Ten Favorite Zombie Novels
(It seems to me that literature generally does better by ghosts, vampires, and other assorted monsters than it does by zombies, which is why it took so long before it occurred to me to produce this list. Here, though, are ten zombie novels—or story collections—I admire, arranged alphabetically by author.)
Dinner by César Aira
How We Escaped Our Certain Fate by Dan Chaon
It Lasts Forever and Then It’s Over by Anne de Marcken
Southern Gods by John Hornor Jacobs
Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link [see “The Hortlak” and “Some Zombie Contingency Plans”]*
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
Saga of the Swamp Thing, Vol. 1-6 by Alan Moore and various artists
Orange World and Other Stories by Karen Russell [see “Black Corfu” and “The Prospectors”]*
A Questionable Shape by Bennett Sims
Zone One by Colson Whithead
* story collections
— August 11, 2026