Rage
Rogue Team International Series #1
Paperback | Kindle | Audiobook
By Jonathan Maberry
St. Martin’s Griffin
Release Date: November 5, 2019

A couple of years ago, I reviewed an anthology about a covert operative named Joe Ledger. This particular collection of short stories, called Joe Ledger: Unstoppable, was written by a variety of authors but edited by the character’s creator, Jonathan Maberry. I loved the supernatural twists within that book but I was aware, even then, that these were unusual for this protagonist who is more tactical and paramilitary oriented. Having said that, when I was given an opportunity to read and review this newest release, Rage, I leapt at the chance. Joe Ledger has that effect on readers.

Netflix has given the greenlight to V-Wars, a new vampire series based on the Jonathan Maberry novel of the same name published by IDW Publishing.

The streaming service made a 10-episode straight-to-series order for the show, which is set to star someone who’s no stranger to vampire television series, Ian Somerhalder. The actor played Damon Salvatore in 171 episodes of The Vampire Diaries, and also starred on LOST and in movies like Pulse and The Rules of Attraction.

Joe Ledger: Unstoppable
Paperback | Kindle | Audiobook
Edited by Jonathan Maberry and Bryan Thomas Schmidt
St. Martin’s Griffin
Release Date: October 31, 2017

Happy Halloween, boos and ghouls! What better way to celebrate this most haunted of holidays than with a bit of the supernatural…in book form, of course. I present to you the one and only Joe Ledger: Unstoppable. This anthology of supernatural suspense and horrific thrills is based around the detective, government clean up guy, and all around badass: Mr. Joe Ledger. Known for his paranormal and supernatural excursions, our hero is never afraid to make sure the buck stops here. As a matter of fact, he has plenty of ways to make sure the dead stay that way, or at least they will after a few tries.

Urban Enemies
Paperback | Kindle | Audiobook
Written by Jim Butcher, Kevin Hearne, Kelley Armstrong, Seanan McGuire, Jonathan Maberry, Steven Savile, Carrie Vaughn, Caitlin Kittredge
Edited by Joseph Nassise
Published by Gallery Books
Release Date: August 1, 2017

Here I am again, late to the party. I could give you a myriad of excuses but at the end of the day, I am still delivering this to you a little later than I should. However — and it is a huge however, mind you — I cannot just let this one pass me by. Urban Enemies was wicked fun. Yeah, I did say wicked fun.

I have always been told there are two sides to every story, as I am sure you have. But in this case, these sides, these stories are just plain dark. Because, my dear reader, some characters are meant to be bad, with no hope of redemption. And for the ones that embrace their darker side, it apparently can be quite exhilarating. Or that is what the writers of these short stories have led me to believe. So, while late I might be, this was definitely worth the wait!

Nights of the Living Dead: An Anthology
Paperback | Digital Book | Audio CD
Edited by Jonathan Maberry & George A. Romero
St. Martin’s Griffin
Release Date: July 11th, 2017

In 1968, a horror movie from director George A. Romero came out called Night of the Living Dead. Nearly 50 years later, zombie horror is “alive” and well, with hit shows like The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead based on Robert Kirkman’s comic book series. Over the past decade, we’ve seen a renaissance of zombie fiction in all forms of entertainment, from comics to novels like World War Z (Max Brooks) and Pride & Prejudice & Zombies (Seth Grahame-Smith) to TV and film. Zombie even manage to cross over into other genres. The TV series iZombie takes the flesh eaters into the world of police forensics and the underground “brain trade.” Movies like Warm Bodies (2013) showed zombies can be romantic and of course Shaun of the Dead (2004) proved they can be the butt of jokes.

Though, there was a time when zombies were not the “it” thing in horror, but back in 1989, an undead anthology called Book of the Dead (edited by John Skipp & Craig Spector) made zombie literature cool again. Nights of the Living Dead is a collection of original zombie short stories all based in the world Romero built. What’s really interesting is reading the introductions by Romero himself and co-editor, author, and unabashed Romero fanboy, Jonathan Maberry.