Questioning the Future (With Zombies)

Obviously this isn't a topic that's gone unexplored: Shaun of the Dead, Resident Evil and Left 4 Dead video game franchises, and even Marvel Comics "Marvel Zombies" were big successes before this recent explosion of material (and I know I'm missing a great deal here). But, as a catalyst, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand that started this World War I (Z).

Heck: even Star Wars has a zombie book out now.

The question is, though (at least amongst us publishers) is whether or not such a trend is sustainable. Already I've had discussions with my fellow editors about what we feel about the longevity of zombies, and while there's the understandably pat answer of "if the story and writing are good, it doesn't matter what the topic is" (which I do agree with--to a certain extent), there's also the over-arcing presence of editor-as-tastemaker. While I think we've moved away from this in recent years, I still believe that, with our ability to make decisions about what gets published or not, we are--if not in the driver seat--navigators of where the future of the genre is going.

And I wonder if zombies are that direction.

Oddly, despite my seemingly negative (and my blatantly long) introduction into this topic, I actually think zombies are part of the future of this genre--but this genre being science fiction, rather than the more specific urban fantasy and paranormal romance.

Especially not paranormal romance.

One of the key comments I've heard about zombies is that, unlike vampires and werewolves, witches and sorcerers, zombies just aren't sexy. More importantly, there's really no way to make them sexy.

That's not to say people won't try: The Guardian in the UK recently had an article about Hungry For Your Love, an anthology of zombie romances. Apparently Lori Perkins had brought up this question at a conference, and decided to see if it was possible. While we're still waiting for the verdict, I'm still not convinced it would be the zombies making such books popular. Rather, I have a feeling it would be the name attached to the project, so that if Laurell K. Hamilton, Charlaine Harris decided to write zombies into their stories, you'd see units moving, but not necessarily because the novels are about zombies.

But that's tangential to what I really see happening with zombies--which, again, I do believe have a place in the future of the genre. Because they are already part of a grand tradition in science fiction that has been growing steadily with the help of some big names (who don't necessarily realize and/or acknowledge that they're doing so--more on this in bit).

I'm talking, of course, about dystopian literature.

What I'm seeing is that, with probably the exception of PPZ, the great zombie books that have come out or are coming out are more about the post-apocalyptic (or during-apocalyptic) action, and not simply the zombies. If anything, the zombies are simply the plot device that allows us to get into the deeper story of human interaction, survival, and so forth. Consider this: World War Z actually didn't have any zombies in it--everything was told from the point of view of after.

So as a part of dystopian literature, I see it carving itself a wonderful niche, alongside those "great names" I mentioned earlier: Cormac McCarthy's The Road, or pretty much anything by Margaret Atwood. Critics and readers praise their books as literary masterpieces (which I agree they are), and yet tend to "forget" that they're also science fiction (a kettle of fish that we need not get into here). Dystopian literature is a grand tradition for sci-fi, whether it be Lord of the Flies, 1984, and A Brave New World or Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Neuromancer, or The Stand. And now, as the globe becomes smaller, and media more accessible and prevalent, I think the time is ripe for writers to tap into that deep-seated psychological need to be frightened. Perhaps I'm over thinking things, but is it any wonder that paranormal romance--where you love the monster--blew up during a flush time in the economy, and dystopian literature is taking off while the economy is stagnating?

Regardless, that's where I see the genre going. Looking at the success of The Hunger Games and Catching Fire seem a good indication of this (because, like many things, YA somehow gets a jump on what's big in sci-fi before adult publishing catches on). Of the books I know that are coming down the pipeline, such as Justin Cronin's The Passage, Daniel Wilson's Robopocalypse, and Darin Bradley's Noise--three great novels from what I've read--these are going to be the big science fiction books in the upcoming year (whether or not they get marketed as sci-fi again resides in the aforementioned kettle of fish from above). Sure, the old stalwarts are going to be there, as well as urban fantasy and paranormal romance still going strong, but if there was stock in science fiction, I'd say put your money on dystopia.

Granted, mine is just one opinion, but I think you'll like the return on that investment.