Irish writer, Derek Gunn, has sold a new novel entitled The Estuary, to US publisher, Permuted Press for publication in 2009.

According to the author, The Estuary is a fast-paced, horror adventure tale, about a desperate plan formulated in the darkest years of an evil empire, which now threatens to engulf the residents of a small community in Southern Ireland.

“I’m delighted that The Estuary is going to be published by Permuted Press who are making tremendous strides forward in publishing horror/post-apocalyptic genre fiction” says Derek.

David Wellington is the author of several successful horror novels, short stories and web serials. The Monster Island zombie series and 13 Bullets vampire fiction are very popular with horror fans, who can’t wait to see what happens next.

Vampire Zero, the third book featuring Laura Caxton and Jameson Arkeley was recently released. I had the chance to talk to David a bit about the story and some of his other projects.

At the end of the world a handful of survivors banded together in a museum-turned-compound surrounded by the living dead. The community established rituals and rites of passage, customs to keep themselves sane, to help them integrate into their new existence. In a battle against a kingdom of savage prisoners, the survivors lost loved ones, they lost innocence, but still they coped and grew. They even found a strange peace with the undead.

Twelve years later the community has reclaimed more of the city and has settled into a fairly secure life in their compound.

Dying to Live: Life Sentence is available at Amazon.com.

We have an early look at horror author Derek Gunn’s new Vampire Apocalypse novel Descent into Chaos. This is the sequel to A World Torn Asunder.

Here on Flames Rising today we have the Prologue of the new book.

Vampire Apocalypse: Descent into Chaos

Two Years Ago: Boston

It was still early evening but the relentless advance of the dark was already heralding its dominion as the sun began to slip slowly below the horizon. In places, patches of light still flared valiantly—though, ineluctably, they too began to give ground with each passing moment. Harris grinned wryly as he thought how fitting their predicament was as he and his fellow survivors defended themselves against the oncoming hoard in their last remaining stronghold. He rated their chances no better than the light that, even now, was relinquishing its last tenuous grip on the cityscape.

Derek Gunn’s Vampire Apocalypse trilogy – second book released.

The second book in the Vampire Apocalypse trilogy from Irish author Derek Gunn, has been released by KHP Industries under their Black Death Books imprint. Descent into Chaos follows A World Torn Asunder, Derek’s debut novel (September 2006) which was widely praised on both sides of the Atlantic and is in development as a movie.

At the end of the world a handful of survivors banded together in a museum-turned-compound surrounded by the living dead. The community established rituals and rites of passage, customs to keep themselves sane, to help them integrate into their new existence. In a battle against a kingdom of savage prisoners, the survivors lost loved ones, they lost innocence, but still they coped and grew. They even found a strange peace with the undead.

Twelve years later the community has reclaimed more of the city and has settled into a fairly secure life in their compound. Zoey is a girl coming of age in this undead world, learning new roles–new sacrifices. But even bigger surprises lay in wait, for some of the walking dead are beginning to remember who they are, who they’ve lost, and, even worse, what they’ve done.

Seemingly overnight the world transforms into a barren wasteland ravaged by plague and overrun by hordes of flesh-eating zombies. A small band of desperate men and women stand their ground in a fortified compound in what had been Queens, New York. They’ve named their sanctuary Eden.

Harris–the unusual honest man in this dead world–races against time to solve a murder while maintaining his own humanity. Because the danger posed by the dead and diseased mass clawing at Eden’s walls pales in comparison to the deceit and treachery Harris faces within.

Eden by Tony Monchinski is available at Amazon.com.

Permuted Press proudly presents a brand new serial novel by James Melzer: The Zombie Chronicles. The Zombie Chronicles will be serialized free in both text and podcast (audio book) formats.

Read or listen to episode one now on the official site: www.thezombiechronicles.net

Novelist Z. A. Recht, the author of Morningstar Strain: Plague of the Dead and Morningstar Strain: Thunder and Ashes, likes playing god in a world of shamblers (slow moving zombies), sprinters (fast-moving ones), and rotting, stinking corpses (unmoving).

“No, really,” said Recht of playing god. “If the Morningstar Strain universe actually existed, I would be the Great Spirit of it, and that’s the beauty of writing. It allows you to create and destroy entire worlds on a whim.”

“This is not just idle banter, either,” he added. “I actually mean create and destroy whole worlds.”

It doesn’t take much to get hooked by one of Recht’s novels, just a few short paragraphs or pages. His zombies, the viral by-product of the dread Morningstar Strain, are hungry for flesh and his humans are survivors with enough character and enough ammunition to live another day. Except, of course, when they get killed, eaten, or infected.

Recht and I spoke in mid-July, while he was hard at work on Survivor, his third Morningstar Strain novel due out from Permuted Press sometime in 2009.

Interview by Jeremy Jones

Descent into Chaos, the follow up novel to A World Torn Asunder (part of the Vampire Apocalypse series written by Irish author, Derek Gunn) is now available to preorder from the publisher and will be released in the Fall. Chapters are now available at the author’s website.

Vampire Apocalypse: A World Torn Asunder (released in September 2006) was Derek’s debut novel. It received rave reviews, was optioned for film by producer/screenwriter Richard Finney. Finney and screenwriter, Franklin Guerrero Jr., recently penned a script based on the book. Their adaptation led to a recent partnership on the project with producer, Robert Lawrence (Die Hard: With a Vengence, Clueless, The Last Castle). Currently the project is being represented by the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) who is packaging the project for the studios.

Beneath the dim light of a full moon, the population of Cincinnati mutates into huge, snarling monsters that devour everyone they see, acting upon their most base and bestial desires. Planes fall from the sky. Highways are clogged with abandoned cars, and buildings explode and topple. The city burns.

Bestial: Werewolf Apocalypse is the new horror novel written by William Carl and published by Permuted Press. You can order this twisted tale at Amazon.com.

Today’s preview is the continuation of Chapter One of Bestial. Be sure to read last week’s preview to get caught up with the story…

Beneath the dim light of a full moon, the population of Cincinnati mutates into huge, snarling monsters that devour everyone they see, acting upon their most base and bestial desires. Planes fall from the sky. Highways are clogged with abandoned cars, and buildings explode and topple. The city burns.

Bestial: Werewolf Apocalypse is the new horror novel written by William Carl and published by Permuted Press. You can order this twisted tale at Amazon.com.

We have two previews of Bestial lined-up here on Flames Rising. Permuted Press has provided us with the entire first chapter of the book. See how the story begins today and tune in next week for the rest of the chapter.

When I finished reading Bestial, the first thing I thought was, ‘This was everything a zombie novel should be.’ This is rather strange, considering that the book I’d just read had been chiefly concerned with werewolves.

I had certain expectations when I started reading this, a werewolf novel. There would be grisly deaths every full moon, of course. There would most likely be a small town where everyone seems to know each other, which would lead to drama as everyone became a suspect. There would be a bloody shootout towards the end, with the beast being killed by a silver bullet. The true culprit would come as a surprise to the terrified townsfolk, but not to me, the reader. I would have seen it coming after the first few chapters.

Review by Leah Clarke

Readers familiar with Permuted Press‘ back catalogue know what to expect when picking up one of their books: post-apocalyptic mayhem, more often than not including zombies.

Empire does not disappoint. The novel follows a group of survivors in Jefferson Harbor, decades after the zombie apocalypse. Although this may not sound that special, Empire does differ from the standard zombie fare.

Review by Leah Clarke

In 2062, the Year of the Fiftieth Harvest, a Man confined to the sewers, tunnels and caverns of the underworld will venture above ground, into the cities-turned-wilderness left behind after the apocalypse, in a last bid to stop the alien Harvesters and the terrible Other Gods working their puppet-strings. Only a few things stand in […]

Marcus Alexander Hart’s apocalyptic novel The Oblivion Society has been chosen as a semi-finalist in the Fantasy & Science-Fiction category of the Independent Publisher’s Book Awards (IPPYs).

With over 3,100 entries for this year’s competition, the Independent Publisher Book Awards (since 1996) award the best indie-published books of the year in 65 categories.

View the full list of this year’s semi-finalists here.

The Morningstar Saga continues in Thunder and Ashes…

A lot can change in three months: wars can be decided, nations can be forged… or entire species can be brought to the brink of annihilation. The Morningstar Virus, an incredibly virulent disease, has swept the face of the planet, infecting billions. Its hosts rampage, attacking anything that remains uninfected. Even death can’t stop the virus, which reanimates its victims as cannibalistic shamblers.

Thunder and Ashes is now available at Amazon.com and Horror Mall.

The outbreak began in 2007. It’s now 2112.

The crippled U.S. government is giving up in its fight against an undead plague. Military forces and aid have been withdrawn from the last coastal cities, leaving those who choose to stay in the “badlands” defenseless against hordes of zombified humans and animals.

“A macabre masterpiece of post-apocalyptic zombie goodness. If you have waited until the end of the world for a wonderfully told, well written, and exciting as hell novel … your world has just ended. EMPIRE is that novel.”

–Dr. Pus, Library of the Living Dead Podcast

Empire by David Dunwoody is available at Amazon.com and Horror Mall.

Swarm Press is proud to announce its first official acquisition: a modern tale of superheroes by Matthew Wayne Selznick titled Brave Men Run: A Novel of the Sovereign Era.

Brave Men Run is the story of Nate Charters. Born different, unsure of his origins, he’s an outcast at Abbeque Valley High School, a self-proclaimed “boy freak” with few friends and low self-esteem. When the a flying man announces the existence of superpowered individuals and the Sovereign Era dramatically dawns, Nate finds himself in a quest to discover the truth: is he more than he seems, a misfit in a miraculous and powerful new minority… or something else entirely?

Bestial: Werewolf Apocalypse by William D. Carl pre-order at Horror Mall.

Beneath the dim light of a full moon, the population of Cincinnati mutates into huge, snarling monsters that devour everyone they see, acting upon their most base and bestial desires. Planes fall from the sky. Highways are clogged with abandoned cars, and buildings explode and topple.

The city burns.