Zom-B – Darren Shan

In accordance with my last post, I thought that I would talk some more about Zombies, this time from the imagination of the master of horror himself: Darren Shan. I have been a big fan of Darren Shan ever since I read his ‘Darren Shan Saga’…which I may have to re-read again soon. I actually have a signed copy of Zom-B that my cousin got me from Ireland, it is my most treasured book. I can’t wait for Darren to come to Gloucestershire, maybe I’ll get to meet him. I recommend this to all who enjoy a good bit of gore and all ages…well maybe not younger than 10…but still, most ages should read his books!

‘Zom-B is a radical new series’ are the words beginning most of the reviews out there…which is completely correct but I would say that instead of ‘radical’ it is eye-opening and relevant to today’s world. We see the world fall to pieces through the eyes of one of the victims, B Smith, a teenager living in modern day London with a horrible, racist, bully of a father. Even though he is a wife-beater, a bully, a ‘nasty sod’ B still respects and loves him. He proves that he is no coward when London is attacked but still never changes. And what of the tall, thin man we encounter?

Normally his books are free from politics and filled to the brim with gore but here he has written on a very serious subject that continues to haunt our world; racism. Racism is a huge problem that we have to deal with from day to day and is something I think will take a long time to fix. Prejudice is something that has always been around and will continue to be around until humans sort themselves out and learn to accept differences. I think that Darren has touched on the subject of racism very tactfully in this novel as it is mainly aimed at teenagers but still keeping up his gruesome persona by throwing in the disgusting, but brilliant, zombies. I feel that Shan has stepped into a new world with this book – he has opened up into the serious problems of today and thrown them into his ghastly cauldron. The characters are put into a position where, if they make the wrong choices, they suffer for them.

Like all his books I found myself feeling rather queasy during some scenes, perhaps not as much as I did while reading the Demonata series but still pretty sick. It is this that makes Darren Shan so awesome; he is able to floor a twenty-one year old with his amazing imagination. Keep writing Darren Shan, I look forward to reading the rest of the Zom-B books.

Zombie-ism

Over the last few years Zombies, Zombies and more Zombies have begun to dominate the big screen and book selves. It has become a universal obsession. George Romero may have started it years back but it has really come into its element over the last five years, perhaps even more. Resident Evil (both the game and films), The Walking Dead, 28 Days and Weeks Later, Shaun of the Dead, Dawn of the Dead, World War Z (which is out later this year) and those are just the films. Darren Shan’s brilliant new book series ‘Zom-B’ will be coming out throughout this year and Mira Grant’s Newsflesh trilogy are just two of the examples of novels about zombies. Where has this sudden obsession come from? It has gone so far that there is an actual government contingency plan to attempt to deal with a zombie attack on the CDC website as well as courses at universities in America that focus on learning about zombies and how to deal with them. When I discovered this I wasn’t sure if I should be laughing or praising the government for being so prepared.

I am a huge fan of zombies; I have pretty much watched and read most of the zombie stuff out there at the moment. My favourites consist of both books and films; Zom-B by Darren Shan, Newsflesh Triology, Resident Evil films and The Walking Dead TV series. For me, the interest comes in all the different interpretations of the zombies. I love discovering a new disease with the same results, I love how they have different names for the living dead – Walkers, Them, Biters, The Infected. In the end, they are dead humans who eat living ones…ZOMBIES! The different ways in which these ‘infected’ come about is the most thought-provoking and completely different for each author/director/creator. For most it is a biological weapon created by humans and let loose into the atmosphere by the humans, for others it is a cure gone wrong and sometimes we never find out what caused it at all. The imagination that goes into creating a zombie story is just fantastic. It must be hard to visualise all the terror, suffering, violence and panic that goes into it.

It’s not all doom and gloom though, there are several films/TV series that focus on the funny side of the zombie apocalypse, such as the well-known Shaun of the Dead and the perhaps less know High School of the Dead (a Japanese anime series). I asked my friends on facebook and twitter what they thought today, to see what opinions they had about zombies; half of the responses were quotes from Shaun of the Dead. For example one person said; “weapons = vinyl records if you have good aim” and another “Get to the Winchester”. You have to wonder if these people would be the ones to survive if there was ever a zombie apocalypse; my suggestion is to make sure every house has a baseball bat – the generic zombie killer.

It makes me think –what kind of people would survive a zombie apocalypse? Would it be the ones who barricade themselves in their house? Those who risk everything to get to the so called ‘safe-site’? I like to think that I would be one of those that would survive, but how can I know? How can any of us know?? It’s sad but I honestly think that most of us would not do so well…humans have always killed humans, it’s sickening but if someone like me lived through the initial attacks I would just be attacked by someone living and more desperate. Still, the instinct to live is pretty amazing! Maybe we would be fine. There are many zombie survival tips in the films we watch and books we read that we would use them. So let’s keep hoping that there will never be a zombie apocalypse!

I hope you enjoyed my rant on zombies, please leave me a comment if you have any opinions on the matter. Also, I recommend Darren Shan’s Zom-B to anyone who wants a truly terrifying zombie read!! I shall be reviewing it tomorrow, make sure you’re here.