The Book of the Dead

Blurb

Book of the Dead is an anthology of horror stories first published in 1989, edited by John Skipp and Craig Spector. All the stories in the anthology are united by the same premise seen in the apocalyptic films of George A. Romero, depicting a worldwide outbreak of zombies and various reactions to it. The first book was followed three years later by a follow-up, Still Dead: Book of the Dead 2, with a new group of writers tackling the same premise, though the second book put the stories in order according to their imagined chronology of the zombie takeover.
The Book of the Dead compilations are regarded as classic anthologies in the horror and splatterpunk genres, featuring a great number of famous names including Stephen King, Joe R. Lansdale, Robert R. McCammon and foreworded by George A. Romero and Tom Savini. They are likely the first anthologies of zombie-themed tales ever printed, and have been cited as perhaps the first true "zombie literature" as such.
According to author Ian McDowell, a third anthology was planned back in 1991. However, bad luck led to it going "through many permutations and publishers over the years.