I just noticed that the introduction to John Joseph Adams’ upcoming zombie fiction anthology The Living Dead is now online. Here’s my characteristically pithy contribution:
David Barr Kirtley, author of “The Skull-Faced Boy,” says that there are two reasons we find zombies appealing. “One, I think there’s an enormous segment of our brain that’s evolved for running away from packs of predators, and zombie stories give us a rare opportunity to take this primal part of our psyches out for a spin,” he says. “And, two, zombies are a great metaphor. The great mass of humanity often comes across to us as unreasoningly hostile and driven to consumption, and the image of the zombie captures this perfectly.” |
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