""When there''s no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth!"" FromWhite Zombie to Dawn of the Dead, Resident Evil to WorldWar Z, zombies have invaded popular culture, becoming the monsters that bestexpress the fears and anxieties of the modern west. Gathering together the bestzombie literature of the last three decades from many of today''s most renownedauthors of fantasy, speculative fiction, and horror, including Stephen King,Harlan Ellison, Robert Silverberg, George R. R. Martin, Clive Barker, Poppy Z.Brite, Neil Gaiman, Joe Hill, Laurell K. Hamilton, and Joe R. Lansdale, TheLiving Dead covers the broad spectrum of zombiefiction.

George R. R. Martin was born in Bayonne, New Jersey on September 20, 1948. He began writing at an early age, selling monster stories for pennies to neighborhood children. Martin received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Journalism from Northwestern University. In 1986, he signed on as a story editor for "The Twilight Zone" at CBS Television in Hollywood. Martin has since returned to writing on a full-time basis and has won many awards for his works, which include novels, short story collections, and the series "A Song of Ice and Fire." Martin resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico and is a member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America.

Critics of the horror story have frequently called Clive Barker the "British Stephen King". Born in Liverpool in 1952, Barker attended the University of Liverpool but moved to London in 1977, where he worked as a commercial artist and became involved with the avant-garde theatrical community. Primarily a playwright during this period, he also produced short fiction that he would eventually publish as part of his six-volume collection titled Books of Blood (1984-85). More than any other author of contemporary horror fiction, Barker has had a major impact on the direction of the genre. He has introduced strong elements of sex and graphic violence into his fiction, but these elements are employed with an artistic objective. Barker underscores his work with complex subtextual metaphors and artistic allusions. Preoccupied with the craft of writing and with its effect on the reader, Barker is an innovator of formula and genre, often parodying the former in order to change the philosophical contour of the latter. Barker has achieved commercial success not only with his short fiction but also with his novels, which tend to be epic in scope and to blend elements of horror with those of high fantasy. Barker is one of the more influential voices in horror cinema, having written and directed a number of films.

Neil Gaiman, 1960 - Neil Gaiman was born in 1960 in Portchester, England. He worked as a journalist and freelance writer for a time, before deciding to try his hand at comic books. Some of his work has appeared in publications such as "Time Out,""The Sunday Times,""Punch" and "The Observer." Gaiman's first comic endeavor was the graphic novel series "The Sandman." It is what Gaiman is most famous for and the series has won every major industry award, including the 1991 World Fantasy Award for best short story, making it the first comic ever to win a literary award. "The Sandman" series has outsold both "Batman" and "Superman" comics, selling over a million copies a year. The collections have sold over 750,000 copies in both paperback and hardcover and Warner Bothers has optioned the rights to Sandman. Gaiman is the co-originator and co-editor of The Utterly Comic Relief, an organization which raises money to maintain First Amendment Rights for comic book creators. In 1991, the organization raised over 45,000 pounds for the Comic Relief Charity. Gaiman has also co-authored a book with Terry Pratchet called "Good Omens" and wrote "Ghastly Beyond Belief" in 1985 and "Don't Panic" in 1987. He has edited a book of poetry entitled "Now We Are Sick" and his essays have appeared in such publications as "Horror: 100 Best Books and 100 Great Detectives." Gaiman's latest project has been the development of "Neverwhere," originally a television series for the BBC, it has now been expanded into a novel and is being made into a movie created by Jim Henson Productions. He has also delved into children's books, writing "The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish" which was selected by "Newsweek" as one of the Best Children's Book of 1997. His last publications have been "Smoke and Mirrors" in 1998 and "Stardust," an anthology of short stories in, 1999. When not writing, Gaiman is constantly involved in fighting for the rights of literary writers of all kinds so that the First Amendment shall always be allowed for those who choose to write.

Author Laurell K. Hamilton was born in Heber Springs, Arkansas on February 19, 1963. After her mother died in a car crash in 1969, she was raised by her grandmother in Sims, Indiana. She writes the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series and the Merry Gentry series. She currently lives in St. Louis, Missouri with her family.

Joe R. Lansdale was born in Gladewater, Tex. in 1951. He attended Tyler Junior College, the University of Texas at Austin, and Stephen F. Austin State University. Lansdale has also had a varied career, having worked as a bouncer, a bodyguard, a transportation manager, a custodian, and a karate instructor before becoming a fulltime writer in 1981. Lansdale's written work includes several novels and more than 200 short stories. Although his favorite genre is fantasy, with suspense a close second, he has also written mysteries, horror, science fiction, and westerns. Some titles include Rumble Tumble, Dead in the West, The Nightrunners, Cold in July, By Bizarre Hands and The Drive-in (a 'B' Movie with Blood and Popcorn. Made in Texas) . In addition, Lansdale has edited the short-story anthologies Best of the West, The New Frontier: Best of the West 2, and Razored Saddles. Lansdale has received five Bram Stoker Awards from the Horror Writers of America, including one for "The Night They Missed the Horror Show." He has also been awarded the British Fantasy Award and the American Horror Award. Joe Lansdale and his second wife, Karen, have two children. They live in Nacagdoches, Tex.

Harlan Ellison, 1934 - Harlan Ellison was born in 1934. He was first published professionally at the age of 15 in the Cleveland News. Ellison has written over 1700 short stories, essays, articles and newspaper columns. He was the first to receive the Living Legend Award by the International Horror Critics in 1995. In 1987, a 35 year retrospective of Ellison's work was published as "The Essential Ellison." Over the course of his career, Ellison has written for "The Outer Limits,""The Starlost" and "The Twilight Zone." He is a co-creator of the "Star Trek" series and is in his fifth season as Conceptual Consultant for "Babylon Five." Ellison is the only author in Hollywood to ever win the Writer's Guild of America's award for Most Outstanding Teleplay four times, the last time being "Paladin of the Hour" in 1987. He has won the Hugo Award 8 1/2 times, the Nebula Award 3 times, the Bram Stoker Award 5 times, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Horror Writer's Association, the Edgar Allen Poe Award of the Mystery Writers of America Award twice, the Georges Meilies Fantasy Film Award twice and was awarded the Silver Pen for Journalism by the PEN International Writer's Union. In March of 1998, the National Women's Committee of Brandeis University awarded Ellison the 1998 Wit, Words and Wisdom Award. He is the editor of "Dangerous Visions" anthologies as well as "Medea: Harlan's World," and has received the Milford Award for for Lifetime Achievement in Editing. Ellison is a member of the Screen Actor's Guild with voice credits and adapted a short story, "The Face of Helen Bournow" for a Showtime series.