Zombies are not my writer’s passion, family is. I chose the zombie backdrop to showcase the family I wanted to write about at both their best and worst moments. Because when it all comes down to the end of the world, it really doesn’t matter what happened to end it. But who you’re with at the end can make all the difference.
I found this book around the same time I started writing my book, and it gave me a whole new perspective on what it means to write zombies.
In a fantasy world, in a country called Arelon, Prince Raoden is struck by the mysterious Shaod—a magical power that turns anyone it afflicts into an undead monster. Unable to heal or die, Raoden and those like him live in the murky slums inside the walls of Elantris, the once-grand City of the Gods.
As far as zombie stories go, Elantris is probably the most benign. It’s more a subversion of the trope—those unaffected by the Shaod believe Elantrians to be feral, cannibalistic monsters when they’re actually the same as everyone else (except they’re dead)—than a true exploration of pop-culture zombie “cannon,” but that’s what makes it so deep.
These aren’t mindless monsters unable to do anything but hunt for food, they’re creatures burdened by circumstance who are trying to make the most of their horrible lives.
Arriving in the kingdom of Arelon to enter a marriage of state, princess Sarene discovers that her intended has died and that she is considered his widow, circumstances that render her a lone force against the imperial ambitions of a religious fanatic. A first novel. Reprint.
This book is the very first zombie novel I ever read, and it gave me an appreciation for the genre that I never thought I could feel.
An original twist on the classic zombie story forms the heart of this novel as young Melanie comes to realize that the world she belongs to is vastly different from the one she knows.
Melanie is different from other girls, she’s hungrier, and that can make her dangerous, so she, and other children like her, was taken to a secure military facility where she was educated and trained to behave like any normal girl.
But when the facility is overrun by zombies (called Hungries, in the story), Melanie learns things about herself that she never would have believed possible.
The shades of humanity represented in this book make it one of the best “gray” novels I’ve ever read. Humans are not necessarily good and zombies are not necessarily bad; both are just doing their best to survive in a world that’s trying to kill everyone.
'ORIGINAL, THRILLING AND POWERFUL' - Guardian 'HAUNTING, HEARTHBREAKING' - Vogue The phenomenal million-copy bestseller that is also a BAFTA Award-nominated movie
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…
The World Over is the first book in a series, so it sets up the expectations for what is coming.
Winter, on the other hand, is the last in a series, and it did a lot to show me how to bring together an ensemble cast in a way that builds to a satisfying ending without making previous installments feel unnecessary or redundant. While zombies don’t appear in Winter, the history of the experimentation done to create the evil queen’s lupine army gets a lot of screen time without crossing the line into over-telling.
For anyone interested in the more technical aspects of a zombie apocalypse, Winter is a great novel for learning to weave background exposition with foreground action.
Don't miss the thrilling final chapter of Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles series.
Princess Winter is admired for her grace, kindness and beauty, despite the scars on her face. She's said to be even more breath-taking than her stepmother, Queen Levana...
When Winter develops feelings for the handsome palace guard, Jacin, she fears the evil Queen will crush their romance before it has a chance to begin.
But there are stirrings against the Queen across the land. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even find the power to launch a revolution and win a war that's…
When writing about any apocalypse, the way society responds to the disaster is one of the most important worldbuilding aspects to address.
For anyone looking to develop an apocalyptic society—especially one in the midst of a collapse—Parable of the Sower is a masterclass in worldbuilding in which Butler creates a realistic world on the brink of ruin and populates it with real people who are doing their best to survive.
This was particularly helpful to me in later installments of my saga where the dominant society was much more isolated from the horrors of the outside world.
The extraordinary, prescient NEW YORK TIMES-bestselling novel.
'If there is one thing scarier than a dystopian novel about the future, it's one written in the past that has already begun to come true. This is what makes Parable of the Sower even more impressive than it was when first published' GLORIA STEINEM
'Unnervingly prescient and wise' YAA GYASI
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We are coming apart. We're a rope, breaking, a single strand at a time.
America is a place of chaos, where violence rules and only the rich and powerful are safe. Lauren Olamina, a young woman with the extraordinary power to…
Head West in 1865 with two life-long friends looking for adventure and who want to see the wilderness before it disappears. One is a wanderer; the other seeks a home he lost. The people they meet on their journey reflect the diverse events of this time period–settlers, adventure seekers, scientific…
In a list about zombie apocalypse references, this is definitely a quirky entry. But it is important for all writers to read outside of their genre, or they run the risk of becoming generic.
Far more important than the story’s backdrop is the story’s focus. People predominantly care and read about people.
Whether that means writing about people resisting zombies, as is the case with most zombie stories, or writing about zombies doing their best to become human—as seen in Elantris and The Girl With All The Gifts—writers need to know how to tell stories about people.
I don’t write books about zombies, I write books about families. And there is probably no more famous family right now than the Bridgertons (though if I had one more recommendation, it would definitely be Swiss Family Robinson).
By reading books about strong families, I’m better able to translate my own experiences with family into fiction.
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Julia Quinn comes the story of Daphne Bridgerton, in the first of her beloved Regency-set novels featuring the charming, powerful Bridgerton family, now a series created by Shondaland for Netflix.
In the ballrooms and drawing rooms of Regency London, rules abound. From their earliest days, children of aristocrats learn how to address an earl and curtsey before a prince-while other dictates of the ton are unspoken yet universally understood. A proper duke should be imperious and aloof. A young, marriageable lady should be amiable...but not too amiable.…
The world’s first-ever zombie apocalypse family drama, The World Over is book one in the Stone World Saga, which follows the efforts of the Stone family to reunite eight years after the apocalypse ripped them apart.
Newcomer Oliver Marcus becomes embroiled in politics beyond his understanding when his military recon team is sent to Seattle as bait for River and her Tartans. Meanwhile, Tyson Hall is searching New London for clues to both the origin of the zombie epidemic and the whereabouts of his missing wife. Later, River’s desperate search for her husband leads her to take the fight to Camp David, the last stronghold of the Old Republic and the headquarters for ELIAS, the drug research company that started it all.
Burne’s been hiding out in the forest since deserting the King’s Guard. Each time he tries to return to the village, he begins to panic. And then one day, he encounters a handsome stranger picking flowers and hides behind a tree instead of talking.
In 1662, a man is wrongly executed for signing the death warrant of Charles I. Awaiting execution, he asks to speak with a priest, to whom he declares a curse on the village that betrayed him. The priest responds with a counter-curse, leaving just one option to nullify it.
