I am a quiet horror and apocalyptic fiction author with a love for all Horror, but I started with zombies. I have eight published books (three of which are zombie apocalypse novels) and short stories in a handful of zombie anthologies. My favorite movies (Dawn of the Dead remake, 28 Days Later, Shaun of the Dead, Rammbock: Berlin Undead) populate the zombie subgenre. I’ve participated in several zombie walks, written a zombie song and made a music video for it, and done zombie wound special effects makeup. Several of my plague short stories have won awards, including one about Norwegian sea zombies and another about a child-stealing plague.
Ian Ward can’t tell you what it’s like to survive a zombie apocalypse because he is dying in one. From a closet in a second-floor bedroom of an abandoned house, he recounts his tale of “survival” in a backwards journey through the poor choices that put him there.
In an undead world, death is only one mistake away. Mistakes I Made During the Zombie Apocalypse is the anti-survival guide that just might keep you alive.
I loved Day by Day Armageddon because it puts us, through his journal at the end of the world, into a man’s shoes who is far more prepared for zombies than most of us would be. Usually we hear about average citizens trying to make a go at survival, but the main character has military training and that offers a unique, specialized perspective. However, he still has his own struggles, reminding us we are all human at the end of the day, well, unless the zombies got us! The author is retired military which also lends to believability for the tactical aspects. This was one of the books that inspired me to write zombie fiction and specifically to write a first-person account.
The Rising is, in my opinion, required zombie plague novel reading in that it touches on a bit of everything! An interesting source story for the plague, zombie animals, a multi-state trek, family bonds, bag guys, even intelligent zombies. Though many of us don’t enjoy that last aspect, it makes for many especially high-tension moments. Keene has a few other books I also really loved. Read this one if you want some crazy situations that will stay with you for years after you’ve read them. I’ll never forget the zoo.
The classic that helped start a pop culture phenomenon - back in print and UNCUT!
Since it's 2003 debut, Brian Keene's THE RISING is one of the best-selling zombie novels of all-time. It has been translated into over a dozen languages, inspired the works of other authors and filmmakers, and has become a cultural touchstone for an entire generation of horror fans.
THE RISING is the story of Jim Thurmond, a determined father battling his way across a post-apocalyptic zombie landscape, to find his young son. Accompanied by Martin, a preacher still holding to his faith, and Frankie, a recovering…
This is how the robot wars begin. Just kidding, but it’s not too far off. As someone glued to my phone for large portions of my day, the technological plague that befalls the world in this book really frightened me. One pulse to rule them all, or at least turn them into maniacal killers! I don’t read a lot of King, but I’m so glad I picked up this one. It’s got pack mentality and hive mind elements, lots of violence, and feels really bleak.
'Civilization slipped into its second dark age on an unsurprising track of blood but with a speed that could not have been foreseen by even the most pessimistic futurist. By Halloween, every major city from New York to Moscow stank to the empty heavens and the world as it had been was a memory.'
The event became known as The Pulse. The virus was carried by every cell phone operating within the entire world. Within hours, those receiving calls would be infected.
A young artist Clayton Riddell realises what is happening. He flees the devastation…
Germ is an intriguing look at how a plague can be weaponized. We follow the bio-terrorist act of a modified form of Ebola that targets people of a specific genetic makeup. Ebola scares the hell out of me because it really exists and pockets of it still spring up around the world. I loved this book for how descriptive it was and how real it felt. This book isn’t so well known, but it deserves more attention. If you liked The Andromeda Strain or if you just want a somewhat gross (ebola is a messy disease!), thriller-type story you’ll enjoy this one.
The list of 10,000 names was created for maximum devastation. Business leaders, housewives, politicians, celebrities, janitors, children. None of them is aware of what is about to happen--but all will be part of the most frightening brand of warfare the world has ever known.
The germ--an advanced form of the Ebola virus--has been genetically engineered to infect only those people whose DNA matches the codes embedded within it. Those whose DNA is not a match simply catch a cold. But those who are a match experience a far worse fate.…
Possibly one of the best plague books I’ve read, Infected introduces us to an extraterrestrial-created epidemic that soon spreads worldwide. Amazing points of view including scientists with the CDC trying real-time to figure it all out as bodies dissolve in front of them and a pro footballer who is determined to survive even if it means he loses some flesh in the process. Gruesome descriptions, tense action. Thank goodness it’s a trilogy because you’ll want more after the first book.
Scott Sigler is the voice in modern horror - and the INFECTED trilogy is a terrifying, menacing series that will leave you sleepless.
The alien intelligence that unleashed two horrific assaults on humanity has been destroyed. But before it was brought down in flames, it launched one last payload - a tiny soda-can-sized canister filled with germs engineered to wreak new forms of havoc on the human race. That harmless-looking canister has languished under thousands of feet of water for years, undisturbed and impotent . . . until now.
Days after the new disease is unleashed, a quarter of the…
Virologist Dr. Rachel Bisette sees visions of a Kachina and remembers the plane crash that killed her parents and the Dine medicine woman who saved her life. Rachel is investigating a new and lethal hantavirus spreading through the Four Corners, and believes the Kachina is calling her to join the work against the spreading pandemic.
She finds Eva Yellow Horn, a medicine woman with the key to fighting the pandemic. When Eva demonstrates ancient healing powers beyond science, Rachel recognizes her as the medicine woman who saved her life years before. Eva reveals that Rachel’s father was investigating the 1979 nuclear disaster in Church Rock, when his plane crashed, killing her parents. Now, Rachel undertakes a new investigation, but she is not alone.
“Visions of kachinas guide doctor to spiritual healing in pandemic.”
2014 Finalist in the Willa Literary Award
This is a book that once closed and last line read, my mind wandered to explore certain character motivations and potential follow-up responses. I don’t think an author has to answer every possibility, art comes into play best when the reader’s own imagination can wander within the story.
Dr. Rachel Bisette is drawn to the Four Corners to lead the search for a vaccine against a lethal pandemic. One elusive indigenous woman, Eva Yellow Horn, carries the gift of immunity. In her search…
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