Bone Chilling Zombies

Not sure if I can slip another book under the wire for 2009, at least before I embark for Vietnam, so these might be the last two reviews I do this year of books recently completed. They are, in order of completion:

1. BONE CHILLER, by R. M. Heske and various

This is a graphic novel-format collection of short stories, written and produced by R. M. Heske, under his Heske Horror imprint. Robert organized two multiple author book signings I participated in, back in October, and I enjoyed talking with him — he’s very polite, ambitious, and enthusiastic about his various projects. As I say, Robert penned all the stories in BONE CHILLER, with a variety of artists interpreting them. I think the proper title of the collection might be a little confusing — the striking cover (this is a VERY slick, professional-looking production) has BONE CHILLER in the lower right corner, but more prominently across the top: COLD BLOODED CHILLERS. Anyway, what matters is what’s inside, and I enjoyed that a great deal. As a kid I worshipped comic books (some of my favorites being MAGNUS, ROBOT FIGHTER and the old TUROK comics — and in a horror vein, CREEPY, EERIE and VAMPIRELLA), but as an adult I fell away from them with the exception of HEAVY METAL in the late 70’s, early 80’s. (I was underwhelmed by a HEAVY METAL I bought about a year ago while waiting for a train — the art didn’t seem to compare to what I remembered.) Though no huge fan of Japanese manga, in recent years I’ve greatly enjoyed a few books such as Hideshi Hino’s harrowing PANORAMA OF HELL, Senno Knife’s creepy MANTIS WOMAN, and the amazing cyberpunk series BLAME!. Then there’s WATCHMEN, which my friend Paul Miller (of Earthling Publications) gave me as a gift and urged me to read, which is now one of my favorite books, graphic novel or otherwise. So I’ve largely been away for a while, but once I got started on BONE CHILLER it was like coming home again, to those good old days of EERIE and CREEPY, particularly. One’s first instinct would of course be to make comparisons with the old EC comics, such as TALES FROM THE CRYPT, but these stories have a more modern slant — the horror stressing the psychological over the supernatural. Heske’s ultra-dark plotlines deal with paranoia and guilt, contemporary anxieties like sending your child to daycare, dating a person you meet online, child abuse and so on. There’s sexual content and cussin’, too, so it’s definitely for mature readers (or immature old readers like me). The artwork varies in effectiveness, naturally, with standout work from Reno Maniquis, Monty Borror, and “Zeu.” My favorite story is probably SYNCHRONICITY, because while a number of the stories have the classic approach of mini morality/revenge tales with twist endings, this was a very enigmatic piece about strange guardian angels, armageddon, and second chances. It’ll make you scratch your head, and that’s just what I like about it. Another great story, TRANSCENDENCE, conveys a strong sense of loss and loneliness. Much of this kind of atmosphere depends on the skills of the artist, and here Reno Maniquis (and in the opening story, HER FIRST DAY ALONE, Monty Borror) creates a haunting emotional atmosphere that quite fulfills the writer’s intentions. (Not to mention, Maniquis accurately captures the look of the New England Aquarium, which I’m sure inspired local boy Heske!) So, I heartily recommend that others like me who enjoyed the bone chillers of the past delve between the covers of BONE CHILLER, and experience those dark thrills and chills again. (You can order BONE CHILLER from Amazon, here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1427635250/?tag=jeffreythomas-20)

2. WORLD WAR Z, by Max Brooks

I’m sure a lot has already been said about WORLD WAR Z, so I’ll keep it simple: this literate and ambitious novel must now stand beside other favorite horror novels of mine like THE EXORCIST, HOUSE OF LEAVES and I AM LEGEND. It’s always gratifying when a book with an unusual narrative approach, like HOUSE OF LEAVES, becomes a bestseller, and that’s the case here. While not quite as weird as HOUSE OF LEAVES, WORLD WAR Z takes the unique approach of telling its zombie apocalypse story through the individual stories of many of its survivors. There are too many truly creepy moments of horror to begin to discuss here, and plenty of icky details, so zombie fans should be well rewarded if they’re willing to play along with the approach. I can’t imagine there ever needing to be another zombie apocalypse novel (please, in fact, no more zombie apocalypse novels!) after this one. Maybe a lot of the characters’ voices start to sound a little similar after a while (and maybe that’s unavoidable), but there’s still a fascinating, international cast of characters here, some (particularly at the onset) being realistically unlikable and/or very complex rather than strictly heroic. My favorite of these mini stories involved two Japanese men, cut off from their society (one living in the world of cyberspace, the other a blind outcast), who are forced to confront their country’s new reality, and in the course of this rediscover their own culture while discovering for the first time their personal strengthes, and personal destinies. What impressed me most about the novel, perhaps, was the amount of research that obviously went into it, in order to so convincingly discuss miltary operations, foreign cultures, and so on. It’s an almost exhausting, but richly rewarding, experience. It’s also a very human book — with boundess intriguing, biting, and satirical comments on the world’s societies and the human condition — all inhuman creatures aside. (And that may be another, very tiny gripe; that despite the many viewpoints here, the zombies are not really portrayed as former loved ones, friends, human beings, but primarily as cannon fodder.) I’ll be interested to see what Brooks (THE ZOMBIE SURVIVAL GUIDE) does next; he has immense talent that should not be limited to the realm of the undead, alone.