CSFF Blog Tour: Night of the Living Dead Christian Day One

I've been looking forward to this one for a while now, ever since Matt Mikalatos hinted at it back during the Imaginary Jesus blog tour. He had me at "Lutheran werewolf." I couldn't wait to find out what this new story would be about.

It turns out that Night of the Living Dead Christian is an excellent theological romp through a horror movie parody. My goodness, that's an odd way to describe a book, isn't it? And yet it fits.

Just as in his first book, Mikilatos is the star of his story. It starts with Mikilatos on patrol as part of his neighborhood watch. He discovers a mad scientist and his android companion rigging up some sort of experiment to a streetlight. When activated, this brings a swarm of zombies into the neighborhood. They're being chased by a werewolf. Soon Matt finds himself caught up in a quest to help the werewolf (who turns out to be his neighbor, Luther Martin) become fully human and fully alive. Along the way, they encounter more zombies, a recovering vampire, and enough silly scenes to keep me laughing the whole way through. But at the same time, it left me thinking. In short, it's a great book because it not only entertains, but it makes you wonder: how alive am I in the faith?

Truth be told, I was both worried and delighted that one of the main characters would be a Lutheran. We're an underrepresented bunch in Christian fiction and I always love it when we show up in some way, shape, or form. But at the same time, I wondered what would happen with this Lutheran werewolf. Would Mikilatos get the theology right?

For the most part, I think he did. I did wince at the description of Luther's interactions with his father. I know it was hyperbole, but let me assure you, most Lutherans aren't quite as fanatical as Luther's descriptions of his dear old dad. Some, maybe, but that's another subject for another day. And, for the most part, Mikilatos nailed the theology pretty much spot on (although I did have a little quibble with something that happened in the epilogue, but it's so minor that it's really not worth mentioning).

On the back cover, Relevant Magazine described Matt Mikilatos's writings as "Monty Python meets C. S. Lewis." I think that's an apt description. It's a fun read, but just as deep as anything Lewis might have concocted. After reading two of Mikilatos's books, I'm a devoted fan. I can't wait to see what he comes up with next.

Go check out what the other tourists have to say:

Gillian Adams Julie Bihn Red Bissell Thomas Clayton Booher Thomas Fletcher Booher Keanan Brand Beckie Burnham Morgan L. Busse Theresa Dunlap Amber French Tori Greene Nikole Hahn Ryan Heart Bruce Hennigan Janeen Ippolito Becky Jesse Jason Joyner Carol Keen Leighton Shannon McDermott Rebecca LuElla Miller Nissa Joan Nienhuis  Crista Richey Sarah Sawyer Chawna Schroeder Rachel Starr Thomson Steve Trower Fred Warren Shane Werlinger Nicole White Dave Wilson