The Culling of Man


Craig Kobayashi - 2019
    Though some elements of the new interface were familiar to the lifelong gamer, there was a lot he didn't understand. What exactly does The Culling have in store for mankind? What will loot be like on this new Earth? And if this is supposed to be like an MMO, where are all the god damn hot elves?? Follow Garath as his mismatched group of friends and neighbors attempt to survive the twenty-four hour Event.

The Great Filter


Russell Wilbinski - 2018
     What no one predicted was the sudden message that appeared before every living soul moments before impact, a message from 'The Administrators' revealing our entire world and everything in it to be a species simulation. According to the message, Humanity had been reset over a million times and every single time we could not prevent our own extinction. No more resets for humanity. No more chances. They would leave our world an irradiated disaster, but to keep things interesting, they would convert our species simulation to a game for their twisted entertainment. Digital or not, real or not, I have a family to protect. A wife and daughter who need me, universe be damned. I say bring it on. Welcome to the end of the world.  Welcome to The Great Filter.

An OP Returnee


Stuart Grosse - 2021
    That explosion brought magic to the world, spreading across the globe in what would come to be called the Awakening. All around the world, people began to develop magic powers, some of them even turning into creatures of myth like elves and dwarves.With magic came monsters, and other threats to the world. Some of those who had power took up the call, and became adventurers or heroes, fighing back the monsters. Others let their newfound powers go to their heads, becoming villains. Many turned their powers to crafting, and melding magic and technology. And a few began delving into the secrets of magic for knowledge's sake alone.But the blast that kickstarted the Awakening did more than just bring magic to the world. Twenty students, all in the same class, disappeared that day. No trace of their remains was ever found, and no one else in the building was so much as injured. People began calling them the Lost Sleepers, twenty souls who would never Awaken like the rest of the world had.Forty years after the Awakening, one of them returned.

Upload


Matthew Siege - 2018
    Unbeknownst to him, he’s one of a handful of individuals capable of implementing a Save Point, a static moment in time he’s able to revisit over and over upon death.It’s a good thing, too. Brain cancer was turning into a real drag…The government owns the list though, and they’ve wasted no time snapping him up. According to them, he has thirteen days in an alien realm to learn as much as he can before the inevitable, at which point his memories, Skill Progressions and Weapon Proficiencies will endure despite his body resetting.Then it’s rinse and repeat.But there are unwritten rules to the game he’s about to play, and unseen forces acting in judgment. Adam will have to learn the hard way that dying is the easiest thing he’s going to do today.

Zombie Fallout


Mark Tufo - 2010
    With fears of contracting the H1N1 virus running rampant throughout the country, people lined up in droves to try an attain one of the coveted vaccines. What was not known, was the effect this largely untested, rushed to market, inoculation was to have on the unsuspecting throngs. Within days, feverish folk throughout the country, convulsed, collapsed and died, only to be re-born. With a taste for brains, blood and bodies, these modern day zombies scoured the lands for their next meal. Overnight the country became a killing ground for the hordes of zombies that ravaged the land.This is the story of Michael Talbot, his family and his friends. This is their story a band of ordinary people just trying to get by in these extra-ordinary times. When disaster strikes, Mike a self-proclaimed survivalist, does his best to ensure the safety and security of those he cares for.Book 1 of the Zombie Fall-Out Trilogy follows our lead character in his self-deprecating, sarcastic best. What he encounters along the way leads him down a long dark road always skirting on the edge of insanity. Can he keep his family safe? Can he discover the secret behind Tommy's powers? Can he save anyone from the zombie Queen - a zombie that seems by all accounts to have some sort of hold over the zombies and Mike himself? Encircled in a seemingly safe haven called Little Turtle, Mike and his family together with the remnants of a tattered community while not fighting each other, fight against a relentless, ruthless, unstoppable force. This last bastion of civilization has made its final stand. God help them all.

Patient Zero


Jonathan Maberry - 2009
    and there's nothing wrong with Joe Ledger's skills. And that's both a good, and a bad thing. It's good because he's a Baltimore detective that has just been secretly recruited by the government to lead a new taskforce created to deal with the problems that Homeland Security can't handle. This rapid response group is called the Department of Military Sciences or the DMS for short. It's bad because his first mission is to help stop a group of terrorists from releasing a dreadful bio-weapon that can turn ordinary people into zombies. The fate of the world hangs in the balance...

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War


Max Brooks - 2006
    Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the twelve-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War.Most of all, the book captures with haunting immediacy the human dimension of this epochal event. Facing the often raw and vivid nature of these personal accounts requires a degree of courage on the part of the reader, but the effort is invaluable because, as Mr. Brooks says in his introduction, "By excluding the human factor, aren't we risking the kind of personal detachment from history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it? And in the end, isn't the human factor the only true difference between us and the enemy we now refer to as 'the living dead'?"Note: Some of the numerical and factual material contained in this edition was previously published under the auspices of the United Nations Postwar Commission.

Core of Fear


Jonathan Brooks - 2019
    Caught after a record-breaking streak of murders, he was executed by lethal injection by the state, while thousands of his victims' grieving family members watched. That should’ve been the end of his emotionless and unfeeling existence – but it wasn’t. Sent to Hell – where he enjoyed himself entirely too much – he was singled out to become a Spirit Core, an invisible spiritual entity that eventually ended up back on Earth. At first unfamiliar to him, his new incarnation slowly revealed itself to have its own set of rules, following something not unlike the video games he used to program back when he was alive. At its root, he was tasked with invoking fear upon his new victims – but there was just one problem. Having never felt any emotions before, he had no idea what that meant. Contains LitRPG elements such as level progression and statistics.

Until the End of the World


Sarah Lyons Fleming - 2013
    After all, she’s been on a self-imposed losing streak since her survivalist parents died: she’s stopped painting, broken off her engagement to Adrian and dated a real jerk. Rectifying her mistakes has to wait, however, because Cassie and her friends have just enough time to escape Brooklyn for her parents’ cabin before Bornavirus LX turns them into zombies, too. This is difficult enough, but Cassie’s tag along ex-boyfriend and her friend’s bratty sister have a knack for making everything, even the apocalypse, more unpleasant. When the two attract a threat as deadly as the undead to their safe haven, Cassie’s forced to see how far she’ll go to protect those she loves. And it’s a lot farther than she’d anticipated. This, coupled with Adrian’s distant voice on Safe Zone Radio and, of course, the living dead, threaten to put Cassie right back into the funk she just dragged herself out of. Survival’s great and all, especially when you have leather armor, good friends and home-brewed beer, but there’s something Cassie must do besides survive: tell Adrian she still loves him. And to do that, Cassie has to find faith that she’s stronger than she thinks, she’s still a crack shot and true love never dies.

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.

Galaxy


Christopher Johns - 2021
    Sealed paths opened. Let the hijinks begin!Sergeant Marcus Bola and his platoon flew to a newly uncovered temple in the desert while deployed overseas; an unheard-of mission. Something in the ruined holy place had killed many, and the survivors met an unfortunate ambush just before reaching safety. The attack left Marcus wounded and medically discharged from the only life he’s known… but something wasn’t right. None of it was.Laying low and waiting for answers, Marcus decides tending bar is as good a way to stay afloat and off the radar. Turns out slinging cocktails, singing karaoke, and talking to the patrons isn’t as easy as he thought it would be: gods, monsters, and devils are showing up to try the mixers.The vessel has been chosen. Something inside him is calling the shots--and we’re not talking about tequila!

I Hope You Find Me


Trish Marie Dawson - 2012
    Left to fend for herself with only a dog as her companion, she sets out on a journey to find others, leaving notes everywhere she goes…hoping that one day someone will come looking for her. When Riley meets the handsome yet mysterious Connor on the streets of Downtown San Diego, they form a bond unlike either has experienced before. When the things that go bump in the night turn out to be more than nightmares, the trio sets off for the mountains in search of an isolated resort where they can hunker down, away from the ominous shadows of the dead city streets. The peace and tranquility of the woods isn’t enough to keep the darkness away for long though and soon Riley and Connor are forced to accept that the World and the few people left alive in it will never be the same. The shadows of their past may haunt them forever…threatening to destroy what little dreams they have left of a future unless they fight to stay in the light and never lose their hope. 1/9 Family and Friends: The dog and I have left to find my Mom. Most of you know where her place is, the corner of 9th and F. I’ll leave a note there before I move on. Everyone here is…gone. I can’t stay. I’m not sure when or if I will come back here but leave a message anyway. I hope you find me. – Riley

Feed


Mira Grant - 2010
    We had cured cancer. We had beaten the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED. Now, twenty years after the Rising, bloggers Georgia and Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives—the dark conspiracy behind the infected. The truth will get out, even if it kills them.

The Promise


Shawn Chesser - 2018
     Hopeful that the unknown sum of money included in his portion of the inheritance will be sufficient to bring an end to his latest run of bad luck and trouble, Riker boards a Greyhound bus in Atlanta with his duffel bag, less than two hundred dollars to his name, and a secret he must protect at all costs. Riker makes it to Middletown only to learn his sister has recently witnessed a gruesome death. Insisting she saw the victim rise from a pool of his own blood to attack the Samaritan rendering aid, Tara floats the idea that the man may have been a zombie. While the siblings are comparing what Tara thinks she saw to the conflicting stories about the event being reported on the news, the emergency broadcast system is activated and they find themselves under order to report to one of three newly established quarantine centers. With this unexpected turn of events looming over their heads, and as a result the reading of the will likely postponed indefinitely, Riker informs Tara of the promise he made to their mother on her deathbed months ago. A promise whose details leave Tara nearly as confused as those of the grisly attack haunting her every thought. A promise that Riker insists is worth ignoring the government edict in order to fulfill. A promise that requires the Rikers to leave town even as shadowy forces seek to seal it off from the rest of the country—a tall order they soon learn will be easier said than done.

Hollowland


Amanda Hocking - 2010
    This is the way the world ends - not with a bang or a whimper, but with zombies breaking down the back door.Nineteen-year-old Remy King is on a mission to get across the wasteland left of America, and nothing will stand in her way - not violent marauders, a spoiled rock star, or an army of flesh-eating zombies.