Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Zombie Club

As a librarian (a good one, I might add) I don't believe in telling people what they should read. People should read what they want. My livelihood depends on people reading, even if I might personally think they're reading crap. One thing you learn pretty quickly in this profession (or should - some librarians are clueless, and I don't claim them as my brethren), is that crap is in the eye of the beholder. And frankly, if I didn't learn that on the job, I would have learned it over the course of reviewing books all these years. So while I've seen other bloggers froth at the mouth over the Monster Mash-Up trend, I've pretty much just chalked it up to that....a trend. Hey, if it gets people to read - I'm not about to scoff. Frankly, I hate it when people scoff at my romance novel reading, so I'm not about to turn hypocrite and scoff at their....whatever they read. That being said, I did come across a new book today that even stopped me in my tracks. For about half a minute anyway....

Paul Is Undead: The British Zombie Invasion by Alan Goldsher will be released by a division of Simon & Schuster on June 22.

Gird your loins, here's the publisher's promo:

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, IT'S TIME TO REALLY MEET THE BEATLES.

For John Lennon, a young, idealistic zombie guitarist with dreams of global domination, Liverpool seems the ideal place to form a band that could take over the world. In an inspired act, Lennon kills and reanimates local rocker Paul McCartney, kicking off an unstoppable partnership. With the addition of newly zombified guitarist George Harrison and drummer/Seventh Level Ninja Lord Ringo Starr, the Beatles soon cut a swath of bloody good music and bloody violent mayhem across Europe, America, and the entire planet.

In this searing oral history, discover how the Fab Four climbed to the Toppermost of the Poppermost while stealing the hearts, ears, and brains of smitten teenage girls. Learn the tale behind a spiritual journey that resulted in the dismemberment of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Marvel at the seemingly indestructible quartet’s survival of a fierce attack by Eighth Level Ninja Lord Yoko Ono. And find out how the boys escaped eternal death at the hands of England’s greatest zombie hunter, Mick Jagger.

Through all this, one mystery remains: Can the Beatles sublimate their hunger for gray matter, remain on top of the charts, and stay together for all eternity? After all, three of the Fab Four are zombies, and zombies live forever. . . .

Oohhhhhhkay then.

As someone who literally grew up with The Beatles (Dad started his daughters on The Fab Four right around the time Mom started us on solid food), I'm not sure how I feel about this. On one hand, if The Beatles were zombies, that would mean John Lennon and George Harrison could still be walking the Earth. Of course they'd also be tackling people in the streets of London and eating their brains.....

Hmmmmmm

Anyway, the advance reviews I've seen are generally positive although, once again, the winner of the Best Review Ever Award goes to Kirkus, who declared:

"Goldsher turns in a classic rags-to-riches tale of aspiration and success that would do Horatio Alger proud, punctuated by no end of gore. Slight but fun. A little misguided, though, since everyone knows the Rolling Stones are the walking undead."

Heh.

And for the record, yes, I did order a couple of copies for work. And yes, I'm aware that makes me part of the problem. Somebody, somewhere is going to want to read this. Or else they'll stumble across it on the shelves and be so flabbergasted they won't be able to help themselves. Either way, we'll get the circulation stat - and we librarians love our stats. Dorks that we are.