Book Review: Zombie Sharks With Metal Teeth by Stephen Graham Jones

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“If you’ve never been inside a giant space lobster, well. I don’t recommend it.”

I would put Stephen Graham Jones in the same boat as Jeremy Robert Johnson in the sense that both authors go by three word names and both authors are revered within and beyond their writing communities as mad talented authors. Stephen Graham Jones, however, is a writing machine, a truly prolific artist, where Johnson has a much more modest library of top notch fiction. I’m also woefully behind the times in reading both of these authors. With Jones, I’ve read his disturbing serial killer novel from Broken River Books, “The Least of my Scars”. I loved it, and I’ve had Zombie Sharks sitting on my bookshelf for years. It’s one of those things that I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to read it. It’s the second short story collection I’ve read recently (the other being Cameron Pierce’s “Our Love Will Go the Way of the Salmon”) and there were a few stories here which really stood out. “The Age of Hasty Retreats” was an early winner, but the stand out in the collection for me was “The Sea of Intranquility”, which was a bizarre blend of science fiction and film noir. This story collection is packed with variety, the stories are strangely entertaining, at times disturbing, and often charming. For a collection boldly titled “Zombie Sharks with Metal Teeth”, this book is very clever and sophisticated and full of surprises. I’m not sure what book I’ll pick up next from SGJ, but I won’t be waiting years to sink my teeth into it.

Next Review: Unlanguage by Michael Cisco

Last Review: If You Died Tomorrow I Would Eat Your Corpse by Wrath James White