Book picks similar to
Through the Fury to the Dawn by Stu Jones
fiction
first-reads
science-fiction
paranormal
Thicker Than Blood
Madeline Sheehan - 2015
Leisel and Evelyn lost everything. Husbands. Families. Friends. Lives that made sense. All they had left was each other, and a friendship that could withstand anything…Even an apocalypse.Until one fateful night, the marginal safety they’d come to rely on comes to a vicious and brutal end. With the help of Alex & Jami, both unlikely allies, Leisel and Evelyn are able to escape their shattered sanctuary only to find themselves face-to-face with a much altered, much crueler life where they have to find the way—and the will—to stay alive in a world they no longer recognize.Traveling across a broken and infection-ridden country; the road-weary group are pitted against endless violence, improbable circumstances, and the ultimate loss.Everything comes at a price—especially safety, the cost of which could very well strip them of the one thing they’ve tried so hard to cling to: their humanity.Yet along with all the trials they’re forced to endure, there’s also hope in the form of love. Having loved Leisel from afar, Alex attempts to put the pieces of her fractured heart back together.But in such a savage world, is there room for love?In a place of nightmares-made-reality, where the living should be feared far more than the dead, an unbreakable friendship and a love amongst all odds can mean the difference between life and death.There are friends…And then there are Leisel and Evelyn.
Fading Light: An Anthology of the Monstrous
Tim MarquitzGary W. Olson - 2012
Now, with the cruel touch of the sun fading into memory, they've returned to claim their rightful place amidst humanity; as its masters.Fading Light collects 30 monstrous stories by authors new and experienced, in the genres of horror, science fiction, and fantasy, each bringing their own interpretation of what lurks in the dark.Contributors: Mark Lawrence, Gene O'Neill, William Meikle, David Dalglish, Gord Rollo, Nick Cato, Adam Millard, Stephen McQuiggan, Gary W Olson, Tom Olbert, Mark Pantoja, Malon Edwards, Carl Barker, Jake Elliot, Lee Mather, Georgina Kamsika, Dorian Dawes, Timothy Baker, DL Seymour, Wayne Ligon, TSP Sweeney, Stacey Turner, Gef Fox, Edward M Erdelac, Henry P Gravelle, & Ryan Lawler, with bonus stories from CM Saunders, Regan Campbell, Jonathan Pine, Peter Welmerink, & Alex Marshall.
Plague: 10th Anniversary
Jeremiah Donaldson - 2006
A traveler that infected everyone aboard and raced across the world while those in charge of its containment denied the real danger. Few survived the carnage, fewer left any record. Moss Valley was one of them.
The Lightest Object in the Universe
Kimi Eisele - 2019
Working his way along a cross-country railroad line, he encounters lost souls, clever opportunists, and those who believe they’ll be delivered from hardship if they can find their way to the evangelical preacher Jonathan Blue, who is broadcasting on all the airwaves countrywide. Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, Beatrix and her neighbors turn to one another for food, water, and solace, and begin to construct the kind of cooperative community that suggests the end could, in fact, be a promising beginning. But between Beatrix and Carson lie 3,000 miles. With no internet or phone or postal service, can they find their way back to each other, and what will be left of their world when they do? The answers may lie with fifteen-year-old Rosie Santos, who travels reluctantly with her grandmother to Jonathan Blue, finding her voice and making choices that could ultimately decide the fate of the cross-country lovers. The Lightest Object in the Universe is a story about reliance and adaptation, a testament to the power of community and a chronicle of moving on after catastrophic loss, illustrating that even in the worst of times, our best traits, borne of necessity, can begin to emerge.
The Midamerica Zombie Half-Breed Experiment
Better Hero Army - 2013
When Tom, the son of a powerful Senator, becomes stranded in the Plagued States of America while searching for his lost sister, his only hope of survival rests in the hands of a few grizzled veteran zombie hunters and a mysterious half-breed zombie woman he thinks may know where to find his sister.
Then Came War
Jacqueline Druga - 2012
He served his country, fought two wars, and in his eighty years on the earth could say he had seen it all. Until that day.Surprised that the group separates, Harry is left alone to care and guide an eight-year- old boy out of the devastation of New York and hopefully to safety. But finding safety isn’t easy. The destruction extends far beyond New York. A massive strike has commenced on the Eastern Seaboard of the United States and for the first time since the War of 1812, America has been invaded.Harry and the boy, along with the other survivors are deep inside occupied territory. As they journey and struggle through the front lines of a war that will rage for decades, they discover just how hard they have to fight for the price of freedom. A freedom they all had taken for granted.First there was normalcy ... then came war.Then Came War is the prequel to Wasteland and is part of the America’s Demise Series.
Corridor
Robin Parrish - 2011
But what is the Corridor, and why was he brought to it?It’s a place of mystery, wonder, and heart-stopping danger. It will test him and push him both mentally and physically. His only companion is the girl whose voice he hears inside his head, explaining the rules he must follow if he hopes to escape.But there is much more to this extraordinary place than Troy could ever imagine. The Corridor’s true purpose — the biggest mystery of all — is revealed only to those who make it to the end.
The Electric Kingdom
David ArnoldDavid Arnold - 2021
Among the survivors are eighteen-year-old Nico and her dog, on a voyage devised by Nico's father to find a mythical portal; a young artist named Kit, raised in an old abandoned cinema; and the enigmatic Deliverer, who lives Life after Life in an attempt to put the world back together. As swarms of infected Flies roam the earth, these few survivors navigate the woods of post-apocalyptic New England, meeting others along the way, each on their own quest to find life and love in a world gone dark. The Electric Kingdom is a sweeping exploration of art, storytelling, eternal life, and above all, a testament to the notion that even in an exterminated world, one person might find beauty in another.
Darkness Falls
Jessica Sorensen - 2012
The Colony is hidden deep underground, far away from the vampires—humans that were transformed by the disease. The vampires are hideous, starving, and they will kill any human they come across.Seventeen-year-old Kayla is a Bellator, a warrior that protects The Colony. In order to survive, there are three rules she must follow:Rule #1—Never go out after dark.Rule #2—Always carry a weapon.Rule #3—No matter what, never EVER get bitten.But what happens when the rules Kayla has always lived by can no longer apply? The Highers run The Colony and accept nothing less than perfection. One slip up can mean death. Kayla has always worked hard to follow the rules and strive for perfection. But during a moment of weakness, she lets her imperfections show. Her punishment is worse than death. She is chosen for The Gathering and is thrown out into a world full of starving vampires. No one has ever survived The Gathering, at least that’s what Kayla’s been told. But when she runs into a group who insist they were once part of The Gathering, Kayla discovers the Highers have been keeping secrets. Secrets that could lead to a cure.
Pandemic
Yvonne Ventresca - 2014
Unfortunately, Lilianna's circumstances are anything but normal. Only a few people know what caused her sudden change from model student to the withdrawn pessimist she has become, but her situation isn't about to get any better. When people begin coming down with a quick-spreading illness that doctors are unable to treat, Lil's worst fears are realized. With her parents called away on business before the contagious outbreak-her father in Delaware covering the early stages of the disease and her mother in Hong Kong and unable to get a flight back to New Jersey-Lil's town is hit by what soon becomes a widespread illness and fatal disaster. Now, she's more alone than she's been since the "incident" at her school months ago.With friends and neighbors dying all around her, Lil does everything she can just to survive. But as the disease rages on, so does an unexpected tension as Lil is torn between an old ex and a new romantic interest. Just when it all seems too much, the cause of her original trauma shows up at her door. In this thrilling debut from author Yvonne Ventresca, Lil must find a way to survive not only the outbreak and its real-life consequences, but also her own personal demons.
Zombicorns
John Green - 2011
It was written in a hurry. It is riddled with inconsistencies. And it never quite arrives at whatever point it sought to make. But remember: The $25 you donated to charity in exchange for this steaming mess of prose will help our species shuffle along, and I hope you’ll feel warmed by your good deed as you read. Thank you for decreasing the overall worldwide level of suck, and as they say in my hometown: Don’t forget to be awesome.Best wishes!John Green* The book has been made available under creative commons license, so it can be acquired legally here: http://effyeahnerdfighters.com/post/2... :)
Cages
Chris Pasley - 2012
Since the Outbreak ten percent of all teenagers transform spontaneously and without warning into horrible, parasite-spreading Beasts. This monstrous tide threatened to destroy the world, but the survivors persevered and kept the parasite at bay by creating Quarantines, rigid prisons to hold their children through volatile puberty into the safety of adulthood. For Sam, incarceration is freedom. The child of damaged Outbreak survivors, he relishes the day he can unleash the tricks his brother James taught him and make his mark on the world. The tyrannical principal who would happily see him dead? A worthy adversary. His chemically-obsessed roommate who keeps trying to build a dirty bomb? A useful pawn. His own debilitating fear of becoming a monster himself? Well… he’s not really ready for that one. Cages is a deceptively easy to read page-turner concealing a deep coming of age story. How do we develop our own identities among a sea of external influences? Will we take on our parents’ neuroses? Our brothers’ lost dreams? Or… will we go wild?
Final Dawn: Season 1
Mike Kraus - 2012
For those who died, it was a quick death, so fast that their brains didn't have time to process the pain signals from their nerves. For those who survived, the true horror is about to begin as they struggle to not only stay alive, but find out what happened to bring such a quick end to the world as they knew it.Final Dawn is a thrilling new post-apocalyptic series that follows the journey of four people who survived the end of days.Leonard McComb - A grizzled veteran of the New York City sanitation department, trapped underground in the city's vast sewer system when the world ended. Nancy Sims - An accountant, traveling across the plains of the Midwest towards a new job, caught in the middle of nowhere, destruction all around her.Marcus Warden - A self-made millionaire from New York, vacationing in a national forest of West Virginia when the bombs fell.Rachel Walsh - A wife and mother whose family is swept away in the blink of an eye, struggling with her loss and the dawning realization of what may have truly transpired to bring about the end of the world.
The Last Gasp
Trevor Hoyle - 1983
In 1990 the ocean's oxygen-producing plankton are dying from pollution. Maverick oceanographer Theo Detrick predicts a disastrous drop in the air's oxygen content within 20 years. Nobody believes him. Polluter-industrialist J.E. Gelstrom is furiously empire-building. The US/USSR military have abandoned nuclear weapons for a better deterrent--environmental warfare. Marine biologist Gavin Chase teams up with Detrick's daughter Cheryl to gather facts & alert the public. The climate warms, the protective ozone layer thins, equatorial regions become uninhabitable. The military, led by maniacal Major Madden, unleashes environmental weapons while retreating to secret, sealed labs to breed mutants able to survive anaerobic conditions. Eventually the dying Gelstrom has a change of heart & gives funds to Chase & friends who work desperately to reverse the ecological transformation.
Nature's End
Whitley Strieber - 1986
Immense numbers of people swarm the globe. In countless, astonishing ways, technology has triumphed-but at a staggering cost. Starvation is rampant. City dwellers gasp for breath under blackened skies. And tottering on the brink of environmental collapse, the world may be ending....It is a future that could well be ours. In their second shocking and fascinating portrait of America's possible destiny, Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka have again written a breathless thriller, a book that gives us an important warning and ultimately a message of hope.