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What's wrong with zombies? Nothing, at heart. But I belong to a couple of Amazon forums where writes can post about their new stories, and I am serious when I say that 4 out of 5 are zombie-centric. I'm not saying it doesn't take talent to write a good zombie story, but it seems that EVERYONE is trying to write zombie stories. Just like, right after the success of X-files, every network had a paranormal series. And right after Lost, every network had another paranormal series. And they all failed. Zombies are hot today, but I sometimes think the self-published horror market is saturated with zombie stuff. And its getting to the point where its getting old. And when there is just sooooo much, its hard to tell the good from the bad, and none of it is original anymore. don;t get me wrong, zombies are coll, when done right. Walking Dead Graphic novel was awesome and the show is pretty good. My wife loves it more than me. But, I'll be frank, and don't be offended: in this zombie-loving environment, I think writing zombie stuff is seen as an easy way out. No real rules to follow if the world has ended. Like with Fantasy and Sci-Fi, both of which i love, authors are given complete free reign with their worlds and their populations and can do anything they want, and sometimes open-ended worlds with no real rules open the door for some sloppiness and ridiculousness. Again, zombies are not bad if done right, but I think there is just too much now trying to capitalize on Walking Dead and other zombie movies, and more often than not, I am bored. I'm tired of book previews that start "The time of man is at an end" or "The Apocalypse has come" or "A virus has gotten loose, transforming the population of the world into zombies". I miss when authors used to try to be different. Try to find horror in the everyday world. Explore the psychology of human monsters. I miss ghosts and monsters and things that go bump in the night. I miss horror that exists within the confines of our world. I would rather read Joe Hill's horns, which explores the minds of a man turned into a devil and the minds of the man who forced the transformation, than a dozen novels, all slightly similar, about zombies eating people
But this is just one humble dentist's opinion. And, of course, it doesn't mean I'm right.
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