Yes I know this story came out months ago… I think we were told about it in February. Still, news of the day often takes precedence, and besides, I foolishly wondered, how much more could Max Brooks really contribute to the canon of Living Supremacist fiction?

As it turns out, quite a bit.

The premise of ‘The Extinction Parade’ can be summed up quite easily, which The Daily Beast helpfully does, actually:

From Max Brooks, bestselling author of World War Z, an original story about a global war between humans and zombies seen through the eyes of Vampires. Or you can just call it the vampire version of An Inconvenient Truth.

Truthfully, this premise is very, very similar to webcomic ‘Last Blood’: vampires need people to feed on. Zombie Apocalypse removes people, ergo, vampires go hungry. What will the blood suckers do?

If you couldn’t get enough of World War Z… shame on you. Seek help. Still, ‘The Extinction Parade’ is very much in that style, with a deeply researched exotic setting, the use of unusual geography and situations and the first-person perspective on the ‘war’ against the Zombie population, who undoubtedly didn’t deserve it, except in Max Brooks’ fevered imagination.

Let’s not forget what George Romero said about Mr. Brooks after all:

You don’t think civilization is going to be destroyed someday by an army of the undead?

Max Brooks wrote this great book called The Zombie Survival Guide, and it’s good fun. But I think Max in the back of his mind thinks it could possibly happen. He does these lectures and he brings all these weapons onstage and explains the best way to kill a zombie. I keep saying to him, “Max, none of this is real! It’s not gonna happen! Believe me, it’s not gonna happen!” (Laughs.) But maybe he’s right and I’m wrong and I’ll get hoisted on my own petard.

When *George Romero* thinks you’re taking Zombies too far you might just have an issue, Max.

Just maybe.

So yes, ‘The Extinction Parade’ is ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ crossed with vampires, who are oddly very much in the Anne Rice/immortal decadent hedonist fashion. Weak, self-indulgent, ineffectual, prone to introspection, fans of luxury and indolence, and thus incapable of taking decisive action of any sort in the face of a global emerging threat to the ecosystem.

Yes, this is an anvil being dropped about climate change, and it’s dripping with scorn by analogy. We as a species deserve it I suppose, but as much for our prejudices and hatreds as our inaction on global warming, and Max Brooks seems to have no problem with the former so long as it targets those without a heartbeat.

‘The Extinction Parade’ is more of the same from Mr. Brooks, perhaps not as taut and finished as ‘World War Z’ but it’s also free and you know what you’re getting into. The story is offensive to Zombies, and also to our Solidarity partners in the Vampire community, who have probably gotten tired of the fop portrayals by now, just as Zombies tire of being accused of all smelling bad and chomping skulls.

The Zombie Rights Campaign rates this story as Living Supremacist.

Tags: Books, Max Brooks is a Jerk, ZRC Reviews

This entry was posted by John Sears on Saturday, June 4th, 2011 at 2:54 pm and is filed under Zombie Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.