Dead Inside: a zombie novel told in the form of found notes

[Video Link] Last month I found myself in Palo Alto in need of an espresso. Yelp directed me to a place called ZombieRunner, which turned out to be a running shoe store with a zombie-themed espresso bar. The espresso turned out to be excellent, as did the selection of books, all of which were about zombies. One book caught my eye: Dead Inside: Do Not Enter: Notes from the Zombie Apocalypse.

I had planned to leave the store as soon as I'd quaffed my doubleshot, but the book was so engrossing that I parked myself on the couch for nearly an hour, reluctantly leaving only because I had a scheduled appointment. I would have bought the book, but it was not for sale. But I emailed my friend Steve at Chronicle Books and he sent me a review copy, which was waiting for me when I got back to LA. I picked it up and finished it in one sitting.

Dead Inside: Do Not Enter was crowd-written by Lost Zombies, a zombie themed social network and it tells the by-now familiar story of a zombapocalyptic virus that whips across the planet, but presents it in the form of realistic-looking notes written by people trying to survive and help other uninfected people survive. The introduction to Dead Inside explains that all of these hand-written and computer-printed notes had been found in the blood-stained backpack of a little girl who had apparently been collecting them until she herself got sick with the zombie virus.

The notes are presented in chronological order. The first notes express mild concern ("Remember to get your flu shot - @ the clinic they say it's really bad this year and I don't want you to get sick"), followed by annoyance ("Some kid bit our son at school - I took him to the doctor. Dinner is in the microwave" -- I'm paraphrasing because I don't have the book with me right now), a growing sense of panic, and a grim acceptance of the new world disorder (“I hope I get bit first so I don’t have to shoot any of my family”). The variety of notes, with different handwriting styles, stationery, stains, and rips adds to the realism of the story, and gives it a delicious creepiness, even though the reader never sees a photo of an actual zombie or zombie attack.

Note: We talked about Dead Inside on Gweek 054.

Dead Inside: Do Not Enter: Notes from the Zombie Apocalypse.

• [mat catastrophe]

  OH! LOOK! ANOTHER CLEVER ZOMBIE THING! YAY!!!!

  /nevermind that I thought about developing one. I gave it up as cliched, boring, and technically/logistically difficult

  • [Theranthrope]

    You’re so cool and rebellious.
    I bet you always flip-off the camera, and say things on your Facebook wall that mean the OPPOSITE of how you really feel.
    I want to be just like you when you grow up.

    • [mat catastrophe]

      Oh, aren’t you clever? I’m sorry, let me allow you to get back to wallowing in your “geek” culture tropes.

      • [Antinous / Moderator]

        Did you find a dead finger in your ice cream when you were a kid?

        • [mat catastrophe]

          No. It was an UNDEAD FINGER! DAMN NEAR CHOKED ME!

        • [Culturedropout]

          I don’t think it was in his ice cream.  I think it must have been wedged someplace considerably more uncomfortable.  And it’s possible that it was a whole hand, maybe even including an arm up to mid-forearm.  Just sayin’…

    • [retepslluerb]

      Flipping off is unnecessary. Simply stating “I do not want to get photographed“ should suffice. 

• [malindrome]

  Post-Secret meets Walking Dead? Yes please!

• [BillStewart2012]

  They do make really good coffee there, and I’ve used their mailorder to get espresso maker supplies.

  (Urr, ObZombie, Mira Grant keeps a machete under her bed, and thinks you should too – rise up while you still can!)

• [Kramski]

  Reminds me a bit of the graffiti in Left4Dead, although it seems that here it builds up much nicer

• [Dennis Smith]

  Damn it BB! Making me spend more money on my Kindle!!!

  • [Culturedropout]

     And its evil step-sister, Nook…