Dead-on parody

We’ve had retro dancing zombies, Jane Austen zombies, zombie comedies, zombie dramadies, zombies in comics (the incredible The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman) and zombie survival guides for nonzombies. The next logical step is an etiquette guide for the recently zombified. This how-to guide for the undead is a parody of parodies, a sort of Ur-text devoted to poking fun at popular culture. Murphy simply takes the niceties of modern life (and occasionally the lack thereof), throws in the added dimension of recent zombification, and presto: instant cultural mishmash, suitable for snorting coffee all over. Including a New Age tao of zombies, penned by a now-undead exotic dancer, and special recipes for brains, this reads like the typical “Dummies” and “Idiots” guides. That means it is, like all those lovely yellow-and-black guides, really written for zombies, just not the literally decomposing variety. Oh, and the spinach brain dip? Try it without the brains. It looks like it would be pretty good for a Super Bowl party.