Friday, July 5, 2013

Ahhh! Zombies!

 

Will you be prepared when the zombie apocalypse happens? I will – I happen to like my brains intact! And after tuning in for the last season of The Walking Dead, I'm still feeling queasy. Like most people, I have been acutely aware of the recent outbreak of zombie films, books, and TV shows that have been extremely popular worldwide. Even the CDC has an official page that discusses "Zombie Preparedness". (http://www.cdc.gov/phpr/zombies.htm) See? I can't make this stuff up.

 

Are we all terrified of being turned into mindless flesh eating ghouls? Perhaps. I think Freud would have a thing or two to say about our current obsession, whatever the motive, fear or entertainment. For me, zombie stories tap into our basic survival instincts. After all, many of the stories deal with that very topic – survival. From questions about basic survival such as, why is a crossbow a better choice than a firearm for protection, what do you do when the water supplies are contaminated to the more philosophical, "can zombies think or what can we learn from them?", zombie stories have taken our interest in the undead to a new level. Here are some of the current "zombified" titles available from OverDrive:

 

*Click on the titles names to preview these eBooks!*

 

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, Max Brooks

"The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result."

 

The Zen of Zombie: Better Living through the Undead, Scott Kenemore

"Do you struggle out of bed each morning and sway lifelessly across the room, mouth agape, arms hanging slack, murmuring unintelligibly? Well, take heart: you’re not alone! But these other staggering, limp, perpetually drowsy folks just happen to be zombies—and it turns out they can teach us a lot about enjoying life. And only here, between the covers of this book, will you learn their secrets to happiness. Learn how to slow down and move at your own pace, become your own boss, and just devour those irritating people who get in your way."

 

Flu, Wayne Simmons

From Wayne Simmons comes a well-paced, terrifying, frighteningly real zombie horror story.

Whatever people's motives for loving all things zombie, there is little denying that its popular and quite entertaining! And according to the CDC zombie preparedness has real world applications, even if the zombie apocalypse is just a thing of fantasy.

I'm not taking any chances though – I've already signed up for archery lessons.

 

Kate Seivertson is a Collection Development Analyst with OverDrive

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