A press release from publisher Bob Garcia of American Fantasy Press:
American Fantasy Press will publish Mike Resnick’s Stalking the Zombie for release at this August’s World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago. Stalking the Zombie is the first collection of short stories featuring Mike Resnick’s hard-boiled detective John Justin Mallory from the author’s fantasy novels: Stalking the Unicorn, Stalking the Vampire, and Stalking the Dragon.
Mallory is a sharp private investigator caught up in the intrigues of a dangerous Manhattan, but it’s not our Manhattan (or his). Trapped in another world, he has to cope with mysteries involving leprechauns, a Blue-Nosed Reindeer, frightened goblins, the Chinese Sandman, pink elephants (no, not that kind), Card Sharks, and lamia eggs as well as the odd Zombie. And in the background there is always the powerful demon who rules the whole East Coast underworld, The Grundy, Mallory’s sworn mortal enemy.
Evoking the best of ’30s detective fiction with witty dialogue reminiscent of a ’30s comedy, the collection will delight Resnick fans and urban fantasy fans alike. As Connie Willis writes in her preface: “Stalking the Zombie is the fun, funny, tall-tale-telling Mike at his cutting-loose best. It’s inventive, satiric, fast-paced, a rollercoaster ride of a book. And you’re going to have a whale—oops, pink elephant—of a time reading it!”
American Fantasy Press continues its tradition of publishing unconventional books by some of today’s leading authors (see A Walking Tour of the Shambles by Neil Gaiman and Gene Wolfe). There will be a trade clothbound hardcover (240 pages, $25.00, ISBN 978-0-9610352-5-9) and a 250-copy signed leather-bound edition available, signed by Mike Resnick, Connie Willis, and cover artist Douglas Klauba (240 pages, $45.00, ISBN 978-0-9610352-8-0).