George A. Romero, 'Night of the Living Dead' creator, dies at 77

Legendary filmmaker George A. Romero, father of the modern movie zombie and creator of the groundbreaking “Night of the Living Dead” franchise, has died at 77, his family said.

Romero died Sunday in his sleep following a “brief but aggressive battle with lung cancer,” according to a statement to The Times provided by his longtime producing partner, Peter Grunwald. Romero died while listening to the score of one his favorite films, 1952’s “The Quiet Man,” with his wife, Suzanne Desrocher Romero, and daughter, Tina Romero, at his side, the family said.

Romero jump-started the zombie genre as the co-writer (with John A. Russo) and director of the 1968 movie “Night of the Living Dead,” which went to show future generations of filmmakers such as Tobe Hooper and John Carpenter that generating big scares didn’t require big budgets. “Living Dead” spawned an entire school of zombie knockoffs, and Romero’s sequels included 1978’s “Dawn of the Dead,” 1985’s “Day of the Dead,” 2005’s “Land of the Dead,” 2007’s “Diary of the Dead” and 2009’s “George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead.”

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The Dead War Zombie Series: ROGUE PROLOGUE

The Dead War Zombie Series: ROGUE.

Read the prologue to The Dead War Zombie Series: ROGUE.

This prequel takes place right before the events in The Dead War Zombie Series Book One. Buy ROGUE here: The Dead War Zombie Series: ROGUE

Sgt. Richards starts off on his quest to deliver a message to HQ and tuns into an unexpected foe and an even more unexpected revelation. A revelation that can both the end or the saving force for humanity.

The Dead War Zombie Series: ROGUE PROLOGUE by George L. Cook III

Are there too many zombie books out there?

Now this question may seem blasphemous to those of us that love the zombie genre. But even we have to admit that there is an extremely large amount of zombie books with the rise of the Kindle and the Nook as well as other e-readers out there.

At the time of this posting a search of Amazon for zombies will bring up 56,602 choices. At Barnes and Noble the amount is much smaller at 1274.

That's over 56,000 zombie books for sale out there on sale for the 2 biggest e-readers alone. Some have started to complain that there is a glut of zombie books out there and they all basically tell the same story.

There are now reviewers that although they review horror don't want to read another zombie book. On many horror message boards it seems as if everyone is as tired of zombies as they were of vampires last year.

I believe that while the genre can be limiting it can also lead to some great and exciting stories. I also believe that every book including my own opus The Dead War Series: Book 1 ( yes that's a shameless plug ) doesn't have to be a literary masterpiece to be a fun read.

I think there are always more room for zombie books and my Kindle is full of them. What do you think? Are there too many zombie books out there?