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A review by perilous1
Still Hungry For Your Love by Michael A. Kiggins, Barbara Barnett, Scott D. Smith, Kiona Smith-Strickland, Rebecca Barbee, Rob Rosen, Rachel Carrington, Livia Ellis, Rebecca Snow, Derek Boeckelmann, Tom Towles, Gretchen Stull, Sarah Hans, L.C. Mortimer, Lori Perkins
3.0
Source: I won this ebook from a drawing, courtesy of The Otherworld Diner.
I hesitate to review any short story anthology, as an all-encompassing star rating is absolutely no help in the face of such variety. But in the simplest sense, I'll say I chose 3 stars as something of an average between all 15 stories. This is, of course, a woeful injustice to the individual authors—two of whom stood out to this reviewer above their peers: Kiona Smith-Strickland with “If All Else Perished”, and Gretchen Stull with “Pied Piper Of The Dead.”
To give a better idea of what zombie fans can expect from this eclectic array of necro-mongering authors, I'm going to go through and give a star rating and mini-review of each individual short story, in the order they appear in the collection.
Warning: I will state up front that while this reviewer has a certain fascination with the psychology of undead interactions, I am neither accustomed to nor interested in necrophilia—and a few of these stories crossed that line for me. If readers might be concerned over content, please be aware that this anthology ranges from a one or two stories to which I would personally give a PG rating...all the way across the spectrum to what I can only describe as zombie porn.
*Undying Love: 3 stars
“This one also has a sort of YA bent. Nothing too gruesome or hypersexualized. I'm not a huge fan of the POV variability, but there's a sweetly romantic feel to this one that reminds me vaguely of Warm Bodies."
*Ashes, Ashes: 3 ½ stars
“I enjoyed the undead mortician premise to this one. Refreshingly original and well executed. Karl has a certain endearing, steadfast quality...for a dead guy. ;) The editing was also pretty decent.”
*How the Zombie Apocalypse Turned Me into My Grandmother: 2 ½ stars
“The beginning is a bit disorienting—what with a solid page of info-dump before we get a scene set. Partway through it feels as though it shifts from a short story to the summary/synopsis of a much larger story/book. I can sense the vision behind it, but as a short story, it didn't quite satisfy.”
*Frenemies: 3 stars
“Zombie High School! It's like regular high school, except for the smell...er..never mind. >.>
This was a fairly cute, almost PG-rated Young Adult zombie tale. No real complaints about the editing on this one."
*Dead Girls Don't Love: 3 ½ stars
“In quick summary: Voodoo magic quasi-zombies. It's different, I'll give it that. Solid and memorable characterization, considering the allotted length. Sufficient editing on this one."
*The Boy From Colorado: 3 stars
“A Zombie huntress has to keep her undead boyfriend on a tight leash. >.>
Not poorly written at all. But I was a bit unsatisfied with the heroine's motives... She doesn't want to live without her zombified (late?)boyfriend, but there's not much by way of reflection on why--or justification readers could use to empathize with. I'm also not clear on why it has the title it does."
*Quake: 2 1/2 stars
“The setting seems to be in Bangladesh... Rich descriptions and distinctive, strong prose. Make no mistake, this author has serious talent.
Unfortunately, there were a few non-prose/structure impediments to this reader's enjoyment... I thought the 'quake' thing was angling for symmetry, but the ending kind of petered off instead. Also some graphic sexual content, which left it with a general impression of exotic lesbian necrophilia.”
*The Cure: 3 stars
“Features high-functioning, highly articulate zombies with memory issues. A bit lacking in physical descriptions and emotional depth. Some editing issues, but not terrible in that respect.”
*Until Death: 3 stars
“Not bad. Kind of a zombie tragedy with a vaguely inspirational spin. A little more backstory would have greatly helped my character attachment."
*Dead Like You: 2 ½ stars
“This one might have benefited from another content-edit sweep. It took me a long while to figure out the gender of the main character. (The 'Bonnie waiting for her Clyde' remark is part of what confused me.) But at the very end, I could finally confirm that 'Randall' is in fact male.
No idea where the romance suddenly came from or why.”
*If All Else Perished: 4 stars
“Good voice, and a remarkably "fresh" zombie premise...if you'll excuse the oxymoron. >.< Kudos for the truly powerful Wuthering Heights quote as a leave-off. I would have liked to see a little more of the husband/wife connectivity at the very start--I think that would have significantly upped the final impact. But overall, this is in my to 2 favs."
Favorite quote: “Zombies moan at food, not indignity."
*Do-Over: 2 stars
“Decently edited, but the pacing is oddly slow for a short story. (Which probably has a lot to do with the excessive philosophizing.) Max is an interesting side character, but there's not much to give the reader reason to empathize with the main character, Doc. Try as I might, I couldn't find the Biblical reference Doc keeps making to Jael even remotely fitting to the situational ponderings. The consistency is there, threaded through quite deliberately...but it fell flat because it just didn't seem to fit or resonate.
While I wasn't able to emotionally connect with this piece at all, I cling to one possibly profound quote nugget--as I've never come across this theory before: "The Zombipocalypse represents a secular Rapture, minus the whole last-minute-hot-zone-extraction-thing, wherein...those of us who still possess a rational mind get to be Christ."”
*Debbie Doesn't Do Dallas Anymore: 1 ½ star
"I think I'm going to sum this one up as Bonny & Clyde meet Meth and Necrophilia. >.> Not. My. Thing. >.<"
*The Z-Spot: 2 stars
“No real sense for who people were or what they used to do--makes it hard to empathize. I realize this one is meant to be more satirical, but an array of editing issues take a lot away from it.”
*Pied Piper Of The Dead: 4 stars
“Pretty good, for how condensed it had to be. Cleverness and profundity. I think my only complaint would be the brevity of physical description in some instances. (Doubling the length would undoubtedly have done the world-building more justice, but I do understand the authors don't exactly have a say in the word count they're allotted.)
Great twist ending. I thought I knew what was what, but the author surprised me."
I hesitate to review any short story anthology, as an all-encompassing star rating is absolutely no help in the face of such variety. But in the simplest sense, I'll say I chose 3 stars as something of an average between all 15 stories. This is, of course, a woeful injustice to the individual authors—two of whom stood out to this reviewer above their peers: Kiona Smith-Strickland with “If All Else Perished”, and Gretchen Stull with “Pied Piper Of The Dead.”
To give a better idea of what zombie fans can expect from this eclectic array of necro-mongering authors, I'm going to go through and give a star rating and mini-review of each individual short story, in the order they appear in the collection.
Warning: I will state up front that while this reviewer has a certain fascination with the psychology of undead interactions, I am neither accustomed to nor interested in necrophilia—and a few of these stories crossed that line for me. If readers might be concerned over content, please be aware that this anthology ranges from a one or two stories to which I would personally give a PG rating...all the way across the spectrum to what I can only describe as zombie porn.
*Undying Love: 3 stars
“This one also has a sort of YA bent. Nothing too gruesome or hypersexualized. I'm not a huge fan of the POV variability, but there's a sweetly romantic feel to this one that reminds me vaguely of Warm Bodies."
*Ashes, Ashes: 3 ½ stars
“I enjoyed the undead mortician premise to this one. Refreshingly original and well executed. Karl has a certain endearing, steadfast quality...for a dead guy. ;) The editing was also pretty decent.”
*How the Zombie Apocalypse Turned Me into My Grandmother: 2 ½ stars
“The beginning is a bit disorienting—what with a solid page of info-dump before we get a scene set. Partway through it feels as though it shifts from a short story to the summary/synopsis of a much larger story/book. I can sense the vision behind it, but as a short story, it didn't quite satisfy.”
*Frenemies: 3 stars
“Zombie High School! It's like regular high school, except for the smell...er..never mind. >.>
This was a fairly cute, almost PG-rated Young Adult zombie tale. No real complaints about the editing on this one."
*Dead Girls Don't Love: 3 ½ stars
“In quick summary: Voodoo magic quasi-zombies. It's different, I'll give it that. Solid and memorable characterization, considering the allotted length. Sufficient editing on this one."
*The Boy From Colorado: 3 stars
“A Zombie huntress has to keep her undead boyfriend on a tight leash. >.>
Not poorly written at all. But I was a bit unsatisfied with the heroine's motives... She doesn't want to live without her zombified (late?)boyfriend, but there's not much by way of reflection on why--or justification readers could use to empathize with. I'm also not clear on why it has the title it does."
*Quake: 2 1/2 stars
“The setting seems to be in Bangladesh... Rich descriptions and distinctive, strong prose. Make no mistake, this author has serious talent.
Unfortunately, there were a few non-prose/structure impediments to this reader's enjoyment... I thought the 'quake' thing was angling for symmetry, but the ending kind of petered off instead. Also some graphic sexual content, which left it with a general impression of exotic lesbian necrophilia.”
*The Cure: 3 stars
“Features high-functioning, highly articulate zombies with memory issues. A bit lacking in physical descriptions and emotional depth. Some editing issues, but not terrible in that respect.”
*Until Death: 3 stars
“Not bad. Kind of a zombie tragedy with a vaguely inspirational spin. A little more backstory would have greatly helped my character attachment."
*Dead Like You: 2 ½ stars
“This one might have benefited from another content-edit sweep. It took me a long while to figure out the gender of the main character. (The 'Bonnie waiting for her Clyde' remark is part of what confused me.) But at the very end, I could finally confirm that 'Randall' is in fact male.
No idea where the romance suddenly came from or why.”
*If All Else Perished: 4 stars
“Good voice, and a remarkably "fresh" zombie premise...if you'll excuse the oxymoron. >.< Kudos for the truly powerful Wuthering Heights quote as a leave-off. I would have liked to see a little more of the husband/wife connectivity at the very start--I think that would have significantly upped the final impact. But overall, this is in my to 2 favs."
Favorite quote: “Zombies moan at food, not indignity."
*Do-Over: 2 stars
“Decently edited, but the pacing is oddly slow for a short story. (Which probably has a lot to do with the excessive philosophizing.) Max is an interesting side character, but there's not much to give the reader reason to empathize with the main character, Doc. Try as I might, I couldn't find the Biblical reference Doc keeps making to Jael even remotely fitting to the situational ponderings. The consistency is there, threaded through quite deliberately...but it fell flat because it just didn't seem to fit or resonate.
While I wasn't able to emotionally connect with this piece at all, I cling to one possibly profound quote nugget--as I've never come across this theory before: "The Zombipocalypse represents a secular Rapture, minus the whole last-minute-hot-zone-extraction-thing, wherein...those of us who still possess a rational mind get to be Christ."”
*Debbie Doesn't Do Dallas Anymore: 1 ½ star
"I think I'm going to sum this one up as Bonny & Clyde meet Meth and Necrophilia. >.> Not. My. Thing. >.<"
*The Z-Spot: 2 stars
“No real sense for who people were or what they used to do--makes it hard to empathize. I realize this one is meant to be more satirical, but an array of editing issues take a lot away from it.”
*Pied Piper Of The Dead: 4 stars
“Pretty good, for how condensed it had to be. Cleverness and profundity. I think my only complaint would be the brevity of physical description in some instances. (Doubling the length would undoubtedly have done the world-building more justice, but I do understand the authors don't exactly have a say in the word count they're allotted.)
Great twist ending. I thought I knew what was what, but the author surprised me."