by Jay Wilburn
I have put in my 10,000 hours on zombies including movies, books, and my own creations within the genre. I know a thing or two about a thing or two is what I am saying. I’ve read a ton of zombie work from authors on the tour and considered for the tour. Now, I recognize that I have not seen nearly all the zombie movies out there. I don’t watch as many movies now as I used to. That goes for all genres, not just zombies. I have not read nearly all the zombie novels or a fraction of the short stories out there in the genre. This stuff comes out faster than any of us could possibly keep track. Whatever A.I. monsters wipe out humanity will have to be the first entities to read all the zombie stuff ever created and they will probably just delete it all and keep the literary romances instead.
I have read enough to know that most zombie stories written and published are not great. There is a lot of great stuff out there in the genre. There is a lot of very good. There is a lot that is flawed, but I still very much enjoy. But for all that, there is a Martian super canyon full of terrible, terrible zombie stories. So many badly written zombie stories filling up slush piles in publishers’ e-mails that we may be close to creating a crappy zombie story gravity well which threatens to swallow the entire plant. Our A.I. overlords are going to be very upset when they find out about this.
Now, sifting through that Martian Canyon, I have found a number of excellent stories. The best I have read come from authors who consistently write great short stories even if that is not their primary claim to fame. Several of my favorite zombie short story writers also produce excellent novels in the genre. I will do a disservice to all the great writers in the genre out there by only naming a few and then leaving out so many more. So, here goes. Joe McKinney writes excellent work and his zombie short stories are consistently creative and surprising. Jonathan Mayberry writes excellent short stories in the genre. I enjoy Brian Keene’s work both in the long and short form. Rebecca Besser creates excellent zombie short stories time and time again. Armand Rosamilia is best known for his Dying Days series and his other novels, but the short stories I have read within his particular zombie universe are great too. Wrath James White has a couple undead stories that will rip your guts out. You can’t go wrong with any Joe Lansdale story, but his zombie stories are excellent too. Poppy Z Brite stories are in a category all their own. And as I said, I leave out so many more.
My favorite zombie short story of all time though is by Stephen King. Not normally thought of as a zombie author. If he is thought of or spoken of concerning zombies, it most often goes to his novel Cell. Then, I have some explaining to do to dare to say that I think Stephen King wrote the best zombie story. Now, I liked Cell. Cell is a novel though, so that is not the story I am speaking of when I say, the best. Cell has a lot of flaws. It is unique in the zombie genre in a ton of ways. Recognizing its flaws, I would not be at all surprised if many people put that novel in their lists of least favorite books by King. Let’s put Cell aside for now. Please!
No, my favorite zombie story of all time is “Home Delivery” by Stephen King. It can be found in a few different anthologies, but I first read it in Stephen King’s Nightmares and Dreamscapes collection. I have had it as one of my top favorite zombie stories for a while. When I had to reread it for a recent recording of the Castle Rock Radio Podcast, I realized it really is my number one favorite. I love it. I love everything about it. I strive to produce my own work that well in my own voice. You can hear our detailed discussion of the story on the podcast linked in this paragraph. If you are a fan of Stephen King’s work or of all things hilarious, this podcast is one you should check out.
Home Delivery introduces us to Maddie Pace. Great stories often have great opening lines and this is no exception. King starts us off with “Considering that it was probably the end of the world, Maddie Pace thought she was doing a good job.” All great characters are flawed. King writes the flaw of indecisiveness into Maddie and does so in an artistic and beautiful way which makes you utterly love her for her flaws. She moves from an abusive father to a man she thinks will be just like her father. He turns out to be something different and their loving relationship becomes something subtle in the story.
They are on islands off the coast of Maine when the apocalypse starts. King uses zombies somewhere between Romero rules and the Return of the Living Dead zombies. His zombies don’t talk and they are not fast. The brain alone won’t kill them and the severed pieces can still come after you for a while anyway. His descriptions of the monsters as well as the deaths are unlike most of what I have read. He’s the master of the horror genre and this story shows that he can translate that skill to zombies.
The story is structured in an interesting way. It jumps around in time a little. That is not always my favorite way for a story to be told, but in this case, it puts all the interesting action scenes in a very engaging order. The structure is no accident. Technically, about half the story is backstory, but it succeeds in drawing readers into the world, the action, and the characters.
Maddie Pace has to deal with being pregnant (hence the title “Home Delivery”) and alone during the apocalypse. While the men go to handle the bad business around the cemetery, Maddie is faced with a deadly visitor of her own. She has to fight for her life and the life of her unborn baby. In the end, the apocalypse really makes her into the best version of herself. She faces the fact that she will not be able to get to doctors and hospitals on the main land anymore. She will have to have a home delivery, but she is now up to the challenge. The end of the world has redeemed her and possibly the whole tiny island which has become her home in the midst of a global apocalypse.
I was going to say that there is a great death in this story, but there are lots of great deaths all over this story from one end to the other. There is gory, sad, poetic, heroic, and pitiful deaths in this story. The characters are unmistakably human in their lives and deaths just as the zombie action in the story is unmistakably inhuman.
The best death is at the end when a character has to make the choice of how they want to go out. This character knows what is coming and what must be done. He choses who he wants to help him and he takes charge of his own end. Even as death is taking him in a painful and unforgiving way, he forces life to let him go on his terms and in the end, he gets his final wish.
All stories should be this good. All zombie stories should be this good. I’m not saying that all should be written this way. I don’t think this needs to become a formula for zombie short stories. I do think everyone who endeavors to write within the zombie genre should strive for this level of greatness. I believe it is possible to have more action, more gore, more complexity, a driving plot, and a hundred other story options. I do believe though that the entire genre and the audience of fans and readers would be far better served, if fewer poorly written pieces made their way out and we had instead more stories with the heart, depth, and potential of “Home Delivery.”
Jay's Patreon Page | Purchase Signed Books