Arribel “Bel” Devlin has an exciting job at a respected advertising agency in New York City, a great apartment, a handsome boyfriend. And a life without the magic she feels inadequate to wield.
Everything is working out just the way she wants.
Until she meets her newest client, an author with an enchanted book, and she is drawn back into the world of her powerful witch family, bound by honor to keep anyone who reads the book from being spell-bound to a dark mage and used as a source of energy in his quest for power.
From city to suburbia, zombies are all the rage as they rampage on their quest for sustenance, taking down strangers, friends and neighbors alike, without pity or remorse.
Here are nine short stories about the times when the dead walk and the living fear.
Are they on your street yet?
MY BIG FAT ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE: What better place to be when the dead rise than the local fitness center.
THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT CAROL: Suburban life can be deadly dull. Or maybe just deadly.
FIGGY PUDDING: Holidays are known for feasting and jubilation, but one restaurant manager comes to regret keeping the doors open one Christmas eve.
NEITHER RAIN NOR: Public servants are said to be a dedicated lot, but carrying on with business as usual after the zombie apocalypse is taking it a bit too far.
SILENT: Little children look forward to a visit from Santa with great anticipation, but there’s nothing good coming down the chimney this year.
DARKNESS FALLS: Even a sturdy fallout shelter isn’t any protection when the super flu everybody’s been predicting lays waste to the world.
FLASHLIGHT: All she wanted was a flashlight so she could see what all the ruckus outside was about. Sometimes it’s better to remain in the dark.
IN THE MEADOW: Winter has come to a small Nebraskan town, bringing huge snowfalls. But nobody is in the mood to build a snowman.
RITUALS FOR THE LIVING: Long after the dead have risen, the survivors learn to cope with new ways of living and dying.