Book Review: 'Book of the Dead' edited by John Skipp and Craig Spector
4 / 5 Stars
I remember picking this book up the instant I saw it on the shelf of Waldenbooks in downtown Baltimore in the late Summer of 1989. A zombie anthology..........and not only that, but one that showcased graphic horror !
I wasn't yet aware of the term 'Splatterpunk', but 'Book of the Dead' was indeed the world's first Splat anthology. As the back cover advertising blurb states,
This is a book that goes too far.
And invites you along for the ride.
Yep, no Charles L. Grant 'Quiet Horror' in this volume.
My capsule summaries of the contents (all of the entries were written exclusively for 'Book of the Dead'):
Introduction: On Going Too Far, by John Skipp and Craig Spector: the Editors make an overly earnest pitch that instead of giving a middle finger to the horror establishment, the goal of 'Book of the Dead' is to show that only by going too far, can we learn more about Our Humanity.
Yeah, sure, boys.
The first two stories, 'Blossom' by David J. Schow (as 'Chan McConnell') and 'Mess Hall' by Richard Layman, both deal with women revenging themselves on predatory males. Both gleefully display in-your-face Splat, and anyone proceeding further into the volume after encountering these two tales cannot make any excuses about being unprepared for the awaiting Carnography.
It Helps If You Sing, by Ramsey Campbell: Bright, a man living in a depressing English council house apartment, is visited by some religious canvassers who are a little......strange. Lacking any Splat content and featuring mild, deracinated zombies, this story compares poorly to the others in the anthology.
Home Delivery, by Stephen King: Mainers living on Jenny Island display folksy wisdom in confronting the risen dead.
Wet Work, by Philip Nutman: what if zombies could be made to work as paramilitary hitmen ? This short story later became expanded into the eponymous novel.
A Sad Last Love at the Diner of the Damned, by Edward Bryant: Martha, the waitress at the Cuchara Diner in Fort Durham, Colorado, thinks that patrolman Bobby Mack Quintana is just fine. But then a Zombie Holocaust erupts............can romance persevere ? Given Bryant's prediliction for New Wave-style overwritten prose, I approached this story with skepticism. But while it takes its time getting underway, it is redeemed by the closing pages, which revel in Splat.
Bodies and Heads, by Steve Rasnic Tem: Nurse Elaine is on duty at a Denver hospital when the Zombie Plague begins. She witnesses some disturbing things.
I had mixed feeling about this story, which is an early example of the 'Weird Horror' genre (of which, Steve Rasnic Tem would go on to be a foremost practitioner). Plotting is subordinate to the emphasis on the lead character's psychological state, her awareness of bodily decay and corruption, her perceptions of the collapse of the world around her, etc. The closing segments of the story emphasize the fantastical quality of Weird Horror rather than traditional zombie tropes.
Choices, by Glen Vasey: a man named Dawson roams the USA in the aftermath of the Zombie Apocalypse, chronicling his interactions with the wary survivors. His experiences are related in the form of poetically phrased journal entries.
This over-long, and over-written, novelette is the worst entry in the anthology. The author is so focused on using the zombie theme to say something Profound about the Human Condition, that the narrative quickly becomes trite, and finishing it was a chore.
The Good Parts, by Les Daniels: what happens when a 483 lb. Incel becomes a zombie ? Gross-outs, that's what..........
Less than Zombie, by Douglas E. Winter: a Splat parody of the 1985 novel 'Less Than Zero' by Bret Easton Ellis. Given that Ellis's novel is quite forgotten nowadays, the premise is a bit hollow, and I doubt many contemporary readers will 'get it'.
Like Pavlov's Dogs, by Stephen R. Boyett: Sailor the Wasteland Raider decides to target a Biodome occupied by self-centered 'technoweenies'. A bit too long and overwritten to really provide much of a jolt, although I was rooting for the demise of the Biodome-ers.
Saxophone, by Nicholas Royle: in a dystopian, near-future Yugoslavia, a team of zombie criminals seeks to acquire contraband goods. While the plot is a bit contrived, this story has a cyberpunk flavor that makes it one of the more imaginative entries in the anthology.
On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert with Dead Folks, by Joe R. Lansdale, and Jerry's Kids Meet Wormboy, by David J. Schow: outrageous and over-the-top, these two stories fully exemplify the Splatterpunk ethos.... and provide laugh-out-loud humor in the bargain. These, more than the other entries, give the 'Book of the Dead' its status as one of the best horror anthologies of the 1980s.
Dead Giveway, by Brian Hodge: what happens when you mix zombies with a television game-show ?
Eat Me, by Robert R. McCammon: love, in the time of decaying tissues. McCammon shows he can Splat with the best of them, and even work some humor into the gore.
The verdict ? 'Book of the Dead' deserves a solid four-star rating, which I rarely hand to out horror anthologies of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. 'Dead' set out to bring Splatterpunk to a wider audience and it succeeded, as well as sending a clear message to the practitioners of 'Quiet Horror' that not everyone shared their supercilious attitudes towards graphic horror.
The impact of the success of 'Book of the Dead' can be seen in the inclusion of 'Jerry's Kids Meet Wormboy' in the venerable anthology The Year's Best Horror Stories: XVIII (1990). Editor Karl Edward Wagner, who primly refused to feature graphic horror in any of the previous volumes in the series, could no longer dismiss the Power of Splat - !
If you are a horror fiction fan, then having a copy of 'Book of the Dead' in your personal library is warranted.
(For another take on 'Book of the Dead', readers are directed to the Too Much Horror Fiction blog).
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