Zombies

Zombie (Haitian Creole: zonbi; North Mbundu: nzumbe) is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft.^[1] The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli. Since the late 19th century, zombies have acquired notable popularity, especially in North American and European folklore.

In modern times, zombies became a popular subject in horror fiction, largely because of the success of George A. Romero's 1968 film Night of the Living Dead ^[2] and they have appeared as plot devices in various books, films and in television shows. Zombie fiction is now a sizeable sub-genre of horror, usually describing a breakdown of civilization occurring when most of the population become flesh-eating zombies – a zombie apocalypse. The monsters are usually hungry for human flesh, often specifically brains. Sometimes they are victims of a fictional pandemic illness causing the dead to reanimate or the living to behave this way, but often no cause is given in the story.  This according to Wikipedia retrieved 20:45 04/08/11

Up until now, I haven't watched many Zombie films (unless you count a soft porn flick from the 70s) and I certainly haven't read any Zombie books. Until now.

Yes, my virginity was lost with "The Night of the Living Trekkies" by Andersen/Stahl.

The only reason I bought this particular item was the Star Trek connection - yes, I am a Trekkie!

I can tell you who said "Beam me up, Scotty", or didn't. I know which side of Bele's face was black, I know what IDIC stands for...but back to the Zombies.

The story takes place at a science-fiction convention: Klingons, Vulcans and Ferengi are all there along with an uninvited guest.

The uninvited guest is a virus that transforms its carriers into Zombies.

It is then up to our Geeks and Nerds to save the day.

An interesting, light-hearted romp through the original series with a nod or two to the re-incarnations of later years.  A nice before bedtime. No stress, no worries. Just a light-hearted chuckle.

As usual, comments are welcome whether you go on to read the above book or not.

SCIENCE

It's in capitals because it's important and I want to shout it out.

When did this all start? Probably on the tele with Fireball XL5 (probably my first hero was Steve Zodiac above), Doctor Who, James Burke and the Apollo missions, Tomorrow's World and Star Trek.

I was there near the beginning, hiding behind the couch. Not from the Daleks who were just another crowd of Baddies, but from the Cybermen. They scared the bejesus out of me.

Then things settled down.

I am amazed that anyone being brought up in the 60s could not be interested in science in some form or other. I mean we had tea-cards all about nature, technology, history, sociology....TV was coming to life, albeit on 3 channels,...the whole world was ours for the taking...

Anyone else remember collecting cards from this stuff?

Us children had Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, Space 1999 and UFO. It didn't matter if the science was crap (oxygen pills for breathing in a vacuum), it was escapism pure and simple. Something to get us all worked up. Boys Own stuff way before the PC came in.

The Golden Age of science fiction had already been and gone by the time I got into it if the encyclopaedias are to be believed,  but my Golden Age was just beginning - and it was beginning with my traditional Golden Age.

My first real foray into the world of science fiction was with a series of books by E.E. "Doc" Smith. It started with The Galaxy Primes but quickly moved on to his Lensman series. What was called Space Opera. This was quickly followed by Isaac Asimov's Robot stories. Easy going for an early teen. Then I moved on to many others and I would spend many a Saturday in the local book shop just re-reading the blurb on the back covers. I couldn't afford to be buying them all.

Another boyhood hero.

Then there were the old B and White movies: Frankenstein, The Day the Earth Stood Still... and the colour ones too: 2001, The War of the Worlds...

So what came first the SF or the science? Hard to say really, I think they went hand in hand. Back in the 60s, there wasn't much science to be talked about in the school curriculum - it was really the three Rs. Maybe it was a part-work that my parents bought - Mind Alive it was called. Sad that back in my early years it was TV that led my interest in a shallow TV sort of way

Secondary school was different. Again, back in the day, it was O grades and Highers - none of this Standard Grade stuff. Proper subjects - chemistry, physics, biology and engineering. We had some great teachers at school. They knew their stuff and were more than happy to teach it to us lot who were more than willing to listen and learn.

The Masters:

Would I be where I am today without those three above? Not sure about that but they certainly played a huge part.

James Burke - historian of science and technology. Got me thinking about the hows and whys and how they are linked.

Sir Patrick - you don't need to be a genius or a boffin to have a passion.

Sir David - use the power alluded to by JB above and used the power of TV to open the eyes of the masses.

I had a feeling back then that chemistry was where I wanted to go and not just because I liked the smell of paraffin or the colours of the transition element salts.

I stuck in and let the subject go wherever it was going but the SF - well, I could choose where that went. It didn't go to the science fantasy stuff - Hobbits and their ilk left me cold.  But the SF bug petered out. Oh, I still like some of it and re-read some old stories but I moved away from planets, moons, stars, robots and faster than light travel to the more mundane spy stories.

I'll tell you about that at another time.