Wanted Undead or Alive:. Джонатан Мэйберри

      The Experts Shiver

       for

       WANTED UNDEAD OR ALIVE

      “Wanted Undead or Alive is a fascinating, far-ranging analysis of the nature of evil and those who rise to fight it…in real life, in pop culture, in literature, and in legend. A must-read for those who want to dive deep into the reasons for why we are fascinated by monsters…and love those who make it their business to take them down.”

      —Rachel Caine, author of the Morganville Vampires series

      “Wanted Undead or Alive is a riveting chronicle of all things that drop fangs in the dead of night. All aficionados must have this in their library!”

      —L. A. Banks, New York Times bestselling author of The Vampire Huntress Legends series

      “Jonathan Maberry and Janice Gable Bashman probe into pop culture’s Heart of Darkness, and what they find is both fascinating and thought-provoking. This book is a great addition to the library of anyone who’s ever wondered why vampires are popular, ever dressed in a Klingon costume, or ever pondered the boundary between bad and evil.”

      —Charlaine Harris, creator of True Blood and the Sookie Stackhouse novels

      “Wanted Undead or Alive is your handy guidebook to fending off the fearsome and fangy fiends who go bump in the night. Weird, insightful, and a scary amount of fun.”

      —Lloyd Kaufman, president of Troma Entertainment and creator of the Toxic Avenger

      ALSO BY JONATHAN MABERRY

      NONFICTION

      They Bite (with David F. Kramer)

      Zombie CSU

      The Cryptopedia (with David F. Kramer)

      Vampire Universe

      FICTION

      The Wolfman

      Rot & Ruin

      The Dragon Factory

      Patient Zero

      Bad Moon Rising

      Dead Man’s Song

      Ghost Road Blues

      WANTED UNDEAD OR ALIVE

      VAMPIRE HUNTERS

      AND OTHER KICK-ASS ENEMIES OF EVIL

      JONATHAN MABERRY

      AND

      JANICE GABLE BASHMAN

      CITADEL PRESS

      Kensington Publishing Corp.

       www.kensingtonbooks.com

      From Jonathan…

       This is for the real-world heroes—firefighters,

       members of law enforcement, doctors, soldiers

       in the field and returning veterans, teachers, aid workers,

       hospice care workers, staff and volunteers at shelters,

       anyone on the front line fighting for civil and human

       rights; and, as always, for Sara Jo.

      From Janice…

       To all the real-world heroes and the heroes in my life,

       especially Sam, Howard, Mom, and Dad—may you

       always continue to inspire.

      CONTENTS

      Acknowledgments

      Introduction: That Whole “Good and Evil” Thing

      1. The Roots of Good vs. Evil

      2. Heroes and Villains

      3. It Didn’t Start with Van Helsing

      4. Hunting the Fang Gang

      5. Fangs vs. Fangs

      6. Legendary Heroes

      7. Did You Use Protection?

      8. A Priest and a Rabbi Walk into a Crypt…

      9. Who You Gonna Call?

      10. Pulp Friction

      11. Spandex to the Rescue

      12. Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things

      13. Real Evil

      Appendices

      A. The OFCS Top 100 Villains of All Time

      B. Spirit Superstitions

      C. The Top 40 Genre Movies of All Time

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      This series has been a massive undertaking and there have been a host of people who have generously provided information, assistance, insights, and support. Thanks to Sara Jo West, Don Lafferty, Tony Finan, Jessica Price, Sam West-Mensch, Brandon Strauss, and our good friends in the Horror Writers Association (www.horror.org). Special thanks to David F. Kramer, Stephanie Lechniak-Cumerlato, Online Film Critics Society.

WANTED UNDEAD OR ALIVE

      INTRODUCTION: THAT WHOLE “GOOD AND EVIL” THING

      Paul Gustave Doré, Cain Kills Abel

      To many, Cain’s killing of his brother Abel was not only the first murder, but also the first crime. Whether the story is true or merely a parable used to make a point about morality, the need for laws, and the sanctity of life, it allows us to take a hard look at the enormous consequences of the act of violence.

      Depending on whom you talk to—or which spiritual path you follow—the struggle between good and evil is either the oldest conflict known to man or the second oldest. If we factor evolution into the mix, then the oldest struggle is for basic survival—food, shelter, and safety from natural predators. But once early man had something of a handle on those, back during those first hours of leisure time huddled around cook fires in caves, the struggle against evil began. With the advent of a belief in a larger world—God or gods, demons, monsters, and elemental forces—the struggle became a battle. The rise of religion turned the battle into an outright war, and the development of philosophy transformed that struggle into an art.

      Now, here at the beginning of the second decade of the new millennium, we see this conflict played out in countless forms. It shows up in politics, in the friction between ideologies, in sports, in pop culture, in war, in dating, and just about everywhere else. Where there is no obvious evil (a serial killer, a tyrant’s attempt at ethnic genocide, etc.) we personify natural disasters so that tsunamis and hurricanes become evil. We demonize sickness so that the process of treating a disease becomes a fight against death—as if death was a conscious being with a personal stake in it.

      Funny thing is, we humans kind of groove on the conflict. The fight between good and evil, whether as an external battle against a monster or an internal struggle against temptation, makes for great storytelling, and we are certainly a storytelling species. Storytelling is in our nature, a fact we’ve known since the earliest humans learned how to mix pigment and paint on cave walls.¹

      In Wanted Undead or Alive, we’ll explore a number of variations on this eternal struggle. The central theme will be the fight against supernatural evil, but along the way we’ll investigate personal evil (what Joseph Conrad labeled the “heart of darkness”), temptation, corruption, ideological