Zack Zombie

Zack Zombie is the pen name used by William and Genie Pena and their son Matthew for the Diary of a Minecraft Zombie series of children's books set in the world of the game Minecraft.

According to Scholastic, all three play Minecraft and wanted both to widen the game's world for young players and to get them reading. Open Library records the first books, from Diary of a Minecraft Zombie Book 1 onwards, as appearing in 2015 under the family's own imprints, recorded as Zack Zombie Publishing and Herobrine Publishing. Nine numbered books appeared in 2015 alone, and later volumes continued into the 2020s. Scholastic later published its own editions. Its author sheet of 2021 lists Diary of a Minecraft Zombie Books 1 to 33 in its editions (2016 to 2021), plus a DIY Diary (2018), a puzzle book and two Super Specials (2021). It also lists the spin-off series Diary of a Minecraft Creeper (2017 to 2019), Diary of a Minecraft Enderman (2018 to 2020) and Herobrine (2017). Goodreads credits the writing team as William Peña and his son Matthew, with William supplying the ideas and Matthew judging them.

For collectors

The earliest printings are the 2015 editions published by the family themselves under the Zack Zombie Publishing and Herobrine Publishing names, which came before the Scholastic editions. Library records give both imprint names for the same early titles, so check the imprint and date on the copy itself.