just finished the splatter zombie novel city of the dead by brian keene. it was my 1st leap into horror fiction in over a decade. the book reads like an exploitation film, which is probably why i picked it up. keene knows the zombie genre well so that characters are named after ken foree, lucio fulci and so on, while the novel is hip deep in other horror references. characters are rather shallow and the dialogue gets rather flat when the principals talk for more than a paragraph. but the zombies can speak, organize, use tools and are rather intelligent. the pace is brutal and the tone is bleak even if there is a bit of humor. in short, a page turner and not a bad piece of fiction.

but man i think i need a shower now. there was so much slime, blood and gore in the book that i got up every 20 minutes or so to wash my hands thinking they were slick with undead grease.

how's that for a recommendation!

now back to the overfull halloween candy bowl. there is a song by the skate-punk band jfa back in the early '80s that goes:

coke & snickers is all i need
coke & snickers is all i need

health sucks
health sucks

* * *

accent on the last syllable is critical for that last verse, please. say it loud and proud.

skate or die!