I think it means, “What’s wrong with your mind?” If four years ago you had told me I would be publishing a zombie book, I would have said, “Not a chance.” But there’s a long-standing cultural tradition of zombies standing in for our societal anxieties - whether issues of race, war or consumer culture. But flying above all the gory details are tender insights about the human-animal connection.Ī crow narrating a zombie apocalypse amid environmental collapse - say what? It’s a strange, funny, thoroughly original book that is also supergross (like all good zombie stories). The fast-talking feathered punster embarks on a quest - with his doddering bloodhound pal Dennis - through the swiftly crumbling streets of Ravenna, the Seattle Waterfront, Jose Rizal Park, Phinney Ridge and Lynnwood to try and gather forces with other “domestics” left behind, and go in search of an uninfected human who might bring hope for the future.Īlong the way the beasts encounter many horsemen (and a gorilla, and a hippo) of the apocalypse, and discover that even as walking dead, humans are still obsessed with their cellphones. When the Cheetos-obsessed crow notices his human companion Big Jim has lost an eyeball and taken to shuffling around in the basement while drooling excessively, he realizes something has gone terribly awry.

In her debut novel Hollow Kingdom, Lynnwood-based writer Kira Jane Buxton offers a clever new take on the zombie genre, as told by a foul-mouthed, domesticated crow named S.T.

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