21st Century Dead: A Zombie Anthology
About this audiobook
The Stoker Award–winning author of the acclaimed, eclectic anthology The New Dead returns with 21st Century Dead and an all-new lineup of authors from every corner of the fiction world, shining a dark light on our fascination with tales of death and resurrection—and with zombies! The stellar stories in this volume include a tale set in the world of Daniel H. Wilson’s Robopocalypse, the first published fiction by Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter, and a tale of love, family, and resurrection from the legendary Orson Scott Card. This new volume also includes stories from other award-winning and New York Times bestselling authors, such as Simon R. Green, Chelsea Cain, Jonathan Maberry, Duane Swiercyznski, Caitlin Kittredge, Brian Keene, Amber Benson, John Skipp, S. G. Browne, Thomas E. Sniegoski, Hollywood screenwriter Stephen Susco, National Book Award nominee Dan Chaon, and others.
About the author
Mark Morris has written tie-in novels for Hellboy, Spartacus, Doctor Who, and Torchwood, as well as novelizations for Vampire Circus and the game Dead Island. He has published a number of critically acclaimed novels, and in 2007 he won the British Fantasy Award for his anthology Cinema Macabre.
Chelsea Cain is the author of the New York Times bestselling Archie Sheridan/Gretchen Lowell thrillers Heartsick, Sweetheart, Evil at Heart, The Night Season, Kill You Twice, and Let Me Go. Her Portland-based thrillers have been published in twenty-four languages, recommended on the TODAY show, appeared in episodes of HBO’s True Blood and ABC’s Castle, been named among Stephen King’s top ten favorite books of the year, and included in NPR’s list of the top 100 thrillers ever written. According to Booklist, “Popular entertainment just doesn’t get much better than this.” Born in Iowa and raised in Bellingham, Washington, she now lives in Portland, Oregon.
Born in Richland, Washington, in 1951, Orson Scott Card grew up in California, Arizona, and Utah. He lived in Brazil for two years as an unpaid missionary for the Mormon Church and received degrees from Brigham Young University and the University of Utah. The author of numerous books in several genres, Card is best known for Ender’s Game and his online magazine, Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show (oscIGMS.com). He teaches writing and literature at Southern Virginia University and lives with his family in Greensboro, North Carolina.
S. G. Browne is the author of Breathers, Fated, and Lucky Bastard, as well as the Breathers sequel, I Saw Zombies Eating Santa Claus, and the eBook story collection Shooting Monkeys in a Barrel. He worked in Hollywood for several years before moving to Santa Cruz, where he lived for fourteen years, writing novels and short stories while working as an office manager. He now lives in San Francisco.
Stephen Susco is a film and television screenwriter who is most famous for writing the hit movies The Grudge and The Grudge 2. Susco is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and USC and appears as a character in Jonathan Maberry’s Ghost Road Blues trilogy.
Amber Benson cocreated, cowrote, and directed the animated supernatural web series Ghosts of Albion. She is the author of Witchery, Accursed, and the novella Astray. As an actress, she has appeared in dozens of roles in feature films, TV movies, and television series, including the role of Tara Maclay on three seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Benson also wrote, produced, and directed the feature films Chance and Lovers, Liars, and Lunatics.
Dan Chaon is the author of several books, including Ill Will, a national bestseller, named one of the ten best books of 2017 by Publishers Weekly. Other works include the short story collection Stay Awake (2012), a finalist for the Story Prize; the national bestseller Await Your Reply; and Among the Missing, a finalist for the National Book Award. Chaon’s fiction has appeared in the Best American Short Stories, the Pushcart Prize Anthologies, and the O. Henry Collection. He has been a finalist for the National Magazine Award in Fiction and the Shirley Jackson Award, and he was the recipient of an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Chaon lives in Cleveland.
Simon Green is the author of more than sixty science fiction, fantasy, and mystery novels in numerous series. His work also appears in the anthology Weird Detectives, along with Jim Butcher, Neil Gaiman, and Patricia Briggs, among others. His books have sold more than three million copies worldwide and have been translated into more than a dozen languages.
Caitlin Kittredge is the author of the Nocturne City and Black London series, several short stories, and a number of young adult novels. Her first YA novel, The Iron Thorn, was a YALSA 2012 Best Book for Young Adults. She graduated from Evergreen State College in 2008 with a degree in English and lives in Massachusetts.
Ken Bruen, the critically acclaimed author of the Jack Taylor series and The White Trilogy, is the recipient of two Barry Awards and two Shamus Awards and has twice been a finalist for the Edgar Award.
John Skipp is a New York Times bestselling author and editor. His first anthology, Book of the Dead, laid the foundation for modern zombie literature; he later edited three more zombie anthologies, including Mondo Zombie, which won the Bram Stoker Award for best anthology, Zombies: Encounters with the Hungry Dead, and Werewolves & Shapeshifters: Encounters with the Beast Within. Some of his works include The Light at the End, The Scream, Jake’s Wake, and The Long Last Call. He lives in Los Angeles.
Cody Goodfellow is the author of Radiant Dawn, Ravenous Dusk and Perfect Union; he is also the coauthor of Jake’s Wake and The Day Before. His short fiction has appeared in Cemetery Dance, Black Static, and Dark Discoveries, and he currently lives in Los Angeles.
Thomas E. Sniegoski is the author of more than two dozen novels for adults, teens, and children. His books for teens include Legacy, Sleeper Code, Sleeper Agenda, Force Majeure, and the Brimstone Network series. Sniegoski is also a comic book writer; he collaborated with Bone creator Jeff Smith on the prequel miniseries Stupid, Stupid Rat Tails. Sniegoski was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his wife LeeAnne and their French bulldog, Kirby.
Kurt Sutter is a screenwriter, director, producer, and actor. He worked as a producer, writer and director on The Shield, also appearing on the show as hitman Margos Dezerian. Sutter is also the creator of Sons of Anarchy and writes, produces, directs, and performs for the series, where he plays incarcerated club member “Otto” Delaney.
JONATHAN MABERRY (he/him) is a New York Times bestselling, Inkpot winner, five-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Relentless, Ink, Patient Zero, Rot & Ruin, Dead of Night, the Pine Deep Trilogy, The Wolfman, Zombie CSU, and They Bite, among others. His V-Wars series has been adapted by Netflix, and his work for Marvel Comics includes The Punisher, Wolverine, DoomWar, Marvel Zombie Return and Black Panther. He is the editor of Weird Tales Magazine and also edits anthologies such as Aliens vs Predator, Nights of the Living Dead (with George A. Romero), Don’t Turn out the Lights, and others. Follow him on his website and on all social media platforms.
Duane Swierczynski is the Edgar-nominated author of nine novels including Canary, Severance Package, and the Shamus Award-winning Charlie Hardie series (Fun and Games, Hell and Gone, Point and Shoot). He's written over 250 comics for Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Valiant and IDW, including The Black Hood, the first comic for Archie's Dark Circle imprint. Swierczynski has also collaborated with CSI creator Anthony E. Zuiker on the bestselling Level 26 series. He lives in Burbank with his wife and children.
Brian Keene is the Bram Stoker Award–winning author of The Rising, Fear of Gravity, City of the Dead, and others. He is also the fiction editor of Horrorfind.com and the Best of Horrorfind anthology series.
Rio Youers is the British Fantasy and Sunburst Award–nominated author of Westlake Soul and Halcyon. His 2017 thriller, The Forgotten Girl, was a finalist for the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Novel. He is the writer of Sleeping Beauties, a comic book series based on the bestselling novel by Stephen King and Owen King. Rio lives in Ontario, Canada with his wife and their two children.
Daniel H. Wilson is a Cherokee citizen and author of the New York Times bestselling Robopocalypse and its sequel Robogenesis, as well as ten other books, including How to Survive a Robot Uprising, Guardian Angels & Other Monsters, and The Clockwork Dynasty. He recently wrote the Earth 2: Society comic book series for DC Comics. In 2008, Wilson hosted "The Works," a television series airing on the History Channel that uncovered the science behind everyday stuff. He earned a PhD in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University, as well as master’s degrees in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. He has published over a dozen scientific papers and holds four patents. Wilson lives in Portland, Oregon.
Christopher Golden is the New York Times bestselling author of such novels as Of Saints and Shadows, The Myth Hunters, Snowblind, Ararat, and Strangewood. With Mike Mignola, he co-created the comic book series Baltimore and Joe Golem: Occult Detective. He lives in Bradford, Massachusetts.
Scott Brick is a renowned actor, screenwriter, and audiobook narrator. Born in Santa Barbara, he studied acting and writing at UCLA. He began narrating audiobooks in 2000 and has since narrated over 600 titles. He has earned several accolades for his narrating talents, including two Audie Awards.
Cassandra Campbell has recorded nearly two hundred audiobooks and directed many more. She has been nominated for and won multiple Audie Awards, as well as the prestigious Odyssey Award. She has received numerous starred audio reviews in both Publishers Weekly and Library Journal and more than twenty AudioFile Earphones Awards. Cassandra was also named a Best Voice by AudioFile for 2009 and 2010.
Bernadette Dunne has been honored to narrate the work of some of the finest fiction and nonfiction writers of our time, including Margaret Atwood, Joyce Carol Oates, and Sandra Day O'Connor. The winner of more than a dozen Earphones Awards and a three-time Audie Award nominee, she has voiced countless bestsellers, including Memoirs of a Geisha, The Devil Wears Prada, and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. She studied at The Royal National Theater and lives in New York.
Kirby Heyborne has received critical acclaim for his starring role in the award-winning World War II drama Saints and Soldiers. He has had starring roles in eight other features and two short films and has also appeared on the WB's Everwood and many national commercials. He has garnered rave reviews for his narration over the years and is considered one of the finest narrators working today.
Richard Powers has published thirteen novels. He is a MacArthur Fellow and received the National Book Award. His book, The Overstory, won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction.
Malcolm Hillgartner has narrated over 175 audiobooks. He was named an AudioFile Best Voice of 2013. His work ranges from children's titles such as On the Blue Comet (AudioFile Best of 2011, Earphones), and Neal Stevenson's sci-fi epic REAMDE (Audible.com Best of 2011) to the biographies Kissinger (AudioFile Best of 2013, Earphones) and Cheever (AudioFile Best of 2009, Earphones). He is also an accomplished actor, writer, and musician. With his wife and partner, Jahnna Beecham, he has written over 130 books for teens and young readers, as well as the musicals Chaps! and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever Musical, which have been produced in the U.S. and Canada.
Chris Patton has been a voiceover artist for over fifteen years and has acted onstage most of his life. A two-time Audie nominee and the winner of an Earphones award, he's voiced over one hundred audiobooks, over two hundred anime titles, many commercials, a handful of video games, and many e-learning and corporate training projects. The frontman and lyricist for the synthpop band Paul Lynde is Dead, he lives in Maryland but is a native Texan.
John Pruden is a professional voice actor who has recorded audiobooks, PSAs, Indie films, documentaries, video games, radio dramas, corporate and online training narrations, and radio and TV commercials. An Earphones Award winner, his audiobook narrations include Patrick deWitt's The Sisters Brothers, which was chosen by The Washington Post as the best audiobook of 2011.
Renee Raudman is a multi-award-winning audiobook narrator who has recorded over 150 titles. She has earned a number of AudioFile Earphones Awards, a Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Award, and been recognized by Library Journal and the ALA. She has also performed on film, TV, radio, and stage, including recurring roles on One Life To Live and Passions, and guest-starring roles on prime-time TV. She has been heard in cartoons, videogames, and the E! channel.
Stefan Rudnicki is an award winning audiobook narrator, director and producer. He was born in Poland and now resides in Studio City, California. He has narrated more than three hundred audiobooks and has participated in over a thousand as a writer, producer, or director. He is a recipient of multiple Audie Awards and AudioFile Earphones Awards as well as a Grammy Award, a Bram Stoker Award, and a Ray Bradbury Award. He received AudioFile’s award for 2008 Best Voice in Science Fiction and Fantasy. Along with a cast of other narrators, Rudnicki has read a number of Orson Scott Card's best-selling science fiction novels. He worked extensively with many other science fiction authors, including David Weber and Ben Bova. In reviewing the twentieth anniversary edition audiobook of Card’s Ender's Game, Publishers Weekly stated, "Rudnicki, with his lulling, sonorous voice, does a fine job articulating Ender's inner struggle between the kind, peaceful boy he wants to be and the savage, violent actions he is frequently forced to take." Rudnicki is also a stage actor and director.
Sean Runnette, a multiple AudioFile Earphones Award winner, has produced several Audie Award–winning audiobooks and has also narrated works by John Steinbeck and Richard P. Feynman. Of his performance of The Courage to be Free, AudioFile Magazine wrote "Runnette’s tender approach to every sentence and paragraph helps the author’s wisdom glow. Along with the understated power of the author’s writing, Runnette’s performance makes this one of the most arresting and thought-provoking audiobooks available today". He is a member of the American Repertory Theater company and has toured internationally with Mabou Mines, an avant-garde theater company. Sean's television and film appearances include Two If by Sea, Copland, Sex and the City, Law & Order, Third Watch.
Simon Vance is a critically acclaimed narrator who has recorded over eight hundred audiobooks and has received over fifty Earphones Awards. A twelve-time Audie Award winner and frequent finalist, he has been named an AudioFile Golden Voice, an AudioFile Best Voice, and the first Booklist Voice of Choice. A former BBC Radio presenter and newsreader in London, he currently lives in California, where he also pursues stage and television acting.
Tom Weiner, a dialogue director and voice artist best known for his roles in video games and television shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Transformers, is the winner of eight Earphones Awards and Audie Award finalist. He is a former member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
