World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

Max Brooks

Horror / Nonfiction / Comics & Graphic Novels

“The end was near.” —Voices from the Zombie WarThe Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the twelve-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War. Most of all, the book captures with haunting immediacy the human dimension of this epochal event. Facing the often raw and vivid nature of these personal accounts requires a degree of courage on the part of the reader, but the effort is invaluable because, as Mr. Brooks says in his introduction, “By excluding the human factor, aren’t we risking the kind of personal detachment from history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it? And in the end, isn’t the human factor the only true difference between us and the enemy we now refer to as ‘the living dead’?”Note: Some of the numerical and factual material contained in this edition was previously published under the auspices of the United Nations Postwar Commission.Eyewitness reports from the first truly global war“I found ‘Patient Zero’ behind the locked door of an abandoned apartment across town. . . . His wrists and feet were bound with plastic packing twine. Although he’d rubbed off the skin around his bonds, there was no blood. There was also no blood on his other wounds. . . . He was writhing like an animal; a gag muffled his growls. At first the villagers tried to hold me back. They warned me not to touch him, that he was ‘cursed.’ I shrugged them off and reached for my mask and gloves. The boy’s skin was . . . cold and gray . . . I could find neither his heartbeat nor his pulse.” —Dr. Kwang Jingshu, Greater Chongqing, United Federation of China“‘Shock and Awe’? Perfect name. . . . But what if the enemy can’t be shocked and awed? Not just won’t, but biologically can’t! That’s what happened that day outside New York City, that’s the failure that almost lost us the whole damn war. The fact that we couldn’t shock and awe Zack boomeranged right back in our faces and actually allowed Zack to shock and awe us! They’re not afraid! No matter what we do, no matter how many we kill, they will never, ever be afraid!” —Todd Wainio, former U.S. Army infantryman and veteran of the Battle of Yonkers“Two hundred million zombies. Who can even visualize that type of number, let alone combat it? . . . For the first time in history, we faced an enemy that was actively waging total war. They had no limits of endurance. They would never negotiate, never surrender. They would fight until the very end because, unlike us, every single one of them, every second of every day, was devoted to consuming all life on Earth.” —General Travis D’Ambrosia, Supreme Allied Commander, Europe
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The Goose Girl

The Goose Girl

Shannon Hale

Young Adult / Literature & Fiction / Comics & Graphic Novels

Anidora-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kildenree spent the first years of her life listening to her aunt's incredible stories, and learning the language of the birds. Little knowing how valuable her aunt's strange knowledge would prove to be when she grew older. From the Grimm's fairy tale of the princess who became a goose girl before she could become a queen, Shannon Hale has woven an incredible, original and magical tale of a girl who must understand her own incredible talents before she can overcome those who wish her harm.
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Vampire Slave (Yaoi)

Vampire Slave (Yaoi)

Yamila Abraham

Comics & Graphic Novels / Gay & Lesbian / Romance

Thalos, the world’s oldest vampire, mistakenly performs a blood ritual with a boy named Dusty. He finds out he’s the son of the leader of Vampire Poison—a vicious group of vampire hunters. Thalos has to abandon the boy who’s hopelessly under his power. Over a decade passes and Dusty becomes the leader of Vampire Poison. His first mission: capture Thalos at any cost!Thalos, the world’s oldest vampire, mistakenly performs a blood ritual with a boy named Dusty. He finds out he’s the son of the leader of Vampire Poison—a vicious group of vampire hunters. Thalos has to abandon the boy who’s hopelessly under his power. Over a decade passes and Dusty becomes the leader of Vampire Poison. His first mission: capture Thalos at any cost! Once Thalos learns he’s after him he wonders if he should really be running. He knows the beautiful hunter Dusty is marked as his servant—and he has been lonely of late.
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Princess Academy

Princess Academy

Shannon Hale

Young Adult / Literature & Fiction / Comics & Graphic Novels

Miri lives on a mountain where, for generations, her ancestors have quarried stone and lived a simple life. Then word comes that the king's priests have divined her small village the home of the future princess. In a year's time, the prince himself will come and choose his bride from among the girls of the village. The king's ministers set up an academy on the mountain, and every teenage girl must attend and learn how to become a princess. Miri soon finds herself confronted with a harsh academy mistress, bitter competition among the girls, and her own conflicting desires to be chosen and win the heart of her childhood best friend. But when bandits seek out the academy to kidnap the future princess, Miri must rally the girls together and use a power unique to the mountain dwellers to save herself and her classmates.
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Startide Rising

Startide Rising

David Brin

Science Fiction & Fantasy / Science Fiction / Comics & Graphic Novels

David Brin's Uplift novels are among the most thrilling and extraordinary science fiction ever written. Sundiver, Startide Rising, * and The Uplift War--a New York Times* bestseller--together make up one of the most beloved sagas of all time. Brin's tales are set in a future universe in which no species can reach sentience without being "uplifted" by a patron race. But the greatest mystery of all remains unsolved: who uplifted humankind? The Terran exploration vessel Streaker has crashed in the uncharted water world of Kithrup, bearing one of the most important discoveries in galactic history. Below, a handful of her human and dolphin crew battles armed rebellion and a hostile planet to safeguard her secret--the fate of the Progenitors, the fabled First Race who seeded wisdom throughout the stars.
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Austenland

Austenland

Shannon Hale

Young Adult / Literature & Fiction / Comics & Graphic Novels

Jane Hayes is a seemingly normal young New Yorker, but she has a secret. Her obsession with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, is ruining her love life: no real man can compare. But when a wealthy relative bequeaths her a trip to an English resort catering to Austen-crazed women, Jane's fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly become realer than she ever could have imagined. Decked out in empire-waist gowns, Jane struggles to master Regency etiquette and flirts with gardeners and gentlemen;or maybe even, she suspects, with the actors who are playing them. It's all a game, Jane knows. And yet the longer she stays, the more her insecurities seem to fall away, and the more she wonders: Is she about to kick the Austen obsession for good, or could all her dreams actually culminate in a Mr. Darcy of her own?
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Battle Royale

Battle Royale

Koushun Takami

Science Fiction & Fantasy / Mystery & Thrillers / Comics & Graphic Novels

Koushun Takami's notorious high-octane thriller is based on an irresistible premise: a class of junior high school students is taken to a deserted island where, as part of a ruthless authoritarian program, they are provided arms and forced to kill one another until only one survivor is left standing. Criticized as violent exploitation when first published in Japan - where it then proceeded to become a runaway bestseller - Battle Royale is a Lord of the Flies for the 21st century, a potent allegory of what it means to be young and (barely) alive in a dog-eat-dog world. Made into a controversial hit movie of the same name, Battle Royale is already a contemporary Japanese pulp classic, now available for the first time in the English language.
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Altered Carbon

Altered Carbon

Richard K. Morgan

Science Fiction / Comics & Graphic Novels / Fantasy

In the twenty-fifth century, humankind has spread throughout the galaxy, monitored by the watchful eye of the U.N. While divisions in race, religion, and class still exist, advances in technology have redefined life itself. Now, assuming one can afford the expensive procedure, a person’s consciousness can be stored in a cortical stack at the base of the brain and easily downloaded into a new body (or “sleeve”) making death nothing more than a minor blip on a screen. Ex-U.N. envoy Takeshi Kovacs has been killed before, but his last death was particularly painful. Dispatched one hundred eighty light-years from home, re-sleeved into a body in Bay City (formerly San Francisco, now with a rusted, dilapidated Golden Gate Bridge), Kovacs is thrown into the dark heart of a shady, far-reaching conspiracy that is vicious even by the standards of a society that treats “existence” as something that can be bought and sold. For Kovacs, the shell that blew a hole in his chest was only the beginning. . . . From the Trade Paperback edition.
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The Postman

The Postman

David Brin

Science Fiction & Fantasy / Science Fiction / Comics & Graphic Novels

This is the story of a lie that became the most powerful kind of truth. A timeless novel as urgently compelling as War Day or Alas, Babylon, David Brin's The Postman is the dramatically moving saga of a man who rekindled the spirit of America through the power of a dream, from a modern master of science fiction. He was a survivor--a wanderer who traded tales for food and shelter in the dark and savage aftermath of a devastating war. Fate touches him one chill winter's day when he borrows the jacket of a long-dead postal worker to protect himself from the cold. The old, worn uniform still has power as a symbol of hope, and with it he begins to weave his greatest tale, of a nation on the road to recovery.
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The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection From the Living Dead

The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection From the Living Dead

Max Brooks

Horror / Nonfiction / Comics & Graphic Novels

The Zombie Survival Guide is your key to survival against the hordes of undead who may be stalking you right now. Fully illustrated and exhaustively comprehensive, this book covers everything you need to know, including how to understand zombie physiology and behavior, the most effective defense tactics and weaponry, ways to outfit your home for a long siege, and how to survive and adapt in any territory or terrain. Top 10 Lessons for Surviving a Zombie Attack Organize before they rise! They feel no fear, why should you? Use your head: cut off theirs. Blades don’t need reloading. Ideal protection = tight clothes, short hair. Get up the staircase, then destroy it. Get out of the car, get onto the bike. Keep moving, keep low, keep quiet, keep alert! No place is safe, only safer. The zombie may be gone, but the threat lives on. Don’t be carefree and foolish with your most precious asset—life. This book is your key to survival against the hordes of undead who may be stalking you right now without your even knowing it. The Zombie Survival Guide offers complete protection through trusted, proven tips for safeguarding yourself and your loved ones against the living dead. It is a book that can save your life.
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The Princess in Black and the Hungry Bunny Horde

The Princess in Black and the Hungry Bunny Horde

Shannon Hale

Young Adult / Literature & Fiction / Comics & Graphic Novels

It’s a case of monstrous cuteness as the Princess in Black encounters her biggest challenge yet: a field overrun by adorable bunnies. Princess Magnolia and her unicorn, Frimplepants, are on their way to have brunch with Princess Sneezewort, an occasion Frimplepants enjoys more than anything in the world. But just when he can smell the freshly baked bread and the heaping platters of sugar-dusted doughnuts, Princess Magnolia’s glitter-stone ring rings. The monster alarm! After a quick change in the secret cave, Princess Magnolia and Frimplepants are transformed into the Princess in Black and her faithful pony, Blacky. But when they get to the goat pasture, all they can see is a field full of darling little bunnies nibbling on grass, twitching their velvet noses, and wiggling their fluffy tails. Where are the monsters? Are these bunnies as innocent as they appear?
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Scary Out There

Scary Out There

Jonathan Maberry

Mystery & Thrillers / Horror / Comics & Graphic Novels

Multiple Bram Stoker Award–winning author Jonathan Maberry compiles more than twenty stories and poems—written by members of the Horror Writers Association—in this terrifying collection about worst fears. What scares you? Things that go bump in the night? Being irreversibly different? A brutal early death? The unknown? This collection contains stories and poetry by renowned writers such as R. L. Stine, Neal and Brendan Shusterman, and Ellen Hopkins—all members of the Horror Writers Association—about what they fear most. The stories include mermaids, ghosts, and personal demons, and are edited by Jonathan Maberry, multiple Bram Stoker award winner and author of the Rot & Ruin series.
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Redemolished

Redemolished

Alfred Bester

Science Fiction & Fantasy / Mystery & Thrillers / Comics & Graphic Novels

Before his untimely death in 1987, Alfred Bester had established himself as one of the world's greatest science fiction writers. From radio to television, short fiction to full-length novels, he created a body of work that will be continued to be enjoyed by generations of readers for all time. Now, Redemolished brings together, for the first time in one volume, the full range of his genius: The never before printed, complete 3,000 word prologue of his classic novel The Demolished Man. The extraordinary classic science-fiction tale, "Hell is Forever" Bester's shocking pre-cyberpunk stories, such as "The Four Hour Fuge" Included in this special edition are Bester's writings on such noted celebrites as Woody Allen, Rex Stout, and Isaac Asimov. Contents 7 • Introduction (Redemolished) • (2000) • essay by Richard Raucci 13 • The Probable Man • (1941) • novelette by Alfred Bester 64 • Hell Is Forever • (1942) • novella by Alfred Bester 165 • The Push of a Finger • (1942) • novella by Alfred Bester 217 • The Roller Coaster • (1953) • shortstory by Alfred Bester 227 • The Lost Child • shortfiction by Alfred Bester 231 • I Will Never Celebrate New Year's Again • (1963) • shortstory by Alfred Bester 237 • Out of This World • (1964) • shortstory by Alfred Bester 250 • The Animal Fair • (1972) • novelette by Alfred Bester 298 • Something Up There Likes Me • (1973) • shortstory by Alfred Bester 327 • The Four-Hour Fugue • (1974) • shortstory by Alfred Bester 351 • Gourmet Dining in Outer Space • (1960) • essay by Alfred Bester 362 • Place of the Month: The Moon • essay by Alfred Bester 366 • The Sun • essay by Alfred Bester 379 • Science Fiction and the Renaissance Man • (1959) • essay by Alfred Bester 400 • A Diatribe Against Science Fiction • essay by Alfred Bester 405 • The Perfect Composite Science Fiction Author • essay by Alfred Bester 412 • My Affair With Science Fiction • (1974) • essay by Alfred Bester 446 • John Huston's Unsentimental Journey • (1959) • essay by Alfred Bester 458 • Rex Stout • (1967) • interview of Rex Stout • interview by Alfred Bester 471 • Conversation with Woody Allen • (1969) • interview of Woody Allen • interview by Alfred Bester 481 • Isaac Asimov • (1973) • interview of Isaac Asimov • interview by Alfred Bester 485 • Robert Heinlein • (1973) • interview of Robert A. Heinlein • interview by Alfred Bester 492 • The Demolished Man: the Deleted Prologue • shortfiction by Alfred Bester 504 • Writing and The Demolished Man • essay by Alfred Bester 513 • In Memoriam: Alfred Bester (1913-1987) • essay by Gregory Benford and Isaac Asimov
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