Showing results by publisher "Frank Tayell" in Science Fiction & Fantasy

Nine months after the outbreak, 10,000 survivors from across the globe have found a refuge on the Welsh island of Anglesey. Hordes of the undead ravage the wastelands of Britain and Ireland. Satellite images show that the rest of the world is no better. Food, fuel, and ammunition are running low and there are no more old-world supplies with which to replace them. Intended as an alternative to a slide into despotism, an election is called. It is hoped the contest will bring forth solutions to the myriad crises facing this last bastion of humanity.

Once, it was home to half a billion people. A year after the nuclear war, Europe is a radioactive, storm-ravaged wasteland through which a hundred million undead inexorably march. In their wake, they leave nothing but ruins. Ahead of them flee those few who managed to survive this long. Chasing them are the dregs of humanity. Once known as the Rosewood Cartel, they kill, loot, and destroy as indiscriminately as the living dead.

Billions died during the global civil war that followed the outbreak. Anarchy took grip. Chaos ruled. The world collapsed. In Britain, the evacuation failed. Nowhere was safe from the undead. Four months after the outbreak Bill Wright has found safety in a ruined abbey in southern England, but he is still alone. All he has for company are the files sent to him by his shadowy contact, Sholto. On those, he believes he has found the origins of the undead.

Eight months after the outbreak, Bill Wright is trapped in Ireland. Surrounded by the undead, low on food and lower on water, he's been in this situation before. Unlike before, help is only a rifle-shot away. While waiting for the rescue he is sure will come, he records the turbulent events since his last entry.

Even after the apocalypse, crimes must be solved. In 2019, the AIs went to war. It lasted three days, until the electromagnetic pulse from hundreds of nuclear bombs destroyed the infected circuits. Billions of people succumbed to radiation, starvation, and disease. But millions survived, and they rebuilt. Twenty years later, a ceremony is being held to mark the first transatlantic broadcast since the Blackout. The Prime Minister of Britain and two of the Presidents of the United States will speak to an audience of nearly 10 million people. Not all are celebrating. Crime is on the rise, and power is once again a prize worth murdering for. Ruth Deering, a new graduate from the police academy, doesn't care about ancient history or current affairs. She only joined the force to escape the smog-infested city. Those hopes are dashed when she is assigned to the Serious Crimes Unit, commanded by the disgraced Sergeant Mitchell. Her first case seems like a simple murder, but the investigation uncovers a counterfeiting ring and a conspiracy that threatens to destroy their fragile democracy.

When Pete Guinn traveled to Australia to find his missing sister, he left behind the woman he loved. In the city he once called home, panic and chaos arrive long before the living dead. As South Bend burns to the ground, Olivia flees, seeking safety in the remote woods of Michigan. But the backwoods are no safer than the outback, and nowhere is remote enough to escape the horrors of the living dead.

In a post-apocalyptic world where food is treasure, pirates will kill for a meal. A month after the nuclear war ended, Commissioner Qwong and her crew of scientists and soldiers head north. Following a clue found in the logbook of a sinking ship, they search Mexico for a community trading safety for oil. As they follow garbled radio messages and breadcrumb-clues northward from one small band of survivors to another, a picture of the new world emerges.

Twenty years after the apocalyptic Blackout, steam-trains and the telegraph have replaced smartphones and satellites, but while some still fear technology, many dream of its return.

Fourteen months after the outbreak, 13 months after the nuclear war, the old world is gone, but a new world is emerging. The evacuation of Britain failed, but other evacuations were a success. In Canberra, a new civilization is being born, but in Canada, the search for lost communities begins. The journey takes Bill and Kim to the very end of the Earth, and to a meeting with familiar strangers. Crossing the border, Sholto endures a bittersweet return to the country he’d embraced so many decades ago.

As nations rebuild, democracy is under threat. In 2019, the AIs went to war. Millions died before a nuclear holocaust brought an end to their brief reign of terror. Billions more succumbed to radiation poisoning, disease, and the chaotic violence of that apocalypse. Some survived. They rebuilt. Twenty years later, civilisation is a dim shadow of its former self. Crime is on the rise. During the investigation of a routine homicide, Police Officer Ruth Deering prevents a group of Luddites from destroying the telegraph. This act of sabotage is only the beginning. As arrests are made, and criminals are caught, evidence emerges that the saboteurs are connected to the AIs, the counterfeiting, and to the assassination. The shadowy figure behind the conspiracy must be unmasked before their fragile democracy is destroyed.

In 2019, the AIs went to war. Three days later, hundreds of nuclear missiles were launched. The electromagnetic pulse destroyed the machines, but the radiation and famine nearly destroyed humanity. By 2039, civilization had regressed to the age of steam, but newer technologies were on the horizon. The future looked bright until the warlords swept through Europe. Villages and towns were laid waste, the few thousand people who'd hacked out a life in the continental wasteland were butchered. It was only when the barbarians reached the British garrison in Calais that they were stopped.

As the much-depleted United Nations meets in Canberra, the scale of the global catastrophe becomes clear. The tsunami left Brisbane a flooded ruin. Vanuatu has disappeared. The Madagascan evacuation has failed. Vancouver has been reduced to a radioactive crater. For as far west as Mozambique, as far to the east as Chile, and as far north as Canada, the world is a catalogue of devastation. From the Atlantic, there has been no news since the early days of the outbreak, four weeks ago.

2039, 20 years after the AIs went to war, plague and famine have reduced the global population to 100 million. Most of the planet is a wasteland, with only a handful of enclave-nations preserving a dim shadow of civilization. Christmas is only days away, but Constable Ruth Deering’s mood is anything but festive. In the walled city of Dover, a lonely chef is discovered dead, poisoned. What first appeared to be an accident is soon suspected to be the work of a serial killer who is certain to strike again.

For the alien towani, Earth is a holy site where their Last Prophecy will be fulfilled. They will do anything to protect the planet. Protecting humanity is an optional extra.