Apocalyptic Science Fiction

Seth Willard is broke, sick, and running out of time. A single dad drowning under bills and a cancer diagnosis, his last chance comes from a desperate gamble: taking a job as an NPC in a real world, fully immersive zombie survival experience. The nanites injected into his body that will project the game’s experience into his senses will also cure his cancer as he safely sells supplies to rich players out killing monsters that aren’t really there. At least, that’s the plan.

Lightning brought her back. Now, it's her best weapon to survive the apocalypse. When the end of the world arrived, Elysia was already dead. Amid widespread destruction, collapsing cities, and dangerous creatures, strange lightning struck her grave. Rejuvenated by the violet lightning, life returns to her broken body. Elysia must find a way to harness the element in her veins or die as she's thrust into a dangerous new world. Better than being dead.

Zoe loves teaching science, she loves her garden, and most of all she loves her quiet, peaceful bungalow. Then at school, people start falling ill. The virus is airborne and highly infectious. It starts with flu symptoms, confusion, and sleepiness, which worsen until one day they just don't wake up. It decimates the population and leaves chaos in its wake. Now Zoe has to find a way to survive. Luckily, when the pandemic strikes, she already has a greenhouse full of vegetable seedlings, but not everyone around is as prepared.

All that stands between rowdy long-haul trucker Jill MacLeod (aka Junkmouth) and her family back in Boston is two thousand miles of asphalt. Well, that and the monstrous game the System has had her playing ever since it descended on Earth. The reward: mana. Jill's goal: kill, score, drive—and stay alive. Behind the wheel of a turreted forty-ton semi named Bertha, Jill hammers east from Montana through a gauntlet of every kind of chomping, hissing, rabid creature imaginable. Barreling forward in her magical soulbound big rig and chalking up a bumper crop of roadkill, Jill isn't alone for long.

It's the end of the world, but Reg won't mind the peace and quiet - after all, he's always lived a solitary life. And his happy-go-lucky dog, Lineker, is ecstatic to spend more time with his beloved owner. Together, they plan to wait out the impending doom in their second-floor apartment, hiding themselves away from the riots outside. But when an abandoned orphan shows up in the stairwell of their building, Reg and Lineker must leave their place of safety and accompany her into the ruins of a fallen city.

Fresh off the heels of a major firefight with the Patriot Hooligan gang, Ben and the others must turn their attention to the treacherous road ahead and the final task of reaching Colorado. In addition to the dangers they face in their everyday struggle to survive, there are tough decisions to be made. Ben is forced to choose between a guilty conscience and what’s best for his family when they find themselves at odds with a member of the group. Amid the chaos that their lives have become, one thing still remains the same. Life on the road is as brutal as it ever was.

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.

When Jack Harrison climbed down the short ladder from the airlock and stepped onto the debris covered soil, the ground crackled with the sound of dried leaves and twigs.

As Spencer witnesses’ humanity's descent into a lawless free-for-all, where theft and murder are the new norm, his Coast Guard training is put to the test. Will his decision to take on passengers prove to be a wise move, or will the added burden cost him everything?

The ninth floor. Nine armies, each led by rich and powerful aliens from across the galaxy. Each team has one objective: to capture and hold the castle at the very center of the battlefield. Strategy, alliances, pitched battles, and, of course, betrayal ... It all makes for great fun and even greater television. After all, none of these powerful aliens really die when they’re playing war. Except this time. This time, winner takes all. Those who fall, stay in the ground.

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!

Courage isn’t having the strength to go on, it’s going on without having the strength. Betrayal by one of their own leaves Ben and the others with more questions than answers as they push westward toward Colorado and their home in Durango. Or what’s left of it.

Keeping up-to-date with the most buzzworthy and cutting-edge science fiction requires sifting through countless magazines, e-zines, websites, blogs, original anthologies, single-author collections, and more - a task accomplishable by only the most determined and voracious readers. For everyone else, Night Shade Books is proud to introduce the latest volume of The Best Science Fiction of the Year, collecting the finest that the genre has to offer, from the biggest names in the field to the most exciting new writers.

After the arrival of the multiversal monopoly BuyMort, life got brutal. All systems were through BuyMort. All currency was through BuyMort. All sales were through BuyMort. You could resist, you could compete, but it didn’t really matter because in the end you used BuyMort—or you perished. BuyMort be praised. But not everyone’s happy with the new system. Some, even, want to see it destroyed. It’s quick. It’s convenient. And it will help people kill you and your family as readily as it will help them sell you knickknacks for a quick mortie.

Costume-masked killers have taken over downtown in such masses that they overwhelm the already weakened city and law enforcement. Anyone caught in their path is murdered without mercy. Caught unaware of the extreme danger, the city had their focus on the wildfires in the forest not far from them. Power is off, the banking system is shut down, and the nightmare begins. Ultimately, the violence and death lead to food shortages.

The train station harbors danger. Each day, one portal opens, leading to daunting trials and battles of life and death commanded by masked facilitators. Asher is forced to rely on his instincts and his weapon. He must navigate this treacherous world, both solo and with teams, and contend with other players, each harboring their own motives and ambitions. Confronted with unimaginable challenges, every day unveils a new hurdle, and each victory is bitterly earned. In this world intent on crushing him, Asher must fight to survive.

Laurel is stabilizing a patient in the ER when the power goes out. When the rest of the hospital evacuates, she refuses to leave her patients behind—especially her sick mother. She’s determined to fight for their lives. Even if it means putting her own in danger… In a remote mountain cabin hundreds of miles away, Laurel’s husband, Bear, begins a grueling trek across Minnesota. He’ll do whatever it takes to reunite his family. But it’s a dangerous journey, and he’s all alone save for his loyal dog, Jessamine, and Trent, an orphaned boy he finds along the way.

With a second chance ahead of them and the moonshiner’s compound in the rearview mirror, Ben and his crew can resume their cross-country trek to Colorado. Or can they? Three newly rescued acquaintances and another canine companion complicate their life on the road. And the addition of two more vehicles to their west bound convoy only adds to Ben’s responsibilities. Making matters worse, the open road quickly proves more hostile than they remember.

Of science fiction and fantasy, guest editor Nnedi Okorafor writes, “There are times when it feels like a box, but within it, technically, you can expect anything.” The twenty stories in this collection simultaneously fulfill and defy expectations of genre, showcasing boundary-pushing...

Isolated at her family's wildlife refuge in northern Georgia, Raven longs to escape. Instead, she spends her days shoveling manure for bears, wolves, and a tiger. That is, until her father contracts the Hydra virus—a mysterious, lethal disease spreading across the country like wildfire. Desperate to help him, Raven journeys into town to get medicine, only to discover the outside world is swiftly collapsing into chaos. There are no more police, no more laws, and no hospitals. No one is coming to help.