The Afterblight Chronicles

Series · 20

books · 2002-2016

By Al Ewing, Paul Kane, Scott K. Andrews, and more

Books in series

The Culled

2006

The world has been devastated by an epidemic. Although there are pockets of an attempted continuation of civilisation, the truth is that the world has gone to hell in a handcart. The reason for this is a disease that has wiped out most of the world's population. It kills almost all those who are not of the blood group 'O neg'. Those people who survive are untouched. Everyone else dies. Infrastructures have collapsed. Mobs run rampant. The only kind of law that exists is that imposed by the people with the biggest guns. In this devastated and chaotic world who can bring hope and order? The Blight arose from nowhere. It swept across the bickering nations like the End of Times. As the numbers thinned and societies crumbled, the survivors picked their way between silent streets and looked out on the squalid new order. Hotheaded religion and territorial savagery rule the cities now. Somewhere, amidst the chaos, a damaged man receives a signal, and with it the tiniest flicker of hope. This is the chance to rediscover the humanity he lost, long ago, in the blood and filth and horror of the Cull. He mustcross the Atlantic, defeat warrior gangs in New York and seek out the location of his missing love.

Kill or Cure

2007

Jasmine is part of a team of scientists who have discovered a cure to the deadly virus that has destroyed most of the world's population. However, it has a devestating side-effect, driving the recipient into a schizophrenic state. Now Jasmine must keep it together while trying to escape the clutches of the pirate rulers of the New Caribbean.

School's Out

2007

It's never easy being fifteen, but when your teachers are killing each other, the prefect who loves to bully you is experimenting with crucifixion, and the rival gang from across town have decided that ritualistic cannibalism is the way to go, spots and body-odour don't seem like such big problems after all. These are the final days of St Marks School For Boys, and the punishment for disobedience is death!

#3, 6, 9

School's Out Forever

2002

“After the world died we all sort of drifted back to school. After all, where else was there for us to go?” Lee Keegan’s fifteen. If most of the population of the world hadn’t just died choking on their own blood, he might be worrying about acne, body odour and girls. As it is, he and the young Matron of his boarding school, Jane Crowther, have to try and protect their charges from cannibalistic gangs, religious fanatics, a bullying prefect experimenting with crucifixion and even the surviving might of the US Army. Welcome to St. Mark’s School for Boys and Girls... This is an omnibus containing the whole of the "School's Out" trilogy: "School's Out" "Operation Motherland" "Children's Crusade"

Dawn Over Doomsday

2008

The world has been devastated by an epidemic. Although there are pockets of an attempted continuation of civilisation, the truth is that the world has gone to hell in a handcart. The reason for this is a disease that has wiped out most of the world's population. It kills almost all those who are not of the blood group 'O neg'. Those people who survive are untouched. Everyone else dies. Infrastructures have collapsed. Mobs run rampant. The only kind of law that exists is that imposed by the people with the biggest guns. In this devastated and chaotic world who can bring hope and order? As America lies bleeding, Native American Chief Hiamovi seeks to unite his people into a single nation capable of reclaiming the US from the white man. His growing army is on a collision course with cult leader Samuel Colt, who intends to put the country back in the iron grip of the once mighty Neo Clergy. The two men are set for a showdown at Little Bighorn, once site of Cluster's legendary last stand, now a twisted nuclear landscape. Fourth book in the action-packed post apocalypse fiction.

Arrowhead

2008

#5, 8, 10

Hooded Man

2013

After the world died, the legend was reborn. When civilisation shuddered and died, Robert Stokes lost everything, including his wife and his son. The ex-cop retreated into the woods near Nottingham, to live off the land and wait to join his family. As the world descended into a new Dark Age, he turned his back on it all. The foreign mercenary and arms dealer De Falaise sees England is ripe for conquest. He works his way up the country, forging an army and pillaging as he goes. When De Falaise arrives at Nottingham and sets up his new dominion, Robert is drawn reluctantly into the resistance. From Sherwood he leads the fight and takes on the mantle of the world’s greatest folk hero. The Hooded Man and his allies will become a symbol of freedom, a shining light in the horror of a blighted world, but he can never De Falaise is only the first of his kind. This omnibus collects the novels Arrowhead, Broken Arrow and Arrowland, with a new introduction by editor Jonathan Oliver. The ebook edition also exclusively collects the stories ‘Servitor,’ ‘Perfect Presents,’ and ‘Signs and Portents.’

Operation Motherland

2009

Lee Kegan travels to Iraq on the trail of his missing father, only to find himself caught between desperate rebels and a general who wants to strap him into an electric chair. In England, Jane Crowther, one time matron matron of St. Mark's School for Boys, attracts the wrong kind of attention and has to fight to protect her new school from unlikely enemies. And in a bunker underneath Washington, a madman issues orders that will tip two devastated countries into total war. This is the first year of St. Mark's School for Boys and Girls - will there be a second?

Death Got No Mercy

2010

Cade wasn't a complicated man. He didn't care about people. But one of the people he did care about was in trouble and he had to help. Cade travels to a post-apocalypse San Francisco - peopled with maniacs and cannibals - to find help for his companion. There he must use nothing but his two fists and a hunting knife to find the one thing that may save his friend.

Broken Arrow

2010

A year has passed since the Hooded Man took back Nottingham Castle from the crazed Sheriff, De Falaise. The citizens of Nottingham have settled back into an uneasy peace, but a new threat is emerging. From Russia a covetous and psychotic general eyes the treasures of Britain. In Yorkshire a dangerous Satanic cult emerges and from Europe comes an old, familiar foe. The Hooded Man must fight for his people once more!

Children's Crusade

2010

"I celebrated my sixteenth birthday by crashing a plane, fighting for my life and facing execution. Again." Lee Keegan travels to Iraq on the trail of his missing father, only to find himself caught between desperate rebels and a general who wants to strap him into an electric chair. In England, Jane Crowther, one time matron of St Mark?s School for Boys, attracts the wrong kind of attention and has to fight to protect her new school from unlikely enemies. And in a bunker underneath Washington, a madman issues orders that will tip two devastated countries into total war. This is the first year of St Mark?s School for Boys and Girls. It will be a miracle if it sees a second!

#10

Arrowland

2010

-Enemies on All Sides!- Robert, the Hooded Man, leads the Rangers, who keep the peace in the ravaged wasteland of Britain, foiling the ambitions of the warlords and petty tyrants who would take the country for themselves. Even the spirits of his beloved Sherwood Forest aid him, sending him dreams to guide his path. But now Robert's dreams are threatening and strange - a dragon rising over Wales, a spider crouching over Edinburgh - and new foes are rising against him in his own homeland. Overseas, the Russian Tsar is readying himself for a second confrontation with Britain's protector, even as an army is converging at the Reichstag in Berlin. A confrontation is coming that may decide the future of the nation...

#11

Blood Ocean

2012

Kavika Kamalani is a Pali Boy, a post-plague heir to an ancient Hawai'ian warrior tradition that believes in overcoming death by embracing one's fears and living large. His life on the Nomi No Toshi, the floating city, is turned upside down when one of his friends dies, harvested for his blood, and he sets out to find the killer. Kidnapped himself and subjected to a terrifying transformation, Kavika must embrace the ultimate fear - death itself - if he, his loved ones, and the Pali Boys themselves are to survive.

#13

Orbital Decay

2014

Before the Blight had a name – before the world died – there was a chance to stop the AB-Virus in its tracks. It almost worked. Astronaut Alvin Burrows holds the key: a literal Pandora’s box full of infected lab mice. But time is running out, and even orbit isn’t far enough to escape the pandemic. Burrows’ and his crewmates’ families are caught in quarantines on the ground, the death toll is rising, and maddened gangs are beginning their rampage. The International Space Station is a world all its own, two hundred and sixty miles above the Earth, circling the globe every ninety-two minutes, fifty-four seconds; a fragile metal shell in which six men and women are trapped in close confines for months at a time. And something more sinister than the plague is loose on Station. Something driving one of the astronauts to murder the crew, one by one...

#14

Dead Kelly

2014

Just before the Cull, Kelly McGuire and his gang staged a spectacular raid, to seize a load of gold bullion from an airplane on the runway, armed only with guts, guns, motorcycles and a bulldozer. But the deal went sour when one of Kelly’s mates tipped off the cops, and the gang was ambushed. McGuire barely got away with his life, running into the Bush beyond Melbourne’s sprawling suburbs. Six months is a long time to hide out. Long enough for the world to end, for one thing. But now “Dead” Kelly—as the press was calling him towards the end, when the police reported they’d found his body—is back, and he’s gunning for some payback. A chance discovery gives him the perfect get-up, courtesy of another outlaw Kelly, and he’s set to figure out which one of his mates done him over. If he has to kill every one of the bastards to get there.

#15

The Bloody Deluge

2014

A year ago, civilisation died, drowning and choking on its own blood in the brutal scourge of the Cull. Eking out a living on the newly primitive land, British-born biochemist Katy Lewkowitz finds a new life as a doctor among the small communities springing up in Eastern Germany... until a terrible new cult, calling itself the 'New Teutonic Order,' begins purging all 'undesirables.' Katy and her friend and old tutor Dr. Emil Weber, fleeing the depredations of the fanatical Order, escape into Poland, eventually taking refuge among the strangely anachronistic survivors at the monastery of Jasna Góra. A battle of faith ensues, that could decide the future of humankind...

#16

Fall Out

2015

When the world died, they turned out the lights. Jack Bedford may be the rightful King of Britain, but he’s going to have to work for it. In the years since the Cull wiped out most of the human race, the beleaguered island has survived invasions, murderous cults and civil wars. Now, the dozens of tribes and communities who have gradually formed out of the chaos, painfully rebuilding in the aftermath, stand on their own; uniting them will be an uphill battle. A fresh disaster may give him the chance to prove his leadership. Heysham power plant, in Lancashire, has suffered a catastrophic meltdown, the aging safety mechanisms failing after years of neglect. Hundred have been killed or fatally poisoned. An emergency council is called. There are nine more plants in the UK; how many are close to failure? What must be done to make them safe? Can the emerging leaders of Britain set aside their differences to deal with the threat?

#17

Flaming Arrow

2015

More than a decade after claiming Nottingham Castle and founding his Rangers, Rob Stokes – the Hooded Man – has seen off Britain’s would-be conquerors, thrown his support behind the newly-restored Crown, and extended his peacekeeping force onto the Continent. He’s getting old, getting ready to hand over to his adopted son, Mark, feeling like retiring. Trouble is brewing in the newly peaceful Britain. King Jack’s soldiers go armed with guns and armoured vehicles, even as Stokes’ Rangers disarm the people. A resistance movement is rising, led by the charismatic Virgil Sorin. Amidst the rioting, shots are fired. A fire is about to start...

#18

Children of the Cull

2016

When the world died, we were torn apart. He’s an old soldier, of a sort – be polite and say he ‘solved problems’ for his government. She’s a doctor, a scientist specialising in rare diseases. They met once, fell in love, got ready to settle down... until the Cull came and tore them apart. They’ve hunted each other across the ravaged, ruined world, leaving bloodshed and destruction in both their wakes. Finally, tonight, in an old Army research post in the middle of nowhere, they’ll be reunited. With any luck, it’ll live up to the promise. Children of the Cull continues the stories of Simon Spurrier’s The Culled and Rebecca Levene’s Kill or Cure.

#13-15

Journal of the Plague Year

An Omnibus of Post-Apocalyptic Tales

2014

The new omnibus from the Afterblight series, following the break out successes of both School's Out Forever and Hooded Man. WHEN THE WORLD ENDED... The Cull swept the world in the early years of the twenty-first century, killing billions and ending civilisation as we know it. Only a fortunate few, blessed with the right blood, were spared. But in times of need, heroes rise. Leaders, soldiers, rebels – even children – take a stand, to hold back the tide of savagery and set a light in the darkness. Journal of the Plague Year offers three new tales from across the world of The Afterblight Chronicles, from the International Space Station to the wilds of the Australian Outback and beyond. In Malcolm Cross’s Orbital Decay, the team in the Space Station watch helplessly as the world is all but wiped out. Exiled from Earth, astronaut Alvin Burrows must solve the mystery of the “Pandora” experiment, even as someone on the station takes to murdering the crew one by one. In C. B. Harvey’s Dead Kelly, fugitive and convict Kelly McGuire returns to the lawless city of Melbourne to be revenged on his old gangmates, and – ultimately – to reveal his own terrible destiny. And a third thrilling installment, yet to be announced, will uncover another corner of the disease-ravaged world...

Authors

Paul Kane has been writing professionally for almost fifteen years. His genre journalism has appeared in such magazines as Fangoria, SFX and Rue Morgue, and his non-fiction books are the critically acclaimed The Hellraiser Films and Their Legacy and Voices in the Dark. His award-winning short fiction has appeared in magazines and anthologies on both sides of the Atlantic (as well as being broadcast on BBC Radio 2), and has been collected in Alone (In the Dark), Touching the Flame, FunnyBones, Peripheral Visions, Shadow Writer, The Butterfly Man and Other Stories, The Spaces Between and GHOSTS. His novella Signs of Life reached the shortlist of the British Fantasy Awards 2006, The Lazarus Condition was introduced by Mick Garris - creator of Masters of Horror - RED featured artwork from Dave (The Graveyard Book) McKean and Pain Cages was introduced by Stephen Volk (The Awakening). As Special Publications Editor of the British Fantasy Society he worked with authors like Brian Aldiss, Ramsey Campbell, Muriel Gray and Robert Silverberg, he is the co-editor of Hellbound Hearts for Pocket Books (Simon and Schuster), an anthology of original stories inspired by Clive Barker's mythos - featuring contributions from the likes of Christopher Golden and Mike Mignola, Kelley Armstrong and Richard Christian Matheson - The Mammoth Book of Body Horror (Constable & Robinson) - featuring Stephen King, James Herbert and Robert Bloch - and the Poe-inspired Beyond Rue Morgue (for Titan). In 2008 his zombie story 'Dead Time' was turned into an episode of the Lionsgate/NBC TV series Fear Itself, adapted by Steve Niles (30 Days of Night) and directed by Darren Lynn Bousman (SAW II-IV). He also scripted The Opportunity which premiered at Cannes in 2009, The Weeping Woman - starring Fright Night's Stephen Jeffreys - and Wind Chimes (directed by Brad '7th Dimension' Watson. He is the author of the novels Of Darkness and Light, The Gemini Factor and the bestselling Arrowhead trilogy (Arrowhead, Broken Arrow and Arrowland), a post-apocalyptic reworking of the Robin Hood mythology gathered together as the sell-out Hooded Man omnibus. His latest novels are Lunar (which is set to be turned into a feature film) and the short Y.A. book The Rainbow Man (as P.B. Kane). He currently lives in Derbyshire, UK, with his wife - the author Marie O'Regan - his family, and a black cat called Mina. You can find out more at his website www.shadow-writer.co.uk which has featured Guest Writers such as Neil Gaiman, Charlaine Harris, Dean Koontz, John Connolly and Guillermo del Toro.

Scott K. Andrews

Author · 10 books

Scott K. Andrews has written episode guides, magazine articles, film and book reviews, comics, computer games, audio plays for Big Finish, far too many blogs, some poems you will never read, and a whole bunch of novels. He's online at www.scottkandrews.com.

ADRIAN TCHAIKOVSKY was born in Lincolnshire and studied zoology and psychology at Reading, before practising law in Leeds. He is a keen live role-player and occasional amateur actor and is trained in stage-fighting. His literary influences include Gene Wolfe, Mervyn Peake, China Miéville, Mary Gently, Steven Erikson, Naomi Novak, Scott Lynch and Alan Campbell.

Simon Guerrier

Author · 73 books

Simon Guerrier is a British science fiction author and dramatist, closely associated with the fictional universe of Doctor Who and its spinoffs. Although he has written three Doctor Who novels, for the BBC Books range, his work has mostly been for Big Finish Productions' audio drama and book ranges. Guerrier's earliest published fiction appeared in Zodiac, the first of Big Finish's Short Trips range of Doctor Who short story anthologies. To date, his work has appeared in the majority of the Short Trips collections. He has also edited three volumes in the series, The History of Christmas, Time Signature and How The Doctor Changed My Life. The second of these takes as its starting-point Guerrier's short story An Overture Too Early in The Muses. The third anthology featured stories entirely by previously unpublished writers. After contributing two stories to the anthology Life During Wartime in Big Finish's Bernice Summerfield range of books and audio dramas, Guerrier was invited to edit the subsequent year's short story collection, A Life Worth Living, and the novella collection Parallel Lives. After contributing two audio dramas to the series, Guerrier became the producer of the Bernice Summerfield range of plays and books, a post he held between January 2006 and June 2007. His other Doctor Who work includes the audio dramas, The Settling and The Judgement of Isskar, in Big Finish's Doctor Who audio range, three Companion Chronicles and a contribution to the UNIT spinoff series. He has also written a play in Big Finish's Sapphire and Steel range. Guerrier's work is characterised by character-driven humour and by an interest in unifying the continuity of the various Big Finish ranges through multiple references and reappearances of characters. As editor he has been a strong promoter of the work of various script writers from the Seventh Doctor era of the Doctor Who television series

Cavan Scott

Author · 148 books

is a freelance comic writer and author. He is best known for his work on a variety of spin-offs from both Doctor Who and Star Wars, as well as comics and novels for Vikings, Pacific Rim, Sherlock Holmes, and Penguins of Madagascar. Cavan Scott, along with Justina Ireland, Claudia Gray, Daniel Jose Older, and Charles Soule are crafting a new era in the Star Wars publishing world called Star Wars: The High Republic. Cavan's contribution to the era is a comic book series released through Marvel Comics titled Star Wars: The High Republic.

Rebecca Levene

Author · 16 books

British author, editor and tv storyliner. Educated at Clare College, Cambridge. She has written books for Virgin's Doctor Who line, Abbadon books and Black Flame. She also writes for Doctor Who Magazine and SFX.