Author Archives: Jamie Cook

In which the Author greets the zombie of Oliver Cromwell…

Oliver Cromwell’s body has already had two lives. firstly as Lord Protector after the English Civil War, and secondly two years after his death, when the corpse was dug up and ‘executed’ a second time, in punishment for the

beheading of Charles I. And now, with the imminent onset of the zombie apocalypse, he’s back for a third go,

possibly aided by thousands of Puritan zombie soldiers.

Oliver’s Army are on their way…

As with others in the series (collect the set!) Olly comes from the forthcoming

Zombies from History: A Hunter’s Guide

oliver cromwell

In which the Author is honoured to meet the zombie of St Patrick…

Today’s selection from the forthcoming Zombies from History: A Hunter’s Guide is St Patrick, the patron saint of

Ireland.

The whereabouts of St Patrick‘s final resting place are disputed. However, as he supposedly banished snakes from Ireland, you could perhaps locate the holy herpetophobe by taking along a reptile or two.

As Indiana Jones said, “Snakes. Why does it have to be snakes?”

Zombies-2 USE alt

 

In which the Author says howdy to the zombie of Alfred the Great…

Here’s another historical zombie, in this case King Alfred the Great, who most people remember for incinerating

some baked goods, but who was actually one of the most able Anglo-Saxon kings of Dark Age England, taking on

the Vikings to boot.

As with the other images in this series, this regal zombie comes from the forthcoming

Zombies from History: A Hunter’s Guide

Zombies-4 USE

In which the Author meets Macbeth’s zombie…

Today’s zombie taken from the upcoming  Zombies from History: A Hunter’s Guide is none other than Macbeth,

King of Scots.

 

However, forget everything you think you know about Macbeth. Shakespeare’s play is a fantasy, based on false

propagandist historical accounts. Macbeth was a hereditary mormaer or regional lord of Moray, at a time when

most Scottish nobles perished at the hands of their power-hungry relatives. Macbeth got the job by killing his

cousins (who themselves had murdered his father). Another power struggle developed when Duncan I – who, in

contrast to his aged portrayal by Shakespeare, was only in his thirties – became King of Scots. Macbeth killed him

in a skirmish.

King Macbeth went on to reign for seventeen years, feeling so secure as to go on pilgrimage to Rome, the only

Scottish king to do so.

 

And now he’s back: is this a zombie I see before me…?

Macbeth - beard and bling, model's own.

In which the Author meets the zombie of Charles Darwin…

Another image torn freshly bleeding from the pages of the upcoming  Zombies from History: A Hunter’s Guide, the all-in-one guidebook on how to take out sixty high-value targets from Britain’s illustrious (and ignoble) past.

This time we present one of the titans of modern science, Mr Charles Darwin. One wonders what the father of

evolution through natural selection will make of the zombie apocalypse…

Take heed: Charles Darwin is smarter than you. His zombie may be too. Approach with caution.

Zombies-52 USE

In which the Author reanimates some historical zombies…

The Walking Dead. Walkers. Biters. Eaters. The Infected. The Contaminated. The Re-animated. Revenants. The

Living Dead. Whatever you want to call them, the zombie apocalypse is coming. You know it, I know it.

So, faced with the inevitable, what do you do? Do you wait until that dull bloke from No.37 is lurching through the

French windows, intent on feasting on your entrails? Or do you step up, take some pride in your actions, and take out some of history’s big guns before you are finally eaten?

If the latter, then you are in the right place. The end of September sees the publication of Zombies from History: A Hunter’s Guide, the all-in-one guidebook on how to take out sixty high-value targets from Britain’s illustrious (and

ignoble) past. The good and the great mix with famous criminals, rebels and pirates. Do you itch to take on one of

the grandees of nineteenth century literature, or test yourself against an axe-wielding medieval bampot? Wrestle

with Nelson? Battle with Boudica? Then this, friend, is your opportunity. Where they are buried, what wounds and weaknesses they bear, height, age, difficulty level – everything the fully prepared and thoughtful zombie hunter

needs to know.

Note that contemporary zombie culture did not start with Night of the Living Dead. The dead have been returning

for centuries. Zombies from History is therefore peppered with accounts of those who were declared dead but yet

lived; those who survived the hangman’s noose or were buried alive; and descriptions of bog bodies, preserved

corpses and mummified remains. In addition, there are juicy bits of folklore, tall tales and unlikely legends

concerning the walking dead, most taken from historical accounts that stretch back more than a thousand years.

Over the next few days and weeks I’ll be sharing some zombified portraits of famous Britons.  To kick off, here’s

the king of the car park, Richard III, on the book’s cover.

zombies cover