Zombie fan launches new handbook

Sudbury illustrator Rob Sacchetto loves zombies.

He has written a guide to the flesh eating creatures called The Zombie Handbook: How To Identify the Living Dead and Survive the Coming Apocalypse Today.

He will be launching the new, 128 page book at The Laughing Buddha Oct. 3 from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. The book delves into the history, lore and humour surrounding the undead beings.

"I loved zombies as a kid, chuckled Saccetto. "I was drawing them as young as five years old. They were fun to draw and were great visuals."

Saccetto has been a professional illustrator for over 20 years.

"I have done all kinds of work from providing storyboards for Canadian Indie films to a display for Jane Goodall at Science North three years ago."

Storyboards are illustrated strips that guide a director in difficult scenes, said Saccetto.

But zombies are his true love. In the past three years he has done 600 zombie portraits for a world wide market.

"A person will send me a JPG of themselves. Then I send them back a hand drawn water colour portrait of themselves as a zombie. That will cost them an average of $80."

His new book involved intensive research into the history of zombies and details on how they would eat the flesh of their victims. There are 250 illustrations he did himself.

"I get right into the medical aspects of how they as dead creatures would eat living flesh."

Saccetto said zombies have been referenced as far back as 500 BC.

"Zombies go back to the Greeks and even Mesopotamia. There, people would threaten others by claiming to raise the dead to attack them. They were even mentioned in the Bible in a passage that said when there is no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth," he explained.

The book is available for a discounted $22 at the Laughing Buddha and slightly more at stores like Chapters. It is into its second printing by a Berkeley California publisher, Ulysses Press. The publisher was attracted to his work by Saccetto's website, zombiedaily.com, which displays 400 of his original drawings. He was asked to write and illustrate the book.

"The first print run (in July 2009) was 12,000 copies and this second run will be triple that. All major book chains carry it," he said.

"Because it has a lot of humor it may be in the humor section of book stores but with Halloween displays being put up it may appear there as well."

Saccetto is working on his next book.

"This new book will be much bigger. It will be a coffee table version."

For more information, go to www.zombieportaits.com and www.zombiedaily.com which provides tutorials and podcasts for zombie illustrations.