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The Zombie Messiah? ‘Raising Stony Mayhall’ and a Different Take on the Global Reanimation Block Party

Posted By on July 22, 2011

Light spoilers below in the io9 interview excerpts, proceed with caution:

You know, when I click an io9 link about Zombies I honestly grimace a bit. Going to their site to read anything about the Differently Animated is usually the mental equivalent of smacking myself in the hand with a hammer.

Yet of course, I must, for it is my sacred duty here as your humble ZRC President. So imagine my surprise when they carry a lengthy interview with the author of a new Zombie novel that seems right up our alley!

Behold ‘Raising Stony Mayhall’:

Ever wondered what the Nativity would look like if Jesus were a zombie growing up in late-80s Ohio? With Raising Stony Mayhall, Daryl Gregory has answered that question. We asked him where the idea came from.

Your central concept of a sentient zombie is a break from (to use a really bad pun) the body of zombie literature. What made you go that direction?

I really wanted to write an anti-zombie novel. There was just so much zombie stuff coming out that I thought, “Maybe there needs to be somebody going the other way.” When I pitched it to my editor, I was saying, “It’s kind of like the Unforgiven of zombie novels.” I saw that movie and I thought, “Well, that’s pretty much it for westerns for me. It said everything, took every cliche and inverted it and moved on. No one can ever film another western again.” But of course, you can’t stop westerns and you’re certainly not going to stop zombie novels, nor should you.

Really it started out, I wanted to write about a family in which a kid was being raised with them, sort of adopted, feeling like an outsider and feeling like something was missing. In the first idea, it wasn’t really a zombie novel. There was just something terribly wrong with him. When I realized that he could be dead and I could use all those tropes from zombie fiction, then it just spiralled out from there and I got really excited about it.

Of course, my agent really liked it because she thought, “Well, I can sell a zombie novel!” I didn’t quite tell her that I was writing the anti-zombie novel at the time, that I was maybe just going to annoy all the people who really like zombie fiction in which zombies are monsters.

Wow. What a great concept, and what an intriguing idea! Being completely honest, we’ve considered the issue of a Zombie Messiah here before at the ZRC, but more in a theological sense dealing with Christian thought rather than a forward looking speculative fiction take. (Unfortunately we have also seen the exact opposite take on the concept, with actual Jesus persecuting Zombies in fiction, uggh)

The story in ‘Raising Stony Mayhall’ apparently touches on all sorts of wonderfully hot button issues, like class status for Zombies, the religious and scientific implications of Undeath and more besides:

One of the big tensions in the novel is that zombies are this underclass, and they’re wondering whether they should just die off, recruit a couple of new people annually by biting, or just launch the apocalypse. At the end, that tension is still there. Do you think it’s possible for these two groups to coexist?

I would like to hold out hope that they can. Because they’re sentient, maybe there’s hope. But the realist in me says its not going to work out. You’d think by now we’d be done with war and racism and zenophobia, but its so persistent that I don’t think this world is any sort of exception.

Oh, the many questions that can be asked about organizing for Zombie Rights! It’s so nice to see them articulated in a novel. So very nice.

There’s a lot more fascinating info in the admittedly somewhat spoiler heavy interview at io9, which is a great read, given the spoiler caveat.

As for the ZRC, I’m slapping this one in my Amazon to-buy-and-read list as soon as I save this post; I suggest you do the same.

‘Thorn: Zombie Dungeon Survival’

Posted By on July 21, 2011

Judging by this atrocious review over at 148apps, ‘Thorn: Zombie Dungeon Survival’ is an awful Anti-Zombie game that also has the benefit of making absolutely no sense:

Most people, upon discovering a dark, dank zombie infested dungeon would do everything they could to stay out of there. Not Thorn. This brave little viking wades into dungeon after dungeon filled with the undead. He hacks, slashes, stabs, throws, and explodes his way through hordes of zombie assailants and makes his way stubbornly from entrance to exit, re-killing everything in his path.

..

Every game starts at level one and the game progresses from one randomly generated level to the next for as long as the player can survive. There isn’t much variation in the levels at all other than the size and layout of the dungeon and the number of zombies. On long play sessions the environments can get tiresome and the zombie killing a bit tedious, but in shorter chunks the gameplay is an enjoyable distraction. There are a few charming little additions to the game such as names above the zombies identifying them as Dan, or Carl. These little quirks make the game that much more fun to play around with.

So you’re a Viking.. in a dungeon.. fighting Zombies… but you all have modern English names… and..

Ok, seriously, is anyone even trying to make ‘sense’ in an Anti-Zombie game anymore?

Is the next one going to, in the words of Eddie Izzard, take place on the Moon with Steve?

Oh, but ‘Thorn’ is violent, and that’s what really matters. Take a look at this gameplay video:

Yes, all manner of crazy virtual weapons can be hurled at the innocent Zombie inhabitants of these remarkably well-lit dungeons for no good reason by your alleged protagonist in order to ‘win’ or ‘advance’ in a game that seems to be solely about the slaughter of the Differently Animated.

I for one am disgusted. Disgusted and a bit puzzled, but mostly disgusted.

Thorn is apparently available for the iPhone and iPad, if you’re a sicko who’s into that sort of thing.

‘The Walking Dead’ Mocks Differently Able Zombies in Comic-Con Intro Video

Posted By on July 21, 2011

You know, there are few depths to which I’m surprised to see Living Supremacists stoop these days, but something about this promo video for ‘The Walking Dead’ Season 2 and the cast appearance at Comic-Con still managed to offend me:

Is it just me, or is there a serious subtext in this video of mocking the Differently Able? I mean, these Zombies obviously want to get the attention of an Anti-Zombie tv star, no doubt to try and plead their case, and he chuckles as he easily outwalks them, then turns to scream in terror when they manage to increase the speed a bit.

Terrified of people who can’t walk quite as well as you, eh, ‘Glenn’? That says a lot more about you than the Zombie population.

As usual, ‘The Walking Dead’ proves monstrously offensive.

Kirkman and Nicotero Bring You Anti-Zombie Busts.. With Real Human Hair

Posted By on July 20, 2011

Uggghh. This story makes me vaguely nauseous:

Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman’s Skybound Entertainment imprint has joined forces with legendary make-up effects wizard Greg Nicotero (The Walking Dead, Grindhouse) to produce a line of products based on Kirkman’s long-running undead comic and other Skybound titles.

The first fruit of that collaboration is the Nicotero-designed, life-size, and pretty darned gruesome zombie bust pictured below. The sculpture will be sold exclusively at Skybound’s Comic-Con booth from Wednesday and will be priced at $500. If that sounds like a lot of dough, bear in mind that Nicotero’s company KNB has only made 25 of the suckers and that each one features real human hair!!!

Yes, that’s right, Kirkman and Nicotero are selling Anti-Zombie props made in part from actual human beings. Well, their cast-off hair. Their quest for verisimilitude is highly, highly disturbing.

What’s next, using actual human skulls?

Wait, I shouldn’t give them any ideas.

‘Fanboys vs. Zombies’? Ugh.

Posted By on July 20, 2011

You’ve probably heard of the Trekkie/Anti-Zombie crossover, ‘Night of the Living Trekkies’, by now. You may be aware that there’s a Star Wars Anti-Zombie book as well, ‘Death Troopers’. Given the presence of such high-profile genre staples getting down in the gutter, you might assume that nerds had enough to read and could leave Zombies alone for a bit in their nerdy, recursive fiction.

You’d be wrong. Let me introduce you to an Anti-Zombie comic book, available at a comic convention awash in Anti-Zombie propaganda events this year to promote a TV show spun-off from another Anti-Zombie comic book (Walking Dead, in case you’re wondering).

Here you have it, perhaps a new low point for Western Civilization, ‘Fanboys vs. Zombies’:

According to The Wrap, Ben Silverman’s Fanboys vs. Zombies graphic novel is set to invade Comic-Con. The humorous graphic novel focuses on a group of nerdy friends making their annual pilgrimage to the San Diego event. When a zombie outbreak happens, they use the knowledge they’ve gleaned from comics, video games and movies to thwart the undead horde and get out of Dodge with their fair share of coveted goodie bags.

Just check out the cover art on this unholy abomination:

It's like popular culture vomited into my eyes!

Yeah. Hmm.

I dread the day I eventually have to review this thing, I may blow out my liver slogging through it with my trusty review companion Jose Cuervo.

Also obtained via BuyZombie.

Square-Enix Teams Up with Known Living Supremacists to Flog ‘Dead Island’ at Comic-Con

Posted By on July 20, 2011

We talked with some concern here on the ZRC blog about how Square Enix had picked up distribution duties on the odious Living Supremacist game ‘Dead Island’ to help ensure it receives wider release here in the US.

Well, their commitment to hating the Differently Animated doesn’t just extend to shuffling plastic around, as it turns out:

LOS ANGELES, July 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Square Enix, Inc., the publisher of SQUARE ENIX® interactive entertainment products in the Americas, has announced its lineup for San Diego Comic-Con, set to take place July 21-24.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20030403/SQUARELOGO)

Comic-Con attendees will be able to preview and play the following Square Enix titles:

DEAD ISLAND™ – In Deep Silver’s hotly anticipated action title, the lush island paradise of Banoi truly is a holiday destination with everything – including a lethal zombie outbreak.

In addition to being able to get hands-on with the games, Comic-Con attendees will have the opportunity to gain a new perspective on both DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION and DEAD ISLAND. Two one-hour panels devoted to the games are available to attendees:

Friday July 22, 7:30 pm: Find out what makes DEAD ISLAND’s zombies tick as GamePro’s science editor, Andrew Groen, joins Dead Island writer Haris Orkin, Harvard psychiatrist and author of The Zombie Autopsies, Dr. Steven C. Schlozman, author of The Zombie Survival Guide Max Brooks, and UC Berkeley’s neuroscience expert Brad Voytek to explore the misunderstood monsters in a panel that will be anything but dead simple. Shuffle to Room 8 to pick their brains.

Yes, they’re going all-out with this one, teaming up with Harvard doc-turned-Anti-Zombie bigot Steven Schlozman and world-famous Zombie hating paranoiac Max Brooks to host an all-star panel of evil, and hey, they’ve even pulled in another ‘expert’ willing to testify about why we should demonize and oppress an entire vitality status minority group to make certain deeply inadequate individuals feel better about themselves.

Congrats, Mr. Voytek, you’re joining the Big Leagues here! Just remember to dress smart when you peddle pseudo-science to justify discrimination, you don’t want to come off as a quack.

*rolls eyes*

I am deeply disappointed in Square Enix, but perhaps not surprised. There’s a rising tide of Anti-Zombie hate in both Europe (where ‘Dead Island’ originates) and Japan, home to SE. The temptation to sell something other than Chocobos for huge profit in America must have been too great for them.

Pity. There goes the ZRC’s respect.

The Guardian Continues to Exhibit Anti-Zombie Bias

Posted By on July 19, 2011

The supposedly left-leaning UK rag ‘The Guardian’ has been in the ZRC’s sights before, caught touting flagrantly Anti-Zombie viewpoints in the wake of the Leicester affair. Given that, I suppose it was inevitable they would show up and add their two cents to this tragic Bristol City Council story:

Local authorities routinely have detailed emergency plans for natural disasters such as floods and man-made atrocities including terrorist attacks. But according to a “top secret” plan revealed after a freedom of information request, Bristol city council appears well prepared for a zombie attack.

A Mr P Store contacted the council wondering what plans have been laid down in case the undead invade. Rather than ignoring the request or dismissing it, an officer wrote back – light-heartedly, of course – setting out the best ways to tackle zombies and highlighting areas of the city considered high-risk areas.

Excuse me, but ‘light-heartedly’? The document in question, which The Guardian then excerpts extensively from, is quite *literally* a manual for conducting an Anti-Zombie pogrom!

I guess open advocacy and planning for violence is now considered ‘light-hearted’ at The Guardian. Brother.

For the record, The Guardian is skating perilously close to receiving the first ever publication-wide negative ZRC rating for their continued campaign to promote Anti-Zombie prejudice and violence. Very close in fact.

For shame.

Power Outages, Twitter Outages and More

Posted By on July 18, 2011

So.. Madison got hammered by a pretty major power outage today. At least 4700 homes out for a while. Aaaaaand it came right in the middle of dinner for us.

Combine that with a Twitter outage that’s still going on and the backed up conversations I have on there, and it’s a mess for online advocacy and correspondence today.

I’m afraid ZRC work is going to be light tonight as a result.

Let’s meet back here on Tuesday for more work on Zombie Rights!

Zombie Walk in Tasmania Shows Progress but Long Way to Go

Posted By on July 18, 2011

We’re always happy to hear about another peaceful opportunity for the Differently Animated to get out there and meet their Living fellow-citizens in a fun and festive atmosphere, so naturally the ZRC was pleased to learn about an annual Zombie Walk in Hobart, Tasmania from our Australian correspondent @H0110wPeTaL on Twitter.

However, even though the event seems to be largely agreeable, albeit mostly Living people showing Zombie Solidarity by dressing up, there are also troubling signs that Tasmania needs some serious work on Living-Zombie relations:

HOBART’S annual Zombie March attracted about 200 blood-dripping characters yesterday.

Unsuspecting families at Princes Park and patrons at Salamanca Market were the first to encounter the marchers before the “living dead” continued to the CBD.

Spectators and marchers said it put “life” into an otherwise dreary winter day.

“It’s really fun being scary,” he said. “Hiding behind a character, you can pretend to be someone else.”

Another participant said perhaps Tasmania Police could conduct regular “zombie patrols” to keep our streets safe.

‘Being scary’? ‘zombie patrols’! This is NOT the proper attitude to have regarding Zombies, especially at an event in their honor!

Naturally, we need to redouble our efforts, and as soon as some wealthy angel investor drops a six or seven figure check on the ZRC we will look into establishing an Embassy in Australia to cover the greater Oceania region.

Which obviously requires some additional attention and outreach.

PayPal and Vicious Anti-Zombie Prejudice

Posted By on July 18, 2011

A short time ago we declined to switch our checkout system to Google Checkout because of their rather onerous censorship policies, which as free speech advocates the ZRC cannot condone.

Now it seems that Paypal wants to irritate us too:

At a company event today at its headquarters in San Jose, PayPal provided at least one good reason: If you use PayPal’s digital payments, it can save your life during a Zombie Apocalypse.

In a video, produced by a member of its community, it shows how one survivor fled from zombies, but “it wasn’t because he was the brightest,” and “it wasn’t because he had the best tools of the trade.”… It was because he had signed up for PayPal.

PayPal allowed him to quickly pay for things by tapping his finger. For instance, in one scene, he escapes in a rental car after paying for it in one touch, and in another, he buys enough sodas from a vending machine to throw at his gory attackers.

Really, PayPal? You’re reduced to using Anti-Zombie prejudice to shill for your mobile payments platform? That’s where this is going?

Apparently so:

Well, PayPal, the ZRC is *not* amused. This offensive commercial officially endorses the notion of a ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ and pushes to monetize that irrational fear. We are very, very upset. To think that a supposedly reputable financial company would go so far as to promote a product based on intolerance of an oppressed minority group? Shocking. Simply Shocking.

Naturally we give this commercial with our lowest and most shameful rating, the Living Supremacist brand.

PayPal has some explaining to do.