Rejection is part of the collective experience for writers, but that doesn’t make it easier to handle. Being accepted into an anthology is validation. That is especially true when you read your copy of the finished book and find yourself wowed by the other stories included around your own.
When I submitted to Zombie Punks Fuck Off a long, long time ago, I also submitted two other stories to two other publications. One was rejected and the other accepted. In the words of Meatloaf, two out of three aint bad.
“Eat the Rich” came from an idea I’d had when writing a Halloween short about a rich family’s Halloween party that was over run by zombies. Eat the Rich shares very little in common with the first tale, other than zombies and class war, but both came from the same question – why do some people in the world have so much while others can barely stay alive? Because of the anthology’s title I had to include a nod to a favourite Dead Kennedys' track “Nazi Punks Fuck Off” and include Nazi Punks as the identifiable source of the virus in my story. It’s probably one of the funniest pieces I’ve written and have had published. It’s also one of my favourite short stories so far.
Even so, and while I am truly grateful to Weird Punk Books and Clash Books, my story is not entirely representative of this collection. It feels like the lone sober guest at a crazy party.
Leaving my story aside, as I don’t wish to review that, the collection is bizarro fiction. I’ve read bizarro and surrealist fiction before and I am usually impressed by its unique strangeness. These stories are equally strange and unique, but share strong themes of music, sex and violence. It’s a wild ride.
“While My Guitar Gently Eats”, by Danger Slater features a punk band who need a new guitarist after their old one committed suicide. The band members are irreverent and frequently ignorant as the writer plays on the stereotypical idea of the air-head punk who has head butted the wall a few too many times. It’s funny, violent and gory while also considering serious subjects such as what can be considered art.
“Hard-Wired Beat”, by Axel Kohagen also has punk musicians at its centre (and why not considering the collection’s theme), but this story looks at the experimental side of hard music and the death worship it inspires. Iowa’s most famous musician seems like a nod to Genesis P-Orridge and Steven Stapleton. This is a punk musician who stretches the boundaries of what music is and what can be used as instruments.
“Re-Made”, by Madison Mcsweeney is delicious satire with zombies about the Decency Brigade always at odds with punk culture.
“The Advent of Noise”, by Leo X Robertson is a highly experimental short with a second person narrative and a bizarre limbo where people are remade. Whether that limbo is literal or a state of mind induced by violent sounds is left open to the reader’s interpretation.
“The Good Samaritans”, by Sam Reeve looks at the intersection between punk and Christianity. This Christian punk band, travelling on the road between gigs, have a strong sense of morality and clean consciences up until the point that being the good Samaritan becomes a life or death choice.
“Earworm”, by Brendan Vidito is disjointed and confusing in the best ways. The setting skips from place to place and time to time in a nightmarish tale of possession and conspiracy theorists.
In “Cyberpunk Zombie Jihad”, by Mark Zirbel, a journalist is interrogated to uncover the location of a bio-weapon who was once a punk musician the army created to fight a Holy Crusade across the Middle East. The torture scene is reminiscent of Clockwork Orange but never derivative.
“I am the Future”, by Joe Quenell, is a disturbing short that seems to consider toxic masculinity in cult movies, although I might be misreading the theme. It’s violent and corny and offensive, but with a level of humour that makes it work.
“Rolled Up”, by Emma Alice Johnson, is my favourite story in the collection. It is a very disturbing slow burner that is told through the inner thoughts and turmoil of a man rolled up in a rug so that he can be trampled on by musicians as they enter the backstage area of a New York bar.
“Bass Sick”, by Asher Ellis is about an underappreciated bass player in a punk band and the lengths he goes to to be noticed. It’s another fun and violent short with punk music at its heart.
“The Basement People”, by Nicholaus Patnaude, is very very very weird. It is the purest form of the bizarro genre in this collection in my opinion. It skips from voice to voice, some human others far from human, to track the events that lead to one woman’s murder and the release of a zombie virus. It is insane. That said I fucking love it.
“Nature Unveiled”, by Sam Richard, is too personal and too touching a tale for me to objectively read or review. It made me want to cry. While explaining the reason for the delay in publication of this amazing collection, and including body-chomping zombies in the action, it is also a beautiful, heart-felt requiem for his wife.
Apart from “Rolled Up” and, for obvious reasons, the final story this collection is hilarious. If you love movies like “Return of the Living Dead” then this is a book for you. Different stories will appeal wherever you fall on the political spectrum. This is all inclusive punk mayhem – with zombies!