I <3 Zombies

I write nonfiction narratives about the global economy, and I have to read a lot of boring books on topics like globalization, the garment industry, world population, and food.

You have to read a lot of boring books to write an interesting one. (At least I hope WHERE AM I EATING? is interesting. The reviews should start coming in soon enough.)

I do find these subjects fascinating because I see firsthand how these global issues impact people I’ve met — garment workers in Cambodia, farmers in Colombia. But rarely am I absolutely thrilled to crack open a book written by some policy expert or economist. I’m amazed at their brains and I’m happy to have their info and knowledge flow into mind. But I’m less hungry for knowledge than I am for reading about those who hunger for brainz… Zombies!

I love zombies.

Zombie literature combines two of my favorite story lines: monsters and trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world.

“What do you like to read?”

“What are you reading now?”

I get these question a lot as I travel around speaking to groups and universities. I really struggle with this question. The asker is trying to probe into my personality and interests, and I’m not sure what to tell them. I read about food security, slavery, and the mass exodus of farmers from farms to cities. But what I really love to read about is zombies.

I usually don’t start with zombies.

But I thought you should know.

My top three zombie stories

World War Z: a book on global politics and infrastructure and zombies. One of my favorites.

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The Walking Dead: When I discovered this on Netflix I binge watched the first two seasons. Season 3 just concluded on AMC and now I’m in the process of revaluating the purpose of my life in the post-Walking Dead world. Anyone ever read the graphic novels? I think I’m going to have to get these to survive the summer.

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I Am Legend: The book or the original Vincent Price movie. The Will Smith movie ruined the story with special effects. Technically the creatures in this are vampires, but they are sort of zombie-ish vampires so I’ll count it.

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What’s your favorite zombie story?

If you love zombies, too, we should totally be friends on Goodreads.

UPDATE:

I left out an author friend of mine, Katey Boller, who’s written some fun zombie reads. She has a story in this anthology…