Hear ye, hear ye! In the battle of vampires vs zombies, the bloodsuckers may have peaked in popularity in the past year or two, but zombies are proving to be the slow and steady burners.

Thanks to the Oxford English Corpus which tracks how language is evolving, we have at our disposal this handy graph illustrating the increased popularity and usage of the words ‘zombie’ and ‘vampire’ in the English language over the past 10 years.

Both are undoubtedly on the increase (unsurprising really given our obsession with things paranormal and macabre) but who will be in the lead next year? In the one corner we have Stephenie Meyer and Rachel Caine. And in the other Max Brooks and Dr Dale.

I’m so glad someone is taking this seriously.

Lara Crisp, Managing Editor