ZNN would also suggest I Killed Adolf Hitler by Jason, the story of a hitman hired to go back in time to kill Hitler, but who fails and is stranded after Hitler steals his time machine.
If you ever thought to yourself that there aren't enough zombie movies being made or that the plots that do reach our screens are much too similar, the All Flesh Triolgy, compiled by Eden Studios, is for you. These three titles, The Book of All Flesh, The Book of More Flesh and The Book of Final Flesh, are packed with interesting and unconventional literary takes on the zombie genre which often venture into places that traditional cinema has feared to tread. Originally envisioned as a companion collection to the All Flesh Must Be Eaten zombie-themed role-playing game, the three books composing the All Flesh trilogy work just as well as stand alone anthologies of exceptional, short form, zombie fiction. It is a testament to the quality of the trilogy that the latter two books were produced entirely in response to the exceptional sales of the first book and its reader's clamoring for more.
For anyone who is interested in reading about zombie attacks in the VC tunnels of mid-60's Vietnam or undead rights episodes of daytime talk shows going awry, zombie theme parks complete with animatronic presidential corpses and/or how to find out if the company you are working for is trying to turn you into an undead drone, ZNN would wholeheartedly suggest diving into first book of this series and not stopping until you've reached the end of the last.
All three books are currently available from the Eden Studios webstore for a combined price of only $40. See that package by clicking HERE.
