With last nights PREMIER episode of:
I thought it was fitting that we should have a book list that reflected our OBSESSION with all things DEAD WALKING.
Zombies are taking over POP CULTURE!
Like most of you, I, to, am addicted to all things Zombie. This is why, with the premier of Fear the Walking Dead, I thought that, skeptically, I might get a break from my need for The Walking Dead.
While Fear the Walking Dead, was a unique spin to the happenings that lead to the situations in The Walking Dead... it still left me weak and raw and seeking salvation that can only lie in a few good zombie books!
Read.
Reading is one of my favorite hobbies!
So, grab your phone, iPad, Tablet and open that Kindle or Nook app and enter the
zombie apocalypse!
1. DEAD OF NIGHT BY JONATHAN MABERRY
A prison doctor injects a condemned serial killer with a formula designed to keep his consciousness awake while his body rots in the grave. But all drugs have unforeseen side-effects. Before he could be buried, the killer wakes up.
Hungry. Infected. Contagious.
This is the way the world ends.
Not with a bang…but a bite.
2. THE FIRST DAYS BY RHIANNON FRATER
The morning that the world ends, Katie is getting ready for court and housewife Jenni is taking care of her family. Less than two hours later, they are fleeing for their lives from a zombie horde.
Thrown together by circumstance, Jenni and Katie become a powerful zombie-killing partnership, mowing down zombies as they rescue Jenni’s stepson, Jason, from an infected campground.
They find sanctuary in a tiny, roughly fortified Texas town. There Jenni and Katie find they are both attracted to Travis, leader of the survivors; and the refugees must slaughter people they know, who have returned in zombie form.
3. THE REAPERS ARE THE ANGELS BY ALDEN BELL
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 her heart. 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.
4. APOCALYPSE Z: THE BEGINNING OF THE END BY MANEL LOUREIRO
A mysterious incident in Russia, a blip buried in the news—it’s the only warning humanity receives that civilization will soon be destroyed by a single, voracious virus that creates monsters of men. Humanity falls… A lawyer, still grieving over the death of his young wife, begins to write as a form of therapy.
But he never expected that his anonymous blog would ultimately record humanity’s last days.
The end of the world has begun… Governments scramble to stop the zombie virus, people panic, so-called “Safe Havens” are established, the world erupts into chaos; soon it’s every man, woman, and child for themselves.
Armed only with makeshift weapons and the will to live, a lone survivor will give mankind one last chance against…
5. Tooth and Nail by Craig DiLouie
This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang, not with a whimper, but a slaughter. As a new plague related to the rabies virus infects millions, America recalls its military forces from around the world to safeguard hospitals and other vital buildings. Many of the victims become rabid and violent but are easily controlled-that is, until so many are infected that they begin to run amok, spreading slaughter and disease.
Lieutenant Todd Bowman got his unit through the horrors of combat in Iraq. Now he must lead his men across New York through a storm of violence to secure a research facility that may hold a cure. To succeed in this mission to help save what’s left, the men of Charlie Company will face a terrifying battle of survival against the very people they have sworn to protect-people turned into a fearless, endless horde armed solely with tooth and nail.
For the boys of Charlie Company, the zombie apocalypse will give a whole new meaning to the proverb war is hell!
6. THE GATHERING DEAD BY STEPHEN KNIGHT
The Horde Is Always Hungry… The zombie apocalypse has begun, and Major Cordell McDaniels is given the most important mission of his career: lead a Special Forces team into New York City to rescue the one man who can stop the ghastly virus that reanimates the dead.
But as a growing army of flesh-eating corpses takes over the streets and a violent storm renders airborne extraction impossible, McDaniels struggles to find a way out of the Big Apple.
The odds of anyone getting out alive plummet further when slaughtered members of his own Special Forces team join the ranks of the gathering dead… with their military skills intact!
7. DEAD CITY BY JOE MCKINNEY
Battered by five cataclysmic hurricanes in three weeks, the Texas Gulf Coast and half of the Lone Star State is reeling from the worst devastation in history. Thousands are dead or dying – but the worst is only beginning. Amid the wreckage, something unimaginable is happening: a deadly virus has broken out, returning the dead to life – with an insatiable hunger for human flesh…
The Nightmare Begins Within hours, the plague has spread all over Texas.
San Antonio police officer Eddie Hudson finds his city overrun by a voracious army of the living dead. Along with a small group of survivors, Eddie must fight off the savage horde in a race to save his family…
There’s no place to run. No place to hide. The zombie horde is growing as the virus runs rampant.
Eddie knows he has to find a way to destroy these walking horrors…but he doesn’t know the price he will have to pay…
8. THE REMAINING BY D.J. MOLLES
In a steel-and-lead-encased bunker 20 feet below the basement level of his house, a soldier waits for his final orders. On the surface, a plague ravages the planet, infecting over 90% of the populace.
The bacterium burrows through the brain, destroying all signs of humanity and leaving behind little more than base, prehistoric instincts.
The infected turn into hyper-aggressive predators, with an insatiable desire to kill and feed. Some day soon, the soldier will have to open the hatch to his bunker, and step out into this new wasteland, to complete his mission.
9. Ex HEROS BY PETER CLINES
Stealth. Gorgon. Regenerator. Cerberus. Zzzap. The Mighty Dragon. They were heroes, using their superhuman abilities to make Los Angeles a better place. Then the plague of living death spread around the globe. Billions died, civilization fell, and the city of angels was left a desolate zombie wasteland.
Now, a year later, the Mighty Dragon and his companions protect a last few thousand survivors in their film-studio-turned-fortress, the Mount.
Scarred and traumatized by the horrors they’ve endured, the heroes fight the armies of ravenous ex-humans at their citadel’s gates, lead teams out to scavenge for supplies—and struggle to be the symbols of strength and hope the survivors so desperately need. But the hungry ex-humans aren’t the only threats the heroes face. Former allies, their powers and psyches hideously twisted, lurk in the city’s ruins.
And just a few miles away, another group is slowly amassing power . . . led by an enemy with the most terrifying ability of all.
10. TRUDGE BY SHAWN CHESSER
Cade Grayson finds himself separated from his wife and daughter during a viral outbreak; between them are 3000 miles and millions of infected. Cade must form alliances and rely on his military training to run the gauntlet of undead, as well as the living. He must leave Portland, Oregon to locate his family in South Carolina.
Fifteen months after an honorable discharge the disillusioned former Tier-One operator travels east with his less than clean-cut neighbor and two neighbor kids. Meanwhile, his wife Brook is forced to flee the familial home with daughter Raven in tow. Humans bent on taking advantage of other humans are as much a threat as the newly risen walking corpses.
Incommunicado and desperate for any information about the outbreak’s spread, Cade must chart the right course on his trudge to reunite with his family.
11. NO EASY HOPE BY JAMES N. COOK
Eric Riordan was once a wealthy man leading a comfortable, easy life. Until one day Gabriel–his oldest friend, a Marine Corps veteran, and a former mercenary–told him how the world was going to end. He did his best to prepare.
He thought he was ready for anything. He was wrong. As the dead rise up to devour the living, one man finds himself struggling to survive in the ruins of a shattered world. Alone, isolated, and facing starvation, his only chance is to flee to the Appalachians and join forces with Gabriel.
But the journey will not be easy, and along the way his humanity, his will to live, and his very soul will be tested.
This is the beginning.
This is his story.
12. COMES THE DARK BY PATRICK D’ORAZIO
The end came with a whimper, not a bang. The virus engulfed the world in a matter of days. The infected die…and then rise again. Governments collapsed, armies disappeared, and entire civilizations turned to dust as the human race tore itself to pieces.
Jeff Blaine had a good life: a beautiful wife, adorable children, and a nice house in the suburbs. He liked his job, loved his family, and spent his lazy suburban Sundays out on the deck, barbecuing with the neighbors. Things were perfect, until everything fell apart. And no matter how hard Jeff tried, he could not spare his family from the horrors scratching at the door.
Now, with his family gone and his life in ruins, the only thing left is raw anger and pain. As the world continues to sink into darkness, Jeff does as well. So he ventures out into the desolation with no better plan than to destroy as many of the monsters that stole his life away before they destroy him as well. But soon Jeff will discover other survivors unwilling to give up. They will force him to decide whether or not to give in to the venom that gnaws at his soul. Should he continue to fight to survive, or succumb to the things that come with the dark?
13. SIX FEET FROM HELL: RESPONSE BY JOSEPH COLEY
Six feet from hell is where it all started.
A coal mine accident in the hills of Southwest Virginia has unleashed a deadly toxin that not only kills the living, it brings them back as ravenous zombies.
Follow the men that try to escape the chaos in the first book of the Six Feet From Hell series.
14. WHITE FLAG OF THE DEAD BY JOE TALLUTO
Millions died when the Enillo Virus swept the earth.
Millions more were lost when the victims of the plague refused to stay dead, instead rising to slay and feed on those left alive.
For survivors like John Talon and his son Jake, they are faced with a choice: Do they submit to the dead, raising the white flag of surrender? Or do they find the will to fight, to try and hang on to the last shreds or humanity?
15. ZOMBIE FALLOUT BY MARK TUFO
It started in a lab at the CDC (Center for Disease Control), virologists were so relieved to finally have an effective vaccination against the virulent swine flu. Pressure to come up with something had come from the highest office in the land. In an attempt at speed the virologists had made two mistakes, first they used a live virus and second they didn’t properly test for side effects.
Within days hundreds of thousands of vaccinations shipped across the US and the world. People lined up for the shots, like they were waiting in line for concert tickets. Fights broke out in drugstores as fearful throngs tried their best to get one of the limited shots. Within days the CDC knew something was wrong. Between 4 and 7 hours of receiving the shot roughly 95% succumbed to the active H1N1 virus in the vaccination. More unfortunate than the death of the infected was the added side effect of reanimation, it would be a decade before scientists were able to ascertain how that happened.
The panic that followed couldn’t be measured. Loved ones did what loved ones always do, they tried to comfort, their kids or their spouses or their siblings, but what came back was not human not even remotely. Those people that survived their first encounter with these monstrosities usually did not come through unscathed, if bitten they had fewer than 6 hours of humanity left, the clock was ticking. During the first few hysteria ridden days of The Coming as it has become known, many thought the virus was airborne, luckily that was not the case or nobody would have survived. It was a dark time in human history. One from which we may never be able to pull ourselves out of the ashes from.
16. THE CURE BY BELINDA FRISCH
Dr. Howard Nixon’s medical research has him dabbling in the undead and has the women of Strandville disappearing. Desperate to find a cure for the lethal virus which turns its victims into zombies, Nixon kidnaps Miranda Penton, a security recruit with a past that won’t let her go. He doesn’t count on anyone coming looking for her, least of all her ex-husband, Scott.
A warning call brings Scott to Strandville where he bands together with a team of locals determined to bring their own loved ones home. Together, they infiltrate Nixon’s staff, hatching a plan that releases not only the surviving women, but the virus on those left in the hospital. Nixon locks down the center to contain the spread, turning patients, visitors, and staff into a dangerous horde that is almost impossible to escape.
Miranda and the others fight for their lives. The town of Strandville is ground zero for the zombie apocalypse and Miranda must get free because the fate of humanity lies with her unborn child.
17. NECROPOLIS NOW BY VINCENZO BILOF
Detroit has become a war zone.
Slow, shambling corpses feast upon the living while fire consumes the city. Amparo Vega, a haunted mercenary, fights through streets that are choked with the dead. Her mission: extract the legendary soldier, Jim Traverse, who holds the terrifying secret behind the zombie epidemic.
While the bullets fly, Traverse befriends a group of survivors whose fates are forever linked to his: an infamous arms dealer, a young lawyer, and a former detective struggle against the zombies together.
Can Vega’s elite cadre of mercenaries find Traverse before the epidemic becomes global?
18. TALES OF THE FORGOTTEN BY W.J. LUNDY
Tales of The Forgotten an introduction into the life of Staff Sergeant Brad Thompson’s apocalyptic world. The radio goes quiet while on convoy in Afghanistan, a lost patrol alone in the desert. With his unit and his home base destroyed.
Staff Sergeant Brad Thompson suddenly finds himself isolated and in command of a small group of men trying to survive in the Afghan wasteland.
The local population has been afflicted with an illness that turns them into rabid animals. They pursue him and his men at every corner and stop. Struggling to hold his team together and unite survivors, he must fight and evade his way to safety.
19. REQUIEM FOR HUMANITY BY JOSEPH SWEET
Follows groups of survivors trying to make it in the new world against increasingly overwhelming odds. But things are changing.
The zombies are evolving, becoming smarter, and regaining their former sentience. Humans, just barely managing to scrape by as it is – struggling to hold on to hope where there may no longer be any – will soon have to face a more horrifying and disheartening realization.
This world belongs to the dead now. And there may soon be no place for the last remnants of the human race in the sprawling graveyard that the earth has become.
Follows groups of survivors trying to make it in the new world against increasingly overwhelming odds. But things are changing.
The zombies are evolving, becoming smarter, and regaining their former sentience. Humans, just barely managing to scrape by as it is – struggling to hold on to hope where there may no longer be any – will soon have to face a more horrifying and disheartening realization.
This world belongs to the dead now. And there may soon be no place for the last remnants of the human race in the sprawling graveyard that the earth has become.
20. LIFE AFTER: THE ARISING BY BRYAN WAY
In Bryan Way’s debut novel Life After: The Arising, 19-year-old college student Jeff Grey returns home from college for the weekend only to find himself confronted with something he’d only seen in movies and read about in books: Zombies.
Despite lungs beset by asthma and a total lack of survival skills, his lifelong fantasy of living through an undead apocalypse helps him organize a small group of acquaintances, but with the town effectively quarantined and no help on the way, Jeff and the rest of the survivors will have to grow up fast if they want to see a life after the arising.
With a masterful use of language and meticulous attention to detail, Bryan Way’s impossible to put down Life After: The Arising takes a post-modern stab at the undead by thrusting an obsessed zombie fan into his dream scenario while capturing the sights, sounds, smells, and shocks of a teenager forced into a live-wire survival nightmare.
In Bryan Way’s debut novel Life After: The Arising, 19-year-old college student Jeff Grey returns home from college for the weekend only to find himself confronted with something he’d only seen in movies and read about in books: Zombies.
Despite lungs beset by asthma and a total lack of survival skills, his lifelong fantasy of living through an undead apocalypse helps him organize a small group of acquaintances, but with the town effectively quarantined and no help on the way, Jeff and the rest of the survivors will have to grow up fast if they want to see a life after the arising.
With a masterful use of language and meticulous attention to detail, Bryan Way’s impossible to put down Life After: The Arising takes a post-modern stab at the undead by thrusting an obsessed zombie fan into his dream scenario while capturing the sights, sounds, smells, and shocks of a teenager forced into a live-wire survival nightmare.
