Death Has Come Up into Our Windows (The Zombie Bible)
Zombies are a powerfully resilient metaphor, able to absorb both horrifying bodily damage and whatever widespread cultural fears abide in the times of their creator or their setting, especially with regard to their origin stories. George Romero's "Living Dead" arose at the peak of the Cold War, animated by the same rampant radioactivity that struck deep fears in the American collective consciousness. In the film adaptation ofI Am Legend(2007), "the infected" suffered a would-be cancer cure gone awfully awry. The list goes on and on. In Stant Litore's novella, the biblical prophet Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah) warns the people of Jerusalem of the dangers of worshiping false gods while the city suffers the twin trials of zombie infestation from within and Babylonian siege from without. It's a wildly original tale: beautiful, terrifying, and deeply reverent. Racked by his divine calling, Litore's Jeremiah embodies the ambivalent prophet's existential anguish with memorable resonance. As such,Death Has Come Up into Our Windowsis not only a great zombie yarn, it's also the most imaginative take on Jeremiah's story since Edward Snow's 1987 translation of the Rainer Maria Rilke poem that bears the prophet's name. Highly recommended. —Jason Kirk