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Dead End Job
Theo works day in and day out at the office, the lone live manager of the zombie crew. Then a new worker comes in, and Theo begins to suspect that the employee might actually be alive—because there’s no way Theo could find himself irresistibly and frighteningly attracted to a zombie.
29 pages, ebook
First published June 1, 2010
53 people want to read
About the author
Clancy Nacht
57 books149 followersClancy Nacht is a bisexual genderqueer person who lives in Austin with a husband, and three feral rescue cats. Clancy has published several ARe bestselling contemporary romantic thriller m/m and m/f stories. Three of her books have been honored with Rainbow Awards; Le Jazz Hot won for #1 Best Bisexual/Transgender Romance & Erotic Romance. In 2013, Black Gold: Double Black was a runner up for a Rainbow Award and in 2015, Gemini won an Honorable Mention for Gay Erotic Romance at the Rainbow Awards. Her books have been nominated for several Goodreads M/M Readers Choice Awards.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
June 11, 2010
4.5 stars.
I wasn't expecting to like this story nearly as much as I did. I opened it and saw it was 29 pages and thought it was going to be a quick story with more sex than plot. I was completely wrong. It's a well structured story that is funny, clever and has an amazing amount of heart for it's length. Actually watered up my eyes a little.
Theo is the only human in an office full of zombies. Theo handles anything that requires brainpower while the zombies do all the trivial tasks...stapling, copying, etc. This office dynamic reflects the condition of the world. The human population is dwindling and has focused on higher education to keep things running, the zombies fill in all the grunt work jobs. Every day the zombies are brought to their places of work and at night they are put into a facility...they don't really sleep but it makes the humans feel comfortable, it makes them more "human".
One day Theo notices that there is a new worker and there is something odd about him, he's doesn't seem quite, ummm, dead.
Thus begins Theo's journey into the life of this new worker...is he dead or isn't he? And if he isn't, why is he pretending to be a zombie? If he is dead will Theo be able to get this guy out of his head or develop a taste for necrophilia?
At the heart of it all is a story about holding on and knowing when to let go.
Read this if you get the chance.
I wasn't expecting to like this story nearly as much as I did. I opened it and saw it was 29 pages and thought it was going to be a quick story with more sex than plot. I was completely wrong. It's a well structured story that is funny, clever and has an amazing amount of heart for it's length. Actually watered up my eyes a little.
Theo is the only human in an office full of zombies. Theo handles anything that requires brainpower while the zombies do all the trivial tasks...stapling, copying, etc. This office dynamic reflects the condition of the world. The human population is dwindling and has focused on higher education to keep things running, the zombies fill in all the grunt work jobs. Every day the zombies are brought to their places of work and at night they are put into a facility...they don't really sleep but it makes the humans feel comfortable, it makes them more "human".
One day Theo notices that there is a new worker and there is something odd about him, he's doesn't seem quite, ummm, dead.
Thus begins Theo's journey into the life of this new worker...is he dead or isn't he? And if he isn't, why is he pretending to be a zombie? If he is dead will Theo be able to get this guy out of his head or develop a taste for necrophilia?
At the heart of it all is a story about holding on and knowing when to let go.
Read this if you get the chance.
June 11, 2010
This story is pretty crazy, I should say at the outset, but that craziness leads to a good place, a rewarding place. I love the post-apocalyptic world that isn't quite so apocalyptic after all. There's a lot of heart here in what might otherwise have been just another gruesomely funny zombie story. There's an emotional resonance here for me that's sadly lacking in so many other stories of this type. Two detached and rotting zombie thumbs up.
June 11, 2010
This is a (short) story about hope - even beyond death. It's an interesting take on zombies and how they might be treated if they existed. I liked Theo and Don - both with a crushing loneliness inside them that they can only relieve by making a life together.
June 5, 2010
Witty and a new take on finding love in a world with zombies from one of my favorite authors!
October 15, 2010
I actually liked the story before Theo (who turned into Ted halfway through the story) met Don. The zombie story was interesting and well thought out. The love story was goofy, stilted and awkward.
September 27, 2023
Wasn't terrible but I didn't like it. The characters were just to irritatingly unrealistic
February 17, 2011
This is a short zombie story that offers a clever twist on zombies then ruins it with an anemic romance. I wish the story had stuck with the original trajectory but I suppose just as many readers would have disliked that too. Instead there are a few twists that may appeal to those zombie fans but overall this is a sad and likely forgettable short story. There are a few moments of humor and wit that shine, showing the author has skill with comic timing and I’d be interested in reading something else by Nacht.
Dead End Job begins with a clever premise. The newly dead are farmed out to corporations for the mind numbing office work. As the story describes:
Only certain creative or managerial tasks required live intervention. Basic office administration was deemed too soul-crushing to give to the living. This also applied to factory work, the fast food industry, and government.
No doubt a sentiment many can identify with. Theo is middle management charged with signing the necessary paperwork that needs an actual brain to decipher. It’s boring work all on its own, surrounded by zombies day in and day out but Theo has job security at least. Until one day he spies an attractive zombie that suddenly leads Theo down a path he never expected.
The twist on zombies is fun but also tends to stay within familiar lines. The zombies are decaying, unintelligent, non-vocal creatures that do exactly as their told and nothing else. The fact that Theo develops a crush on one is what sparks the potential romance. If the story had stuck with this vein, I would have been much more interested. Perhaps I’m just a pervert as I’d love to wonder what happens – and the zombies are not romanticized like in other novels but instead smelling, decaying, rotting flesh. Not exactly sexy.
But there is a twist and that allows a romance to flourish which is sadly the weakest part. Theo and Don feel very cardboard and rote. I couldn’t really connect with either one and their grand passion doesn’t translate very well. Instead it feels like love between the last two humans on earth, which perhaps you’d love someone then out of desperation and loneliness. The story quickly wraps up their romance with a happy ending and hope for the future so the readers gets to see even less of their relationship but told everything works out.
While the romance doesn’t work very well and there are several distracting editing mistakes, for example Theo becomes Ted later on in the story, the author’s voice is engaging. I rather like the sense of wry humor and clever nods to zombies incorporated in office life. These are the best parts of the short story. So I’d recommend this for a sly wink at zombies in life but not the pseudo romance.
Dead End Job begins with a clever premise. The newly dead are farmed out to corporations for the mind numbing office work. As the story describes:
Only certain creative or managerial tasks required live intervention. Basic office administration was deemed too soul-crushing to give to the living. This also applied to factory work, the fast food industry, and government.
No doubt a sentiment many can identify with. Theo is middle management charged with signing the necessary paperwork that needs an actual brain to decipher. It’s boring work all on its own, surrounded by zombies day in and day out but Theo has job security at least. Until one day he spies an attractive zombie that suddenly leads Theo down a path he never expected.
The twist on zombies is fun but also tends to stay within familiar lines. The zombies are decaying, unintelligent, non-vocal creatures that do exactly as their told and nothing else. The fact that Theo develops a crush on one is what sparks the potential romance. If the story had stuck with this vein, I would have been much more interested. Perhaps I’m just a pervert as I’d love to wonder what happens – and the zombies are not romanticized like in other novels but instead smelling, decaying, rotting flesh. Not exactly sexy.
But there is a twist and that allows a romance to flourish which is sadly the weakest part. Theo and Don feel very cardboard and rote. I couldn’t really connect with either one and their grand passion doesn’t translate very well. Instead it feels like love between the last two humans on earth, which perhaps you’d love someone then out of desperation and loneliness. The story quickly wraps up their romance with a happy ending and hope for the future so the readers gets to see even less of their relationship but told everything works out.
While the romance doesn’t work very well and there are several distracting editing mistakes, for example Theo becomes Ted later on in the story, the author’s voice is engaging. I rather like the sense of wry humor and clever nods to zombies incorporated in office life. These are the best parts of the short story. So I’d recommend this for a sly wink at zombies in life but not the pseudo romance.
October 14, 2010
A clever and surprisingly poignant short story.
October 6, 2010
So-so paranormal m/m romance about a guy who manages an office full of zombies and then one day, there's someone living hiding amongst them. Not a fan of zombie books...
September 27, 2011
2.5 maybe. The zombies are basically slaves until they completely fall apart. The relationship was a little off for me.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews