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.
