George A. Romero's magnum opus The Living Dead can be purchased on August 4th and I'm getting myself a copy.

Daniel Kraus finished writing George Romero's magnum opus called The Living Dead, and it hits the shelves next month. If you don't know who George Romero is, you need only to watch a single episode of The Walking Dead to see his influence. He's the director that's largely credited for making zombie-fiction a thing on film. People have been inspired by his work for years, and I (for one) will be purchasing a copy of The Living Dead to read. It's been a while since I've indulged in a good zombie plague tale, and this one promises to be the granddaddy of them all, by encompassing decades of time by telling the story of the fall of a civilization overrun with this particular brand of the undead.

In thinking about reading this book, I pondered the question: where did zombies come from? My research turned up quite a few things, and I decided to share them with you. According to some historical sources, the ancient Greeks may have been the first civilization to believe in zombies. Archeology discovered skeletons pinned down by rocks and other heavy objects, leading scientists to believe that the people who did this were trying to prevent the dead bodies from reanimating.

A little closer to present times, zombie folklore existed for centuries in Haiti. Some think it might have originated with African slaves who longed for freedom from the brutal conditions on the sugar cane plantations. The "zombie" then, became a representation of the horrific plight of slavery, which definitely is sad if you take the time to digest what's going on there.

Then there are religions like Voodoo, where some practitioners (known as bokor) used a tradition of alchemy to create concoctions including "zombie powders," which contained tetrodotoxin. If used carefully, the deadly neurotoxin could turn a person into a shambling creature with respiratory problems (still alive) but with a lot of mental confusion. High doses of the neurotoxin could lead to paralysis and coma. That way a person could appear dead and be buried alive, only to be later revived. So, a kind of zombie, but not an actual zombie. And from what I've read, many practitioners of voodoo today believe zombies are a myth.

So zombies have an interesting history, and it isn't important that George Romero invented them or not. However, I do enjoy many of his stories, and I think this book will probably hit some pleasure buttons. I guess we'll see. Anyone else thinking of giving it a read? Here's a LINK to the Amazon page where it will go on sale on August 4th.