Deeply disturbing and absolutely riveting. Highly recommended."--Jonathan Maberry, NY Times bestselling author of THE KING OF PLAGUES and PATIENT ZEROHorror writer Bryan Smith, author of Depraved, The Killing Kind, and The Freakshow unleashes an epic work of apocalyptic horror. In DARKENED, a full-length novel of approximately 90,000 words, an infinitude of alternate realities exist side by side. From the dawn of time, each of these alternate realities has been beyond the reach of the others.UNTIL NOW.The wall separating earth and another of the realities crumbles. The fabric of existence itself unravels. Soon an army of winged creatures tears its way into our world, laying waste to the entire planet. But this is only the beginning of the human race’s nightmare. A strange rot begins to infect our world, causing inorganic matter to decay at an accelerated rate. Gleaming modern skyscrapers fall to ruin in a matter of weeks. Cars become rusted hulks.Two other creatures from the alien realm, each far more powerful than the winged warriors who decimated the planet, have also slipped into our world. One exists only to kill and destroy. The other is its ancient enemy and has come to earth in a final attempt to vanquish The Dark One.Some of the surviving humans find themselves used as helpless puppets by the opposing forces. They are pawns in a larger game destined to end in a final showdown that will determine the ultimate fate of the world.Emily Sinclair, a Nashville singer-songwriter, is no puppet. She survives through a combination of guts and sheer luck. She and Jake Dunham soon find themselves caring for an orphaned little girl named Abby. But there is more to Abby than meets the eye.Warren Hatcher is Emily’s ex. On the day the world dies, he and his current girlfriend, Amanda, begin a journey south to reach her family. But things go awry and Warren is soon propelled in another direction--back to his former hometown of Nashville.Jeff Wheeler is an ordinary man, a mechanic who also lives in Nashville. Something strange happens to him in the wake of the alien invasion. He is now Captain Flash Wheeler, the One True God. And he has a new purpose.To walk down Salvation Road on Judgment Day.

    You throw a party to end all parties. A party that will last for days. A party where debauchery knows no bounds. A party where the guests are expendable…God help those unwitting souls who wind up on the guest list. In another time, long ago, the multi-millionaire party hosts might have been called Libertines. Or Philanderers, Sensualists, or Scoundrels… ‘Psychotic’ is probably more fitting.Although Sebastian and Richard prefer to be known as Splatterpunks, if you please.Warning from the author: This novel is my most disturbed and twisted offering yet. It is EXTREME horror. I cannot stress this enough, please turn away now if you are of sane mind and do not enjoy vivid descriptions of violent orgies and human cruelty.

    The playground, like childhood itself, is a nightmare of torment and vulnerability; Charles fears his sensitive son will be destroyed there just as he almost was so many years ago.Underhill's sister Carol, who has moved in to help raise the young boy after his mother passed away, feels differently. The playground, she believes, is preparation for life, Jim will survive the experience, she feels, and he will be the better for it and more equipped to deal with the rigor and obligation of adult existence.Underhill is caught between his own fear and his sister's invocation of reason and feels paralyzed. A mysterious boy calls out to him from the playground, and seems to know all too well why Underhill is there and what the source of his agony really is. A mysterious Manager also lurks to whom the strange boy directs Underhill. An agreement can be made perhaps this is what the boy tells Underhill. Perhaps Jim can be spared the playground, but of course, a substitute must be found.

    Rushing to the aid of his fallen co-worker Max knew one thing, it wasn't a heart attack. Heart attack victims didn't bleed and didn't start chewing on anyone they could catch either. Once the victims died they came back to life with only one goal; to consume the living. Now Max was stuck in a rapidly deteriorating situation thirty miles from home, where his wife and two kids were sleeping away the warm mid summer morning. He had to get back to his family and get them to a safe place, if he could find one. Forming a group made up of his coworkers Steve and Tom and a police officer called 'Stewart' they make their way into the city to save the ones they love. The newly returned, however, were not all mindless shamblers and some of them had a plan...

    ClubA Washington Post Notable BookAn NPR Great Read of 2013From the author of the novel Swamplandia!—a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize—comes a magical and uniquely daring collection of stories that showcases the author’s gifts at their inimitable best. Within these pages, a community of girls held captive in a Japanese silk factory slowly transmute into human silkworms and plot revolution; a group of boys stumble upon a mutilated scarecrow that bears an uncanny resemblance to a missing classmate that they used to torment; a family’s disastrous quest for land in the American West has grave consequences; and in the marvelous title story, two vampires in a sun-drenched lemon grove try to slake their thirst for blood and come to terms with their immortal relationship.Vampires in the lemon grove --Reeling for the Empire --Seagull army descends on Strong Beach, 1979 --Proving up --Barn at the end of our term --Dougbert Shackleton's rules for Antarctic tailgating --New veterans --Graveless doll of Eric Mutis

    He’s been hired by a ten-year-old to kill the kid’s stepdad, McKinsey. The man in question is abusive, abrasive, and abominable. He’s also a monster, which makes Persons the perfect thing to hunt him. Over the course of his ancient, arcane existence, he’s hunted gods and demons, and broken them in his teeth.As Persons investigates the horrible McKinsey, he realizes that he carries something far darker. He’s infected with an alien presence, and he’s spreading that monstrosity far and wide. Luckily Persons is no stranger to the occult, being an ancient and magical intelligence himself. The question is whether the private dick can take down the abusive stepdad without releasing the holds on his own horrifying potential.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

    Every action counts. As the brothers make alliances and learn to defend themselves and their home against an unthinkable enemy, choices are made, some with devastating consequences. In the midst of this nightmarish fight to survive, Matt begins to learn what is truly important to him, and exactly what it means to be human.

    A pair of medical examiners find themselves facing a dead man who won’t stay dead.It spreads quickly. In a Midwestern trailer park, an African American teenage girl and a Muslim immigrant battle newly-risen friends and family.On a US aircraft carrier, living sailors hide from dead ones while a fanatic preaches the gospel of a new religion of death.At a cable news station, a surviving anchor keeps broadcasting, not knowing if anyone is watching, while his undead colleagues try to devour him.In DC, an autistic federal employee charts the outbreak, preserving data for a future that may never come.Everywhere, people are targeted by both the living and the dead.We think we know how this story ends.We. Are. Wrong.

    These are some of those stories. This collection of six short stories from a world ravaged by the LZR-1143 virus tell the tale of six different people, all of whom fell victim, in different ways, to the deadly plague. From the pilot of a commercial aircraft, overwhelmed in midair, to the lonely soldier stranded high above a world of the undead, the six characters each face their own fears and mortality in different ways. This 20,000 word short-story collection features a unique selection of characters from the original zombie novel by Bryan James, LZR-1143: Infection, and from the recently released sequel, LZR-1143: Evolution. Each character appears only fleetingly in the longer novels, but each has their own unique thread in the LZR-1143 storyline, all of which are exposed in these short excerpts from their final hours alive. The collection includes The Pilot, The Boy, The Inmate, The Fry Cook, The Subway Passenger, and The Sniper. In The Pilot, a commercial aviator sees his last flight end in a way he never could have imagined. In The Boy, a family trip is cut short, and a lonely homecoming is not at all as he anticipated. We see the surprising genesis and true identity of a traveling companion in The Inmate, while The Fry Cook reveals the final moments of a teenage fast food worker. In The Subway Passenger, we learn that in the case of zombie apocalypse, you’d probably rather be aboveground. And in The Sniper, the surprising truth that there are some fates that cannot be fought, even with a fifty caliber rifle.

    A young girl named Temple is on the run. Haunted by her past and pursued by a killer, Temple is surrounded by death and danger, hoping to be set free.For twenty-five years, civilization has survived in meager enclaves, guarded against a plague of the dead. Temple wanders this blighted landscape, keeping to herself - and keeping her demons inside. She can't remember a time before the zombies, but she does remember an old man who took her in and the younger brother she cared for until the tragedy that set her on a personal journey toward redemption. Moving back and forth between the insulated remnants of society and the brutal frontier beyond, Temple must decide where ultimately to make a home and find the salvation she seeks.

    An experiment has gone horribly wrong and threatens to wipe all traces of humanity from Earth. 3rd Ranger Battalion, Bravo Company is sent in to assist, clean up the mess before it gets out of control.They've vanished.Sean Ryder is an Air Force Pararescueman. Attached to SEAL Team 8, he believes he is on a routine rescue and recovery mission. Less than half an hour after landing in Nigeria, he knows that is not the case. And the further his mission leads him, the harder it becomes to get out alive.Patient Zero is the first book in the zombie apocalypse / post-apocalyptic series Affliction Z.

    When loner David Thorpe tried to help his English teacher to safety, the teacher convulsed and died right in front of him. And that was just the beginning.A year later, McKinley has descended into chaos. All the students are infected with a virus that makes them deadly to adults. The school is under military quarantine. The teachers are gone. Violent gangs have formed based on high school social cliques. Without a gang, you’re as good as dead. And David has no gang. It’s just him and his little brother, Will, against the whole school.

    All silly’n ever-lovin’ HORNY. Cain’t control their urges fer the life of ’em…” And Easter has sure learned that the hard way. But she's got a way fix things with her husband. And Noot is sure gonna find out just how much his wife loves him. Because Easter's Old Grandpop had some secrets himself and hidden within the ancient pages, kept in a beaten old binder handed down to his loving granddaughter, lies a gateway to the darkest magic the world has ever known—a magic that will let Noot know that Easter will do anything to keep their love whole. Poor old Noot…he's about to find out just how much Easter means it when she says… YOU ARE MY EVERYTHING

     Papa says everyone has a story that deserves to be told. Most begin years ago, after the second bomb hit, unearthing a deadly contagion that divided the population into the pure, the infected, and the Ragers. Many recount the moment we rose up from the ashes and started anew. Others tell of the day we built a wall to keep them out. For some, they’re nothing more than the vestiges left behind—a simple name carved into the knotty bark of a Juniper tree. My story begins with a boy. A mute, from the other side of the wall, known only as Six, who touched my heart in ways that words never could, and gave me the courage to face my darkest truth. Juniper Unraveling is a full-length standalone romance set in a post-apocalyptic world.

    She was wrong.A single bite changed her life forever.She’d spent years pushing people away, but to survive as the world spiraled into an apocalypse would be impossible alone. So, when her estranged brother offered to help get her to safety she accepted.Now she just had to make it to the pickup location. The clock was ticking. The sick are hunting. And the infection was spreading.Can she survive long enough to reach the safety of the bunker?The outbreak is just the beginning…You’ll love this remarkable twist on the zombie/dystopian adventure. This novella is a prequel to the novel After the Outbreak.