Night of the Living Trekkies

 ****1/2 (ok, ok, ok I KNOW we don't rate books but this was such a unique find!!)

This delightful work of fiction opens with two quotes:

"It isn't all over; everything has not been invented; the human adventure is just beginning." -- Gene Roddenberry

"Horror is a genre that never dies." -- George A. Romero

I picked up this jewel at downtown Berkeley's Half-Price Books for $5 knowing it'd be the perfect read for the plane trip to the east coast. I hardly slept on the red-eye flight out of Oakland, CA to New York's JFK Airport.

Night of the Living Trekkies focuses on a Star Trek fan and US Marines veteran, Jim Pike, who's been lucky to survive two tours to Afghanistan and is awkwardly adjusting to the civvie life in Texas, taking on the least amount of responsibility as a bellhop of a small hotel. Before long, however, he finds himself heading a mission to get the hell out of Houston, accompanied by a memorable band of characters. Along the way they find out that these zombies are on a mission themselves to consume a lot more than just your brains.

I don't want to give too much away, but I will say that I feel Night of the Living Trekkies is a noteworthy contributor both to the universes of Star Trek and zombie fandom. It offers a new look at both, and is just as splattered with amusing Trek references as it is with entrails.