This story from BuyZombie got under my skin perhaps more than it should:

Rhiannon Frater has to be happy these days. First off her novel The First Days is being reissued with a hot new cover and, probably slightly more exciting for her, one of her novels is going to be up on the big screen! Apparently The Living Dead Boy and the Zombie Hunters has been optioned for film treatment and the script is currently being written for it. Congratulations Rhiannon!

The summary of the book is absolutely chilling:

Josh Rondell is twelve years old and known as the “living dead boy” due to his rampant love of all things zombie. As the head of the Zombie Hunters Club, he’s obsessed with preparing for the zombocalypse. Though no one around him really believes that zombies will one day rise to devour the living, Josh is convinced it just might happen. When zombies do shamble into his schoolyard, Josh finds himself the leader of the dwindling band of zombie hunters, and he is charged with protecting them all. Josh’s baby brother, his closest friends, and the love of his young life try to survive as the undead take over their town. Trapped in his treehouse and surrounded by the dead, will Josh be able to save them all?

This, ladies and gentlemen, sums up everything we’re fighting against here at the ZRC when we campaign for better treatment of Zombies in the media, and it shows the stakes of the fight as well. Here we have vile hatred of the Differently Animated being peddled to *children*, to corrupt and prejudice the minds of the next generation, and not only is this deemed socially acceptable, but it’s being optioned to be made into a feature film.

As if the world needed more Anti-Zombie movies fixated on the fantasy notion of a ‘Zombie Apocalypse’.

Instead of helping education children about tolerance and understanding and how to relate to their Undead neighbors and fellow citizens in what was a democracy the last time I checked (though Governor Walker is working on that), here we have a book that attempts to do the exact opposite, to spread division, fear, and the fervent belief that cooperation and coexistence with the Differently Animated is impossible.

We’re shocked. Shocked and appalled. Is a country where our young and impressionable minds are indoctrinated with hate speech masquerading as fiction really the country you want for your family? Is an America where children form gangs of ‘hunters’ to seek out and destroy their fellow Americans really a country you want to live in?

If not, then we strongly suggest you avoid this book, and spread the word about its dangers, to others immediately. But is the author of this dangerous and subversive tome satisfied with corrupting the minds of kids? No! This is actually her second book in a one woman crusade against our clients, the Differently Animated. The first one is getting a snazzy new cover and a reissue to help it find new minds in which to plant its seeds of misery and woe:

Two very different women flee into the Texas Hill Country on the first day of the zombie rising. Together they struggle to rescue loved ones, find other survivors, and avoid the hungry undead.

Yes, they flee their fellow Americans, and avoid them when they hunger and go unfed.

Not to get all religious on you, but since Texas is in the heart of the Bible Belt, it might be appropriate to bring up a particular passage from Matthew:

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

And yet, when it’s the Zombies who are hungry in Texas, compassion is not to be found. I think we can all learn a lesson from this: if you see a hungry Zombie, don’t avoid them, don’t turn away. Help them out. It’s the right thing to do, and for you Christians out there, it’s also what Jesus would do.

Update: Just follow this Amazon link to see how many people are praising this book for specifically going after kids! Shocking. Just shocking.

Tags: Books, Social Justice

This entry was posted by John Sears on Friday, February 18th, 2011 at 3:58 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.