Apocalyptic Short Stories

The first collection by writer Matthew Hughes, and the perfect companion to his acclaimed novel Black Brillion, The Gist Hunter and Other Stories features nine stories taking place in the universe of The Archonate, as well as four non-series stories. The stories of Henghis Hapthorn, Old Earth's "foremost freelance discriminator", combine mystery and science fantasy while simultaneously recalling the arch irony of Gene Wolfe and the sly fancies of Jack Vance.

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.

Jim travels to northern Michigan to decompress and deal with his feelings in a rustic log cabin owned by his deceased girlfriend's family. Not only is the cabin off the grid, it is a place of peace and solitude, that is, until the Ebola virus is unleashed upon the USA. In a panic, the CDC and the FDA release a vaccine that's only just started testing.... Now the infected roam the world, and even in northern Michigan, Jim isn't safe. He eagerly awaits Janie's family to join him; they are preppers, who may be the key to his survival, and they are the only family he has left.

Undead Tales: Fifteen Thrilling Zombie Stories is the audio version of the new zombie anthology, published by the best-selling authors, J. Thorn and Zach Bohannon. Get it now and start listening!

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.

From the author of the Hugo-winning Six Months, Three Days, a new wrinkle on the old story of three wishes, set after the end of the world.

This is one of the 13 short stories in the author's Echoes of the Mind's Eye collection (C) 2021. It has also appeared in otehr collections since 2011. This short story poses a novel theory as to the role of black holes in both the creation and destruction of an endless number of universes that coexist in an incomprehensibly complex multiverse. It is a cautionary tale about the arrogance of scientists who are the cosmic equivalent of amoebas attempting to discern the secrets of the universe by thoroughly examining within the limits of their perception the drop of pond scum they inhabit. It ...

How will the world end? With aliens or angels? Or a groundhog? Bleak despair? Martial fervor? Or a belly laugh? Whatever the apocalypse, it will be borne by people and their families and their dogs and most of all, it will challenge their notions of themselves. This anthology includes international award-winning writers, poets, and thinkers that give you their version of the apocalypse.

The Philip K. Dick Award-winning debut short story collection from Sarah Pinsker, author of the Nebula Award-winning A Song for a New Day. Pinsker has shot like a star across the firmament with stories multiply nominated for awards as well as Sturgeon and Nebula award wins. The baker's dozen stories gathered here (including a new, previously unpublished story) turn listeners into travellers to the past and the future, and explorers of the weirder points of the present.

The Coalition is threatening to withdraw its fleet from Allegra as the threat of alien invasion becomes real. The people of Allegra, including those who built those ships, aren't about to let that happen without putting up a fight. Join Franz Zimmerman as the people of Allegra take to the skies in an effort to show the Coalition that they are not a people who won't go down without a fight! Read Resist today! ***Please note, this is a short story that is around 7,300 words. If you're interested in longer tales, I have full-length novels and other meatier works!***

In this debut collection of body-horror fairy tales and mid-apocalyptic Catholic cyberpunk, memory and myth, loss and age, these are the tools of storyteller Jarboe, a talent in the field of queer fabulism. Bodily autonomy and transformation, the importance of negative emotions, unhealthy relationships, and bad situations amidst the staggering and urgent question of how build and nurture meaning, love, and safety in a larger world/society that might not be "fixable."

Dragons are real, and they're hungry. Marlena never expected to be a dragon slayer. She's a bleeding heart, a geek, and a lifelong animal rescuer. But when Mount St. Helens erupted for the second time in fifty years, it wasn't just ash that poured out. Dragons, legendary creatures of myth, became a terrifying reality. Now, Marlena and a ragtag band of survivors - a gamer-turned-knight, a brilliant scientist, and a former supermodel - are fighting for survival in a world where most cities have fallen. They’ve found refuge in Camelot, a makeshift haven built to withstand dragon attacks. ...

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.

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.

It’s the hottest winter on record, but Raymond’s demanding, bedridden mother doesn’t mind. She likes it warm. Lately, however, control over the thermostat has become a nasty struggle. And each morning that she’s still alive is a suffocating new challenge for Raymond. How high can the mercury climb before he boils over?

Nine-tenths of the world’s population is dead. A biological scourge - a dark blight swimming through human veins - was to blame. Adam is thrust into a world of loss and would no sooner set out in search of a woman for whom he is willing to travel across the broken globe to see again, if only to serve as her piece of comfort for a loss that they both share.

You’ll be treated to Lord Aegis of the Flame, which gives a rough account of Magnus’s day until he was able to meet up with Iain. After that, you’ll be introduced to Domonic and Terrence’s story in Imperial Daimyo, which describes their harrowing flight through the city. From there, you’ll find that not all is what it seems in the Hellion Initiative, which describes Thaddeus and his fortuitous encounters. Next up, you’ll discover just how transformative the System’s arrival can be with Jeremy Simms in Spartan. Finally, stick around to meet Rufus and her evolution into something entirely new.

A collection of short, disgusting, and mentally disturbed zombie stories for the Internet age. Concise, bittersweet, and stomach-churning, this collection of disgusting, horrifying, and psychological thriller-based zombie stories is the result of a challenge. One night, Kyle Clements and I decided we should write a novella. We came up with the idea of writing stories based on a weekly challenge. The stories that came out of the challenge are the most terrifying, depraved, sincere, and utterly unreadable works we could have hoped for.

An all-apocalyptic volume of Twisted Tales! Four short stories that delve into the troubled minds of the doomed, the damned, and the desperate. The end times have never been more destructive, diseased, or dementedly depraved... WARNING: These stories contain violent scenes and naughty words.

Blackwater is a collection of two tales of horror and dark fantasy. In "Mercury Rain", a soldier fighting a new enemy learns the importance of holding on to his memories. "Blackwater", the title story of the collection, is an homage to Stephen King's short story, "Graveyard Shift", and it tells the tale of Paul Hawkins, a mine worker who disturbs something terrifying in the Blackwater Hills of Durham, Pennsylvania, in the summer of 1976.