Apocalyptic Adventure

It has been six years since plague, famine, and war ravaged the planet. World powers have collapsed. The human population has been reduced by 90 percent, and those who survived must always contend with a novel apex predator: human beings whose very DNA has been radically altered by the plague.

What will the future hold for those who are left? Koli has come a long way since being exiled from his small village of Mythen Rood. In his search for the fabled tech of the Old Times, he knew he'd be battling shunned men, strange beasts and trees that move as fast as whips. But he has already encountered so much more than he bargained for. Now that Koli and his companions have found the source of the signal they've been following - the mysterious "Sword of Albion" - there is hope that their perilous journey will finally be worth something.

Alex Duncan is a mother, a sister - and the daughter of a doomsday prepper. She always thought her father was insane, raving about an apocalypse she never believed in, but when a plague hits the United States and the dead no longer stay dead, Alex discovers heeding her deceased father’s advice is what will keep her family alive. Before he died, Alex’s father created a compound in Montana just in case situations like this arose. The dead walk, hungry for human flesh. With little time to spare, Alex must make split-second decisions to prevent her family from being devoured.

Andrew and Kendra have learned what’s on the other side of the ridge, but it leaves them with more questions than answers. Their colony has turned into a dictatorship under the thumb of its delusional self-appointed leader, the Reverend, making their lives a living nightmare. With a plan in place and help from their new allies, the group plans to sneak out of the colony and make contact with their new neighbors. But nothing in Eden is ever as simple as it seems.

The Earth met its end, bathed in holy fire. Rifts spill monsters into our world. Chaos reigns. Now, the Kingdom of Cindrus is the last bastion of humanity. The last vestiges of a broken people clinging to life deep underground. But not all hope is lost. Erec has been blessed by the Goddess. From a line of disgraced nobility, he seeks to reclaim his family's honor and join the prestigious academy, the institution that trains the next generation of Knights.

Brilliant scientist Rose Franklin has devoted her adult life to solving the mystery she accidentally stumbled upon as a child: a huge metal hand buried beneath the ground outside Deadwood, South Dakota. The discovery set in motion a cataclysmic chain of events with geopolitical ramifications. Rose and the Earth Defense Corps raced to master the enigmatic technology, as giant robots suddenly descended on Earth's most populous cities, killing one hundred million people in the process.

In pursuit of his abusive father’s approval, Zeke Blackwood pushed himself to the very pinnacle of his chosen obsession. Since childhood, all he’d ever wanted to do was play baseball, and through hard work, discipline, and no small degree of talent, his goal of reaching the major leagues was finally in sight. But then a horrific car accident ruined his arm, eliminating any hope of a professional baseball career. Consumed by depression, Zeke gave up on his future, preferring to wallow in self-pity. That is, until an opportunity came along for him to prove his worth.

Collected here for the first time is every piece of short fiction from New York Times best seller Mira Grant's acclaimed Newsflesh series, with two new never-before published novellas and all eight short works available for the first time. We had cured cancer. We had beaten the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, a man-made virus taking over bodies and minds, filling them with one, unstoppable command...feed.

Alvin woke in a room that was not his, to discover that he had died and his brain had been bargained off cheaply to pay off someone else’s debt. It did not sit well with him. It didn’t surprise him that even in death, people were still using him for their own purposes. He had never exactly been a good guy, but everyone had their breaking point, and he had found his. The bastards in charge had uploaded his mind into a virtual death game. The whole world could now pay to see him play it and probably die. Regardless, he was not about to wait for death to come for him.

Nature is dying. Perhaps before the world is turned into an industrious machine, nature itself can play one final trump card to save itself. Summoned to a new world, a mushroom-loving mycologist needs to grow up and grow stronger in order to accomplish the goal that brought them to this new place: to save nature from the system that the sentient races have created. Stats, levels, classes, and skills are all well and good, but when you're a Child of Poverty in the slums of City Nineteen, there's little you can do to change the world. Not unless you're willing to think outside the box!

Anderson Lake is a company man, AgriGen's Calorie Man in Thailand. Under cover as a factory manager, Anderson combs Bangkok's street markets in search of foodstuffs thought to be extinct, hoping to reap the bounty of history's lost calories. There, he encounters Emiko...Emiko is the Windup Girl, a strange and beautiful creature. One of the New People, Emiko is not human; instead, she is an engineered being, creche-grown and programmed to satisfy the decadent whims of a Kyoto businessman.

A feeling of longing for a home that no longer exists or for one that never was. Mike and the crew fight for their right to survive, to carve out a new home, even though Mike cannot help but carry with him all the group has lost. He now wonders if he can continue to sacrifice his own for the sake of others. As terrifying new monsters are born amid the chaos, do our heroes have the will and the firepower to overcome these latest threats?

The only possible thing that could make Morgan's world even more difficult happened. The Japanese fleet off the coast of California was wiped out. An even that Morgan and friends and family only knew about because of the radio broadcasts from the Radio Free Redoubt. So far removed from them it barely warranted notice. That is until the Chinese retaliated by launching a nuclear counter-strike against Mac Dill Air Force base. This, did warrant their attention and had the potential to profoundly impact their lives.

One exceptional boy journeys into the ashes of society to find the cure for a devastating plague in this riveting post-apocalyptic stand-alone set in the same world as the USA Today best-selling The Girl With All the Gifts. Once upon a time, in a land blighted by terror, there was a very clever boy. The people thought the boy could save them, so they opened their gates and sent him out into the world. To where the monsters lived.

Koli never planned to set foot outside his small village. He knew that beyond its walls lay a fearsome landscape filled with choker trees, vicious beasts, and Shunned men. But when he was exiled, he had no choice but to journey out into this strange world where every moment is a fight for survival. And it's not just Koli's life that is threatened. Whole villages just like his are dying out. But Koli heard a story, once. A story about lost London, and the mysterious tech of the Old Times that may still be there.

It's been more than 10 years since the war with the NeHaw ended in an uneasy truce. During that time, Jake Thomas has been relegated from battlefield commander and chief to the role of interstellar bureaucrat. To add to his frustrations, he is now father to a passel of teens and preteens, all with their father's propensity for getting into trouble. However, unexplained violations around the Human/NeHaw Neutral Zone and the mysterious disappearances of people in a remote backwater town in Arizona has everyone, Human and NeHaw alike, pointing fingers and threatening war.

Frank has been able to guide his neighborhood watch along a narrow path between order and chaos, but most of his problems have been caused by people. Now, as the clouds darken over the Gulf of Mexico, Mother Nature is going to take a crack at him. The arrival of the storm has only one benefit; Frank can travel the empty roads and get things done. Using his newest off-road vehicle, a Mercedes Unimog 416, he probes North Pointe to find some missing allies. He also discovers new enemies in a troubled trailer park.

It’s been a long hard ride for Morgan and everyone. Just when things were starting to look up, the park was attacked, and they lost Bobbie. Danny’s physical wounds were nothing like the emotional loss of Bobbie. It was hard on Mel as well, and the rest of the group also felt the loss. With the attacks on the community becoming a greater threat, they must be dealt with. These attacks must end. But what can the group do against an army with artillery?

When society ceases to exist, who can you trust? After the collapse of the nation's power grid, America is under martial law - and safety is an illusion. As violence erupts around him, Morgan Carter faces one of his most difficult decisions yet: whether to stay and defend his home, or move to a more isolated area, away from the prying eyes of the government. He and his family are hesitant to leave their beloved Lake County, but with increasingly suspicious activities happening in a nearby refugee camp, all signs point towards defecting.

Every disaster brings an opportunity. Goth Sullus and his empire have fallen. With the Legion and the rest of the galaxy watching from the still-smoldering galactic core, Carter, a former legionnaire turned private contractor, and Jack Bowie, a Navy spy with nowhere left to turn, sign up to work for an enterprising private contractor looking to make a statement on the planet Kublar. Plans are in motion dating back to the Savage Wars, and as the galaxy rushes to fill in the vacuum created by the fall of the Imperial Republic, the bodies are hitting the floor.