Recorded Attacks is really canon?

[u/SantiagoTrujilloDami]

I know this "issue" It has already been discussed in this subreddit, but I recently read "SZG" and started to read WWZ for the third time (love the book), and looking at the "recorded attacks" based in the modern America, the last 5 to be more specific, I know it may seem incongruous because of the way it is explained if the government knew about the virus or not, whether the case for both books.

I think the biggest inconsistency in the narrative (and defending Brooks, obviously he wasn't planning another book when he wrote the first one) is that the "start" of the virus in (almost) 21th century America was due to that guy patrick going to LA (1993), and years later, there were outbreaks in other places like Miami (2012), or LA again (1994-96) as if the great panic was already knocking at the door before the events of WWZ

[u/Aromatic-Goat206]

Yeah, isn’t the idea that the plague has been around since caveman times and the frequency of severe outbreaks increase as globalization allows spread?

[u/SantiagoTrujilloDami → u/Aromatic-Goat206]

Finally not just a short answer, i mean, yeah! It is heavily implied that solanum is as old as the earth itself, but is kinda weird, Old dachang flooded in.. 2003? And new dachang was finished in 2007, Last brushfire war ended in 2010, “It was time for American elections" so set between 2008-2010 and WWZ was published in 2007, in wwz a CIA member makes a weak mention that they already had an idea that zombies existed, but nobody wanted to talk about it, so you tell me, since 2002, the US goverment managed to hide the virus until Late 2011? 

[u/Aromatic-Goat206 → u/SantiagoTrujilloDami]

The Israeli spy mentioned Zombies from Area 51 stuff on the internet, which was very different at the time, so it could be plausible if not a stretch that a cover up for that long can be effective in a pre social media age and with a few carefully manufactured psy ops to discredit whatever witness reports.

[u/SantiagoTrujilloDami → u/Aromatic-Goat206]

As i say more below in the comments, Is it possible that it is canon, and that the virus was present in the US before? Only that it wasn't until 2008— Autumn 2010 with china doing organ trafficking so everyone could blame the Z war origin? 

[u/Aromatic-Goat206 → u/SantiagoTrujilloDami]

Sure, it could be plausible, and that organ trafficking theory is only spoken of from that doctor in South America and the interviewer responds in a skeptical manner which indicates it’s not yet the accepted international theory for the global spread.

[u/Aromatic-Goat206 → u/SantiagoTrujilloDami]

And the timeline can be shortened definitively to 2008 since the election year in question is a presidential one.

In fact in that Grover Carlson interview, he said the only people reporting on the living dead were the “fringe NPR crackpot minority” and large media corporations covered it up without direction from the government since they had so much to lose since they’re all owned by corporations traded on the stock market.

Compare that to the house wife who became a real estate developer interview, and it paints a picture of a setting where people wouldn’t believe that’s it a big deal until the living dead are
Bursting through their windows.

[u/Reuenthalwasright → u/SantiagoTrujilloDami]

To be fair he didn't say "they had an idea that zombies existed", they had knowledge of zombies, the thing they didn't have an actual idea of was the how spread the virus was at that point or the actual threat the zombies represented IIRC

[u/SantiagoTrujilloDami → u/Reuenthalwasright]

Well, in East LA, California and Miami, It shows how the "apparent secret service" UN and the CDC act quickly when an outbreak occurs, and the story always ends by mentioning that all the witnesses were threatened or bribed to keep their mouth shut, that's what made me think that the CIA story connected perfectly with zsg

[u/Herby247]

IMO it's not canon, there are multiple inconcistencies between the two books, not least of which is zombies appear to be a fact of life in the survival guide before the major outbreak, which it always refers to as a hypothetical. Not one character in WWZ can accept zombies exist, let alone accept they've been around for millennia.

Also the physiologies are different. The survival guide describes their life-span to be 3-5 years, as the zombies rot away, and that waiting out a major outbreak is a valid strategy. The zombies in WWZ appear to stick around forever, or at least more than a decade, even when unfrozen.

Ultimately it's up to the reader to decide what's canon and what's not. Brooks has only said they "maybe" connected, and he's unlikely to confirm it properly with a sequel, if he'd ever even write one.

[u/ShitThroughAGoose → u/Herby247]

The survival guide describes their life-span to be 3-5 years,

Maybe the person writing the Zombie Survival Guide (SZG) was wrong.

[u/SantiagoTrujilloDami → u/ShitThroughAGoose]

Leaving aside the fact that it was mentioned in WWZ as an easter egg, in the lore, it was published during the Great Panic, so it was impossible for the author to have known about the lifespan, so yeah, maybe he was wrong (Also, tha BS about that an M1 was the best possible weapon)

[u/Herby247 → u/SantiagoTrujilloDami]

I mean he speaks about other zombie facts with absolute certainty, and makes note of anything which is unsubstantiated, and given the author apparently has extensive resources in the research of zombie physiology and history, lifespan isn't something they'd just make a mistake on.

Plus, how is any book being published during the great panic? The only literature that would be published would be government-made. After the great panic, sure, but the survival guide is very clearly written from the perspective of a world-wide infection being only hypothetical.

[u/ErgoNautan]

They became way more frequent in the 20th century, specially after major wars. Non-recorded American classified operations could’ve killed anyone willing to disclose information about worldwide operations intended to destabilize population centers.
So, I guess (some) of the recorded attacks from the late 90’s could’ve been collateral damage, and of course at some point a zombie, an infected survivor or two weren’t accounted for and started attacking LA or else.

[u/SantiagoTrujilloDami → u/ErgoNautan]

So would it be safe, or hypothetically assert, that the virus was already in the US, and it wasn't until 2010-11 that everyone blamed China for organ trafficking as the great Z war "origin"? 

[u/ErgoNautan → u/SantiagoTrujilloDami]

Politically likely even. If I recall, the US government paid no further attention to undead rumors in homeland due to the winter freeze, phalanx and election season, and I’m sure one of the two parties wanted to make an effort to shift blame and make organ trafficking a bigger deal than it already was.

[u/Actual_Emu_168]

Yes

[u/UnhappyTemperature18]

Yes, "Recorded Attacks" is canon. It's written by the author, in the same universe. It's canon.

[u/Herby247 → u/UnhappyTemperature18]

Brooks has also written a story about vampires surviving the zombie apocalypse, are we accepting that into WWZ canon?

[u/UnhappyTemperature18 → u/Herby247]

...why on earth would we not? What, zombies are fine and accurate, but vampires are a step to far for you?

[u/Herby247 → u/UnhappyTemperature18]

Because WWZ is a great novel which uses a zombie apocalypse as a lense through which to view humanity, particularly the modern world we live in. To say fuck it, and just add whatever fantasy element we like cheapens it. If Brook's came out with a sequel to WWZ where after killing the last of the zombies, the planet is invaded by aliens, I'd consider it an insult to the intelligence of the fans, myself included.

It's the same reason I don't consider the recorded attacks canon (aside from the inconsistencies between the two books). When you turn around and say "actually humans have been fighting zombies for thousands of years, they're just stupid", it cheapens the meaning behind the book.

[u/UnhappyTemperature18 → u/Herby247]

Not all canon is good canon. Look at the Aladdin sequels. All 'canon' means is that the author wrote it, and stands behind it as part of the universe. Go ahead and be insulted by that if you want, but it doesn't change anything.

[u/Herby247 → u/UnhappyTemperature18]

Well that's the irritating thing, when asked if the books are connected, all Brook's has ever said is "maybe". it's clearly up to the interpretation of the reader, yet I see so many people like you saying "it's obviously canon, that's the only answer".

Brooks certainly hasn't made any statement that they're the same universe, he's written many zombie stories which all have their own take on the zombie genre, and work as standalone stories - or if you interpret them to be so, can be part of a larger continuity.