Have you noticed an uptick in Zombie obsession lately?

Image Courtesy Depositphotos

On a recent trip to northern Arizona, we followed a car bearing this slogan up the mountain. I thought to myself, these crazy Arizonans have been watching too much Walking Dead.

But then we came back down to the valley and I opened the Wall Street Journal to this headline:

WHERE TO HIDE AMID A ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE

Hint: where I live in Southern California is not ideal. I should have stayed with the crazy Arizonans. At least they’re prepared.

That WSJ article was based on a statistical model prepared by Cornell University researchers. It’s only available to subscribers, but here’s another quite detailed  analysis about the zombie threat.

Where do you go to dodge zombies? Left Coast? East Coast? Except for those parts of New England where people talk really funny, fuhgetaboutit.  The old Confederacy? Eat your brains–er hearts out, you are lost.

Zombie Survival Map, source estately.com

Best move to “fly-over” country, well except for Nebraska. And Minnesota. And Michigan.

What the heck is going on? A quick check of IMDB reveals that there are a bajillion zombie-themed movies and shows. Though somehow I stumbled into World War Z and watched it, horrified, I wouldn’t generally seek out a zombie movie or TV show.

And the last book I read with a zombie theme was one I picked up at a conference, Shakespeare Undead.  Shakespeare is a vampire, and the Dark Lady of his sonnets is a zombie hunter. Lori Handeland even worked in a romance between this vampire and this zombie hunter. It was great fun, and not nearly as scary as  a movie.

But no matter how popular–and profitable–this genre, I can’t imagine crafting scenes with brain-munching undead villains. Yuck.

So I went to Facebook and chatted up my friend author Joyce Ward, who writes paranormal romance and horror (her latest release The Lesson is a horror story) to find out whether she writes zombies. She said:

Even though I write horror, I’m a big chicken. And I cover my face when I watch something scary (but I peek between my fingers). I don’t think I’ve ever read a zombie story. I don’t even dare watch zombie movies.

 And I thought I was the only one who covered my eyes!

Dear readers, what’s up with all this zombie-love? Do you like to watch or read zombie stories? How about mixed genres, like a Regency romantic suspense zombie story?

And if you do like zombies, what’s on your keeper shelf? What’s your favorite zombie story?