My own earliest visions came back to me as I read a certain novel called Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies; the premise of this tale is an alternated version of British Regency, which is "ruled" by the Living Masters and slowly becoming overrun with the Dead Enslaved. The once much beloved ancestors of a past time who's souls have now passed on to the afterlife were apparently unable to bring their bodies with them, thus somehow resulting in an overabundance of empty shells; while the book itself never divulges too deeply into why the bodies of the Living have not succumbed to natural decay, the real question here for me is how much sheer angst it must have been for someone to engage in savage combat with the Undead facade of someone or many you once knew in the living world. Suppose the zombified remains of my own Great-Grandma, Ma, who passed away some many years ago, were to rise for some unexplained reason and join the forces of a seemingly impenetrable mass of potential "corpse-brides" in either a fit of blind attack or a slowly advancing assault: how could I bring myself to fight the image of the one I love? I liked the feeling of both humor and deep thinking this "remake" novel brought about in me. I believe it has not only inspired me to take to reading Jane Austin's original novel, but also look deeper into the increasing Zombie fandom with better and more open-ended ideas for this genre, where the traditions of literature are not as strict as they are with Vampires and Werewolves.
And if you are in the mood for a Zombie B-flick, I recommend watching Ray Dennis Steckler's 1964 film, The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!
Goodnight, and stick alive!
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