Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Grimm...

I really believe that nothing lended itself to the "mash up" better than the collection of stories by the Brothers Grimm. That said, if the ambition is convert all 200+, then you better cinch up your writing jock because some of these stories will flummox even the most ambitious. Well, never let it be said that I am afraid of a challenge.

The good news is that, today, you can snag your copy of Gruesomely Grimm Zombie Tales: Volume One for nothing but the time it takes you to click over to Amazon. And if you are giving it thought, take a look at what Ed Drury had to say:

"It's not completely unheard of to take a comic view of fairy tales or of Zombies. Nor is it uncommon to up date classic fiction to contemporary re-tellings. To do all three is masterful. This book provides those precious LOL moments so rare when reading either horror or classic literature. And classic horror novels, please. No laughs there. The references to real places, events, and people are done brilliantly.

As one might expect, some of the Grimm Brothers story seem perfect for setting in the post zombie apocalyptic world, others have to be tweeked a lot, and some just aren't undead material. Nonetheless, TW Brown plods through the stories and where he can't knock them out of the park he bunts with some sharp witted references to current events giving them new historical significance in his imagined future world.

I don't want to play favorites, but the spin on the White Snake (in this work, "The Zombie Whisperer") was probably one of the best spoofs on the entire horror vs classic mash genre I've ever read. Not that I've read a lot, mind you. Unfortunately it was immediately followed with one of the worst called three orphans. Hey, Jakob and Wilhelm wrote some pretty lame stories. And reading that the kings daughter was a really hot babe is probably better than the stuffy adjectives of the past.

This is just a fun romp through Grimm land through Zombie apocalyptic glasses. I enjoyed it and definitely recommend it to anyone even half as twisted as I am. It's a guilty pleasure. Like Mad Magazine. In fact, many of these could be feature stories for that publication. If I were Mr. Brown, building a time machine, traveling back to the late sixties and getting these published under the Alfred E. Newman banner would be number one on my to do list. Is it for horror novel fans? Eh.. For fans of Jacob and Wilhelm, well maybe not so much. It's for fun and for that reason I gave it high marks."

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