Published: June 23, 2012
Words: 57,627 (approximate)
Language: American English
ISBN: 9781476355269

Short description

Perishables delivers three tense tales of witnesses to the zombie apocalypse for whom zombies are not the biggest problem: a vampire at a neighborhood meeting, a frustrated college sysadmin and the staff of an all-night sale. Humorous, terrifying and kind, Perishables asks: are nosy neighbors, scared kids or wild shoppers more dangerous than the walking dead?

Extended description

"If Chuck Wendig and Douglas Adams ever had a bastard love child, it might write Perishables."

"I love that this collection is written with an ear towards reality, and towards storytelling that is honest, hilarious, and snarky–all at the same time."

Winner of the 2012 Laine Cunningham Novel Award!

What would you do if you had the power to save the people around you but one very good reason to keep it concealed?

Withrow is a sarcastic vampire at a dinner party with his nosy neighbors. Jennifer is a genius in a dead-end job. When the dead rise all around them are they more in danger with those they think they know or out in the streets with a zombie around every corner?

Perishables delivers three tense, humorous, compassionate, acrobatic and horrifying tales about zombies but also about the lives of those persons who live to see the dead walk and some of their favorite foods. These are action tales of those who find responsibility thrust upon them while amongst allies they find.. (Read more) "If Chuck Wendig and Douglas Adams ever had a bastard love child, it might write Perishables."

"I love that this collection is written with an ear towards reality, and towards storytelling that is honest, hilarious, and snarky–all at the same time."

Winner of the 2012 Laine Cunningham Novel Award!

What would you do if you had the power to save the people around you but one very good reason to keep it concealed?

Withrow is a sarcastic vampire at a dinner party with his nosy neighbors. Jennifer is a genius in a dead-end job. When the dead rise all around them are they more in danger with those they think they know or out in the streets with a zombie around every corner?

Perishables delivers three tense, humorous, compassionate, acrobatic and horrifying tales about zombies but also about the lives of those persons who live to see the dead walk and some of their favorite foods. These are action tales of those who find responsibility thrust upon them while amongst allies they find questionable at best; about friendships and neighborhoods and the way everyone feels like an outsider, even insiders; about risk versus reward; and about the ways the big tragedies we encounter in life make the small ones of every day seem a little better and a little worse.
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Tags

vampire, horror, zombie, recipe, academia, vampire humor, suburbia, vampire action, horror action, neighbor from hell, vampire adventure, mcmansion, vampire action adventure, vampire gay, vampire puppy, vampire dog, retail employee, sysadmin, vampire cousin, nosy neighbor, vampire neighbor, retail combat, black friday sale, doorbuster, vampire versus zombie, geeks versus zombies, nerds versus zombies

Available ebook reading formats

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Epub (Apple iPad/iBooks, Nook, Sony Reader, Kobo, and most e-reading apps including Stanza, Aldiko, Adobe Digital Editions, others)	Download
PDF (good for reading on PC, or for home printing)	Download
LRF (Use only for older model Sony Readers that don't support .epub)	Download
Palm Doc (PDB) (for Palm reading devices)	Download

Reviews

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Review by: in potentia press on Nov. 20, 2012 :
This book is essentially three stories that become interconnected. Plus recipes for food that is just as terrifying as the monsters in the stories. The first tale is a light-hearted vampire/zombie tale with added suburban angst. It is as light and fluffy as the ambrosia salad, and about as filling. However, readers who are expecting nothing more than a few tee-hees will be disappointed as the subject becomes darker and more intense as the stories progress.

I greatly preferred the latter two stories, and was especially taken with the final story. It adds an element to the typical zombie fare which I've never seen before and was both horrifying and believable. What I've always liked about this author's work is the blurry line between happily-ever-after and the way things would probably really work out.

Perishables is a vampire and zombies book, with no shortage of humour. But it still manages to address real issues of dealing with the aftermath of a traumatic event, the pain of being shunned by one's community and having to hide one's real self under a façade of normalcy. Those aspects of the book are where this author really shines, and those are 5 star sections.
(reviewed within a month of purchase)

Review by: Ian Flockhart on Aug. 20, 2012 :
That was great fun.
(reviewed within a month of purchase)

Review by: Gregory Lynn on June 25, 2012 :
If Chuck Wendig and Douglas Adams ever had a bastard love child, it might write Perishables.

They didn’t, though, and the bastard love child never had a chance so Michael Williams wrote it.

It’s about a guy who mostly just wants to be left alone to live his vampiric life but can’t because he’s voted onto the executive board of his homeowner’s association. Then the zombies come and poor Withrow is the only one who can do anything about it and he does so because, well, it’s what he has to do.

It’s about a young woman looking to put her IT degree to work who ends up using her machines to zorch some zombies, thus costing herself a job and any chance she ever had at a decent night’s sleep.

It’s about the time the two meet at a Black Friday sale.

It is delightfully absurd without being trivial. It is at times scathingly satirical but never really cynical. It is funny. It is moving. It is suspenseful. The recipes are surreal.

It is well worth your time.
(reviewed the day of purchase)

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