REVIEW: The Eagle Has Reanimated by Tony Schaab

Preface: We usually will not review a short story in an anthology on it’s own. Tony is a friend of Buy Zombie though so we felt we’d let one get through – this time!

The Eagle Has Reanimated by Tony Schaab is labeled as a parody. The story follows the crew of Apollo 11 around the time of the moon landing. It touches on one of the most popular conspiracy theories, how the lunar landing was staged and filmed in a studio. This offers up an alternative reason as to why the landing was faked. The narrative is full of classic zombie visuals and has the mood of a 60’s or 70’s B-rated horror film. There were several parts that had me laughing, so I have to say that Tony Schaab achieved the purpose of the story.

The level of gore in the story was pretty minimal (or perhaps I just have a high bar for gore and violence). Most of the instances of violence have a comical undertone which seems to soften the effect. The amount of realism in the story is fairly believable since real people are at the center of the plot. I did find that the character interaction in the beginning was a little awkward and seemed to be forced. However it smoothed out and became more natural fairly quick. The story took a little bit to pick up momentum as well; by the end it had hit its stride. The ending left a feeling of “it’s over already?” I would love to see this story expanded, it reads like the first few chapters of a book, so I was hoping for more.

Overall, I found it to be engaging and which a few faults that didn’t take too much away from the story. I was amused, which is good since it is a parody after all. I really wish there was more since I think that it was just picking up when it ended. I also found the cover to be one of the best features because it seems to capture everything you need to know about The Eagle Has Reanimated. It is a great read for when you have a little bit of time to devote to indulging your zombie addiction.

This short story was found in Dead History: A Zombie Anthology which is available on Amazon