John e Normal, $0.99
Parody, 2013, ISBN 978-1310798764
What do folks do when there is an infestation of undead? Ship them off to Australia. No, really, the Australian government basically sold off the country, making other countries pay up to dump containers full of undead on its shores. That’s why it’s called the Land Down Undead now. Don’t feel bad for the Aussies, though, as there is a resulting boom in tourism as folks flock down there to go on what is basically a guided safari to ogle at the undead. Sure, occasionally, some manage to break into civilized areas, eat a bunch of people, but still, life goes on and it’s a party.
This was how undead tourism began. People flew directly into Sydney, took an armoured shuttle bus into the city and stayed for the weekend, watching the undead being slaughtered from the safety of their balcony high above the action. Plenty of people still fly directly to Sydney airport for the weekend. The kids on my tour will often entertain everyone in the bar with stories of what they have already seen on the road. If the bus isn’t already full I can sometimes pick up a few new clients.
Our protagonist, John, is a tour guide that shows mostly college kids the sights around town. This one is basically his thoughts and rambling about life in a post-undead infestation world as well as his gig as a tour guide for idiotic backpackers. He addresses the reader like the reader is one of his clients, as he brings them across Australia on his tour.
Oh, and yes, The Backpacker’s Guide to the Land Down Undead is wrapped up and presented as a work of satire.
I explain to the kids: “Perhaps the most controversial aspect of Australia’s partially undead government is the fact that the infected members are presumed to vote with the majority of their party. In reality, Australian politicians have always voted exclusively along official party lines, so in effect nothing has changed but the removal of the illusion of free will.”
This will inspire a good round of debate among the kids, and give the girls the impression that I am a deep thinker.
Yes, satire.
Now, do I find this one funny? No particularly.
However, I do find the whole thing intriguing, because it tells the story of how people attempt to live life as normal – or as normal as can be – even after their lives have been irrevocably changed by a virus outbreak that turns people into brain-eating zombies. Given the timeline I am living in at the moment, I find myself relating to this story a lot, let’s just say. Come to think of it, life does resemble a zombie apocalypse movie sometimes, as a globe-wide pandemic can bring out the worst in us oh so depressingly easily. I also have to admit: it’s pretty amusing to follow how the author’s vision of how reality TV attempts to survive in such a time.
In the end, though, the length of The Backpacker’s Guide to the Land Down Undead is perhaps its biggest disservice to itself. While it offers some interesting what-if scenarios, for the most part it is content to merely skim the surface and then quickly move on before I become too interested in whatever John is talking about at a particular chapter. Also, for the most part most things here resemble things I’ve seen many times before in zombie movies – in fact, parts of this thing remind me a lot of Land of the Dead, only with a proper context and more logic put into fleshing out the ideas compared to what George A Romero did for that movie.
Anyway, this is a pretty okay read for fans of zombie apocalypse stuff, although do note that this one is meant to be a satire rather than straight out horror story. As for the satirical elements, well, I’m not Australian, so I won’t be surprised should much of the satirical stuff here went over my head.
