When the Zombies Win by Karina Sumner-Smith
My rating: 3/5 cats
SPOOKTOBER DAY FOURTEEN
welcome to my spooktober audio advent calendar, where, each day during the month of spooktober, i will be celebrating by listening to a free audio short from nightfire’s Come Join Us by the Fire series, and you can join ME by following the links. let’s all be scared together!
8 minutes
this is a low-three stars cats, because there’s not really a story here, it’s more like listening to someone describe a painting. it’s atmospheric enough—a depiction of a world where the humans are all gone, but the shambling zombie hordes responsible for their extinction are still wandering and roaming, driven by their relentless hunger for brains that’ll never manifest. it doesn’t (or shouldn’t) inspire sympathy for those undead monchers, nor is there a “wait, are WE the zombies?” hook. it’s just a speculative zombie to-do list with decent imagery. as a response to a prompt in a creative writing guided journal along the lines of “envision a world inhabited only by zombies,” it would satisfy, but if you’re not going to scare me, at least entertain me with a proper story. we are not entertained.
listen to it here:
https://play.google.com/books/listen?…
THE STORIES:
OCTOBER 1: 57 REASONS FOR THE SLATE QUARRY SUICIDES – SAM J. MILLER
OCTOBER 2: SOME BREAKABLE THINGS – CASSANDRA KHAW
OCTOBER 3: EMERGENCY LANDING – SEANAN MCGUIRE
OCTOBER 4: THE CHANGELING – SARAH LANGAN
OCTOBER 5: THE BEASTS OF THE EARTH, THE MADNESS OF MEN – BROOKE BOLANDER
OCTOBER 6: THE FIREPLACE – CLAY MCLEOD CHAPMAN
OCTOBER 7: BONE – TADE THOMPSON
OCTOBER 8: IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING – MOLLY TANZER
OCTOBER 9: DREAM HOME – KAT HOWARD
OCTOBER 10: SPAWNING SEASON – NICHOLAS KAUFMANN
OCTOBER 11: THE GIRLS FROM THE HORROR MOVIE – GWENDOLYN KISTE
OCTOBER 12: IT WASHED UP – JOE R. LANSDALE
OCTOBER 13: BLACK NEUROLOGY – RICHARD KADREY
OCTOBER 15: WASP & SNAKE – LIVIA LLEWELLYN
OCTOBER 16: THIS GUY – CHUCK WENDIG
OCTOBER 17: THE POND – PAUL TREMBLAY
OCTOBER 18: A LIFE THAT IS NOT MINE – KRISTI DEMEESTER
OCTOBER 19: GREENER PASTURES – MICHAEL WEHUNT
OCTOBER 20: THAT WHICH DOES NOT KILL YOU – LUCY A. SNYDER
OCTOBER 21: COLD, SILENT, AND DARK – KARY ENGLISH
OCTOBER 22: WAS SHE WICKED? WAS SHE GOOD? – M. RICKERT
OCTOBER 23: THE DAYS OF FLAMING MOTORCYCLES – CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE
OCTOBER 24: FLAYED ED – RICHARD KADREY
OCTOBER 25: MAMA TULU – JESSICA GUESS
OCTOBER 26: THE VAULT OF THE SKY, THE FACE OF THE EARTH
OCTOBER 27: EL CHARRO – JOHN LANGAN
OCTOBER 28: STANDING WATER – CAITLIN R. KIERNAN
OCTOBER 29: MIDNIGHT CALLER – STEPHEN GRAHAM JONES
OCTOBER 30: TOOTH, TONGUE, AND CLAW – DAMIEN ANGELICA WALTERS
OCTOBER 31: THE QUIET BOY – NICK ANTOSCA
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