Apocalyptic Short Stories

If it wasn’t for bad luck, some of us wouldn’t have any luck at all. Old saying, sure, but boy is it true when it comes to Adrian Ring’s zombie apocalypse. Welcome to Dead Lucky; an anthology of 12 tales set in the world of Adrian’s Undead Diary.

A scientist suffering from PTSD is faced with the terrible knowledge of the impending destruction of our species. In his desperate attempts to prevent humanity's fate, he commits violent acts and is branded a terrorist. How far would you go to save the planet from annihilation? Where do humans come from and how did we get here? Scientists have theorized about the human race's origins for many years. But no one was prepared for what was found in orbit, seven ancient alien probes that have been monitoring the planet for billions of years. The data and video images recorded inside them show ...

A fresh-faced newcomer arrives in an isolated, gang-run town and soon finds herself taking a job nobody else wants: bodyguard to a ghoul. Not just your average mindless, half-rotted shuffler, though. Lucille is a dancer who can still put on her own lipstick and whose shows are half burlesque, half gladiator match. But the stranger is no stranger to this particular ghoul. Both women are undercover in their own way. And both have something to lose if their connection comes to light.

The world has been brought to its knees by the “zombie virus”. Nations have fallen, cities have been overrun by the infected, and the human race has come perilously close to extinction. But with the first winter come and gone, the infected have been reduced to not much more than a background nuisance, and survivors around the world are taking stock and vowing to rebuild and rise up stronger, better, and unafraid.

This collection from grand master Robert A. Heinlein includes five short stories sure to please science fiction fans everywhere. The title story tells the tale of a young man who meets a time-traveling bartender whose origins - and relation to the young man - are more complex and stranger than the Ouroboros ring on the barkeep's finger.

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.

The complete Phase Titan series in one collection. Ethan didn’t choose to sleep through the apocalypse. He didn’t ask to be bioengineered into a Psy-wielding warrior or for the unexpected allies destined to bond their lives to his. He faces an alien infestation run amok and an extermination order that would kill all life on Earth just to stop him from growing stronger. In a changing world rife with threats, Ethan needs his strength and the wits of his beautiful companions if he hopes to save humanity.

At turns nonchalantly hip and charmingly deranged, Suzuki's singular slant on speculative fiction would be echoed in countless later works, from Margaret Atwood and Harumi Murakami, to Black Mirror and Ex Machina. In these darkly playful and punky stories, the fantastical elements are always earthed by the universal pettiness of strife between the sexes, and the gritty reality of life on the lower rungs, whatever planet that ladder might be on.

You can't kill the dead! Like any good monster, the zombie has proven to be ever-evolving, monumentally mutable, and open to seemingly endless imaginative interpretations: the thralls of voodoo sorcerers, George Romero's living dead, societal symbols, dancing thrillers, viral victims, reanimated ramblers, video-gaming targets, post-apocalyptic permutations, shuffling sidekicks, literary mash-ups, the comedic, and, yes, even the romantic.

One Big City High Rise. One New Year's Eve Party. One Zombie Apocalypse. One Heck of a Bad Night. Neal likes Robyn. But he hates crowds, especially when it means going into the city. So, he reluctantly agrees to attend a New Year's Eve party at the top of a big city high-rise. Her ex is there, which makes it awkward. Not that ex-special forces Neal can't handle him. But things get even weirder when one of the guests goes berserk and bites another. Before they know it, Neal and Robyn are fighting for their lives as they make their way down one hundred floors with a Zombie infection problem. ...

In a post-apocalyptic world caused by a devastating solar flare, two sisters escape a traumatic past and find solace in a hidden refuge. Facing dangers and making tough decisions, they uncover the power of chosen family and the enduring strength of love and hope amid chaos. As news of society's rebuilding trickles in, their unbreakable bond serves as an unwavering beacon, signifying the resilience of humanity and the power of sisterhood.

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. Now, for the first time ever, comes 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.

A shopping mall where droids sell organs harvested from street trash. A murderous imaginary friend. A psychotic composer drafting music from pain. All in a day's work for the Lawman of the Future. Edited by and with an introduction by Dredd veteran Michael Carroll, Judge Fear's Big Day Out and Other Stories gathers the very best short stories from more than a decade of the Judge Dredd Megazine, including stories by legends Alan Grant, Gordon Rennie and Simon Spurrier, among countless others.

With more than 10 stories from exciting new voices and a few veterans of the universe, the second anthology highlights the lives and struggles of humanity's best and worst years after system advent.

Famine. Death. War. Pestilence. These are the harbingers of the biblical apocalypse, of the End of the World. In science fiction, the end is triggered by less figurative means: nuclear holocaust, biological warfare/pandemic, ecological disaster, or cosmological cataclysm. But before any catastrophe, there are people who see it coming. During, there are heroes who fight against it. And after, there are the survivors who persevere and try to rebuild. "The Apocalypse Triptych" will tell their stories.

Three audiobooks from the Coilhunter Chronicles: Coilhunter, Rustkiller, and Dustrunner. Welcome to the Wild North, a desolate wasteland where criminals go to hide - if they can outlast the drought and the dangers of the desert. Or the dangers of something else.

In Dark Property, a woman carries a dying baby across a desert waste, moving toward a fortress harboring a mysterious resurrection cult. Menaced by scavengers, she nevertheless begins to suspect that the reality within the fortress may be even more unsettling than the blasted environment outside. In Contagion and Other Stories, Evenson takes his audiences into a world that is at once apocalyptic, dark, observant, and grotesque without ever dipping into static genre conventions.

El sol se está muriendo, y la Tierra, consumida por los últimos suspiros de esta estrella, también desaparecerá. Pero la humanidad, en lugar de abandonar el planeta, construye doce mil grandiosos motores de fusión para desorbitar la Tierra y propulsarla hacia Próxima Centauri en un viaje que durará siglos....

In the aftermath of a devastating EMP blast, Lloyd and Al face a world plunged into chaos and darkness. Amidst this turmoil, a relentless blizzard adds to their ordeal as they navigate a lawless city, determined to reunite with their families. Battling ruthless gangs and braving the savage wilderness, their journey is a profound testament to resilience and courage. In a land where survival amidst the cold, merciless grip of winter is the ultimate victory, their relentless pursuit to find their loved ones becomes a beacon of hope.

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.