Five Flesh-Eating Series to Fill the Walking Dead-Shaped Hole in Your Life
How exactly have we lived this long since The Walking Dead's midseason finale? I'll keep this spoiler-free, but AMC's adaptation of the hit comic series left viewers on the edge of their seats—and probably without much sanity.
Luckily, the show is resuming its fourth season on February 9, but if that's still too long for you to wait, check out some of these other awesome zombie-themed books and stories to help quench your undead thirst.
1. The Walking Dead comics: The series that started it all, this is the first thing fans of the TV show should turn to in order to get an idea of what happens next to Rick Grimes and Co. Written by Robert Kirkman and illustrated by Tony Moore and later Charlie Adlard, The Walking Dead is one of the most talked-about comics in recent memory, and although it’d be a feat in and of itself to collect each monthly issue in a tangible format, compiled versions are readily available for you to sink your teeth into.
2. Warm Bodies: A cool twist on the zombie genre, Isaac Marion’s novel is pretty great. It tells the story of R, a zombie living in an airport during the apocalypse. He’s not super fond of his new life and, because he still holds on to bits and pieces of life as a regular human, feels like the black sheep of the group of zombies he lives with. One day he meets a living girl named Julie, and everything starts to change.
Warm Bodies is an awesomely original romantic comedy that doesn’t skimp on the blood, guts, and horror that zombie fans have come to know and love, so it’s definitely something to check out and enjoy. Plus, Marion has released a Warm Bodies prequel online called The New Hunger, and is planning on a sequel to be completed in mid- to late-2014.
(image via We're Alive)
3. We’re Alive podcast: Okay, okay, it’s not a book, but We’re Alive is a perfect way to get your zombie fix all the same. Located on the Nerdist podcast network, We’re Alive is a podcast that tells the story of Michael Cross, a solider in the Army Reserve.
He’s in college when the outbreak hits, and the podcast takes on the style of old time radio to tell Michael’s story, along with all of the other survivors he encounters along the way. At over 100 episodes, there’s plenty of story for you to listen to, and We’re Alive is bound to keep you entertained for weeks to come.
4. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: From Quirk’s own Seth Grahame-Smith, it’s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies! The book that kickstarted the mashup genre, PPZ takes Jane Austen's classic, beloved Pride and Prejudice and fills it with something that everybody loves—zombies.
Grahame-Smith keeps Austen's olde-English language intact while inserting references to zombies and shotguns among the sideways glances and secret longings between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy to create a new story while still remaining faithful to Austen's. There's no better way to make romantic tension even tenser than the potential for a zombie outbreak at any moment, so strap on your zombie-kicking boots and give Pride and Prejudice and Zombies a try.
5. World War Z: Taking the zombie genre in yet another new direction, Max Brooks' World War Z uses an oral history style to tell its story. Taking place ten years after the Zombie War, World War Z is a series of interviews with survivors conducted by an agent of the United States Postwar Commission. What makes this novel really cool is that the people interviewed are from all over, so readers get a glimpse at how the Zombie War affected people everywhere, and not just a core group of characters.
World War Z also has a great audiobook, which features a cast made up of the likes of Nathan Fillion, Martin Scorsese, Simon Pegg, John Turturro, and Brooks himself. It might not be the best thing to curl up with at night if you're easily spooked by zombies—or apocalypses—but Brooks has created an awesome zombie narrative, and it's definitely worth checking out.
