Happy Goat Horror

Dark bleatings, my shambling tribe! I have read so many zombie books, and my favourites always change. Here are my *current* recommendations!

Before we get to the list proper, here are some honourable mentions…

Can You Survive the Zombie Apocalypse (by Max Braille), Frost Bite (by Angela Sylvaine) – which only isn’t in the Top 10 because it’s not quite a zombie book, and Pet Sematary (by Stephen King) – which IS a zombie novel technically, but again, not quite.

10. Zombies! – by Paul Kane

This is one of my most recent zombie reads, and a fun one. It’s a short story collection with a variety of types of zombies stories of varying lengths. Something in there for everyone, I’d say.

9. Closure Limited (by Max Brooks)

This is a micro short story collection that accompanies World War Z, which I didn’t enjoy nearly half as much as this little treasure. It’s full of some really original great ideas, like zombies thrown against human opponents in MMA, and what happens to vampires if all the humans have disappeared thanks to zombies eating them.

8. The Walking Dead – Novels

Written by Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga, these novels chart the life of The Governor before and as he becomes The Governor. They really fill in all those background details, and include the people who were in his life before he became the leader of Woodbury – it’s a really interesting journey!

7. Cell – by Stephen King

I’m sure some folk will argue with me that they’re not really zombies, but I consider pretty much any murderous, mindless, turned humans – living or dead – zombies. From shambling corpses to 28 Days Later‘s “infected”, I love them all. This story starts with a mobile phone signal that makes all it affects zombies. DO NOT judge this story by the film adaptation – read the book instead.

6. Zombies! Zombies! Zombies! – edited by Otto Penzler

This is one of the most comprehensive zombie anthologies I’ve ever come across – it is ENORMOUS, full of amazing stories, many of them by very highly regarded authors. I absolutely guarantee that you will love this if you’re a zombie fan.

5. Survivor Song – by Paul Tremblay

This has one of the best openings I’ve ever read, and I was hooked. It’s a fairly standard zombie story on its surface, however, we’re following a character whose husband has just died, she’s been bitten, and she’s pregnant. It’s a really tense race against time, and utterly enthralling.

4. Zombie Apocalypse AND Zombie Apocalypse: Fightback! – both books edited by Stephen Jones

I decided to put both books in the same spot so I didn’t have to take up two spots with them, but they’re excellent anthologies edited by Stephen Jones (one of the best anthology editors in the world, in my humble opinion). There are more in this series but I haven’t read them yet. With stories by the likes of Tim Lebbon, Lisa Morton, and Sarah Pinborough, you can’t go wrong with these shorts!

3. The Walking Dead Comics – by Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, and Cliff Rathburn

I was a faithful reader of these comics from beginning to end (I started reading them shortly after I started watching the show). Some of what they lifted for the show does work a lot better in comic form, and the stories and villains were really creative.

2. Breathers – by S.G. Browne

Comedy horror in its best form in this novel about a world in which a percentage of the population just come back as zombies when they die. We follow a character who gets absolutely wasted drunk one night and wakes up to find that he may have eaten his parents. My favourite thing about this story is the world-building – there are zombie support groups, and all sort of laws and rules about what zombie are and aren’t allowed to do. It works as a great, undead social commentary, and a funny, dark story.

And finally, the undisputed number one champion is…..

Coldbrook – by Tim Lebbon

This is my most recent zombie read, and by far my favourite zombie story of all time. It was mind-blowing, and I only wish that I’d discovered it sooner. Not only do we get an excellent science fiction/horror genre blend, but we get fast AND slow zombies, AND we get a The Stand-style opener when one of our protagonists escapes the facility the outbreak happens in. It’s a big, beefy book and a big sprawling tale, and it’s worth every second of reading required. What a bloody excellent story!

I hope there’s been something new on this list for you to pick up – let me know what your favourite zombie stories are!

Bleeeeat!