The Walking Dead Fan Club

Greetings my shambling shuffling friends!

Tis the season for giving, and I am giving a big thumbs up to Christmas With The Dead by Joe R. Lansdale.

This short story is perfect for being read aloud to lil kiddies in bed who are waiting for the jolly fat man to squeeze his butt done the chimney and give them presents. But dont expect them to have visions of sugar plumbs dancing in their heads, no no no. This story will give them unjolly nightmares ho ho ho.

Basically a man is spending Christmas alone, two years after the zombie apocalypse began, and he was forced to put down his wife and daughter like rabid dogs. Now his lonliness has gotten the best of him causing him to brave the streets and risk his flesh to get christmas supplies so he can have a hap-hap-happy holiday. A few near misses later and he is home with the supplies and a stray dog, and now must contend with the dead while hanging the lights for his festive celebration.

I loved this story, and will be making it a christmas tradition to read to my kids (or at least myself) ever jolly holiday from now on as my new twisted tradition.

Time for the G.R.E.A.T. score.

G-ore: nice and meaty, great descriptions of putrid faces and exploding heads. 10

R-ealism: some of the elements in the story convince me the author actually thought about survival in a zombie apocalypse. 9.0

E-ntertainment: Well, I loved it, it kept me interested, my wicked grinch smile spread from ear to ear, and my heart grew three sizes at the conclussion. 10

A-ction: Non stop, of course there was a lil backstory, but thats what made me root for the hero even more. I wanted to see him celebrate christmas after two years of isolation. 9.5

T-hrills: there were some great close calls and the pace remained steady. 9.0

The total G.R.E.A.T. score comes to 9.5 !

But wait there is more!

Joe R. Lansdale is turning this book into a movie. Now I already know that the movie is different from the story, but Joe R. Lansdale wrote Christmas with the Dead so well that I cant wait to see the movie, and I guarantee, that any future press releases will be posted here at www.thewalkingdeadfanclub.com.

So before I finish off my eggnog, let me pose this question: Will our hero get to light up his house for christmas eve, or will the damn zombies keep getting tangled in the lights and pulling them out? You will have to read CHRISTMAS WITH THE DEAD to find out.

Thanks for reading, and until my next review, I will be shuffling along with the lost.

Jimmy Blue Eyes
jbe.zombieblog@yahoo.com

http://www.thewalkingdeadfanclub.com/apps/blog