Book picks similar to
A Town Called Suckhole by David W. Barbee
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The New Dead: A Zombie Anthology
Christopher GoldenRick Hautala - 2010
They hide in back yards, car lots, shopping malls. They devour neighbors, dogs and police officers. And they are here to stay. The real question is, what are you going to do about it? How will you survive?How will the world change when the dead begin to rise? Stoker-award-winning author Christopher Golden has assembled an original anthology of never-before-published zombie stories from an eclectic array of today's hottest writers. Inside there are stories about military might in the wake of an outbreak, survival in a wasted wasteland, the ardor of falling in love with a zombie, and a family outing at the circus. Here is a collection of new views on death and resurrection.With stories from Joe Hill, John Connolly, Max Brooks, Kelley Armstrong, Tad Williams, David Wellington, David Liss, Aimee Bender, Jonathan Maberry, and many others, this is a wildly diverse and entertaining collection... the last word on The New Dead.
Don of the Living Dead
Robert DeCoteau - 2011
He must brave the savage streets to escape downtown Seattle in order to save his six-year-old son and his cruelly, vindictive ex-wife, but first he has to figure out how to escape the zombie standing outside the door of his bathroom stall.This tale is packed with dark humor, gratuitous gore, and extreme violence. It's a nonstop, action packed thrill ride. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll run screaming in terror!Come on people how many more cliches do you need? It's a book about zombies; buy it, love it, and recommend it to your friends.
LIFEL1K3
Jay Kristoff - 2018
With her best friend and her robotic sidekick in tow, she and Ezekiel will trek across deserts of irradiated glass, battle cyborg assassins, and scour abandoned megacities to save the ones she loves and learn the dark secrets of her past.
Fever
Deon Meyer - 2016
They are among the few in South Africa--and the world, as far as they know--to have survived a devastating virus which has swept through the country. Their world turned upside down, Nico realizes that his superb marksmanship and cool head mean he is destined to be his father's protector, even though he is still only a boy.But Willem Storm, though not a fighter, is both a thinker and a leader, a wise and compassionate man with a vision for a new community that survivors will rebuild from the ruins. And so Amanzi is founded, drawing Storm's -homeless and tempest-tost---starting with Melinda Swanevelder, whom they rescued from brutal thugs; Hennie Flaai, with his vital Cessna plane; Beryl Fortuin, with her ragtag group of orphans; and Domingo, the man with the tattooed hand, whom Nico knows immediately is someone you want on your side. And then there is Sofia Bergman, the most beautiful girl that Nico has ever seen, who changes everything.So the community grows--and with each step forward, as resources increase, so do the challenges they must face--not just from the attacks of biker brigands, but also from within. As Nico undergoes an extraordinary rite of passage in this new world, he experiences hardship and heartbreak and has his loyalty tested to its limits. Looking back later in life, he recounts the events that led to the greatest rupture of all--the hunt for the murderer of the person he loves most.An exhilarating new standalone from the author of the internationally bestselling Benny Griessel thriller series, Fever is a gripping epic like nothing else Meyer has written before.
Borne
Jeff VanderMeer - 2017
Mord once prowled the corridors of the biotech organization known as the Company, which lies at the outskirts of the city, until he was experimented on, grew large, learned to fly and broke free. Driven insane by his torture at the Company, Mord terrorizes the city even as he provides sustenance for scavengers like Rachel.At first, Borne looks like nothing at all—just a green lump that might be a Company discard. The Company, although severely damaged, is rumoured to still make creatures and send them to distant places that have not yet suffered Collapse.Borne somehow reminds Rachel of the island nation of her birth, now long lost to rising seas. She feels an attachment she resents; attachments are traps, and in this world any weakness can kill you. Yet when she takes Borne to her subterranean sanctuary, the Balcony Cliffs, Rachel convinces her lover, Wick, not to render Borne down to raw genetic material for the drugs he sells—she cannot break that bond.Wick is a special kind of supplier, because the drug dealers in the city don’t sell the usual things. They sell tiny creatures that can be swallowed or stuck in the ear, and that release powerful memories of other people’s happier times or pull out forgotten memories from the user’s own mind—or just produce beautiful visions that provide escape from the barren, craterous landscapes of the city.Against his better judgment, out of affection for Rachel or perhaps some other impulse, Wick respects her decision. Rachel, meanwhile, despite her loyalty to Wick, knows he has kept secrets from her. Searching his apartment, she finds a burnt, unreadable journal titled “Mord,” a cryptic reference to the Magician (a rival drug dealer) and evidence that Wick has planned the layout of the Balcony Cliffs to match the blueprint of the Company building. What is he hiding? Why won’t he tell her about what happened when he worked for the Company?
Mutation Z: The Ebola Zombies
Marilyn Peake - 2014
Some mutations are worse than others.Ebola, one of the most feared of the hemorrhagic diseases, has begun spreading across the borders of West African countries. The CDC and the World Health Organization have admitted they are losing control over the disease. Some hint at a possible worldwide pandemic.At exactly this point in time, Emma Johnson graduates from nursing school. She takes a job in an Ebola treatment camp inside Liberia, West Africa. The camp is state-of-the-art. It's run by the CDC and the World Health Organization, and protected by the U.S. military.Emma uncovers a secret about this facility: medical experimentation is being conducted along with treatment. Whether or not Emma ever manages to escape the camp, she's determined to get the story out. She has intimate knowledge of a biological horror being secretly unleashed upon the world.Mutation Z: The Ebola Zombies is the first book in the Mutation Z series. NOVELETTE. GENRES: Zombie Fiction, Apocalyptic Science Fiction, Conspiracy Fiction, Horror.“It looked like exactly the kind of book that I'm interested in and I was right! I read it in a single sitting, as I couldn't possibly put it down, and it was the realism that hooked me from the start...I am VERY excited to hear that this novelette will be growing into a series! Especially because of the ending that leaves you with buggy eyes and an impressive jaw gape.” – Rebecca Engelmann, Sister Sinister Speaks Blog“The plot sucked me in, as it was well done and believable. This take on the pandemic angle was well done, and…interesting to see a zombie outbreak from start. I have to say this kept me on the edge of my seat, and made me want to wash my hands repeatedly.” – Shandy Jo at Mama Knows Books“Marilyn Peake is well known for pushing the envelope of sci-fi writing, and this offering is no different. Starkly relevant, this zombie short reads like a case file, a diary of a witness to this apocalypse, plausibly believable as far as zombie fiction goes, and as it is one of my favourite genres, I have read a lot!” – Rachel Dove, Kindle Book Reviewer“Wow. Powerful writing whisks you away, drops you into a dirty, steamy camp in West Africa, and bombards you with conspiracies, horror, and real life characters who could walk off the pages.” – Laura, FUONLYKNEW Blog“One of the best parts about Mutation Z was the virus itself. Not only is it scary because it deals with Ebola but also because it only works during the full moon. Any other time of day and those injected with the serum would seem just as normal as you or me making them perfect carriers or weapons to spread the virus far and wide.” – Kristin at Blood, Sweat and Books“This conspiracy, horror novella scared the bejesus out of me. It started out fast and never let up. Every time I turned around, something was there to creep me out. I mean, think about it, a highly infectious disease is lurking, just waiting for you to make a mistake. A conspiracy is operating behind closed doors and when Emma stumbles in there is no turning back. I love this series and would highly recommend it to all horror lovers.” – Sherry Fundin, Blogger and Reviewer
The Wolf Road
Beth Lewis - 2016
She was just seven years old, wandering lost and hungry in the wilderness, when the solitary hunter took her in. In the years since then, he's taught her how to survive in this desolate land where civilization has been destroyed and men are at the mercy of the elements and each other.But the man Elka thought she knew has been harboring a terrible secret. He's a killer. A monster. And now that Elka knows the truth, she may be his next victim.Armed with nothing but her knife and the hard lessons Trapper's drilled into her, Elka flees into the frozen north in search of her real parents. But judging by the trail of blood dogging her footsteps, she hasn't left Trapper behind--and he won't be letting his little girl go without a fight. If she's going to survive, Elka will have to turn and confront not just him, but the truth about the dark road she's been set on.The Wolf Road is an intimate cat-and-mouse tale of revenge and redemption, played out against a vast, unforgiving landscape--told by an indomitable young heroine fighting to escape her past and rejoin humanity.
Half Way Home
Hugh Howey - 2010
The colony ship they arrived on is aflame. The rest of their contingent is dead. They've only received half their training, and they are being asked to conquer an entire planet. Before they can, however, they must first survive each other. In this gritty tale of youths struggling to survive, Hugh Howey fuses the best of young adult fantasy with the piercing social commentary of speculative fiction. The result is a book that begs to be read in a single sitting. An adventurous romp that will leave readers exhausted and begging for more.
The Skook
J.P. Miller - 1984
Fleeing from a motorcycle gang, alienated, middle-aged Spanish Barrman escapes into a hidden cave and finds himself entombed in an underground labyrinth inhabited by the wondrous Skook.
The Longest Night
K.M. Fawkes - 2018
History of blood clots? Cholesterol clogging up the old ticker? There was a nanobot for that. It wasn’t cheap of course, and everyone knew that new technology had bugs in it. But hey, why not let the rich be the guinea pigs for once? Fast-forward a year, and the one percent began dying en masse. The nanobots had evolved to view ageing as a virus, and were reacting by shutting down the host. Swathes of the population were infected before the government rolled out a treatment program, in the midst of riots and mass unrest. Meanwhile, the nanomachines spread like wildfire, infecting and killing millions. The remains of the government had no choice but to detonate a series of experimental weapons in the atmosphere, producing an EMP effect which rendered almost all electronic devices on Earth useless. Bradley is one of the survivors. A former veterinarian, he decides to escape his burning city and trek deep into the Maine wilderness, aiming to find his estranged father’s old lake house. Remembering lessons learned and long forgotten, Bradley endeavors to survive on his own terms, and be self-sufficient in a new and altogether darker world. But his struggle has only just begun. This is the first book in K. M. Fawkes’ Enter Darkness series, a post-apocalyptic EMP series of books.
Scorch Atlas
Blake Butler - 2009
Entire neighborhoods drown in mud, glass rains from the sky, birds speak gibberish, and parents of young children disappear. Millions starve while others grow coats of mold. But a few are able to survive and find a light in the aftermath, illuminating what we’ve become. In "The Disappeared", a father is arrested for missing free throws, leaving his son to search alone for his lost mother. A boy swells to fill his parents’ ransacked attic in "The Ruined Child". Rendered in a variety of narrative forms, from a psychedelic fable to a skewed insurance claim questionnaire, Blake Butler’s full-length fiction debut paints a gorgeously grotesque version of America, bringing to mind both Kelly Link and William H. Gass, yet imbued with Butler's own vision of the apocalyptic and bizarre.
Brew
David Estes - 2014
During the slaughter, Rhett Carter's foster parents and sister are killed, and his best friend and girlfriend are abducted by a gang of witches calling themselves the Necromancers, who deal in the dark magic of raising the dead. Rhett’s sword-wielding neighbor with a mysterious past saves Rhett from becoming another casualty of the massacre and teaches him the skills he needs to survive in this new world.Rhett is broken, his normal high school life of book blogging and football playing shoved in a witch-apocalyptic blender. The only thing he has left is his burning desire for revenge. Armed with his new witch hunting skills and a loyal, magic powered dog named Hex, he sets out into the unknown with one mission: hunt and destroy those who took away everyone he ever loved. But Rhett isn’t just a witch hunter; he has secrets of his own that he has yet to discover, secrets that his enemies will stop at nothing to keep him from.And discovering the truth about himself is the human race’s only hope.
Sudden Chaos
T.L. Payne - 2019
A desperate race. So much at stake. Erick Wynn is about to be a new father. He and his wife, Amy, have prepared for nationwide financial collapse, but they never planned for coordinated EMP and Cyber Attacks to leave them separated, without power, communications or transportation. Erick had just arrived at the airport to head off on a business trip when the lights went out. Now, he must fight his way through the violent streets of Chicago to make it home to his wife and unborn child before the violence reaches them. Could you survive sudden chaos storming through the windy city to get home to your family? Sudden Chaos is a post-apocalyptic EMP survival short story of The Days of Want Series and contains a FREE two-chapter preview of Turbulent, book one in the series.
The Pesthouse
Jim Crace - 2007
In The Pesthouse he imagines an America of the future where a man and a woman trek across a devastated and dangerous landscape, finding strength in each other and an unexpected love.
Once the safest, most prosperous place on earth, the United States is now a lawless, scantly populated wasteland. The machines have stopped. The government has collapsed. Farmlands lie fallow and the soil is contaminated by toxins. Across the country, families have packed up their belongings to travel eastward toward the one hope left: passage on a ship to Europe.Franklin Lopez and his brother, Jackson, are only days away from the ocean when Franklin, nearly crippled by an inflamed knee, is forced to stop. In the woods near his temporary refuge, Franklin comes upon an isolated stone building. Inside he finds Margaret, a woman with a deadly infection and confined to the Pesthouse to sweat out her fever. Tentatively, the two join forces and make their way through the ruins of old America. Confronted by bandits rounding up men for slavery, finding refuge in the Ark, a religious community that makes bizarre demands on those they shelter, Franklin and Margaret find their wariness of each other replaced by deep trust and an intimacy neither one has ever experienced before.The Pesthouse is Jim Crace’s most compelling novel to date. Rich in its understanding of America’s history and ethos, it is a paean to the human spirit.
The Birth Of The Peacekeepers
Ricky Sides - 2009
A rogue nation decides to take advantage of the chaos at this time to attack America with nuclear weapons. The American intelligence network learns of the plan and the government decides to launch a first strike at this rogue nation. This information leaks out to other nations and soon the world is poised on the brink of all out nuclear conflagration as the nuclear nations choose sides in the coming conflict. As the militaries of the world go underground in preparation for the attack most of the world is blissfully ignorant of what is about to happen. There are a few exceptions to this. The civilians that are aware make plans to try to survive the attack as well. As the moment for the attack draws near, the disaster plagued planet is beset by earthquakes of unprecedented intensity and numbers. Oddly the epicenters seem to be located at every major military installation around the world. (It is implied and hinted at that divine intervention has saved mankind from nuclear war, though it is never outright stated.) When the survivors of the earthquakes look around them the next morning they see a world drastically changed. A few men and women struggle to cope with the devastation as best they can but many turn to marauding as a means of survival. Preying on any people they encounter they slaughter any that oppose them as they take anything they want. A few of the survivors band together to protect those weaker than themselves.Jim Wilison: Martial arts expert trained in survival techniques. Superb marksman. Gifted martial artist. Tactical training for leadership. Sniper skills.Patricia Huxley: 28 year old woman who was a Child prodigy specializing in computer programming.Tim Wilison: 13 year army corps of engineers. Demolition specialist, pilot of small single engine aircraft as a hobby. Marksman, student of military battle tactics.Lina: A free spirited woman dead set on exploring the country to see what is left. Rescued by Jim and trained extensively.Lacey Carteen: A woman trying to raise her eight year old son in the post cataclysmic setting. Rescued by Jim. Learned survival training from Jim. Becomes a stabilizing influence in his life.Evan Carteen: 8 year old son of Lacey who helps heal an old wound in Jim's soul and in the process make him a better man.Pete Damroyal: Aging veteran of Vietnam war era. Sniper. guerilla warfare specialist. Organized large survival group in Chicago Illinois. Superb tactician. Hand to hand combat specialist. Leader of the survival group.Maggie Peterson: An attractive woman in her mid thirties with short black hair worn in a short shag. Maggie had been a trauma care specialist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago who was known for her volatile temper and her at times unorthodox approach to saving lives. She had been brought up on charges upon three separate occasions for deviating from protocol. In each case her unorthodox approach saved the lives of her patients whereas following the protocols would have failed to do so therefore the Chief of Staff ordered the incorporation of her new techniques into standard treatment protocols.