Not All of Them about Zombies
by Matthew Rowe
Copyright: © 2008
$11.80 Paperback
$3.54 E-Book
ISBN: 9781847997074
Rather than introduce this book’s author to you, I’ll let him do it himself. Here is the very introduction from the first page of his book:
Matthew Rowe is a recently short-haired, neurotic lay about who is currently unsure of his place in the world. He hopes this book will go some way to asserting himself somewhere. He has written a lot and he wants to share it all, but no one with the money or power has let him as yet. He’s only in his late twenties though so he remains foolishly optimistic. Some people think it is endearing.
As a POD author, I can certainly relate to Matthew’s feelings about wanting to be discovered. Unfortunately, most of us know that isn’t always going to happen when you self-publish a book. SELF isn’t part of the word for nothing because that’s exactly who is going to have to do all the hard work if you want to succeed at it. Yourself. But Matthew’s book, Not All of Them About Zombies, has a four star rating over at Amazon.com and Amazon UK with four various reviews on each site. As I write this, his Lulu rank is 8,849. It may not be much in the way of being discovered, but it’s definitely a nice bit of success. And it is much deserved. Mr. Rowe’s non-Zombie book is quite the eccentric collection of short stories which are both entertaining and well written.
The book is a collection of 10 stories and one very short poem. Believe it or not, the poem is the only thing in the book really about zombies and it is so short and sing-songy that it doesn’t really even belong here. Although there may be some underlying joke between this fact and the title of the book itself, if I was Matthew I probably would have used the poem as an introduction to the book and changed the title to Nothing About Zombies or maybe even Nothing Against Zombies.
Speaking of an introduction, this book has a preface and a lengthy intro. In the preface, the author goes into more detail about landing an agent and getting published, but using POD to showcase his talent and to hopefully get noticed. This is followed by an introduction where he discusses what inspired each of the stories in the book. In my opinion skip all this, the first 24 pages of the book, because this author does actually have talent and the stories are much more worthy of being read rather than the young writer rant presented on the first two dozen pages.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. It’s anthologies like this one that really take useful advantage of the POD publishing process like what Lulu has to offer. I’ve read and reviewed several short story, essay, and poetry anthologies since the beginning of this blog, and haven’t found one that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy. Unfortunately, books like these are often passed over by agents and traditional publishers because of their lack of appeal to a mainstream audience. Visit your local bookstore and ask them to direct you to their anthology section and see where they take you. Short story collections and literary essay anthologies are usually stashed next to the poetry. The bookseller will probably put Frost or Dickinson in your hand if you ask for a poetry collection, or someone like King or Sedaris in your hand if you ask for short stories; or they’ll hand you some once featured collection (destined to become a bargain book) which was probably published in the 80s or early 90s which contains stories from authors I guarantee you’ve never heard of. Despite the erotica market really “embracing” the short story collection format lately, books like these are a dying breed. So kudos to Mr. Rowe for at least finding the right audience and the right place to showcase his work.
One good use of his introduction is that the author clues you in on the different styles and experimentation he was going for while writing each piece, while not giving too much away. For instance the first short story, “Selling Liberty,” challenges a reader’s interpretation of a character after being introduced half way through their scenario and not necessarily knowing what happened right from the beginning. Rowe’s idea for this story came while watching a movie, and demonstrates the often intriguing things a writer encounters and finds inspiration in.
My favorite story follows this one. It’s called “The Happily Ever After.” After studying children’s literature, Matthew decided he wanted to write an update to a classic and he chose Little Red Riding Hood in which Red is all grown up and challenged with possibly making the same mistakes she did back when she was a child. First of all, I’m a huge fan of authors who use any character or person we may already know from history or from another story and puts them into a new adventure. Michael Cunningham was a genious at this with exploring the life of Virginia Woolf in his acclaimed book The Hours. Rowe’s use of the Red Riding Hood story is both original and noteworthy because he has written it in the exact same fairytale-like feel as the original is usually told.
My next favorite is called “Just a Fluke,” and is pure Twilight Zone at its best in which a man wakes up to find himself trapped inside of a woman’s body. Get your mind out of the gutter! It’s not that type of story, although the short entitled “Au Naturale” is. With it, the author has penned a fine piece of erotica that’s worthy of Playboy confessions, if not better.
Traditional horror topics of immortality and also werewolves are covered, along with the Grim Reaper himself who appears in Rowe’s featured tale called “Don’t Fear the Reaper.” It was the story of the month in November 2005 at Dark Fiction UK. It follows a man who envisions himself as the reaper and uses his authority to target certain others who he thinks should die. If you were a fan of the television series, Dead Like Me, you will definitely enjoy this one!
As I’ve said, Rowe’s take on supernatural and fantasy is original and whimsical. Forgetting a lack of brain eating zombies which has been done again and again both in writing and television, I was much more content with the themes and subjects Rowe chose to cover instead. He is indeed a promising young writer who deserves whatever acclaim comes his way. Keep up the good work, Matthew!
