Book of the Dead
Authors: John Skipp,Craig Spector (Ed.)
BOOK OF THE DEAD
You hold in your hands what is perhaps the most explicit and overt anthology of original horror fiction ever assembled.
Each of the stories in this anthology is set in a world where the dead have risen to eat the living, and each author has his own intimate vision of what those days will be like: in the brilliant and caustic “On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert with Dead Folks,” Joe R. Lansdale spins what should be a traditional western yarn about a lawman tracking a badman—the deadly dead, however, give that tradition a special twist; Stephen King’s pregnant heroine in “Home Delivery” learns the exorbitant price of survival and of patience; Robert R. McCammon’s “Eat Me” answers all the questions about love among the newly risen; and Douglas E. Winter’s “Less Than Zombie” allows us a very unhealthy peek at the pampered, exclusive, and totally lifeless life-styles of the rich and famous.
Together these stories are a stream of timeless, mind-blowing spike points by some of the most talented, savage, and unique imaginations writing fiction today.
This is a book filled with flaming, frozen moments of dread and wonder you will never in a million years forget.
This is a book that goes too far.
And invites you along for the ride.
RESURRECTION!
The last of the five girls didn’t look peeled, she looked burnt. She bore only a rough resemblance to a human being. She might have been shaped out of mud by a dim-witted child who gave her no fingers or toes or breasts, and poked fingers into the mud to make her eyes. Her crust made papery, crackling sounds as she shuffled past the fire, and pieces flaked off.
A motley crew, thought the girl cuffed to the limb.
She wondered if any of them would have enough sense to find the key and unlock the handcuffs.
She doubted it.
In fact, they didn’t seem to be aware of her presence at all.
Whatever else they might be, they were the victims of the Reaper.
—From “Mess Hall” by Richard Laymon
Bantam Books by John Skipp and Craig Spector:
THE LIGHT AT THE END
THE CLEANUP
THE SCREAM
DEADLINES
Edited by
John Skipp and Craig Spector
BANTAM BOOKS
NEW YORK • TORONTO • LONDON • SYDNEY • AUCKLAND
BOOK OF THE DEAD
A Bantam Book / July 1989
PRINTING HISTORY
FOREWORD copyright © 1989 by George Romero
INTRODUCTION: ON GOING TOO FAR copyright © 1989 by John Skipp and Craig Spector
BLOSSOM copyright © 1989 by Chan McConnell
MESS HALL copyright © 1989 by Richard Laymon
IT HELPS IF YOU SING copyright © 1989 by Ramsey Campbell
HOME DELIVERY copyright © 1989 by Stephen King
WET WORK copyright © 1989 by Philip Nutman
A SAD LAST LOVE AT THE DINER OF THE DAMNED copyright © 1989 by Edward Bryant
BODIES AND HEADS copyright © 1989 by Steve Rasnic Tem
CHOICES copyright © 1989 by Glen Vasey
THE GOOD PARTS copyright © 1989 by Les Daniels
LESS THAN ZOMBIE copyright © 1989 by Douglas E. Winter
LIKE PAVLOV’S DOGS copyright © 1989 by Steven R. Boyett
SAXOPHONE copyright © 1989 by Nicholas Royle
ON THE FAR SIDE OF THE CADILLAC DESERT WITH DEAD FOLKS copyright © 1989 by Joe R. Lansdale
DEAD GIVEAWAY copyright © 1989 by Brian Hodge
JERRY’S KIDS MEET WORMBOY copyright © 1989 by David J. Schow
EAT ME copyright © 1989 by Robert R. McCammon
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1989 by John Skipp and Craig Spector.
Cover art copyright © 1989 by Richard Kriegler.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or by any information
storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publisher.
For information address: Bantam Books.
ISBN 0-553-27998-X
Published simultaneously in the United States and Canada
Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. Its trademark, consisting of the words “Bantam Books” and the portrayal of a rooster, is Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries, Marca Registrada. Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10103.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
KR 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
George Romero
INTRODUCTION: ON GOING TOO FAR
John Skipp and Craig Spector
Chan McConnell
Richard Laymon
Ramsey Campbell
Stephen King
Philip Nutman
Edward Bryant
Steve Rasnic Tem
Glen Vasey
Les Daniels
Douglas E. Winter
Steven R. Boyett
Nicholas Royle
ON THE FAR SIDE OF THE CADILLAC
Joe R. Lansdale
Brian Hodge
David J. Schow
Robert R. McCammon
DEDICATION
For
Tom Allen
[1938-1988]
God bless you, man.
Wherever you are…
Acknowledgments
You know that
an
idea’s time has come when the green lights extend clear to infinity. This book, which was conceived one fine summer afternoon by a miracle of serendipity on a back porch in Pennsylvania, and which by all rights should have been one hell of a difficult sell, breezed straight through to fruition with scarcely a hitch.
It’s been a long time coming, and there are a lot of people we’d like to thank; for their patience and support, for their enthusiasm and professionalism, and, most of all, for their friendship.
Special thanks must certainly go to Lou Aronica, Pat LoBrutto, Janna Silverstein, Robert Simpson, Susan Sherman, Katherine Schupf, and all the fine folks at Bantam; Adele Leone and Richard Monaco, Mark Zeising, George and Chris Romero, Tom Savini, Everett Burrell and Greg Nicotero, Dave Schow, Marcus Nickerson, Jesse Horsting and
Midnight Graffiti
, Richard Rubenstein, Salah Hassanein, TK & BAM, the
Fango
gang, our long-suffering families, and Lise Rogers, perhaps the most benign copy editor in all of human history.
We’d like to extend extra special
uberthanks
to the writers who contributed to this book. They kick big moby butt, and they keep us honest.
Last, but hardly least, we’d like to thank all of those (too numerous to list) who participated in the creation of the
Dead
trilogy; and to the millions who have taken those zombies into their hearts without ever once becoming them.
Thanks, guys. We owe you one.
Now buy this book.
FOREWORD
BY GEORGE ROMERO
It was 1967 when I saw my first walking corpse. I was a struggling filmmaker living, among other struggling filmmakers, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I remember someone asking, “If you want to make movies, how come you stay in Pittsburgh? I mean… this ain’t exactly Hollywood.” “No,” I replied, “It sure ain’t. That’s sort of why I like it here. Besides, Hollywood isn’t the only place where the dead can walk. No, sir. On those rare and mystical occasions when the dead do decide to rise up and walk, they walk any damn place they feel like walkin’.”
I’d seen walking corpses in E.C. comics and in the movies, but I’d never seen one in the, er… flesh. Not until that summer of ’67. I saw a lot of them that summer up around Evans City, Pa., a few miles from Mars. My friends, the other filmmakers I mentioned, and I took moving pictures of them. In the Spring of ’68 those pictures were released to the public. You may have seen them. Quite a few people have. My friends and I were (and still are) thankful for how well those pictures were received.
I saw the dead walk again in 1978. Saw them walk yet another time in 1984. I took moving pictures of them each of those times and those pictures, like the first ones, were released to the public. The public… or at least a certain portion of it… seems to have an interest in the walking dead.