''Book of the Dead'' is an anthology of horror stories first published in 1989, edited by

John Skipp John Skipp is a splatterpunk horror and fantasy author and anthology editor, as well as a songwriter, screenwriter, film director, and film producer. He collaborated with Craig Spector on multiple novels, and has also collaborated with Marc Lev ...

and Craig Spector and featuring a foreword written by George A. Romero (erroneously credited as George R. Romero in first print editions of the book). All the stories in the anthology are united by the same premise seen in Romero's apocalyptic films, depicting a worldwide outbreak of

zombie A zombie (Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in whi ...

s and various reactions to it. The first book was followed three years later by a follow-up, ''Still Dead: Book of the Dead 2'', with a new group of writers tackling the same premise, though the second book put the stories in order according to their imagined chronology of the zombie takeover. The ''Book of the Dead'' compilations are regarded as classic anthologies in the horror and

splatterpunk Splatterpunk is a movement within horror fiction originating in the 1980s, distinguished by its graphic, often gory, depiction of violence, countercultural alignment and "hyperintensive horror with no limits.""Schow, David J." by Gary Westfahl in ...

genres, featuring a great number of famous names including

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...

Joe R. Lansdale Joe Richard Lansdale (born October 28, 1951) is an American writer and martial arts instructor. A prose writer in a variety of genres - Western, horror, science fiction, mystery, and suspense - he's also written comic books and screenplays. ...

, Robert R. McCammon and foreworded by George A. Romero and

Tom Savini Thomas Vincent Savini (born November 3, 1946) is an American prosthetic makeup artist, actor, stunt performer and film director. He is known for his makeup and special effects work on many films directed by George A. Romero, including ''Martin' ...

. They are likely the first anthologies of zombie-themed tales ever printed, and have been cited as perhaps the first true "zombie literature" as such. According to author Ian McDowell, a third anthology was planned back in 1991. However, bad luck led to it going "through many permutations and publishers over the years. I've been paid for my story by two different publishers and I've proofed two different sets of galleys." Cemetery Dance finally released it under the title '' Mondo Zombie'' in 2006.

Anthology contents

''Book of the Dead''

# Foreword by George A. Romero (credited as George R. Romero in first print editions) # "Introduction: On Going Too Far, or Flesh Eating Zombies: New Hope for the Future" by Skipp and Spector # "Blossom" by Chan McConnell (pseudonym for

David J. Schow David J. Schow (born July 13, 1955) is an American author of horror novels, short stories, and screenplays. His credits include films such as '' Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III'', ''The Crow'' and '' The Hills Run Red''. Most of S ...

) Stories, listed by author
/ref> # "Mess Hall" by

Richard Laymon Richard Carl Laymon (January 14, 1947 – February 14, 2001) was an American author of suspense and horror fiction, particularly within the splatterpunk subgenre. Life and career Laymon was born and raised outside of Chicago, Illinois, then li ...

# "It Helps If You Sing" by

Ramsey Campbell Ramsey Campbell (born 4 January 1946) is an English horror fiction writer, editor and critic who has been writing for well over fifty years. He is the author of over 30 novels and hundreds of short stories, many of them winners of literary awa ...

# "

Home Delivery Delivery is the process of transporting goods from a source location to a predefined destination. Cargo (physical goods) is primarily delivered via roads and railroads on land, shipping lanes on the sea, and airline networks in the air. Ce ...

" by

# "Wet Work" by Phillip Nutman # "A Sad Last Love at the Diner of the Damned" by

Edward Bryant Edward Winslow Bryant Jr. (August 27, 1945 – February 10, 2017) was an American science fiction and horror writer sometimes associated with the Dangerous Visions series of anthologies that bolstered The New Wave. At the time of his death, ...

# "Bodies and Heads" by

Steve Rasnic Tem Steve Rasnic Tem (born 1950) is an American author. He was born in Jonesville, Virginia. Rasnic attended college at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and also at Virginia Commonwealth University. He earned a B.A. in English edu ...

# "Choices" by Glen Vasey # "The Good Parts" by

Les Daniels Leslie Noel Daniels III, better known as Les Daniels (October 27, 1943 – November 5, 2011), was an American writer. Background Daniels attended Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where he wrote his master's thesis on ''Frankenstein ...

# "Less than Zombie" by Douglas E. Winter # "Like Pavlov's Dogs" by Steven R. Boyett # "Saxophone" by

Nicholas Royle Nicholas Royle (born 20 March 1963 in Manchester) is an English novelist, editor, publisher, literary reviewer and creative writing lecturer. Literary career Author Royle has written seven novels: ''Counterparts'', ''Saxophone Dreams'', ''The Mat ...

# " On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert With Dead Folks" by

# "Dead Giveaway" by Brian Hodge # "Jerry's Kids Meet Wormboy" by

# "Eat Me" by Robert R. McCammon

''Still Dead: Book of the Dead 2''

# Foreword by

# "Introduction: Nineteen New Ways to Kick Ass" by Skipp and Spector # "The Old Man and the Dead" by Mort Castle # "DONt/Walk" by Chan McConnell # "Necrophile" by Nancy A. Collins # "Rise Up and Walk" by K. W. Jeter # "One Step at a Time" by Glen Vasey # "The Ones You Love" by Skipp and Spector # "This Year's Class Picture" by

Dan Simmons Dan Simmons (born April 4, 1948) is an American science fiction and horror writer. He is the author of the Hyperion Cantos and the Ilium/Olympos cycles, among other works which span the science fiction, horror, and fantasy genres, sometimes w ...

# "Night of the Living Dead Bingo Women" by Simon McCaffery # "Abed" by Elizabeth Massie # "Come One, Come All" by

Gahan Wilson Gahan Allen Wilson (February 18, 1930 – November 21, 2019) was an American author, cartoonist and illustrator known for his cartoons depicting horror-fantasy situations. Biography Wilson was born in Evanston, Illinois, and was inspired by th ...

# "The Prince of Nox" by

Kathe Koja Kathe Koja (born 1960) is an American writer. She was initially known for her intense speculative fiction for adults, but has written young adult novels, the historical fiction ''Under the Poppy'' trilogy, and a fictional biography of Christopher ...

# "Beer Run" by Gregory Nicoll # "Prayer" by Douglas Morningstar and Maxwell Hart # "Calcutta, Lord of Nerves" by Poppy Z. Brite # "I Walk Alone" by Roberta Lannes # "Undiscovered Countries" by J. S. Russell # "Moon Towers" by Brooks Caruthers # "Passion Play" by Nancy Holder # "Bright Lights, Big Zombie" by Douglas E. Winter

''Mondo Zombie''

#Anne Abrams - "Next to Godliness" #Jay Alamares - "Rise" #Richard Laymon - "The Living Dead" #Caitlin R. Kiernan - "Two Worlds. And In Between" #Lucy Taylor - "Fuck the Dead" #Jack Ketchum - "The Visitor" #Marc Levinthal - "Kids" #Adam-Troy Castro - "From Hell It Came" #Yvonne Navarro - "Feeding the Dead Inside" #Robert Bloch - "Maternal Instinct" #Dana Fredsti - "You'll Never Be Lunch in this Town Again" #Ian McDowell - "Dead Loves" #John Skipp and Marc Levinthal - "God Save the Queen" #Simon McCaffery - "Connections" #Steve Rasnic Tem and Melanie Tem - "Pit's Edge" #Jack Ketchum - "Twins" #Robert Devereaux - "Holy Fast, Holy Feast" #Lisa Morton - "Sparks Fly Upward" #Del James - "Eye Gouge" #Nancy Kilpatrick - "Going Down" #Stephen L. Antczak and Gregory Nicoll - "Levanta Muertos" #Brian Hodge - "Naked Lunchmeat" #Buddy Martinez - "Anonymous" #Terry Morgan and Christopher Morgan - "Zaambi" #M. Christian - "The Buried and the Dead" #Douglas E. Winter - "The Zombies of Madison County" #Adam-Troy Castro - "Dead Like Me"

Bibliography

* ''Book of the Dead'', eds. John Skipp and Craig Spector. New York: Bantam, June 1989. Paperback. * ''Still Dead: Book of the Dead 2'', eds. John Skipp and Craig Spector. New York: Bantam Falcon, August 1992. Paperback.

References