Apocalyptic Short Stories

In Zombies, the absurdity of both life and death are on full display as the best and brightest of a high school prep school become tragically addicted to the latest drug craze - electric shocks from cardiac defibrillators. Funny, caustic, bizarre, poignant - this story represents everything listeners have come to love and expect from Chuck Palahniuk.

What happens when our world - and everything in it - goes wrong? Explore that question in 32 short stories written by a diverse mix of the best authors in Canada, including award-winning veterans of their craft and brand-new talent. Edited by Erin Vance and Ellen Curtis, this collection showcases the talent, imagination, and prestige that Canada has to offer.

Corporal David McAllister was a good old boy from the mountains of Kentucky. He did his time in Afghanistan with the Marine Corps Reserve. But one day a report came on the news about a virus spreading through China, turning the locals into cannibals. The virus hit Singapore. Tokyo. Mexico City. El Paso. Then Louisville. David was called up for active duty again, and the virus was all around him. Collecting the first three Thin Line of Life books, this omnibus, The Thin Line of Life: Volume 1, tells the linear story of the Zombie War in a non-linear manner.

Fighting in the streets, corruption at the highest levels, collapsing infrastructure, brutal police, a daily threat of nuclear war: few of us thought we’d find ourselves here, so far into the 21st century. What’s next? Are we really going to be “great again,” however that’s meant? And if we are, what does that mean for those of us on the receiving end of the less-than-great? In this diverse and vigorous mix of stories by newcomers and luminaries, writers offer their takes on what life might hold for us in the next few years.

The first three episodes of best-selling author Joe Nobody's highly regarded serial, Apocalypse Trails, begins the story of Commander Jack Cisco and his harrowing journey to reunite with his family.

In 1927, German filmmaker Fritz Lang brought to the screen one of the most ground-breaking sci-fi melodramas of all time, based on the screenplay he co-wrote with his wife, novelist Thea von Harbou. It is regarded as a classic and one of the first full-length movies in the genre. Five visionary new pulp writers have envisioned four dramatic tales to guide readers back to those vaulted, shining towers of Metropolis in this new collection inspired by Lang’s masterpiece.

Drowned Worlds looks at the future we might have if the oceans rise, good or bad. Here you'll find stories of action, adventure, romance, and, yes, warning and apocalypse. Stories inspired by Ballard's The Drowned World, Sterling's Islands in the Net, and Ryman's The Child Garden. Stories that allow that things may get worse, but remembers that such times also bring out the best in us all.

For Jack Avery, living among the ruins of the outer zone and scavenging to survive is not the worst of nightmares. Something haunts him far more than any hunter patrol. In one short moment, two years before, something happened that changed him. This story is about his journey through the apocalypse, but also through his own regrets and doubts.

"Hello America, it is raining men out there, in the literal sense. It truly is the end of days - I have done the count, seven trumpets are in fact blowing. The storm extends from coast to coast and even across the pond. We aren't going to be seeing another sunrise as the population drops, and the dead come up beneath us. This is affecting all walks of life; the young and the old, the rich and the poor, it's even dashing summer time fun for folks at amusement parks."

When hell claws its way up from the dark depths of the Earth, and the dead begin to walk again, for several people the zombie apocalypse doesn't just mean the end of the world as they know it, it is also the beginning of a brave new life for them. For some it offers freedom, for others a deeper torment and unforgiving life than they ever thought possible. The coward, the street rat, the hero, and the lovers, everyone has their place. What really decides their fate in this new existence, nature, or nurture?

The 32nd edition of Writers of the Future may be the best new book yet! Brand-new adventure through space, time, and possibility. Along the way these new authors will introduce you to fascinating characters such as Nate, a very loyal companion - like most werewolves would be. Keanie has a parasite that lets her morph and so transform into anyone. Liz owns a dinosaur maker, but raw ingredients can be a problem. Anna slaves away in a factory but her magic leaves her unfulfilled. These authors take creative writing to a whole new level!

Follow Aapeli, Tinker, Liberty, Harmony, Rat, a tiny robot named Boy, and a droid who always believes they're on the verge of dying in this post-apocalyptic collection by Regina Puckett. The Liberty and Forbidden Collection includes six stories surrounding the events of The Great War that changed the face of the Earth, killing millions and destroying most of the world's technologies.

Civilizations ravaged by a virus. Desperate survivors fight for scraps as unlikely heroes rise from the ashes. Z Horizon features four full-length, post-apocalypse novels. Get 40 plus hours of pulse-pounding action and gripping apocalyptic characters in this bargain collection. Four deadly outbreaks, four collapsed worlds, and the heroes who battle monsters both dead and alive.

One set, three books! Get the entire emotionally gripping and action-packed Outliers Saga in one set! This audiobook includes: Outliers, Uprising, and Retribution.

Earth is quickly becoming an undead wasteland, that much is for sure. What isn't certain is the fate of her three children, as their desperate bid to find safety at their family cabin is cut off by the revelation of world-altering proportions. What seems like a lifetime ago, the secret battle to be the first superpower to perfect the perfect bioweapon has been corrupted into a scourge now headed straight for them. Suddenly Abby's past becomes just as unclear as her future.

It's not the end of the world...only humanity! All five books in the haunting Humanity Series have been brought together in one digital collection. Follow Scott Beck in his quest to keep himself, those he loves, and humanity alive. Combining dystopian, post-apocalyptic, and cyberpunk fiction, The Humanity Series depicts a future in which humanity is on the brink of annihilation. Join the adventure before it's too late!

After eight years in the sandbox, former fighter pilot Brock Blount heads to Hollywood for his new life. Can a decorated hero find purpose in flying charters by day and starlets by night? Yes, please! Then a fat cat billionaire and his two much younger mistresses hire him for a last-minute flight to their secret bug-out bunker - just in time for the end of the world as we know it. Coincidence or mind game? A survival situation or a simulation? In a world where nothing is what it seems, Brock and his girls band together to make sure humanity survives.

Following the events of Planet of the Dead, survivors of the expanding outbreak take shelter in homes and bunkers and apartment complexes. Across the world, armed police and military struggle to maintain safety. Tensions mount as the worst imaginable comes to pass when nuclear weapons are used on civilian populations overrun with the living dead.

News reports speak of mass panic and violence spreading across the globe. Negligent leaders hide behind misinformation. But in an age of paranoia and suspicion, who can say what is true anymore? Struggling to survive against a sweeping epidemic that has engulfed the planet, survivors will have to make hard choices in a world that no longer makes sense.

The End. Those two little words can mean so much. But how will things end...and will it hurt? That's what we really want to know. Delve into the darkness and join us at the end of the world. From a blighted sky to an invasion from beyond, from untethered time to one person driven beyond the edge of sanity, from a child's game to an unseen apocalypse...it's all imagined here, and imagined darkly.