Zombies
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks (SF BRO)
Max Brooks, son of actor Mel Brooks, chronicles the fictitious "zombie wars" that nearly decimated the human population, with first-hand accounts from people who have had a brush with the undead and facts and figures documenting how many undead currently roam the planet.
Deadline by Mira Grant (SF GRA)
Shaun Mason learns that a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) researcher has faked her own death when she shows up on his doorstep with zombies in tow, but she brings news that reignites Shaun's will to live and he sets out with a shotgun and a new mission.
Sick by Tom Leveen (SF LEV)
Brian and his friends are not part of the cool crowd. They're the misfits, the troublemakers--the ones who jump their high school's electrified fence to skip school regularly. So when the virus breaks out, they're the only ones with a chance of surviving.
Coldbrook by Tim Lebbon (SF LEB)
The facility lay deep in Appalachian Mountains, a secret laboratory called Coldbrook. Its scientists had achieved the impossible: a gateway to a new world. Theirs was to be the greatest discovery in the history of mankind, but they had no idea what they were unleashing.
The Girl With All the Gifts by Mike Carey (SF CAR)
Not every gift is a blessing. Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her. She jokes that she won't bite. But they don't laugh. Melanie is a very special girl. Emotionally charged and gripping from beginning to end, The girl with all the gifts is the most powerful and affecting thriller you will read this year.
Ethics of the Undead by Lauren Schechter (SF SCH)
Lured with scholarships to a charter school in Idaho's Sawtooth Wilderness, four normal teens find themselves trapped in a school for vampires. Drawn from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, the scholarship kids' faith, friendship and love are tested in this fast-paced, witty adventure. Sixteen year-old Kathy finds herself on the kill list of a Shoshone vampire who teaches Ethics for Bloodsuckers. Her pal Lionel is terrorized by his music teacher, an 18th century violinist who worked as a Mafia hit man so he could play at his victims' funerals. With the entire student body thirsting for snacks, keeping the warmbloods alive presents a challenge for several quirky but ethical vampires. And when Kathy and Lionel are put on trial for murder in a vampire court, there are only three options: escape, die trying, or join the undead.
Raising Stony Mayhall by Daryl Gregory (SF GRE)
Stony, an infant victim of the first zombie outbreak in 1968, is taken in by Wanda Mayhall and her three daughters when they find him rapped in his mother's arms and buried in the snow, but after Stony miraculously begins to grow out of his infancy, a night of terror shows him he is not the only undead left in the world and is forced to run.
Allison Hewitt Is Trapped by Madeleine Roux (SF ROU)
Allison Hewitt and her five coworkers at the Brooks and Peabody bookstore are trapped together when the zombie outbreak begins, and while Allison tries to find help by blogging on her laptop, the group protects themselves against zombies and dangerous humans.
Eat, Brains Love by Jeff Hart (SF HAR)
New Jersey teens Jake Stephenson and Amanda Blake are turning into zombies and, having devoured half of their senior class, they are on the run, pursued by teen psychic Cass, a member of a government unit charged with killing zombies and keeping their existence secret.
Contaminated by Em Garner (SF GAR)
After the Contamination - an epidemic caused by the super-trendy diet drink SlimPro that turned ordinary citizens into shambling creatures unable to control their violent impulses - the government rounded up the "Connies" to protect the remaining population. But now, two years later, the government's started sending the rehabilitated back home, complete with shock collars that will either stop the Connies from committing violent acts or kill them before they do any further harm.
Zombie, Ohio by Scott Kenemore (SF KEN)
Peter Mellor, a rural Ohio college professor, dies in a car accident during a zombie apocalypse and wakes up to find he has become a highly intelligent zombie, but, with a failing memory and friends and the general population adverse to his company, Peter begins to question the circumstances of his death and decides to investigate to find out the truth.
Plague of the Dead by Z.A. Recht (SF REC)
Anna Demilio, who has been studying a virus known as Morningstar at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease, tries to warn the government about its dangers, but when an outbreak occurs and the military fails in their plans to cut off its spread, the world becomes overrun with zombies and Anna scrambles to find a cure.
Dead City by Joe McKinney (SF MCK)
San Antonio police officer Eddie Hudson faces a life or death crisis when a zombie virus breaks out in the wake of a series of hurricanes that has left thousands dead.
Apocalypse of the Dead by Joe McKinney (SF MCK)
Retired U.S. Marshal Ed Moore sets out to lead a band of survivors to safety in the wake of a global zombie epidemic, and they arrive at a compound in North Dakota where a self-appointed preacher may prove to be humanity's only hope.
Rise Again: A Zombie Thriller by Ben Tripp (SF TRI)
Sheriff Danielle Adelman of Forest Peak, California, thinks she has troubles enough as the Forth of July rolls around, but the arrival of a horde of disease-stricken refugees fleeing from Los Angeles brings with it more problems and possibly the end of the world.
Brains: A Zombie Memoir by Robin Becker (SF BEC)
When Jack Barnes, a college professor, is bitten and transformed into a zombie, he continues to be able to think like a normal human and sets out on a journey, gathering zombie allies along the way, to find the origins of the virus in hopes of fighting for the rights of the undead.
Paul is Undead: The British Zombie Invasion by Alan Goldsher (SF GOL)
A gothic classic that finds Beatles John, Paul, George, and Ringo as rocker zombies taking over the world.
I Kissed a Zombie, and I Liked It by Adam Selzer (SF SEL)
Living in the post-human era when the undead are part of everyday life, high schooler Alley breaks her no-dating rule when Doug catches her eye, but classmate Will demands to turn her into a vampire and her zombie boyfriend may be unable to stop him.
Breathers: A Zombie's Lament by S.G. Browne (SF BRO)
Andy Warner, a reanimated survivor of a car crash that killed his wife, pieces his life together from his parents' wine cellar while attending zombie support group meetings, and when he meets Rita, an undead girl who cut her own throat, he begins to find his place in society.
Zombie Blondes by Brian James (SF JAM)
Each time fifteen-year-old Hannah and her out-of-work father move she has some fears about making friends, but a classmate warns her that in Maplecrest, Vermont, the cheerleaders really are monsters.
The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks (818 BRO)
Offers trusted, proven tips to help people survive a zombie attack, explaining how people can protect themselves and their loved ones from the hordes of undead that roam the earth.
Generation Dead by Dan Waters (SF WAT)
When dead teenagers who have come back to life start showing up at her high school, Phoebe, a goth girl, becomes interested in the phenomenon, and when she starts dating a "living impaired" boy, they encounter prejudice, fear, and hatred.
The First Days by Rhiannon Frater (SF FRA)
Kate and Jenni join forces when the city is taken over by zombies and as they try to outwit the undead and race across Texas to save Jenni's oldest son, they learn of a small, isolated, heavily fortified town that may be their only hope for survival.
Undead by John Russo (SF RUS)Contains novelizations of two films by John Russo, including "Night of the Living Dead" and "Return of the Living Dead" in which recently buried corpses are resurrected by radiation fallout from an unsuccessful rocket launch and a nerve gas leak from an army supply store and crawl out of their graves in search of human flesh.
Handling the Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist (SF AJV)
After thousands of recently deceased people rise from their graves in Stockholm, Sweden, the local authorities begin to question the relatives of the undead.
Day by Day Armageddon by J.L. Bourne (SF BOU)
A survivor of a global disaster involving a plague of the undead in the United States keeps a journal of his daily activities while trying to keep from becoming one of the zombies.
The Changed by B.J. Burrow (SF BUR)
Chris finds his ordinary life turned upside down when human zombies begin taking over the world, forcing him to become an advocate for undead rights.
Ashes by Ilsa Bick (SF BIC)
Alex, a resourceful seventeen-year-old running from her incurable brain tumor, Tom, who has left the war in Afghanistan, and Ellie, an angry eight-year-old, join forces after an electromagnetic pulse sweeps through the sky and kills most of the world's population, turning some of those who remain into zombies and giving the others superhuman senses.
Bad Taste in Boys by Carrie Harris (SF HAR)
Future physician Kate Grable is horrified when her high school's football coach gives team members steroids, but the drugs turn players into zombies and Kate must find an antidote before the flesh-eating monsters get to her or her friends.
Feed by Mira Grant (SF GRA)
Twin bloggers Georgia and Shaun Mason try to survive while hordes of zombies that were brought back from the dead by a virus, and when a presidential candidate, Senator Peter Ryman, asks the Masons to cover his campaign, they become involved in political conspiracies and a world where social media gives them a large amount of power.
Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry (SF MAB)
In a post-apocalyptic world where fences and border patrols guard the few people left from the zombies that have overtaken civilization, fifteen-year-old Benny Imura is finally convinced that he must follow in his older brother's footsteps and become a bounty hunter.
Z by Michael Thomas Ford (SF FOR)
In the year 2032, after a virus that turned people into zombies has been eradicated, Josh is invited to join an underground gaming society, where the gamers hunt zombies and the action is more dangerous than it seems.
Play Dead by Ryan Brown (SF BRO)
Every player on the Killington High Jackrabbits football team is killed in a bus accident except quarterback Cole Logan, who turns to a mysterious fan to revive the team as zombies so they can still win the district championship.
Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry (SF MAB)
Baltimore detective Joe Ledger is assigned to a counterterrorism task force and asked to lead an ultra-secret rapid-response unit on a dangerous mission to stop a group of terrorists from releasing a bioweapon that will turn ordinary people into zombies.
State of Decay by James Knapp (SF KNA)
Nico Wachalowski, a field agent for the FBI, lives in a dystopian society filled with "revivors," technologically reanimated corpses that are used to do humanity's dirty work, but when he is sent in to bust a smuggling ring, Wachalowski uncovers a stockpile of revivors programmed to kill, along with a hoard of weapons.
Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard (SF DEN)
In an alternate nineteenth-century Philadelphia, Eleanor Fitt sets out to rescue her brother, who seems to have been captured by an evil necromancer in control of an army of Undead.
This Dark Earth by John Horner Jacobs (SF JAC)
Gus, a battle-hardened young man, designed Bridge City to protect the surviving humans from the ravenous zombies that plague the land, and now he is being groomed by his physician mother to be the next leader of men, but an army of slavers is on its way and the war they will wage could mean the end of mankind.
Handling the Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist (SF AJV)
After thousands of recently deceased people rise from their graves in Stockholm, Sweden, the local authorities begin to question the relatives of the undead.
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan (SF RYA)
Through twists and turns of fate, orphaned Mary seeks knowledge of life, love, and especially what lies beyond her walled village and the surrounding forest, where dwell the unconsecrated, aggressive flesh-eating people who were once dead.
Max Brooks, son of actor Mel Brooks, chronicles the fictitious "zombie wars" that nearly decimated the human population, with first-hand accounts from people who have had a brush with the undead and facts and figures documenting how many undead currently roam the planet.
Deadline by Mira Grant (SF GRA)
Shaun Mason learns that a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) researcher has faked her own death when she shows up on his doorstep with zombies in tow, but she brings news that reignites Shaun's will to live and he sets out with a shotgun and a new mission.
Sick by Tom Leveen (SF LEV)
Brian and his friends are not part of the cool crowd. They're the misfits, the troublemakers--the ones who jump their high school's electrified fence to skip school regularly. So when the virus breaks out, they're the only ones with a chance of surviving.
Coldbrook by Tim Lebbon (SF LEB)
The facility lay deep in Appalachian Mountains, a secret laboratory called Coldbrook. Its scientists had achieved the impossible: a gateway to a new world. Theirs was to be the greatest discovery in the history of mankind, but they had no idea what they were unleashing.
The Girl With All the Gifts by Mike Carey (SF CAR)
Not every gift is a blessing. Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her. She jokes that she won't bite. But they don't laugh. Melanie is a very special girl. Emotionally charged and gripping from beginning to end, The girl with all the gifts is the most powerful and affecting thriller you will read this year.
Ethics of the Undead by Lauren Schechter (SF SCH)
Lured with scholarships to a charter school in Idaho's Sawtooth Wilderness, four normal teens find themselves trapped in a school for vampires. Drawn from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, the scholarship kids' faith, friendship and love are tested in this fast-paced, witty adventure. Sixteen year-old Kathy finds herself on the kill list of a Shoshone vampire who teaches Ethics for Bloodsuckers. Her pal Lionel is terrorized by his music teacher, an 18th century violinist who worked as a Mafia hit man so he could play at his victims' funerals. With the entire student body thirsting for snacks, keeping the warmbloods alive presents a challenge for several quirky but ethical vampires. And when Kathy and Lionel are put on trial for murder in a vampire court, there are only three options: escape, die trying, or join the undead.
Raising Stony Mayhall by Daryl Gregory (SF GRE)
Stony, an infant victim of the first zombie outbreak in 1968, is taken in by Wanda Mayhall and her three daughters when they find him rapped in his mother's arms and buried in the snow, but after Stony miraculously begins to grow out of his infancy, a night of terror shows him he is not the only undead left in the world and is forced to run.
Allison Hewitt Is Trapped by Madeleine Roux (SF ROU)
Allison Hewitt and her five coworkers at the Brooks and Peabody bookstore are trapped together when the zombie outbreak begins, and while Allison tries to find help by blogging on her laptop, the group protects themselves against zombies and dangerous humans.
Eat, Brains Love by Jeff Hart (SF HAR)
New Jersey teens Jake Stephenson and Amanda Blake are turning into zombies and, having devoured half of their senior class, they are on the run, pursued by teen psychic Cass, a member of a government unit charged with killing zombies and keeping their existence secret.
Contaminated by Em Garner (SF GAR)
After the Contamination - an epidemic caused by the super-trendy diet drink SlimPro that turned ordinary citizens into shambling creatures unable to control their violent impulses - the government rounded up the "Connies" to protect the remaining population. But now, two years later, the government's started sending the rehabilitated back home, complete with shock collars that will either stop the Connies from committing violent acts or kill them before they do any further harm.
Zombie, Ohio by Scott Kenemore (SF KEN)
Peter Mellor, a rural Ohio college professor, dies in a car accident during a zombie apocalypse and wakes up to find he has become a highly intelligent zombie, but, with a failing memory and friends and the general population adverse to his company, Peter begins to question the circumstances of his death and decides to investigate to find out the truth.
Plague of the Dead by Z.A. Recht (SF REC)
Anna Demilio, who has been studying a virus known as Morningstar at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease, tries to warn the government about its dangers, but when an outbreak occurs and the military fails in their plans to cut off its spread, the world becomes overrun with zombies and Anna scrambles to find a cure.
Dead City by Joe McKinney (SF MCK)
San Antonio police officer Eddie Hudson faces a life or death crisis when a zombie virus breaks out in the wake of a series of hurricanes that has left thousands dead.
Apocalypse of the Dead by Joe McKinney (SF MCK)
Retired U.S. Marshal Ed Moore sets out to lead a band of survivors to safety in the wake of a global zombie epidemic, and they arrive at a compound in North Dakota where a self-appointed preacher may prove to be humanity's only hope.
Rise Again: A Zombie Thriller by Ben Tripp (SF TRI)
Sheriff Danielle Adelman of Forest Peak, California, thinks she has troubles enough as the Forth of July rolls around, but the arrival of a horde of disease-stricken refugees fleeing from Los Angeles brings with it more problems and possibly the end of the world.
Brains: A Zombie Memoir by Robin Becker (SF BEC)
When Jack Barnes, a college professor, is bitten and transformed into a zombie, he continues to be able to think like a normal human and sets out on a journey, gathering zombie allies along the way, to find the origins of the virus in hopes of fighting for the rights of the undead.
Paul is Undead: The British Zombie Invasion by Alan Goldsher (SF GOL)
A gothic classic that finds Beatles John, Paul, George, and Ringo as rocker zombies taking over the world.
I Kissed a Zombie, and I Liked It by Adam Selzer (SF SEL)
Living in the post-human era when the undead are part of everyday life, high schooler Alley breaks her no-dating rule when Doug catches her eye, but classmate Will demands to turn her into a vampire and her zombie boyfriend may be unable to stop him.
Breathers: A Zombie's Lament by S.G. Browne (SF BRO)
Andy Warner, a reanimated survivor of a car crash that killed his wife, pieces his life together from his parents' wine cellar while attending zombie support group meetings, and when he meets Rita, an undead girl who cut her own throat, he begins to find his place in society.
Zombie Blondes by Brian James (SF JAM)
Each time fifteen-year-old Hannah and her out-of-work father move she has some fears about making friends, but a classmate warns her that in Maplecrest, Vermont, the cheerleaders really are monsters.
The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks (818 BRO)
Offers trusted, proven tips to help people survive a zombie attack, explaining how people can protect themselves and their loved ones from the hordes of undead that roam the earth.
Generation Dead by Dan Waters (SF WAT)
When dead teenagers who have come back to life start showing up at her high school, Phoebe, a goth girl, becomes interested in the phenomenon, and when she starts dating a "living impaired" boy, they encounter prejudice, fear, and hatred.
The First Days by Rhiannon Frater (SF FRA)
Kate and Jenni join forces when the city is taken over by zombies and as they try to outwit the undead and race across Texas to save Jenni's oldest son, they learn of a small, isolated, heavily fortified town that may be their only hope for survival.
Undead by John Russo (SF RUS)Contains novelizations of two films by John Russo, including "Night of the Living Dead" and "Return of the Living Dead" in which recently buried corpses are resurrected by radiation fallout from an unsuccessful rocket launch and a nerve gas leak from an army supply store and crawl out of their graves in search of human flesh.
Handling the Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist (SF AJV)
After thousands of recently deceased people rise from their graves in Stockholm, Sweden, the local authorities begin to question the relatives of the undead.
Day by Day Armageddon by J.L. Bourne (SF BOU)
A survivor of a global disaster involving a plague of the undead in the United States keeps a journal of his daily activities while trying to keep from becoming one of the zombies.
The Changed by B.J. Burrow (SF BUR)
Chris finds his ordinary life turned upside down when human zombies begin taking over the world, forcing him to become an advocate for undead rights.
Ashes by Ilsa Bick (SF BIC)
Alex, a resourceful seventeen-year-old running from her incurable brain tumor, Tom, who has left the war in Afghanistan, and Ellie, an angry eight-year-old, join forces after an electromagnetic pulse sweeps through the sky and kills most of the world's population, turning some of those who remain into zombies and giving the others superhuman senses.
Bad Taste in Boys by Carrie Harris (SF HAR)
Future physician Kate Grable is horrified when her high school's football coach gives team members steroids, but the drugs turn players into zombies and Kate must find an antidote before the flesh-eating monsters get to her or her friends.
Feed by Mira Grant (SF GRA)
Twin bloggers Georgia and Shaun Mason try to survive while hordes of zombies that were brought back from the dead by a virus, and when a presidential candidate, Senator Peter Ryman, asks the Masons to cover his campaign, they become involved in political conspiracies and a world where social media gives them a large amount of power.
Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry (SF MAB)
In a post-apocalyptic world where fences and border patrols guard the few people left from the zombies that have overtaken civilization, fifteen-year-old Benny Imura is finally convinced that he must follow in his older brother's footsteps and become a bounty hunter.
Z by Michael Thomas Ford (SF FOR)
In the year 2032, after a virus that turned people into zombies has been eradicated, Josh is invited to join an underground gaming society, where the gamers hunt zombies and the action is more dangerous than it seems.
Play Dead by Ryan Brown (SF BRO)
Every player on the Killington High Jackrabbits football team is killed in a bus accident except quarterback Cole Logan, who turns to a mysterious fan to revive the team as zombies so they can still win the district championship.
Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry (SF MAB)
Baltimore detective Joe Ledger is assigned to a counterterrorism task force and asked to lead an ultra-secret rapid-response unit on a dangerous mission to stop a group of terrorists from releasing a bioweapon that will turn ordinary people into zombies.
State of Decay by James Knapp (SF KNA)
Nico Wachalowski, a field agent for the FBI, lives in a dystopian society filled with "revivors," technologically reanimated corpses that are used to do humanity's dirty work, but when he is sent in to bust a smuggling ring, Wachalowski uncovers a stockpile of revivors programmed to kill, along with a hoard of weapons.
Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard (SF DEN)
In an alternate nineteenth-century Philadelphia, Eleanor Fitt sets out to rescue her brother, who seems to have been captured by an evil necromancer in control of an army of Undead.
This Dark Earth by John Horner Jacobs (SF JAC)
Gus, a battle-hardened young man, designed Bridge City to protect the surviving humans from the ravenous zombies that plague the land, and now he is being groomed by his physician mother to be the next leader of men, but an army of slavers is on its way and the war they will wage could mean the end of mankind.
Handling the Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist (SF AJV)
After thousands of recently deceased people rise from their graves in Stockholm, Sweden, the local authorities begin to question the relatives of the undead.
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan (SF RYA)
Through twists and turns of fate, orphaned Mary seeks knowledge of life, love, and especially what lies beyond her walled village and the surrounding forest, where dwell the unconsecrated, aggressive flesh-eating people who were once dead.