Zombies Don't Cry


Rusty Fischer - 2011
    When he finally does, her whole life changes.Sneaking out to meet Stamp at a party one rainy night, Maddy is struck by lightning. After awakening, she feels lucky to be alive. Over time, however, Maddy realizes that she’s become the thing she and everyone else fear most: the living dead.With no heartbeat and no breath in her lungs, Maddy must learn how to survive as a zombie. Turns out there’s a lot more to it than shuffling around 24/7 growling, “Brains.” Needing an afterlife makeover is only the beginning of her problems. As Barracuda Bay High faces zombie Armageddon, Maddy must summon all of her strength to protect what matters most—just as soon as she figures out exactly what that is.

Side Effects: Book One: First Days


Dusti Dawn Rose - 2017
    People are randomly going crazy and feasting on the flesh of those around them. Worse than that, once dead, the others return to join in. Her only hope of survival is to rely on the training that her father has given her and pray that she can reach her family’s cabin nestled in the safety of the Cascade Mountains. Her father has supplied it with everything they could need to survive, if only she can reach it unscathed. Armed with a bugout bag and a fierce determination, she sets out on a harrowing journey with her best friend Drew and her roommate Anna. The question of what they will find when they reach the cabin becomes more pressing as they get closer to their destination and further from what’s left of the civilization they once knew.

The Unbelievable Mr. Brownstone Omnibus Three


Michael Anderle - 2019
    Brownstone books 13-18 (including Vax Humana, One Epic Ring, Spontaneous Justice, Shadow of the Ring, The Horsemen Gather, War of the Four Worlds)Vax Humana: James was raised by some good men. What would have happened if twisted cultists like the Brotherhood had found him instead of Fathers McCartney and Thomas? It's time to find out more about the Unbelievable Mr. Brownstone.James isn't from Earth or Oriceran. Where he is from has been a question for years.Will we find out now, or will those who seek to kill what James can become win in the end? One Epic Ring: “But you haven’t taken brain damage. I don’t want to have to take the time to get to know you again. The first time was exhausting enough...” Brownstone accepts a simple job and pisses off the most dangerous criminal in LA.Shay is approached by a powerful billionaire, one who knows her past.Now, Brownstone is ready to provide a beat down, but Shay is asking him for help. Does he stay in LA or fly (something he doesn't like to do) to Cambodia? Spontaneous Justice There is nothing to fear but the Vax Forerunner himself. Or is that something only aliens fear? Brownstone is at to a fever pitch to understand Shay and create something epic, so he makes a decision to ask someone hundreds of years old.The fight of his life and for his life is about to occur. Will he have a future when all is said and done? Shadow of the Ring James achieved something epic with his proposal. Now it is Shay’s turn. In planning the wedding, the tomb raider soon finds she sympathizes with what James had to go through. How does someone top something so special?The world’s mightiest class-six bounty hunter believes he’s conquered his amulet. The symbiont’s dark whispers no longer push him out of control, but a new enemy has decided LA should be his stomping grounds and threatens to break through James’ hard-earned discipline. The Horsemen Gather Barbecue is life.  Everything else is just details.With his life settling into a comfortable routine and the criminals of Los Angeles finally accepting his power, James ponders a future of family and food rather than kicking bounties through walls.  Can a bounty hunter be happy as a pitmaster? James’ idle thoughts of retirement are put on hold when a rogue group of government agents decides to go after the man they feel is the greatest threat to the country.  War of the Four Worlds The government and the underworld have finally learned their lesson about not taking on James Brownstone, but some enemies will never learn.  Some enemies can only be destroyed. James and Shay’s wedding is fast approaching, as is the bounty hunter’s semi-retirement. He’s ready to replace butt-kicking with barbecue, convinced he can have a life filled with something other than constant violence.

Eat, Brains, Love


Jeff Hart - 2013
    The kind of guy who would never catch the attention of an insanely popular girl like Amanda Blake-or a psychic teenage government agent like Cass. But one day during lunch, Jake's whole life changed. He and Amanda suddenly locked eyes across the cafeteria, and at the exact same instant, they turned into zombies and devoured half their senior class.Now Jake definitely has Amanda's attention-as well as Cass's, since she's been sent on a top-secret mission to hunt them down. As Jake and Amanda deal with the existential guilt of eating their best friends, Cass struggles with a growing psychic dilemma of her own-one that will lead the three of them on an epic journey across the country and make them question what it means to truly be alive. Or undead.Eat, Brains, Love is a heartwarming and bloody blend of romance, deadpan humor, and suspense that fans of Isaac Marion's Warm Bodies will devour. With its irresistibly dry and authentic teen voice, as well as a zombie apocalypse worthy of AMC's The Walking Dead, this irreverent paperback original will leave readers dying for the sequel that's coming in Summer 2014.

Sea Sick


Iain Rob Wright - 2012
    Now, years later, Jack is a changed man, with a head full of secrets driving him insane. His recent record of police brutality and a reputation for not following the rules has prompted his seniors to give him an ultimatum: take a few weeks off, relax, and find some way to let go of all the anger – or else find another job.That’s why Jack is about to board The Spirit of Kirkpatrick, a cruise liner built for relaxation and fun. Pretty soon, however, Jack realises that a little R&R is the last thing he’s ever going to get aboard the cursed ship. There’s a virus onboard, making people insane and bleeding from the eyes. The whole ship is overrun with blood and death, and there is nowhere to escape. Just when Jack thinks his number is up and his life is over, he wakes up. The day is exactly the same. In fact, everything is the same. Jack is forced to witness the viral outbreak again and again as it ravages the ship and its passengers over and over, day after day. Jack finds himself trapped in a repeating hell. It won’t be long before Jack realises there are others onboard just like him – and that some of them know more than they’re letting on.

Intuition


Jen Meyers - 2011
    An enthralling glimpse into the Intangible world by an "author [who] has a way with words that just pulls you into the story and holds you there until the very last word, and even then you just do not want to be let go" (Shelly Hammond).Luke and his twin sister Sera have unusual abilities. Hers is a gift--she can heal with a touch of her hand. His is a curse--he can see the future but he can't do anything about it.On a hike up the mountain, Luke has a vision unlike any other--one that leaves him terrified. Knowing that it will come true--and that he must do everything in his power to stop it--leaves his own future uncertain.(This is a short story, and approximately 16 pages long.)Intangible (Book One), Imaginable (Book Two), and Indomitable (an Intangible novella) are available now. Book Three coming late 2015.

The Desert


Bryon Morrigan - 2007
    During the opening engagements of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, a platoon of U.S. soldiers disappears. The Army attributes this disappearance to the "fog of war," and the subsequent investigation into the disappearance fails to locate even a single body or destroyed vehicle. Six years later, two soldiers on a routine search for "weapons of mass destruction" locate a cave with the remains of one of the missing soldiers and his journal. Unfortunately, Captain Henderson and Specialist Densler find out all too soon that what happened to the "Lost Platoon" is also happening to them. Trapped, they must confront this unspeakable menace, or risk suffering the same fate as that of the soldier in the cave. "Bryon Morrigan's first novel, THE DESERT, is everything you hope to find in a first novel and then some. An original plot, solid characterization and a refreshing change of pace from the standard chains rattling in the attic. A fine mesh of horror and military drama that I can't recommend enough." -James A. Moore, author of BLOOD RED & HARVEST MOON "The Desert by Bryon Morrigan is a weird and wild novel of men againt monsters. In the grand tradition of James Cameron's Aliens, Bryon Morrigan gives a whipcrack tale of U.S. soldiers pitted against the very forces of Hell. It's fun, fast-paced, and deliciously creepy." -Jonathan Maberry, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of GHOST ROAD BLUES & BAD MOON RISING

Aftertime


Sophie Littlefield - 2011
    Having no idea how many weeks have passed, she slowly realizes the horrifying truth: Ruthie has vanished.And with her, nearly all of civilization.Where once-lush hills carried cars and commerce, the roads today see only cannibalistic Beaters -- people turned hungry for human flesh by a government experiment gone wrong.In a broken, barren California, Cass will undergo a harrowing quest to get Ruthie back. Few people trust an outsider, let alone a woman who became a zombie and somehow turned back, but she finds help from an enigmatic outlaw, Smoke. Smoke is her savior, and her safety.For the Beaters are out there.And the humans grip at survival with their trigger fingers. Especially when they learn that she and Ruthie have become the most feared, and desired, of weapons in a brave new world….

Verita


Tracy Rozzlynn - 2011
    Truly alone in the world, Brett agrees to help colonize the newly discovered planet, Verita. Now Brett's on a strange new world. She quickly makes friends and starts her assigned job. Verita begins to feel like home, but it's far from perfect. Brett has an overwhelming attraction to Brody, despite the fact that he's entirely not her type. Her colleague, Ryan, utterly hates her for reasons out of her control. And there are creatures in the forest that would like nothing more than to devour everyone for dinner.Brett's heart and mind are at odds each other. She's constantly fighting with Ryan. So, concentrating on her job is becoming more and more difficult. Plus it's hard to ignore some of the strange things that have been happening around her. But, when Brett finds herself stranded in the wilderness, the only thing that matters is survival.

Dead Instinct


T.W. Piperbrook - 2014
    Don't trust what you drink. The infection is spreading... In a world plagued with violence and infection, Ken and Roberta Smith want nothing more than to find their son. Having been on the road for four days, they must now cross the remaining three hundred miles of desert wasteland to get to him. Isaac Smith has been trapped in Phoenix since the infection began. The city is virtually impassable, and the infected are everywhere. Will he escape the carnage around him? Or will he die in the city he once called home?

Under the Scotch Broom


Allison M. Dickson - 2011
    Victor Barnes, lead researcher at Whitacre Pharms, until a strange little boy named Elvis walks into his life. The kid strikes him as familiar, but the doctor's memory is fading fast, a side effect of the serum he tested on himself to become immortal. Dr. Barnes soon learns his desire to live forever has endangered billions, and that he must go to extreme measures to keep mankind from forgetting itself. Don't miss this dark and thrilling science fiction tale, originally featured on The Absent Willow Review!

The First Ark


Chris Fox - 2014
    It whispers dark things. Tells me to feed." -Osiris, Egyptian Lord of the Underworld. Were the Egyptian gods fanciful imaginings of primitive people, or something more? Some believe that they once walked the earth as mortals, that they warred and loved just as any of their worshippers. This is their story, the tale of how Isis gained the power of shaping. How mighty Osiris died and lived again. How they discovered the fabled First Ark, a structure older than man. It is the tale of us all, the story that shaped our race from cave dwellers into the people we are today. Are these fanciful tales? Or long lost truth wrapped in myth? Only time knows. "It's like Clan of the Cave Bear ran right into The Walking Dead." - The author's totally biased friend.

The Dispatcher


John Scalzi - 2016
    How? We don't know. But it changes everything: war, crime, daily life.Tony Valdez is a Dispatcher - a licensed, bonded professional whose job is to humanely dispatch those whose circumstances put them in death's crosshairs, so they can have a second chance to avoid the reaper. But when a fellow Dispatcher and former friend is apparently kidnapped, Tony learns that there are some things that are worse than death and that some people are ready to do almost anything to avenge a supposed wrong.It's a race against time for Valdez to find his friend before it's too late...before not even a Dispatcher can save him.___Zachary Quinto - best known for his role as the Nimoy-approved Spock in the recent Star Trek reboot and the menacing, power-stealing serial killer, Sylar, in Heroes - brings his well-earned sci-fi credentials and simmering intensity to this audio-exclusive novella from master storyteller John Scalzi.

Dying to Live


Kim Paffenroth - 2007
    Unable to find a moral or sane reason for the horror that surrounds him, he is overwhelmed by violence and insignificance.After wandering for months, Jonah's lonely existence dramatically changes when he discovers a group of survivors. Living in a museum-turned-compound, they are led jointly by Jack, an ever-practical and efficient military man, and Milton, a mysterious, quizzical prophet who holds a strange power over the dead. Both leaders share Jonah's anguish over the brutality of their world, as well as his hope for its beauty. Together with others, they build a community that reestablishes an island of order and humanity surrounded by relentless ghouls.But this newfound peace is short-lived, as Jonah and his band of refugees clash with another group of survivors who remind them that the undead are not the only—nor the most grotesque—horrors they must face.

Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper


J.L. Bryan - 2014
    Part detective, part paranormal exterminator, Ellie operates out of Savannah, Georgia, the most haunted city in the United States.When a family contacts her to deal with a disturbing presence in the old mansion they’ve recently purchased, Ellie first believes it to be a typical, by-the-book specter, a residual haunting by a restless spirit. Instead, she finds herself confronting an evil older and more powerful than she’d ever expected, rooted in the house’s long and sordid history of luxury, sin, and murder. The dangerous entity seems particularly interested in her clients’ ten-year-old daughter.Soon her own life is in danger, and Ellie must find a way to exorcise the darkness of the house before it can kill her, her clients, or their frightened young child.