I Have An Insane Amount of Zombie Books

I have a problem.

I have bought more than just a few books on zombies, or zombie adjacent genres. And I'm not sure why.

I am not sure when I became "obsessed" with the zombie horde, I can't tell you where it sprang from, but I can tell you that the evidence is in my closet where I have neatly stacked the ones I've already read. I still have some that I have yet to read entirely through.

I used to peruse through Borders bookstores (remember those used to exist? And well, just one in particular because of proximity) and my go-to section was always the horror or fantasy section. I would sit on the carpeted floor in front of the shelf they'd be on, and just read through a chapter or two to gauge whether it was coming home with me or not. Most often times, it wouldn't come back with me. But if it was a zombie book? It was coming home with me. I wouldn't even read a chapter or two, I'd just read the back and just decided it would be mine. That was some time ago, but the bulk of them remain with me.

If I wasn't buying them, I was finding them or someone would just give them to me because they knew (they KNEW) how I felt about that particular genre. It used to be vampires, but now the ghouls had my attention. It was definitely before The Walking Dead (which I bought 90% of the comics, and yes, I'm proud of this, make fun of me if you must) phenom, but worsened after the comics and the show exploded onto the mainstream stage. I watched the show religiously and spent a great deal of money on just the comics alone. I was heavily invested.

This all was well and good, then I became a mother. My attention (and funds) were diverted to this little being. I had no time to invest in zombies anymore for a while. I still watched The Walking Dead, though, I even would make sure to quiet my child when it was nearing show time. But the books were nowhere to be found. Borders eventually closed down all of their stores (and seeing as how it was super close, I didn't try to go to any other bookstore just because of that...and I was a Borders fanatic), and I was just too busy. The books I did have were stored away, making room for the toys and baby furniture that replaced them.

My child is older now, and a horror fan as well (to a certain degree). I've also been writing, and noticed I had books I had yet to read in my closet. I looked through and there were so many zombie anthologies and stand-alone stories in my closet! It was like finding a pot of gold at the end of a decaying rainbow, but it also made me realize how much I spent on zombies! Then I started to notice how many Romero zombie films I had, and it hit me: I was zombie obsessed.

Even with this stark realization, it also made me smile. It was no secret that I had a love for the dead in a silly way, I just had a love for the great genre of horror period. I looked at my collection of all these amazing works, and decided it was time to embrace my "problem." And all this time I thought I wouldn't have anything to read for the winter season. I indeed found my decrepit jackpot of literary gold for the cold.