History Literature / GenerationDead

* PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad - flirted with a tiny bit, with "zombie" being close to the equivalent of a certain d-word and the n-word (i.e. it's mostly the members of the group themselves that feel comfortable using it, otherwise it's seen as politically incorrect and offensive), and with terms like "living impaired" and "differently biotic" (the latter of which is a play on "differently-abled") coming into use.

''Generation Dead'' is a surprisingly good first novel (and now a series of the same name) by Daniel Waters (no, ''not'' the same Daniel Waters that wrote ''Heathers'', this is a different one). Published in May 2008, the premise is based on teenagers suddenly ''actually'' becoming zombies, and how society deals with it. This is no ordinary horror story though - these zombies are [[OurZombiesAreDifferent a lot like other teens]], except they've got a lower body temperature, don't need to eat or sleep, often speak or move a lot more slowly... and, oh yeah, have even fewer protected civil rights owing to the fact that they're [[BlessedWithSuck still considered Legally Dead]]. Their parents aren't even required to take care of them anymore, and yes, some of them [[ParentalAbandonment go abandoned]]. Ouch.

* AppliedPhlebotinum - both averted and parodied. While the book doesn't ever explicitly declare what it is that causes one to become Differently Biotic, the many ridiculous theories scientists come up with while scrambling to explain how kids can not only come back from the dead, but get by without breathing, eating, sleeping or having a pulse, or why it's only teens that end up as "living impaired" individuals, ''are'' covered. And they tend towards the kind of ridiculousness that would, of course, be AppliedPhlebotinum were any of them actually true in the story. Proposed causes ranged from "they played a lot of {{First Person Shooter}}s" to "it's a combination of hormones and fast food!" to ''mold spores''. The CharacterBlog expands on this list to include, among other things, "generations of people eating microwaved food".

* FantasticRacism - society is unsure how to handle the "living impaired" kids, and some of them are freaked enough (or religious enough in a fundamentalist vein) to exhibit this, with the primary antagonist even deciding at one point to ''re-kill'' some of them.

* AppliedPhlebotinum - both averted and parodied heavily. While the book doesn't ever explicitly declare what it is that causes one to become Differently Biotic, the many ridiculous theories scientists come up with while scrambling to explain how kids can not only come back from the dead, but get by without breathing, eating, sleeping or having a pulse, or why it's only teens that end up as "living impaired" individuals, ''are'' covered. And they tend towards the kind of ridiculousness that would, of course, be AppliedPhlebotinum were any of them actually true in the story. Proposed causes ranged from "they played a lot of {{First Person Shooter}}s" to "it's a combination of hormones and fast food!" to ''mold spores''. The CharacterBlog expands on this list to include, among other things, "generations of people eating microwaved food".

* BuryYourGays: Literally buried, but they get better though they aren't guaranteed imunity from hopeless crushes.

* FridgeLogic - The differently biotic teens are not allowed to get/keep driver's licenses or to vote (because they're dead in the eyes of the law), but they do attend school.
** ...though the only place we ''do'' see them attending school, in fairness, is in Oakvale, which is either in Oregon or Washington state, which lean relatively progressive in the real world. It's worth noting that at one point in the second book, [[spoiler: they're ''banned'' from attending school, something a certain protagonist decides he's not going to take sitting down.]] They're also generally forced to take remedial classes (not specially-adjusted-for-zombies classes, mind you; ''regular'' classes, only ''remedial''), because their "differently biotic" state makes them so slow to respond to questions in class. Which really sucks for kids like Colette, who were previously honor students.
* FridgeBrilliance - The "differently biotic" thing works as a metaphor for about a million different things... oh sure, this being a YA novel series, you probably figured out "being a teenager, where the world treats you like something between a monster and an idiot, even when you feel you're neither" was one of them, since it's blatantly obvious. You probably also picked up on the fact that it mimics learning disorders or other mental or physical handicaps, and if you didn't catch the "zombie becomes the fantasy equivalent of the n-word" connection that makes it verge on looking like a metaphor for flat-out racism, you should be drinking more coffee. But did anybody else suddenly have it hit them that [[spoiler:Adam Layman, who unlike many of the other zombie kids, was considered an all-American white bread Good Kid and pillar of the community, and died saving the life of another person]] is virtually the perfect fantasy analogue for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_White Ryan White]]? Yes, you read that right: '''zombies can be a metaphor for AIDS sufferers now'''. Oh, and let's not forget all the talk of people like Karen, who can "pass" for normal humans (and do, in order to get and keep a job for instance), which can be interpreted as going along with the "racism" metaphor (in the real world many Jews, Hispanics, etc. can and have "passed" for "white")... or, you know, closeted homosexuality (especially given that [[spoiler:Karen's pretty much openly admitted to having a crush on Phoebe]] and as of ''Passing Strange'', [[spoiler:is canonically gay. She was in love with a girl named Monica before she died and came back.]])..

* {{Gaynst}}: [[spoiler: Karen]] gayngst + clinical depression + zombie-ism

* CharacterBlog - Zombie character Tommy Williams' website at http://www.mysocalledundeath.com actually exists as a real-world Blogger site, and yes, you can post and apparently have "him" respond.

* FridgeBrilliance - The "differently biotic" thing works as a metaphor for about a million different things... oh sure, this being a YA novel series, you probably figured out "being a teenager, where the world treats you like something between a monster and an idiot, even when you feel you're neither" was one of them, since it's blatantly obvious. You probably also picked up on the fact that it mimics learning disorders or other mental or physical handicaps, and if you didn't catch the "zombie becomes the fantasy equivalent of the n-word" connection that makes it verge on looking like a metaphor for flat-out racism, you should be drinking more coffee. But did anybody else suddenly have it hit them that [[spoiler:Adam Layman, who unlike many of the other zombie kids, was considered an all-American white bread Good Kid and pillar of the community, and died saving the life of another person]] is virtually the perfect fantasy analogue for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_White Ryan White]]? Yes, you read that right: '''zombies can be a metaphor for AIDS sufferers now'''. Oh, and let's not forget all the talk of people like Karen, who can "pass" for normal humans (and do, in order to get and keep a job for instance), which can be interpreted as going along with the "racism" metaphor (in the real world many Jews, Hispanics, etc. can and have "passed" for "white")... or, you know, closeted homosexuality (especially given that [[spoiler:Karen's pretty much openly admitted to [[LesYay having a crush on Phoebe]]]] and as of Passing Strange, [[spoiler:is canonically gay. She was in love with a girl named Monica before she died and came back.]])..

* Gaynst: [[spoiler: Karen]] gayngst + clinical depression + zombie-ism

* WoundThatWillNotHeal- If the zombies got a wound during death, they keep it after they come back. Which often means that zombies that got burned to death or had the skin from their faces scraped off somehow [[{{Squick}} stay that way.]] Also, the zombies cannot heal from any wounds they receive as zombies.
** As of the third book, Passing Strange, [[spoiler:Karen [=DeSonne=] is shown to have the ability to heal, at a rapid pace, even from serious injuries like getting ''shot in the face'', with no medical assistance.]]

''GenerationDead'' is a surprisingly good first novel (and now a series of the same name) by Daniel Waters (no, ''not'' the same Daniel Waters that wrote ''Heathers'', this is a different one). Published in May 2008, the premise is based on teenagers suddenly ''actually'' becoming zombies, and how society deals with it. This is no ordinary horror story though - these zombies are [[OurZombiesAreDifferent a lot like other teens]], except they've got a lower body temperature, don't need to eat or sleep, often speak or move a lot more slowly... and, oh yeah, have even fewer protected civil rights owing to the fact that they're [[BlessedWithSuck still considered Legally Dead]]. Their parents aren't even required to take care of them anymore, and yes, some of them [[ParentalAbandonment go abandoned]]. Ouch.