Apocalyptic Short Stories

Earth has fallen far from its splendor and progress. Humanity’s long-held fear of an asteroid colliding with the world has come to pass, and the repercussions are devastating. Resultant natural disasters, plagues, and famines have taken billions of lives. With mankind’s future uncertain, scientists set to work creating a virtual Earth in which people can live in the mind rather than in physical form.

Naaygi found them waiting for her - as she somehow knew they would be - as the cage doors opened, their forward-facing eyes glinting the same hue as the lights in the sky and their dark, storm-colored bodies held absolutely still (even as another animal joined them and brought their number to four). She even knew somehow what they were, that they were a breed of carnosaur the "evolved" humans had called nanotyrannosaurs, the "Pygmy Tyrants", and that one of them, the one with the brand upon its tail, the leader, even had a name - Napoleon.

By protecting and nurturing the ones with the knowledge, Terry Henry Walton begins building his Force de Guerre, a paramilitary group that will secure this new world from those who would take and destroy.

In this 2024 re-release, the apocalypse has ended for Adrian Ring, and the rebuilding of the world has begun. But have all the stories of the old world's death been told? Elsewhere on Earth, there is a plane filled with innocents, and a criminal could wipe it from the skies with a tide of undeath. A young man in Manhattan is going mad with hunger and fear. A veterinarian races to save her animal patients, and their owners, one by one. A drunk lunatic is driven to self-destruction, craving the undead horde and the absolution they will give him.

For fans of the oral history genre phenomenon World War Z, a worldwide plague of insomnia creates a devastating new apocalypse. Sleep Over is collection of waking nightmares, a scrapbook of the haunting and poignant stories from those trapped in a world where the pillars of society are crumbling, and madness is slowly descending on a planet without rest.

No communication. Limited power. An unbreakable will to survive. A violent blast of solar magnetic radiation plunges much of Earth into darkness. From the decaying orbit of the powerless ISS to a devolving Southeast Texas neighborhood and a secret doomsday bunker buried deep underneath the Colorado Rockies, The SpaceMan Chronicles tells the story of a stranded astronaut, his family and friends on the ground, and a shadowy conspiracy to rebuild the world in the shape of a new society.

Before The Road by Cormac McCarthy brought apocalyptic fiction into the mainstream, there was science fiction. No longer relegated to the fringes of literature, this explosive collection of the world’s best apocalyptic writers brings the inventors of alien invasions, devastating meteors, doomsday scenarios, and all-out nuclear war back to with a bang. The best writers of the early 1900s were the first to flood New York with tidal waves, destroy Illinois with alien invaders, paralyze Washington with meteors, and lay waste to the Midwest with nuclear fallout.

The new coronavirus, which originated in China, has spread to Japan. An American expatriate journalist residing in Tokyo, Japan finds himself caught in between the zombies, as he catches up with his military expatriate buddy. The American expatriates, William and Cooper, overcome the sudden surprise of deadly zombies and also makes an encounter with the Japanese mafia.

Reem lives a secluded, sheltered life inside Community One. Sold to one of the alien beasts who now rule the Earth, inexperienced young Reem is terrified she won't know how to please her husband, and he'll end up eating her instead of bedding her. After years of waiting, Troy finally gets his mate. When he lands her on his lap during their pairing party, he confirms her virginity. He can't wait until they're home so he can show her the only thing she should fear is his big...heart.

Earth as a new Dungeon World means opportunities and dangers galore. One of the enduring aspects of the System is the Shop, an interdimensional series of stores that compete for the opportunity to service clients and make a profit doing so. New clients on a new Dungeon World mean rare and heretofore unseen items and massive profits. No surprise that the vultures have arrived, searching for easy marks.

By the 22nd century in the African nation of Kenya, polluted cities sprawl up the flanks of sacred Mount Kirinyaga. Great animal herds are but distant memories. European crops now grow on the sweeping savannas. But Koriba, a distinguished, educated man of Kikuyu ancestry, knows that life was different for his people centuries ago - and he is determined to build a utopian colony, not on Earth, but on the terraformed planetoid he proudly names Kirinyaga.

Phillip (the Ghost) and his friends are in Taos for a fun weekend when they meet a weird artist named Goffrey and decide to spend the weekend in the mountains. You never know where you'll be when it's the end of the world as we knew it.

A boy and his father walk on the shore of an ocean filled with bloody spears cast off from a war between gods. A father travels back in time over and over, unable to rescue the mother of his child. A mischievous satyr lurking in a dungeon has a field day with trespassing adventurers. These tales and more are in Resurrections, a compilation of short stories written by Chris Philbrook.

A collection of short stories featuring characters from the world of The Broken Gods trilogy by fantasy author Aaron S. Jones. Blood feuds in the Borderlands. Murder mysteries in the United Cities. A heist gone wrong in the East. Meet some of the weird and wonderful characters of the world of Takaara and they fight, love, and survive in A Long Way from Home.

A tourist is bitten by a rare monkey whilst on safari in Kenya. She is flown home but later dies from her infection. Soon after, the hospital is on lockdown following an incident with a patient. Within hours, the city of Leeds is being attacked by hordes of people who appear drugged up and deranged. Days later, the north of England undergoes rioting and cannibalism for unknown reasons. David Sterling, the British Prime Minister, meanwhile struggles to take a lead on the developing situation in his country.

Life after the apocalypse is one daily grind after another. It's a good thing for Wendy that she's got friends - a lot of friends as a fairy summoner. But life in Exeter is not easy, even for a summoner, and the grind of daily jobs and never-ending quests is getting to her. She's got one shot at getting a place for her own, a place of safety and maybe getting ahead. But it'll require Wendy to do the one thing she swore she'd never do again.

What happens when the apocalypse is over; to love, strained and torn? How do you pick up the pieces, when life stabilises? It's a question our heroes must ask themselves, when they're no longer fighting off swarms of monsters, no longer struggling for credits and levels. Valentines in an Apocalypse is set four years after the System Apocalypse has arrived, between books five and six of the System Apocalypse and features new characters. The story is set in Vancouver, BC.

My name is Zoe Cartwright, and I see people’s memories. They haunt me. I know things I shouldn’t about my friends and family—their experiences with love and loss, hope and fear—things that must never be forgotten. Stories that must be written down. The world has already changed so much; who knows what the future will hold.

Broken Stories is a compilation of short stories and novelettes that accompanies the Broken World series. From California to Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Colorado, listeners will get a glimpse at what other people went through before, during, and after the zombie virus outbreak. Some of the characters featured in these stories have close ties to the main characters in the Broken World series, while others are brand-new.

A reluctant hero. Dick aka Devil Dog's world changes drastically when the EMP takes out the power grid. A homeless Marine veteran living in the abandoned tunnels beneath Chicago, he's far better prepared than most people. Devil Dog becomes the reluctant savior of women and children from the worst of the gangs that now rule topside. Doing the right thing makes him new enemies, driving him ever deeper into the tunnels that keep his charges safe - until he runs across a young woman who might be his daughter.