Book picks similar to
The Unblemished by Conrad Williams


horror
fiction
post-apocalyptic
apocalyptic

Red Hill


Jamie McGuire - 2013
    Nathan has a wife, but can’t remember what it’s like to be in love; only his young daughter Zoe makes coming home worthwhile. Miranda’s biggest concern is whether her new VW Bug is big enough to carry her sister and their boyfriends on a weekend escape from college finals.When reports of a widespread, deadly “outbreak” begin to surface, these ordinary people face extraordinary circumstances and suddenly their fates are intertwined. Recognizing they can’t outrun the danger, Scarlet, Nathan, and Miranda desperately seek shelter at the same secluded ranch, Red Hill. Emotions run high while old and new relationships are tested in the face of a terrifying enemy—an enemy who no longer remembers what it’s like to be human.Set against the backdrop of a brilliantly realized apocalyptic world, love somehow finds a way to survive. But what happens when the one you’d die for becomes the one who could destroy you?Red Hill grabs you from page one and doesn’t let go until its stunning conclusion. This is #1 New York Times bestselling author Jamie McGuire at her unforgettable best.

Nights of the Living Dead: An Anthology


Jonathan MaberryDavid Wellington - 2017
    Romero's landmark movie Night of the Living Dead. The newly dead rose to attack the living. Not as vampires or werewolves. This was something new...and terrifying. Since then, zombies have invaded every aspect of popular culture.But it all started on that dreadful night in a remote farmhouse...Nights of the Living Dead returns to that night, to the outbreak, to where it all began. New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Maberry teams with the godfather of the living dead himself, George A. Romero to present a collection of all new tales set during the 48 hours of that legendary outbreak.Nights of the Living Dead includes stories by some of today's most important writers: Brian Keene, Carrie Ryan, Chuck Wendig, Craig Engler, David J. Schow, David Wellington, Issac Marion, Jay Bonansinga, Joe R. Lansdale, John Russo, John Skipp, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Max Brallier, Mike Carey, Mira Grant, Neal Shusterman & Brandon Shusterman, and Ryan Brown. Plus original stories by Romero and Maberry!For fans of The Walking Dead, World War Z, and anyone who loves scary stories. Take a bite out of this!

State of Decay


James Knapp - 2010
     A thrilling debut novel of a dystopian future populated by a new breed of zombie They call them revivors-technologically reanimated corpses-and away from the public eye they do humanity's dirtiest work. But FBI agent Nico Wachalowski has stumbled upon a conspiracy involving revivors being custom made to kill-and a startling truth about the existence of these undead slaves.

Shock


K.R. Griffiths - 2013
    Davids, now little more than a ghost town, retrieve the target and return to base. Trouble is, the target is a man named Victor, and it looks like somebody else got to him first. And St. Davids is anything but a ghost town... *** SHOCK is a novella that picks up where K.R. Griffiths' acclaimed debut PANIC left off.

The Descent


Jeff Long - 1999
    In the Kalahari Desert, a nun unearths evidence of a proto-human species and a deity called Older-than-Old. In Bosnia, something has been feeding upon the dead in a mass grave. So begins mankind’s most shocking realization: that the underworld is a vast geological labyrinth populated by another race of beings. Some call them "devils" or "demons." But they are real. They are down there. And they are waiting for us to find them…

The Zombie Combat Manual: A Guide to Fighting the Living Dead


Roger Ma - 2010
    With detailed illustrations and firsthand accounts from zombie combat veterans, this manual provides readers with the information they need to emerge victoriously from a close combat encounter with a walking corpse. Now is the time to learn how to survive a hand-to-hand battle against the advancing army of the undead-before humans fall prey to their growing ranks.

The Girl with All the Gifts


M.R. Carey - 2014
    Dr. Caldwell calls her "our little genius."Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her. She jokes that she won't bite, but they don't laugh.Melanie loves school. She loves learning about spelling and sums and the world outside the classroom and the children's cells. She tells her favorite teacher all the things she'll do when she grows up. Melanie doesn't know why this makes Miss Justineau look sad.The Girl with All the Gifts is a sensational thriller, perfect for fans of Stephen King, Justin Cronin, and Neil Gaiman.

Omega Days


John L. Campbell - 2013
    Scattered refugees - a priest with a bloody past, a college girl turned sniper, escaped San Quentin inmates and others - will quickly learn the three most important rules of survival: Make your bullets count. Don't fall behind. Don't...get...bitten!Fast-paced and packed with zombie action, Book One of the Omega Days series lights off the apocalypse with a scream, and tears California to pieces!

Cryptid Island


Gerry Griffiths - 2019
    Soon they realize Allen’s true potential and purpose when they embark on a perilous journey in a struggle to preserve the planet. Meanwhile, Professor Nora Howard, a cryptozoologist and geneticist working for an unscrupulous high-tech conglomerate, Wilde Enterprises, recruits wildlife conservationists, Jack Tremens and Miguel Walla to travel the globe searching for evidence of cryptid creatures and secure proof of their existence. Adventurous treks into the unknown filled with danger and near death as they defend themselves against bizarre beasts and voracious man-eating plants. Soon everyone’s paths will cross in a terrifying fight for survival on CRYPTID ISLAND...the thrilling prequel to Cryptid Zoo.

Shadowland


Peter Straub - 1980
    To a dark house deep in the Vermont woods, where two friends are spending a season of horror, apprenticed to a Master Magician.Learning secrets best left unlearned. Entering a world of incalculable evil more ancient than death itself. More terrifying. And more real.Only one of them will make it through.

Dawn of the Dead


George A. Romero - 1978
    Romero.A decade after the premiere of the 1968 film The Night of the Living Dead, George Romero returned with its sequel, Dawn of the Dead, which tore its way onto movie screens across the country, shocked an entire generation, and became an instant zombie classic as the highest grossing indie film of all time. Shortly thereafter, Romero, along with author Susanna Sparrow, wrote a novel based on the movie -- now back in print in this terrifying trade paperback edition.In one of the landmark tales of the zombie apocalypse, a handful of survivors seek refuge at a local shopping mall, barricading themselves in. They soon realize that this is the perfect place to wait out the end of the world, and despite pending doom, they even start to enjoy themselves. But it doesn't take long for the undead to find a way into their world.Named one of the "500 Greatest Movies of All Time" by Empire Magazine, the original Dawn of the Dead film has left its imprint on viewers for decades -- and will soon be re-released in theaters, having been transformed frame-by-frame into 3D for an entire new audience. Now readers can experience the same chills and thrills with this exciting reissue of a true classic.

Apocalypse Cow


Michael Logan - 2012
    During her bumbling quest to unveil the truth, she crosses paths with Terry and Geldof, and together they set out to escape a quarantined Britain with the evidence and vital data that could unlock a cure for the virus.Standing in the way are rampaging hordes of animals, a ruthless security agent and an army ready to shoot anybody with a case of the sniffles on the off-chance the virus has mutated.Three losers. Overwhelming odds. A single outcome: the world is screwed.

What Survives of Us


Kathy Miner - 2014
    Medallion Honoree and Winner of National Indie Excellence AwardNaomi sees her first corpse in a Colorado Springs grocery store, but it won’t be her last. With devastating speed, a plague sweeps first the city, then the state, then the world, leaving less than 1% of the population to go on. Naomi, a gentle and sheltered housewife, finds herself fighting for survival in a world populated by desperate people, where might-makes-right, and mercy and compassion are in short supply. Fellow survivors Jack, a youth minister from Woodland Park; Grace, a 17-year-old high school student from Limon; and Naomi’s daughter Piper, a student at the University of Northern Colorado, all find themselves searching for a safe path forward…because it’s not just the world that has changed. The plague that decimates the human race also pushes mankind into evolutionary change. Those who survive are different, profoundly so, in ways they are just beginning to comprehend. As Naomi struggles to protect and reunite what’s left of her family, she must also learn to understand and accept the changes in herself. In this strange new world, her survival, and the survival of those she loves, depends on it.

In the Dead: Volume 1


Jesse Petersen - 2011
    These are their stories.If you liked Jesse Petersen's zombie comedies Married With Zombies, Flip This Zombie and Eat Slay Love, these nine stories are set in the same world, but from the perspective of other survivors.

Baal


Robert R. McCammon - 1978
    A woman is ravished...and to her a child is born...unleashing an unimaginable evil upon the world!And they call him BAAL in the orphanage, where he leads the children on a rampage of violence...in California, where he appears as the head of a deadly Manson-like cult...in Kuwait, where crazed millions heed his call to murder and orgy.They call him BAAL in the Arctic's hellish wasteland, where he is tracked by the only three men with a will to stop him: Zark, the shaman; Virga, the aging professor of theology; and Michael, the powerful, mysterious stranger.