Now a group of slackers from Mount Tom Regional High School are gathering deep in a forest clearing—at the Devil’s Dining Room—eager for the rising of her ghost on Devil’s Night, the eve before Halloween.Cooper thinks they're all crazy. Are they?AUTHOR BIO: Author and playwright Howard Odentz is a lifelong resident of the gray area between Western Massachusetts and North Central Connecticut. His love of the region is evident in his writing as he often incorporates the foothills of the Berkshires and the small towns of the Bay and Nutmeg states into his work.In addition to The Dead (A Lot) Series, he has written the horror/suspense novels Bloody Bloody Apple and What We Kill, as well as the horror short story collection Little Killers A to Z, and a couple of horror-themed, musical comedies produced for the stage.

    Every week five friends get together to play a game-- a game they call the Apocalypse Game. It's a fun time with chips and beer and plotting the end of the world. Except this time, one of them is missing and the stakes are higher than ever before.Word count: ~3,900

    Death had other plans. ☤☠♥ My name is Brianna Harmond. I’m a straight C student who’s kind of good with tech. When I got involved in a fight I shouldn’t have, the teacher forced me to work with a band of misfits. David’s a geek who asked me out once. Brad is a cocky asshole who takes nothing seriously. Greg is my secret crush and the school’s basketball star. And then there’s Amy, the artist—my best friend. When the government announced a revolutionary new wellness technology, I was furious that they were too late to save my mother. Then my little sister was diagnosed with cancer, and I refused to lose her too. So we hacked the government bots and changed the code to edit DNA. Then we built an app and made millions overnight. I thought I was just helping my sister. I didn’t realize we might accidentally destroy the human race. Now, someone else is using our device to kill people, and the FBI is blaming us. And we’ve started changing, in unexpected ways. The government is afraid of us, of what we can do, of what we’re becoming. So they’ve started taking us out. Thousands at a time. City by city. Soon we’ll be the last ones left. Selfie is a near-future, apocalyptic young adult technothriller that deals with themes of bullying, body modification and advances in the health care industry that challenges what it means to be human.

    The side effects were anything but hopeful. Mara and Sebastian are young, in love and newlyweds. Far too soon, they will face tests to their love that most others won’t survive. Their bond strengthens with each loss, destruction and unbearable race against time. In each other, they find the will and hope to endure. Hand in hand, they will face the darkening of humanity with strength and integrity and an undeniable spirit to survive; together.

    Still, his life is routine until one day his infected wife, Anna, shows up in line for the incinerator, and Rob must cremate the love of his life. In a race against the clock, he must find his four-year-old son Sammy, who is stranded in a newly quarantined zone, teeming with the walking dead, and crawling with the Necro-Morbus virus. Does Rob have what it takes to fight the undead and put his broken family back together? Or will he also end up in the incinerator – burning with the rest of the dead?

    Her dad left. Boys at school can’t keep their hands to themselves. A lecherous stepfather has moved in. Her only refuge is an abandoned lot on her suburban cul-de-sac, crawling with feral felines—one of which follows Mia home. Ghostly white and affectionate, she is Mia’s new companion and—as Mia’s tormenters will soon discover—her fierce protector.Joyce Carol Oates’s Miao Dao is part of Dark Corners, a collection of seven heart-stopping short stories by bestselling authors who give you so many new reasons to be afraid. Each story can be read in a single sitting. Or, if you have the nerve, you can listen all by yourself in the dark.

    Fighting monsters to save the world was not part of my five-year plan.I had it all figured out. Graduate high school and head to college. It was just icing that my college of choice also happened to be where my lifelong crush and the gorgeous boy next door, Cohen, was already attending. I had already been accepted. Everything was working out perfectly. The only problem was that ‘perfect’ didn’t involve a freakin’ invasion. So, when everything went dark and monsters, literal monsters, fell from the sky, I had no idea what to do.Hey, I’m not your perfect dystopian heroine. Hell, I’m not even your everyday human. It took some time, and a bit of work, but now instead of graduating and following Cohen to college I am now hunting massive winged demon... things. Worse yet, any chance of a happily-ever-after goes to pot when my demon hunting turns into boyfriend rescuing, and I have to risk it all and go into the Dark. Boys, am I right? One minute everything is on track, and the next… well, it’s the end of the world. My name is Lex, and I guess I hunt monsters now. Perfect.

    Unfortunately, stumbling across such a something came close to getting Nathan fired. An innocent when it came to the discovery, to be sure, but it would nevertheless be fair to say that Nathan wasn’t entirely blameless in the matter, having run roughshod over all manner of military regulations. Despite the repeated screw-ups, Nathan remains an asset to the auditing firm, Mace Forensics. So, in a last ditch effort to keep him out of trouble, the firm banishes Nathan to a relic of the Cold War, a third-rate air base situated somewhere in the Nevada desert. Nathan is a forensic accountant, and he is to audit said base until every pencil, and every paperclip has been entered into the ledger. There he will be safely out of sight, and out of mind. Welcome to Area Zero, Nathan.

    Then came the Collapse. The only way to contain the epidemic is mandatory migration across the northern border of the United States. Each vaccinated citizen is identified by a tiny microchip — the most intelligent piece of technology ever to be implanted in a human being that tracks and analyzes your every move.Twenty-year-old Haven Allis is in the system: her Citizen ID tracks her location, conversations, Internet activity, bank account — everything. Any suspicious activity is warrant for arrest.But for those who are undocumented, life is much worse. Illegals are taken to the prisons in Sector X and made to disappear.When her best friend Greyson is captured and arrested for his undocumented status, Haven must go off the grid to save him. Life outside the city has its own dangers: carriers of the virus lurk everywhere, and the Private Military Company is rounding up illegals. On her mission to rescue Greyson, Haven will discover a revolution in motion and be forced to question everything she believes.

    22 Undead worlds. 1 Great Book.Do you dare?Alone Together by David SimpsonWhat do you do when there is nowhere left to run?Gone Fishin’ by Justin RobinsonWhen the dead rise, the living become the monsters.The Festival by Christopher ManhoodA city on lockdown as a nation awaits bloodshed, let the festival begin.Jimmy by Arthur MongelliDecades of meddling with the food we eat brings about the zombie apocalypse, ordinary people struggle to survive.The Fort by Michael WhiteheadWhen sanctuary becomes a prison, all you can do is fight.Adam by Sylvester BarzeySome families aren't worth dying for.A Peaceful Town by Jeremy DysonThe Undead Pool: The Zombie Night by Derek AilesZombie Exterminators by GrivanteTwo brothers saving the world one job at a time!The Horror at Roswell Mills by Michael PeirceBefore Safe Haven: Losing the Battle by Christopher ArtinianThere is no greater weapon than the will to fight for the ones you love.On the Rocks by E.E. IsherwoodMorning of The Living Dead by Mark Cusco AilesDefenseless: A Story of Death & Decay by R. L. BlalockAs the zombies rise, 6-year-old Dylan must face a frightening new world alone.To the Hills by T. D. RickettsA real live zombie apocalypse!When I Grow Up, I Won’t Be by Brea BehnWhat if you knew you'd never make it to 18?Fallen by Jessica GomezBrain Waves by Julien SaindonDamaged Goods by Samie SandsThere's only one rule: don't get bit!Avery by Valerie LioudisTrapped in a world with the undead, Avery looks to control it by filling her space with treasures, leading her to risk her life for useless garbage.In the Beginning, God by Charles IngersollGod made Man. Man made monsters.Evacuation by Adrienne LecterWhen the world is about to end, one man has to bring home the bacon.

    When a series of strange intuitions leads him to a crime in progress, Joe jumps headlong into danger without hesitation. In the aftermath, he wonders about the uncanny impulse that suddenly swept over him. Until new friend Portia Montclair, the strangely wise daughter of the local police chief, explains to him what sent him ricocheting around town like a crazy pinball. Portia tells of another reality, a reality more thrilling—and terrifying—than Joe ever imagined. Timeless, elemental forces of good and evil have come to the quiet town of Little City: a cosmic entity capable of infecting human beings, and the seeker who has chosen Joe to find it. To stop the malevolent invader, this average Joe must be braver than he ever thought possible…and face the hardest decisions of his life.

    It wasn’t Lizzy’s fault that she saw the cloaked people out in the yard. It wasn’t her fault that she was drawn by the moonlight to watch them as they advanced on the house. And it definitely wasn’t her fault when people began to die. Lizzy didn’t want the strange dreams where she saw how they were killed. Even her sister was starting to suspect her. It wasn’t fair because it wasn’t her fault. Lizzy was claimed.

    Sit back as your favorite authors of zombie lit take you on a wild, horrifying ride that will leave you breathless! Come and meet the women who love to entertain you with their own unique versions of the zombie apocalypse.Featuring:Tamara Rose BlodgettV. BookeChantal BoudreauLaura BretzTonia BrownCatt DahmanMia DarienCM DoportoJacqueline DrugaDana FredstiBelinda FrischApril GreyMichelle KilmerRebecca HansenLori R. LopezSuzi MShannon MayerTara MayaLyra McKenCynthia MeltonKristen MiddletonChrissy PeeblesJeannie RaeSuzanne RobbJulianne SnowRebecca SnowAnna TaborskaAlly ThomasChristine VerstraeteAR VonAnnie Walls (Blackballing the Dead)Jen Wilde

    Now armed and dangerous, she sets out to hunt down the very thing that destroyed her life.That is, until she disappears.Spinoza is a private investigator who specializes in finding the missing. He's good at what he does. Damn good. But he's also a recovering alcoholic and a royal mess. Hired to find Veronica, Spinoza won't let his personal demons — or demons of any kind — get in the way of finding the truth about the missing girl.Now following a bizarre set of clues that leads him into stranger and stranger territory, Spinoza is about to come face-to-face with something legendary...and something hungry for blood.(Please Note: The Vampire With the Dragon Tattoo is approximately 90 manuscript pages, or 22,000 words.)

    When a perky career counselor suggests an open housekeeping position, Deidre knows this could be her only chance for a decent job. She doesn't bother asking many questions...like what the career counselor meant when she said the employer had certain "peculiarities". Deidre is in for a very unpleasant surprise. Not only is her prospective boss a vampire, but he's also cranky, adamantly prefers the telegraph over the telephone and gets dangerous when his prune juice isn't delivered on time. Oh, and he also has a strong fondness for another kind of liquid refreshment, one that he prefers warm and fresh. In this hilarious and satirical short story (approx. 4,300 words), author J. Bennett takes on the wildly popular vampire mythology and gives it a certain grizzled spin. As Deidre will discover, not all vampires are eternally-young , virile romantics who effortlessly keep up with the times. Some of them delight in wearing bow-ties, continue to enthusiastically vote for Eisenhower in each election, and consider the television to be witch magic. Can Deidre make it as a vampire's housekeeper? To find out, she'll first have to survive the job interview!