Zombie Love Stories and The Steampunk Undead

I have been inspired by another blogger who has recently done several posts on zombies.  Although zombies are neither ghosts nor haunted, I thought it would be fun to take a break from my usual ghost story for an evening and instead pay tribute to some of the wonderful writers out there that make the world a more interesting place to live in.   In that spirit, I am going to review my two favorite zombie books.   Good ghost stories, zombie stories, and horror stories are in short supply in book stores these days.  They seem to have been replaced by teenage vampires and sexy vampire slayers with swords.  But I will always be drawn to classic monsters and classic horror and the new places that inventive authors can take me.  Here are my two favorite zombie novels that tackle the genre in new and unexpected ways:

Breathers by S.G. Browne:

This is a romantic zombie comedy with everything you could possibly want from a good romance and a good zombie novel.  It is complex and makes you think and at times makes you laugh so hard you cry.  It is the story of Andy Warner, a new zombie, who's just trying to make his way in a zombie hating world.   He finds his way at Undead Anonymous where he meets kindred spirits that inspire him to discover his inner zombie.   This book is both surprising touching and completely interesting and filled with all the blood and horror you want from a good zombie novel.  Breathers is a gem and definately worth the read.

The Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

The cover of this book describes it as a steampunk zombie airship adventure and that sums this book up completely.  I've never particularly enjoyed steampunk, but I couldn't resist that collection of words so I bought this book expecting to like it the way someone enjoys a particularly bad b-grade movie, but The Boneshaker is surprisingly well written and the main character is a very real woman who is put into unreal circumstances.   The book is set in a Seattle in 1864, but in this fictitious landscape something has gone terribly wrong and a crack in the earth's crust unleashes a blight that turns Seattle's citizens into the undead.  The book twists and turnes into an ending that is completely unexpected while taking you on adventure into the heart of darkness and back.  

Thanks to Autumnforest at Ghost Hunting Theories  for taking me off the beaten track and into the world of zombies for a change.