Essay on History of Zombie Lit and Dead Set

John Ottinger III, editor of the wonderful blog that follows SF, Fantasy, and Horror, Grasping for the Wind, contributed this great article entitled, Brains Lite: A Brief and Incomplete History of Zombie Literature, to the award winning Speculative Fiction Fanzine-- Electric Velocipede.


In this essay he gives a brief overview of zombie lit, but also tackles the question of why they are so popular right now.  If you like zombies, give it a read.


Also, while I am talking zombies, in all of The Walking Dead hype this past fall, the zombie miniseries Dead Set, which aired on IFC, got lost in the shuffle.  I recently watched it and would highly recommend you do too. The set up is quite simple.  Zombies begin taking over Britain, and the locked in contestants on a Big Brother type reality show are among the only survivors.


However, a word of warning first.  If you thought The Walking Dead was bleak, stay away.  Dead Set has nary a warm and fuzzy moment.  It is non-stop carnage and satire.  There are plenty of laugh out loud moments, but there are no heroes here, no Rick Grimes to lead the troops.  I loved it, but I also realize that my personal taste is a bit out of the "normal" range.


If nothing else, it had one of my favorite final shots.  Just the final shot is worth watching the entire show.  That and the overweight reality show producer.  He was fabulously obnoxious.


If you like Dead Set, read Brian Keene's Castaways.  Click here for my review.