Ace of Spades HQ

« Guns & Hunting Thread (1-6-2013) | Main | AFC Wild Card #2 »

January 06, 2013

Sunday Morning Book Thread 01-06-2013: The Zombie Bible [OregonMuse]

Image courtesy of The Zombie Bible Blog by Stant Litore

Good morning morons and moronettes and welcome to this week's shambling, decaying, brains-hungry Sunday Morning Book Thread.

The Zombies Are At the Gates

Stories about zombies and the zombie apocalypse constitute a very large section of the sci-fi/horror genre. I never realized just how big a sub-genre it is until I started poking around on Amazon, looking for zombie books. Sweet smoking Judas, there's a crap ton of zombie books out there. Some even take material written by someone else and insert a zombie storyline into it.

Which is what author Stant Litore has done. In a very interesting way. Because the "material written by someone else" is the Bible, in particular, the book of Jeremiah.

When the first book in the Zombie Bible series, Death Has Come Up into Our Windows, first appeared on one of my Amazon "recommended" lists, I thought, how can you have zombies and the Bible, this is probably the worst schlock imaginable, I'd better take advantage of this $1.99 Kindle sale so I can read it and tell the book thread how bad it is.

But, I was wrong. This book is actually quite good and in particular, the quality of the writing is really good. It's not something I can put into words, kind of the the Supreme Court justice who said he couldn't define pornography, but he knew it when he saw it. For me, good writing is like that. I can't describe the elements of what goes into good writing, but I read it and think, 'Wow, now that is really some fine writing.' This book is like that.

So, what we have here is a new version of the Old Testament book of the prophet Jeremiah (here Hebraicized as Yirmiyahu). The Israelites have broken covenant faithfulness with God, and their dereliction is symbolized by the hill of Tophet, outside of the city of Yerusalem, a site of abominable human sacrifices to the pagan god Chemosh. Up on Tophet, the the dead walk, and the bones of murdered, sacrificed children are strewn about.

And death is coming from the armies of Babylon who are swarming in from the east and are hammering at the gates of the city.

This is not your typical "club 'em, stab 'em, shoot 'em in the head" zombie thriller. In fact, the zombie involvement is muted and mostly in the background. Yes, the main character has to kill a zombie or two, but that's scarcely the point. In this Old Testament reboot, the zombies are like head lice or other vermin -- in normal conditions, where basic rules of cleanliness are followed, not a big deal, but in an unsanitary, filthy environment, vermin thrive and grow. So here, too, with the Israelites beshitting and defiling themselves with false gods, the zombies are becoming a greater problem.

Yirmiyahu is God's navi, her prophet (yes, God is female) sent to warn Israel of the dangers of her idolatry. But the only things he gets in return are severe, violent beatings. This doesn't matter, he is compelled to speak whenever God fills him with Her word -- he must proclaim it to the city, at whatever cost to himself.

But when it comes down to it, I don't think this book is about zombies, not really. I think the author used the zombie genre to say something else.

I am reminded of Psalm 115, where the psalmist is contrasting the omnipotence of the one true God of Israel with the worthless idols of the surrounding pagan culture(s). First he says:

Our God is in the heavens;
He does all that he pleases.

And then you can almost hear the scorn dripping from every line:

Their idols are silver and gold,
The work of human hands.
They have mouths, but do not speak;
Eyes, but do not see.
They have ears, but do not hear;
Noses, but do not smell.
They have hands, but do not feel;
Feet, but do not walk;
And they do not make a sound in their throat.
Those who make them become like them;
So do all who trust in them.

So it would not be a stretch that idol worshipers are basically dead men who are still walking around. Not that every pagan in Litore's book turns into into a zombie, that's not what happens. But in a culture rife with gross pagan worship practices, up to and including human sacrifice, it is perhaps not surprising that the ultimate result of such practices might manifest itself somewhere, and the more that culture indulges in idolatry that alienates itself from the nourishing, live-giving God, the more that deathly results will grow and become widespread. We can see this also in Proverbs 8:36b: "All who hate me love death."

But enough of my speculations. Read the book, it's really good. And than after you read it, open your Bible and re-read the book of Jeremiah.

Another Public Service Announcement

This may seem a bit tacky and serve-serving, but that's not my intent. Last week, a commenter whose nic I forget mentioned bookmarking the older book threads. I do this myself, because sometimes I need to refer to one of them. But it occurred to me that this might be good to pass around. So here are bookmarks to all of the book threads I've done since I started doing this late last March. The value here is not from anything I've written, but because there's a royal buttload of book recommendations from many different morons in these threads, and I think some of you might find such a collection to be quite valuable. So, without further ado:

That's all for this week. As always, book thread tips, suggestions, rumors, and insults may be sent to OregonMuse, Proprietor, AoSHQ Book Thread, at aoshqbookthread@gmail.com.

So what have you all been reading this week?

posted by Open Blogger at 11:15 AM

| Access Comments


Advertise Here! Intermarkets' Privacy Policy Support Donate to Ace of Spades HQ! Recent Entries Daily Tech News 26 April 2024 Tonight's ONT IS On The Clock Good'ay Mate Cafe New York Times: Supreme Court Conservatives Seem to Favor Acknowledging Some Form of Presidential Immunity, At Least for "Official Acts" Undertaken as Part of the President's "Core Powers" Terror-Sympathizers Attempt Takeover of UT Austin; Greg Abbott Sends in the Texas National Guard Tucker Carlson: Dropping Two Nukes to End WWII Was "Prima Facie Evil" Of Course: One of LA Soros DA George Gascon's Top Employees -- the Attorney "For Ethics and Integrity Operations" -- Illegally Accessed Police Files on Political Opponents NY Court of Appeals Tosses Harvey Weinstein's 2020 Rape Conviction A Secret Service Agent Assigned To Kumala Harris Physically Attacks the Special Agent In Charge of the Detail, While Armed; There Were Reportedly "DEI Concerns" About How This Agent Was Hired Unexpectedly, Dow Drops Over 600 Unexpected Points After GDP Unexpectedly Flatlines to Unexpectedly Low 1.6% Absent Friends Bandersnatch 2024 GnuBreed 2024 Captain Hate 2023 moon_over_vermont 2023 westminsterdogshow 2023 Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022 Dave In Texas 2022 Jesse in D.C. 2022 OregonMuse 2022 redc1c4 2021 Tami 2021 Chavez the Hugo 2020 Ibguy 2020 Rickl 2019 Joffen 2014 AoSHQ Writers Group A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published. Contact OrangeEnt for info: maildrop62 at proton dot me Cutting The Cord And Email Security Cutting The Cord [Joe Mannix (not a cop)] Cutting The Cord: It's Easier Than You Think [Blaster] Private Email and Secure Signatures [Hogmartin] Moron Meet-Ups PNWMoMe 2024: 06/01/2024 Yakima, WA contact Mark Andrew Edwards NoVaMoMe 2024: 06/08/2024 Arlington, VA Registration Is Open! Texas MoMe 2024: 10/18/2024-10/19/2024 Corsicana,TX Contact Ben Had for info	« Guns & Hunting Thread (1-6-2013) \| Main \| AFC Wild Card #2 » January 06, 2013 Sunday Morning Book Thread 01-06-2013: The Zombie Bible [OregonMuse] Image courtesy of The Zombie Bible Blog by Stant Litore Good morning morons and moronettes and welcome to this week's shambling, decaying, brains-hungry Sunday Morning Book Thread. The Zombies Are At the Gates Stories about zombies and the zombie apocalypse constitute a very large section of the sci-fi/horror genre. I never realized just how big a sub-genre it is until I started poking around on Amazon, looking for zombie books. Sweet smoking Judas, there's a crap ton of zombie books out there. Some even take material written by someone else and insert a zombie storyline into it. Which is what author Stant Litore has done. In a very interesting way. Because the "material written by someone else" is the Bible, in particular, the book of Jeremiah. When the first book in the Zombie Bible series, Death Has Come Up into Our Windows, first appeared on one of my Amazon "recommended" lists, I thought, how can you have zombies and the Bible, this is probably the worst schlock imaginable, I'd better take advantage of this $1.99 Kindle sale so I can read it and tell the book thread how bad it is. But, I was wrong. This book is actually quite good and in particular, the quality of the writing is really good. It's not something I can put into words, kind of the the Supreme Court justice who said he couldn't define pornography, but he knew it when he saw it. For me, good writing is like that. I can't describe the elements of what goes into good writing, but I read it and think, 'Wow, now that is really some fine writing.' This book is like that. So, what we have here is a new version of the Old Testament book of the prophet Jeremiah (here Hebraicized as Yirmiyahu). The Israelites have broken covenant faithfulness with God, and their dereliction is symbolized by the hill of Tophet, outside of the city of Yerusalem, a site of abominable human sacrifices to the pagan god Chemosh. Up on Tophet, the the dead walk, and the bones of murdered, sacrificed children are strewn about. And death is coming from the armies of Babylon who are swarming in from the east and are hammering at the gates of the city. This is not your typical "club 'em, stab 'em, shoot 'em in the head" zombie thriller. In fact, the zombie involvement is muted and mostly in the background. Yes, the main character has to kill a zombie or two, but that's scarcely the point. In this Old Testament reboot, the zombies are like head lice or other vermin -- in normal conditions, where basic rules of cleanliness are followed, not a big deal, but in an unsanitary, filthy environment, vermin thrive and grow. So here, too, with the Israelites beshitting and defiling themselves with false gods, the zombies are becoming a greater problem. Yirmiyahu is God's navi, her prophet (yes, God is female) sent to warn Israel of the dangers of her idolatry. But the only things he gets in return are severe, violent beatings. This doesn't matter, he is compelled to speak whenever God fills him with Her word -- he must proclaim it to the city, at whatever cost to himself. But when it comes down to it, I don't think this book is about zombies, not really. I think the author used the zombie genre to say something else. I am reminded of Psalm 115, where the psalmist is contrasting the omnipotence of the one true God of Israel with the worthless idols of the surrounding pagan culture(s). First he says: Our God is in the heavens; He does all that he pleases. And then you can almost hear the scorn dripping from every line: Their idols are silver and gold, The work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; Eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; Noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; Feet, but do not walk; And they do not make a sound in their throat. Those who make them become like them; So do all who trust in them. So it would not be a stretch that idol worshipers are basically dead men who are still walking around. Not that every pagan in Litore's book turns into into a zombie, that's not what happens. But in a culture rife with gross pagan worship practices, up to and including human sacrifice, it is perhaps not surprising that the ultimate result of such practices might manifest itself somewhere, and the more that culture indulges in idolatry that alienates itself from the nourishing, live-giving God, the more that deathly results will grow and become widespread. We can see this also in Proverbs 8:36b: "All who hate me love death." But enough of my speculations. Read the book, it's really good. And than after you read it, open your Bible and re-read the book of Jeremiah. Another Public Service Announcement This may seem a bit tacky and serve-serving, but that's not my intent. Last week, a commenter whose nic I forget mentioned bookmarking the older book threads. I do this myself, because sometimes I need to refer to one of them. But it occurred to me that this might be good to pass around. So here are bookmarks to all of the book threads I've done since I started doing this late last March. The value here is not from anything I've written, but because there's a royal buttload of book recommendations from many different morons in these threads, and I think some of you might find such a collection to be quite valuable. So, without further ado: Book Thread 03-25-2012 Book Thread 04-01-2012 Book Thread 04-08-2012 Book Thread 04-15-2012 Book Thread 04-22-2012 Book Thread 04-29-2012 Book Thread 05-06-2012 Book Thread 05-13-2012 Book Thread 05-20-2012 Book Thread 05-27-2012 Book Thread 06-03-2012 Book Thread 06-10-2012 Book Thread 06-17-2012 Book Thread 06-24-2012 Book Thread 07-01-2012 Book Thread 07-08-2012 Book Thread 07-15-2012 Book Thread 07-22-2012 Book Thread 08-05-2012 Book Thread 08-12-2012 Book Thread 08-19-2012 Book Thread 08-26-2012 Book Thread 09-02-2012 Book Thread 09-09-2012 Book Thread 09-16-2012 Book Thread 09-23-2012 Book Thread 09-30-2012 Book Thread 10-07-2012 Book Thread 10-14-2012 Book Thread 10-21-2012 Book Thread 10-28-2012 Book Thread 11-04-2012 Book Thread 11-11-2012 Book Thread 11-18-2012 Book Thread 11-25-2012 Book Thread 12-02-2012 Book Thread 12-09-2012 Book Thread 12-16-2012 Book Thread 12-23-2012 Book Thread 12-30-2012 That's all for this week. As always, book thread tips, suggestions, rumors, and insults may be sent to OregonMuse, Proprietor, AoSHQ Book Thread, at aoshqbookthread@gmail.com. So what have you all been reading this week? posted by Open Blogger at 11:15 AM \| Access Comments <script language="javascript" src="http://adserver.adtechus.com/addyn/3.0/5235/1131537/0/170/ADTECH;loc=700;cookie=info;target=_blank;key=key1+key2+key3+key4;grp=[group]"></script><noscript><a href="http://adserver.adtechus.com/adlink/3.0/5235/1131537/0/170/ADTECH;loc=300;key=key1+key2+key3+key4;grp=[group]" target="_blank"><img src="http://adserver.adtechus.com/adserv/3.0/5235/1131537/0/170/ADTECH;loc=300;key=key1+key2+key3+key4;grp=[group]" border="0" width="300" height="250"></a></noscript>	Recent Comments m: "335 Good morning morons Local TV news continues ..." John Drake Nearing The Caspian Sea: "Frank Capra's The Road Warrior Opening Scene (C ..." San Franpsycho: "Good morning morons Local TV news continues to ..." Skip: "I thought during other night it was Friday ..." Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere [/i] [/b]: "Seventy degrees, high humidity, not much wind. Bu ..." JT: " I am up. Coffee is on Posted by: Skip THAT'S ..." m: "Pixy's not up on his other site yet, either. ht ..." m: "There's Nope Ixy. ..." Someone Else: "Sure, if you want emuburgers. Posted by: Miley, o ..." Skip: "I am up. Coffee is on ..." Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere [/i] [/b]: "Morning, insomaniacals! 'Tis Friday, the consumma ..." JT: "Tap-Tap-Tap.....is this thing on ? ..." Recent Entries Daily Tech News 26 April 2024 Tonight's ONT IS On The Clock Good'ay Mate Cafe New York Times: Supreme Court Conservatives Seem to Favor Acknowledging Some Form of Presidential Immunity, At Least for "Official Acts" Undertaken as Part of the President's "Core Powers" Terror-Sympathizers Attempt Takeover of UT Austin; Greg Abbott Sends in the Texas National Guard Tucker Carlson: Dropping Two Nukes to End WWII Was "Prima Facie Evil" Of Course: One of LA Soros DA George Gascon's Top Employees -- the Attorney "For Ethics and Integrity Operations" -- Illegally Accessed Police Files on Political Opponents NY Court of Appeals Tosses Harvey Weinstein's 2020 Rape Conviction A Secret Service Agent Assigned To Kumala Harris Physically Attacks the Special Agent In Charge of the Detail, While Armed; There Were Reportedly "DEI Concerns" About How This Agent Was Hired Unexpectedly, Dow Drops Over 600 Unexpected Points After GDP Unexpectedly Flatlines to Unexpectedly Low 1.6% Search Search this site: Polls! Polls! Polls! Real Clear Politics Rasmussen Reports Gallup Frequently Asked Questions What is the Deal with the Cowbell? Why is the Ace of Spades called "the Death Card"? The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick Primary Document: The Audio Paul Anka Haiku Contest Announcement Integrity SAT's: Entrance Exam for Paul Anka's Band AllahPundit's Paul Anka 45's Collection AnkaPundit: Paul Anka Takes Over the Site for a Weekend (Continues through to Monday's postings) George Bush Slices Don Rumsfeld Like an Fckin' Hammer Top Top Tens Democratic Forays into Erotica New Shows On Gore's DNC/MTV Network Nicknames for Potatoes, By People Who Really* Hate Potatoes Star Wars Euphemisms for Self-Abuse Signs You're at an Iraqi "Wedding Party" Signs Your Clown Has Gone Bad Signs That You, Geroge Michael, Should Probably Just Give It Up Signs of Hip-Hop Influence on John Kerry NYT Headlines Spinning Bush's Jobs Boom Things People Are More Likely to Say Than "Did You Hear What Al Franken Said Yesterday?" Signs that Paul Krugman Has Lost His Frickin' Mind All-Time Best NBA Players, According to Senator Robert Byrd Other Bad Things About the Jews, According to the Koran Signs That David Letterman Just Doesn't Care Anymore Examples of Bob Kerrey's Insufferable Racial Jackassery Signs Andy Rooney Is Going Senile Other Judgments Dick Clarke Made About Condi Rice Based on Her Appearance Collective Names for Groups of People John Kerry's Other Vietnam Super-Pets Cool Things About the XM8 Assault Rifle Media-Approved Facts About the Democrat Spy Changes to Make Christianity More "Inclusive" Secret John Kerry Senatorial Accomplishments John Edwards Campaign Excuses John Kerry Pick-Up Lines Changes Liberal Senator George Michell Will Make at Disney Torments in Dog-Hell Greatest Hitjobs The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny More Margaret Cho Abuse Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed" Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means Wonkette's Stand-Up Act Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report! Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet The House of Love: Paul Krugman A Michael Moore Mystery (TM) The Dowd-O-Matic! Liberal Consistency and Other Myths Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate "Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long) The Donkey ("The Raven" parody) Syndicate this site (XML) Powered by Movable Type 2.64