Fantasy Patrick

The best-selling Extinction Cycle series by Nicholas Sansbury Smith first introduced listeners to a world ravaged by an engineered virus that turned men into monsters. Humanity's only hope was not a cure, but another bioweapon. When deployed it killed 90 percent of the infected, but the remaining 10 percent transformed into even more terrifying creatures called Variants. Here's a collection of Extinction Cycle short stories that explore the human spirit and the fight for survival in the face of overwhelming odds from some of the leading voices in the post-apocalyptic genre.

For seven months the Maxwell family and their friends, both old and new, have fought to survive in the zombie apocalypse after the ImDED2 virus ended 90 percent of human life. Ryan Maxwell and Nick Jones embarked on a successful cross-country trek to Texas in search of Ryan’s parents, Owen and Leah Maxwell. Along the way, they encountered cannibals in St. Louis, Missouri, Texas Rangers in the Lone Star State, and a king in Memphis, Tennessee.

Recent events have proven too much for Cha Ming. His heart is broken, and his soul is shattered. He cannot move. He cannot speak. His friends worry for his safety. Soul trauma is difficult to heal at the best of times, and to do so, the Monkey King calls in an expert. He sends Cha Ming to the Heartforge Realm, the place where legends are born and heroes are made.

Life is primal and filled with deadly games. To survive, one might say, is to live and breath this conspiracy. Wildest thing is that I've been thriving lately. Rising to the position of Alpha Prime, conquering those that got in the way or didn't want a new force in their own lives, seeking instead to snuff out my flames before I learned to use my power. Before I insisted on claiming its entirety. Unfortunately for them, I wasn't easy to kill.

It has been over a decade since Andrew Keane's Union regiment was mysteriously pulled away from the Civil War and marooned in time on a hostile alien planet. But now it appears as if everything the Lost Regiment has fought and died for has been in vain.

When the dead rose, Ryan Maxwell planned on waiting the apocalypse out in the massive Bunker he built after winning the lottery. In the eight months since Z-Day the Maxwell family and their friends have not only NOT stayed hidden away, they have searched the country for loved ones and taken hundreds into their safe Haven. The discovery of electromagnetic "ghosts" directing some of the undead changed the apocalypse landscape beyond anyone's imagination. But the further discovery of science that can possibly eliminate that threat may lead them down a more dangerous path.

He has no voice or name, only a rank, Eighth. He doesn't know the details of the mission, only the directives that hum in his mind. Dart the humans. Leave them where they fall. His job is to protect his Offside. Let her do the shooting. Until a human kills her...

Vesta Colony has a problem: Aliens are snatching men until they disappear for good. Humanity's defensive forces are stretched too thin to help a distant outpost, and so, the desperate founders, as well as their investors, are given the bad option of recruiting the worst while bribing the rest.

The anticipated climax to a series that has been building in popularity, Richard Lee Byers is at his best working with tales of the undead. Prophet of the Dead fulfills on the promise of the title, giving fans a satisfying end to the current threats facing the Brotherhood of the Griffon.

A year and a half ago, Ryo and Aras defeated their enemy, ending the conflict between the winter country and the summer lands. But with all his important secrets revealed in that struggle, Lord Aras now faces a new challenge in dealing with his own countrymen.

Ajaya is back in the Zone again - training soldiers to survive the unsurvivable, and using his time inside to hunt for answers of his own. And what he finds reaches far, far outside Manhattan. Human life has been extinguished from the Zone, but what's brewing there is far from satisfied. Racing to contain the danger, Ajaya must protect his own from threats in every direction, both outside and inside the deadliest Borough on the planet.

A week ago, Ruby Grace was an ordinary girl. Now she’s a wolf shifter, rejected by her fated mate and sent to live with an ancient coven of powerful witches. That’s not even the craziest part. Because Ruby’s been star touched—blessed by the gods with the rare ability to weave illusions with her mind.

Alex Khan’s adventures continue as he tries to discover who is behind the troubles plaguing the cities of the Greenspring Valley. His first stop is an underground Dwarven city where he meets a mysterious new ally.

Captain Galvin Quintos, along with his irreverent crew, is back and facing his most harrowing enemy yet. As the battle within the Eta Carinae Star System rages on with the Varapin, Quintos is forced to make a deal with the devil, one Commander Dunft Choob. Sure, Quintos has saved the pirate world of Haven—but at a heavy price. Oblivion, the most powerful warship in the known galaxy, will be reluctantly returned to the Varapin ghouls.

Gideon Gull leads a double life: one as a talented young bard at the Rhapsodic College, the other as a student of the Shadow School, where Taldor's infamous lion blades are trained to be master spies and assassins. When a magical fog starts turning ordinary people into murderous mobs along the border between Taldor and Gideon's home nation of Andoran, it's up to him and a crew of daring performers to solve the mystery before both nations fall to madness and slaughter.

Desperate to escape the clutches of the alien lizard mafia, I accept a spur-of-the-moment job offer on a distant planet. A monstrous, grumpy alien is building a new home in a distant colony, and he’s looking for an assistant. He needs me to hold his hammer. I get it. It’s a big hammer. He's a lonely barbarian brute with a gruff exterior, but I soon learn that inside, he's hiding a squishy center. When he unexpectedly enters his mating frenzy, there’s no one around to handle the job—except me. He gives me two options: return home or stay and help him with a whole different kind of nailing.

Building a new nation is not a simple task, and it's made even harder with every nation on the planet wanting the Solarian Union's advanced technology, no matter the cost. But when terrorists unleash a devastating, genetically engineered plague into the world, that advanced technology is the only thing standing between humanity and the annihilation of our species. Michael and those following him have done what they set out to do—they have colonized space. But they cannot cut all the ties to their ancestral home, and the sufferings of its peoples.

I was just a cop on my beat when the world ended. My last memory was of an alien death ray ripping me from existence. When I woke up in a strange world, I should have just laid low. But, when you see a woman running from slavers. Well, let's just say they got what they deserved. Only problem is that makes enemies—demigods with the power to bind the magically gifted women of Timeria to their will. I can stop them, with powers bestowed by a god. But, they come with a catch; I must bind these women, the Chosen, to my very soul. Just like the demigods I want to stop.

How many lives would you spend to find your beloved? Dominick Davidner was murdered. Then things got worse. Instead of going on to the afterlife, Dominick found himself back in his nine-year-old body, all memories of his previous life intact. All he can think about is Emily, the love of his life, left behind when he died. Unfortunately, she is now thousands of miles away. How can Dominick find his way back to the woman he loves, and what will he say if he finds her?

Noah Turner sees monsters. His father saw them - and built a shrine to them with The Wandering Dark, an immersive horror experience that the whole family operates. His practical mother has caught glimpses of terrors but refuses to believe - too focused on keeping the family from falling apart. And his eldest sister, the dramatic and vulnerable Sydney, won't admit to seeing anything but the beckoning glow of the spotlight...until it swallows her up. Noah Turner sees monsters. But, unlike his family, Noah chooses to let them in....