I’m excited to announce that THE INFECTION, the classic zombie series, is now a trilogy, with the third book, THE FINAL CUT, available for pre-order with a release of December 10, 2021.
THE INFECTION was published by Permuted Press in 2011 and did very well. It was always intended to be a standalone, but the publisher wanted a sequel, and so I gave them THE KILLING FLOOR. Permuted asked for a third book, but my writing journey went on a different trajectory to working with Simon & Schuster and Hachette and also self-publishing. All the while, I often thought about returning to THE INFECTION’s grimdark world to round out a trilogy and provide a stronger sense of closure to the story.
In 2021, I was able to get the rights back to both novels and decided to finally do it. And so THE FINAL CUT was born, where old and new characters struggle with the final question of Infection—extermination, accommodation, or assimilation—and each makes a final choice. I was happy to be able to get to know these people again, give them new life and a voice, and help them find the end of their stories.
Here’s the synopsis:
Infection turned the world into a slaughterhouse. Months later, America is exhausted and dying, its military stalled in the fight to save what’s left.
In the ruins of a West Virginia town, a band of survivors count their losses after a horrific battle to secure a pure sample of Infection. Their destination: “Fort Doom,” USAMRIID, the Army’s germ warfare laboratory, which is under siege.
With humanity facing the possibility of extinction, the Army wants to use the sample to build a superweapon against Infection. One scientist hopes to control Infection; another believes she can cure it. And outside the fort’s walls, a lone survivor offers a new way to survive what’s coming. Each will choose how far they’ll go to survive and what they’re willing to lose to save humanity.
In THE FINAL CUT, Craig DiLouie’s brutal vision of the apocalypse concludes with a revelation of the final mysteries of Infection. Will humanity survive the end of days?
Click here to learn more and pre-order.
On January 6, Americans were mortified to see Trump loyalists overrun the police guarding Congress while it certified Biden’s electoral victory over President Trump. Driven by ridiculous conspiracy theories resulting in more than 60 failed court challenges and Trump himself, the rioters poured into the Congressional chambers, murdering a police officer and wounding others, threatening the safety of Congress, and seeking to overturn the people’s democratic decision to elect Biden as president. It was nothing short of an insurrection, though thankfully an inept one. Nonetheless, the transition between Biden and Trump was one of the most dangerous periods in American history, more dangerous than most people know.
THE SLEEP EXPERIMENT by Jeremy Bates provides a sensationalistic retelling of the notorious urban legend about the Sleep Experiment in the Soviet Union, in which political prisoners were offered their freedom if they stayed awake for fourteen days, only to revert to murder, mutilation, and madness. The book is fun if a bit (intentionally) over the top.
I love the TV series THE EXPANSE but hadn’t read the books by James SA Corey (the pen name for writing team Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck), which are pretty hefty space opera tomes. I finally gave the first a try and wow! It’s one of those rare cases where I absolutely loved the adaptation but ended up loving the book far more. The book LEVIATHAN WAKES, adapted as the show’s first season, is similar but different enough to offer an entirely new experience.
THE RULES OF THE ROAD by C.B. Jones invents an engaging urban legend and then brings it to life in a horror read that gives Creepypasta a run for its money. I liked this one quite a bit.