The popularity of zombies is on the rise. In fact, the fans of the walking dead may be soon encroaching on the number one spot held by vampires. I don't know why this is happening, it's as mysterious as the reasons for the zombies climbing from their graves to start searching for a brain buffet in all the movies (and yeah, I get that some kind of gas was released in the Living Dead movies and in Raccoon City, but come on. Really?).

Zombies moved back into horror fiction with a much more sure step than they've had in a long time. But now they're launching into teen romance fiction. In a way. Generation Dead by Daniel Waters is a mixed bag, and I'm going to be all over the place while describing my reading experience for you. It just refuses to lie down and die to be reborn into a familiar zombie novel of movie tradition.

The cover of the dead cheerleader with blackened eyes seized me at once. I mean, once you get that image in your head, it's not going to easily go away. Neither will the romantic triangle between Phoebe, Adam, and Tommy, the "differently biotic" boy Phoebe falls for.

Phoebe was one of the Goth girls at school. She enjoyed being different, and the dressed-in-black thing really worked for her. Looking like the living dead really worked for her. It even earned her the name Scarypants from Pete, the novel's villain of sorts. Of course, the look really lost its appeal when dead kids started showing up and coming back to school. The author does an excellent job of catching a teen girl's feelings and confusion throughout the novel. Phoebe comes to life on the pages almost at once.

Adam is the football jock and Phoebe's next door friend. As it happens, he's just discovering that the friendship he's always had with Phoebe runs much deeper. That realization is stymied by his own shyness, the fact that he is a member of the Pain Crew on the football team and he shouldn't go for Goth girls, and Phoebe's sudden crush on Tommy Williams.