In honor of the movie Zombieland opening this weekend, and in light of the recent popularity of Zombie fiction, ( and because it’s Halloween before you know it…) we bring you a selection of ghoulishly good reads. Essential reading to be prepared for the Zombie Revolution, if you will.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance, Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem by Seth Grahame-Smith

In this clever and hip “expanded edition” of Pride and Prejudice, 85 percent of the original text has been preserved but mashed-up with “ultraviolent zombie mayhem.” When the novel opens, England has been overrun by zombies, and Elizabeth Bennett has been trained in martial arts. She and Mr. Darcy engage in all-out zombie war, brought together by their common interest in zombie-killing. A totally original spin on a classic tale.

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks

Brooks, author of the nonfiction title The Zombie Survival Guide, brings us a post-apocalyptic battle against zombies. The story is told through a series of first-person accounts by various characters around the world – first hand experiences and testimonies of survivors of a zombie war that nearly wipes out humankind. Tongue-in-cheek yet with an air of total seriousness, this is a great pick for guys.

The Living Dead by John Joseph Adams

This anthology of zombie short stories features a wide variety of zombies (who knew there were so many?). There are apocalyptic stories such as Stockholm Syndrome by David Tallerman; voodoo tales including Zora and the Zombie by Andy Duncan; historical settings as in Sherman Alexie’s Ghost Dance; and humorous satire, found in Less Than Zombie by Douglas E. Winter. Classics from Stephen King (Home Delivery) and Clive Barker (Sex, Death, and Starshine) dovetail nicely with newer fiction from the likes of Dan Simmons (This Year’s Class Picture) and Laurell K. Hamilton (Those Who Seek Forgiveness).

Patient Zero by Jonathan Mayberry

Baltimore detective Joe Ledger been secretly recruited by an ultra-secret government office to combat terrorists. But not your usual terrorists. Oh no, these terrorists have figured out how to bio-engineer zombies, to use as weapons of mass destruction. Fast-paced with tons of action, this is a modern twist on the zombie tale.

Breathers: A Zombie’s Lament by Scott G. Browne

In this black comedy (billed as a “rom-zom-com”), Andy Warner has just survived a car crash. Well, if you call being a zombie surviving. He moves into his parent’s basement to mourn the loss of his wife, who died in the crash, and finds it’s a difficult transition to go from alive to…not really dead. He’s not the only one in this boat however, and soon joins Undead Anonymous, a group of the newly undead that quickly moves from support group to activists for the flesh-eaters.