The Loving Dead »

Amelia Beamer works as an editor and reviewer at Locus. Her publications include articles in Foundation and Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, and short fiction published or forthcoming in Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, Red Cedar Review, Interfictions 2 and other venues.

Kate and Michael, twenty-something housemates working at the same Trader Joe’s supermarket, are thoroughly screwed when people start turning into zombies at their house party in the Oakland hills. The zombie plague is a sexually transmitted disease, turning its victims into shambling, horny, voracious killers.

Thrust into extremes by the unfolding tragedy, Kate and Michael are forced to confront the decisions they’ve made, and their fears of commitment, while trying to stay alive. Michael convinces Kate to meet him in the one place in the Bay Area that’s likely to be safe and secure from the zombie hordes: Alcatraz. But can they stay human long enough?

“In The Loving Dead, Amelia Beamer gives us a zombie novel like none other. Crisp, smooth and stylish, it zips along from scene to scene, accumulating tension, humor and insight as it accelerates. It is also comic and sexy, a combination I find irresistible.” — Peter Straub, author of A Dark Matter

The Washington Post - Elizabeth Hand

The novel's tone seesaws between arch humor and straightforward horror, occasionally at the cost of narrative tension. But the dialogue is sharp, and there's a nifty coda that will leave readers eager to see more from this promising newcomer.