I think they are both as interesting as each other. I think unicorns have more of a potential than zombies as, well, their brains seem more developed, where as once someone becomes a zombie their brain is basically reprogrammed. Also, what happens if a hord of zombies turns every other human into a zombie? What then? As to regard to unicorns, I actually don't know who would win in a battle because the unicorns could blast the zombies theoretically with magic, but the zombs could just keep on coming back although if the unicorns could keep up their magic flow they'd probably eventually defeat all the zombies, or even vice versa because the zombies could eat the unicorns too, I'm not entirely sure what would happen to a zombiecorn (or is it unizomb?) in regards to magic.

You're right Dark that zombies do generally have more to say about our modern society. Thinking about why this is tends to be more interesting than most zomby stories out there. Unicorns don't have as much going for them in that area, but there is The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. It's one of the closest examples of perfection in storytelling I can think of.All that said, I just can't vote against dragons.

@niall, believe it or not I've never either read or seen the last unicorn, but I have recently acquired the book from my lady's collection who is of course a fan and would be really interested to read it just because of it being a classic.

I will say in debating this with my lady, it often comes down to a question of personality. Unicorns appeal because they're mostly but not always on the side of good, and have healing and magic and nobility in all sences, plus various ties to virginity which can be interesting to explore. (i'm actually working on a very dark unicorn horror short story based on this concept).

Zombies as everyone knows are all about consumer society, conformity and death, and the fact that we currently have a hoard of often rather derivative zombie fiction (pu definitely intended), but far less by way of unicorn exploration probably says something about society.
For this reason though, I do feel the story telling potential of zombies is rather limited. Once you've played out hthe zombocalypse and gone through surival, there are fewer places to go, ---- not none of course, a good creative author can work with most anything, just fewer, since after all appocalyptic monster fiction without zombies has gone back a very long way, right back as far as H G Wells war of the worlds nd possibly further. I can't deny that there is a lot of very cruddy stuff that just rehashes the old zombie cliches, and accept for the unicorn's image use on products marketed to young girls, which just focus primarily on isual appeal rather than exploring the idea, unicorns seem far less tapped out than zombies do.

Btw, the anthology seems to have a wide range of stories and thus far I've not noticed any superior/inferior quality based on the creature involved, but then again the authors who contributed tended to be people who know what they're doing.

@Steve, the problem with unicorns is that they fundamentally reproduce far less quickly than zombies do, so even i a unicorn did do huge amounts of damage to a zombie hoard, the zombies would keep coming. Also, while unicorns would have the advantage of speed,  that advantage would go fairly quicly in close quarters, and close quarter fighting would be fairly likely being as zombies have a liking to grapple and even the fastest unicorn can't deal with too many at once.

The unicorn's  only recourse I think would be magic, in particular magic to cure the zombie infection, particularly since unicorn magic tends to be more of the clerric than the mage variety, so less of the fireballs and cones of cold and more of the healing and divine protection and calling light.

As regards dragons, while on the one hand in fionavar a dragon was killed by a unicorn, on the other hand said unicorn was pretty dam awesome being also winged and embued with divine power. Said unicorn also died in the process as well.

The dragon can fight at a distance far more effectively than a unicorn (why the one in fionavar was an idiot), and also if it gets to close quarters the dragon will win. if it came down to a battle of magic, remember dragonsare quite capable of wielding spells too, and dragon magic does! tend to be the more destructie sort, especially the sort that messes with the mind.

With zombies I don't think a dragon would have a problem owing to superior protection via scales, indeed in the x heroes series there is a super hero with the powers of a dragon, ie, superior strength, fire breath and scales who is utterly immune to zombie attacks, (the ex heroes series was actually pretty dire).
Dragons have far more effective area clearing magic as well as breath than unicorns, and in close they don't have the vulnerability.

So yes, DRagons rock!

I voted for dragons, because dragons are amazing.

That said, I highly recommend reading the series which starts with
My Life as a White Trash Zombie

I think it does a really good job of taking zombies in an interesting new direction. Parts of the stories are also just plain amusing.

I also read this same Zombies VS. Unicorns anthology and liked it a lot and couldn't really say which team I was on at the end. It was a pretty great collection of stories though.

I have never actually read stories that have either. Dark, what books about unicorns/zombies do you like?

I quite enjoyed the book The Rising by Brian Keene, in which the zombies are actually Satan and his minions, technically, taking revenge upon the creator. What makes them more dangerous is the fact that they can use guns and drive cars and the like. As for unicorns, you may be right. In Simon R. Greene's Forest Kingdom Saga, book 1, there is a unicorn though he's not a prominent part of the story. In no way is he not there he's just not as prominently involved.

I voted unicorns...Cause...You know...They are kinda awesome And zombies as well as dragons are sorta overused by now, so...
Throw some wings on those unicorns and they'll be even more badass!

Btw Mrs. dark is now reading this anthology. I doubt that the zombie stories will change her mind on zombies, particularly since in that particular collection I think my favourite stories were the unicorn ones, but it'll be interesting to see, also if any new members want to way in on this debate they're very welcome.

And I thought zombies were all vegans, what withe their obsession about graaaaaaaains!

Btw, what is a beer monkey? Is it one of those simian's who has spent such a long time working on Shakespear that they've taken to drink and now write nothing but dirty jokes instead?

Hi.
Unicorns people, unicorns all! the! wazy.
I mean zombies are good if you want some brain blasting action and a lot of splattering about, but I think unicorns havne't been really used in fantasy novels and there is quite a lot of potential there.
And hey, imagining someone riding a unicorn war stallion into the war against a heard of zombies, slicing and gunning them down left and right could be quite cool indeed.
So yeah, Unicorns get my vote.
Greetings Moritz.

Lol, oh that! is the beer monkey? Funny maybe he's branched out into wine, whisky and spirits too?

Pandora Dragons are cooler than anything, even fire breathing dragons are cooler than anything, heck I'm rereading anne Mccaffrey's Dragonquest at the moment.
An undead dragon is officially called a dracolich  see Good old wikipedia

Btw Simba I actually agree on the serious point. Sadly when unicorns do feature in things they're  is mostly aesthetic and just intended to be pretty horses with pointy bits, people don't really go into their powers and origins as much in detail which is a shame, actually other than the stories in that anthology I mentioned, Peter S beagle's last unicorn and Fionavar by Guy Gavril Kay I still struggle to think of  unicorn stories, they turn up occasionally in other things like Harry Potter but they're rarely ever  central to the plot, very different to say zombies which are actually getting a little played out these days.

There was a very horrible book about an incredibly blind blind girl and the mystical unicorn spellhorn which we were forced to read at school, but that definitely didn't qualify as that good, and other than speak telepathically and yes, give the poor blind girl the experience of sight, the bloody unicorn in that was damn well irritating! but it wasn't a great book, though I freely admit I might have a downer on it since you generally don't enjoy things that your teacher makes you read when your nine, especially when your teacher is a dead ringer for prof umbridge as mine was .

Well I suppose since dragons would flame all the zombies and have the unicorns for tea, they could not exist in the same world .

though interestingly enough Fionavar by Guy Gavril Kay does actually have a dragon unicorn fight and its actually the unicorn that wins, albeit by a flying horn powered kamikaze .