My humorous horror story “Nine Tenths of the Law” is now available in Blood Lite III: Aftertaste, edited by Kevin J. Anderson.
Here’s how the story begins:
The law offices of Thacker, Ford & Harward were on the upper floors of a downtown high-rise that had mostly escaped the ravages of the zombie troubles. I walked past the attractive, living receptionist and made my way toward a corner office, which I figured would hold one of the better lawyers.
None of the lawyers themselves had escaped infection, of course, because the zombies had deliberately targeted lawyers, judges, and politicians during the initial stages of the plague. But that only made them better lawyers. Contrary to movie stereotype, the typical zombie did not shamble around, arms outstretched, searching for brains to eat, because most zombies had all the brains they needed: The average zombie had an IQ of 182.
Instead of brains, they ate hearts. But nobody’s perfect.
Here’s the rest of the table of contents:
- “I Was a Teenage Bigfoot”—Jim Butcher
- “Blood Red Greens”—Joel Sutherland
- “V Plates”—Kelley Armstrong
- “Put on a Happy Face”—Christopher Golden
- “Devil’s Contract”—E.S. Magill
- “Scrumptious Bone Bread”—Jeff Strand
- “Let That Be a Lesson to You”—Mark Onspaugh
- “Mint in Box”—Mike Baron
- “The Great Zombie Invasion of 1979″—JG Faherty
- “Dating After the Apocalypse”—Stephen Dorato
- “Typecast”—Jeff Ryan
- “Making the Cut”—Mike Resnick & Lezli Robyn
- “Acknowledgments”—Will Ludwigsen
- “Mannequin”—Heather Graham
- “Short Term”—Daniel Pyle
- “Distressed Travelers”—Nina Kiriki Hoffman
- “Bayou Brawl”—L.A. Banks
- “The Steeple People”—John Alfred Taylor
- “For Sale”—David Sakmyster
- “The Man Who Could Not Be Bothered to Die”—Norman Prentiss
- “The Last Demon”—Don d’Ammassa
- “Choose Your Own”—Adrian Ludens
- “Smoke and Mirrorballs”—Chris Abbey
- “BRIANS!!!”—D.L. Snell
- “Still Life”—Ken Lillie-Paetz
- “A Day in the Life”—Sherrilyn Kenyon
- “Old MacDonald Had an Animal Farm”—Lisa Morton
- “Two for Transylvania”—Brad C. Hodson
- “The Four Horsemen Reunion Tour: An Apocumentary”—Lucien Soulban
This is my third appearance in the Blood Lite anthologies of humorous horror, which makes me three for three. Here’s hoping they do a fourth.