Zombie Wilson Diaries, The (Book)
Reviewed by Scott A. Johnson
Written by Timothy W. Long
Published by Library of the Living Dead
I love small presses. Often times, much more so than some of the larger presses out there, the books that come out of them may not be polished or the type of thing that a “normal” publisher would look at twice, but there’s so much heart and charm in them that it would be a tragedy if they didn’t somehow find their way into publication. Library of the Living Dead is one of those small presses, and one of its latest titles unleashed upon the public is Timothy Long’s The Zombie Wilson Diaries.
Our narrator survives a plane crash only to wind up on a deserted island with just one companion. No, it isn’t a volleyball with a smiley face painted on it…His “Wilson” is a woman who just happens to be one of the reanimated dead. While one might think that bashing its brains in would be the logical course of action, our narrator can’t bring himself to do it, so he winds up talking to the thing and it becomes, in a weird way, his best friend.
If you’re looking for the next Faulkner, look elsewhere. If you’re looking for a twisted bit of humor involving a guy trying not to be attracted to the walking corpse that wants to eat him, this is the book for you. With chapters titled “My Girlfriend Has Crabs” (eeeeewwwww) and “My Girlfriend Likes to be Tied Up,” it’s easy to see where the author is going, and it’s a fun ride getting there. Every chapter is accompanied by a friendly little stick-figure that, for some reason, makes the whole thing that much funnier.
If this book were to suffer from any shortcoming, it would be that it’s quite rough. The grammar isn’t great all the time, and there are a few mechanical errors in the book. But then again, we are reading a diary written by a character who is stranded on an island with a dead girl. Everything in the book works from the character’s point of view, and if the reader just nods and goes with it, he’ll find the book that much more enjoyable.
On the whole, I’d call this one a triumph. It’s quirky, fast paced, and good to the last withered drop.
3 1/2 out of 5
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