If you’ve purchased this book you are probably a fan of horror, sci-fi, thriller, epic fantasy, and mystery.
Jonathan Maberry is a New York Times best-selling author, a five-time Bram Stoker award winner. He is the writer whose books were adapted into the hit Netflix series V-Wars, and a writer and/or editor of many anthologies and short stories. The list of his horror novels seems endless and his contribution to Marvel Comics is legendary, as is his work with Dark Horse and IDW. Jonathan Maberry has shown to be one of the most prolific writers in America, with so many numerous awards and accolades it would be difficult to list in a foreword.
I have known Jonathan for decades. He was first brought to my attention when I was told that he had included me in his book Bad Moon Rising, Book 3 in the Pine Deep Trilogy. We have attended many events together and I found him to be charming and engaging, with a great sense of humor.
For those who don’t know, I’ve had extensive contact with the undead in film. My first encounter was with the cult classic movie, Dawn of the Dead, and I have a career sprinkled with horror films along with my work in other genres.
Empty Graves is a series of short stories about zombies. What Jonathan has done is bring the humanity of the everyday Joe—your neighbor, the waitress in your coffee shop, the homeless, your doctor, lawyer, and priest—and how it would affect us to be in the center of a pandemic. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? You get the feeling that you’re not reading a book, but that you’re standing next to the character, relating to the physical, emotional, and ethical challenges presented in each story.
There are interesting tidbits throughout that any true zombie fan will recognize. There are a few attempts to answer the age-old question of “how” and “why” they exist. When I read the first story I was hooked.
There is simplicity as well as complexity in these stories and neither gets in the way of the other. In “Lone Gunman”—the extraordinary quest to climb, to breathe, to survive the suffocating weight of dozens of bodies under, around, and above Sam Imura—Jonathan shares with the reader the heart-pounding terrifying sensation of claustrophobia. We follow Sam into “Not this War, Not this World,” as he displays his compassion and torment for a child who has become a victim, and also for the victim this child carries. This vision will be the reason for restless nights filled with nightmares for the rest of his life.
“Gavin Funke’s Monster Movie Marathon” is one all true film lovers might prefer as an alternative to their daily lives while navigating through an apocalypse.
“Sisters” is a tear-jerker. You can’t help but feel Lilah and Annie’s love for each other as you are compelled to walk with them, year after year, from one perilous situation to another. It truly tears at the heartstrings.
In “Jingo and the Hammerman,” Moose and Jingo display a life of complete monotony while performing a gruesome task daily, weekly, and monthly. Psychologically ruining their ability for rational thought. Engaged by the constant task of coordinated movements of destroying blindly, they unwittingly crush the person Jingo most adores.
I would imagine many sci-fi fans will find a fun reference in “Pegleg and Paddy Save The World.” They postulate a very different slant on the reason for the great Chicago fire.
These—and the other short stories collected here—are about a pandemic. Once the pandemic starts it becomes almost impossible to contain. As the old adage states, “It’s easy to start men fighting, but hard to stop them.” Disease travels on inanimate objects, flies through the air, a handshake, a cough, and, in some cases, by a scratch or a bite.
Empty Graves is about a disease—a pandemic, similar to the one infecting the world today, except this pandemic is not started by man or by the dereliction of duty. No, this pandemic is all too familiar—it’s a zombie apocalypse and Jonathan Maberry has lent his unique talents to the volumes of information and imagination written on this subject. As I read this book there was a constant threat that reverberated in each story. Jonathan presents a sophisticated but colloquial style throughout. He leads us down the path of each story exactly to the point where one is left with the appropriate conclusion, only to discover there are far more layers. A grand mind-boggling adventure.
I’ve met many horror fans during my career and have been inspired by their enthusiasm, compassion, and sincere dedication to the genre. Jonathan Maberry has provided our fans with scores of exciting, suspenseful, and bone-chilling servings of the macabre. If you are alone and would like a bit of skin-crawling sensation to top off your evening I strongly suggest you devour a story or two from Empty Graves.
—Ken Foree, actor
Star of George R. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead