Showing results by author "John A. Russo" in All Categories

From John A. Russo, co-author of Night of the Living Dead™: "By now almost everyone knows that the concept of the modern flesh-eating zombie originated in the sixties with Night of the Living Dead™. That's why I think that this anthology of short stories paying homage to that fact is a wonderful idea. When I was asked to write such a story, I was told that each and every story in the book would have to take place in or around the time, in 1968, when the horror classic that I co-authored took place… Perhaps, for you, dear reader, some of the stories you will read in these pages will ...

It starts with infected needles. It spreads like a plague. Soon the town of Chapel Grove, Pennsylvania, is overrun with cannibalistic corpses. Some are taken down with a bullet to the brain. Others, torched like kindling. But a few have survived - inside a maternity ward. Detective Bill Curtis manages to rescue his pregnant wife, Lauren, from the ward in the nick of time. But the other pregnant women are not so lucky. Some of them have been bitten - and infected. Now it's anyone's guess what's growing inside them.

A decade after the first zombie outbreak, a bus crashes in a small American town, killing everyone on board. Local churchgoers rush to the scene to save the living and destroy the dead. But they're too late. A terrifying new plague of living dead has been unleashed. A new horde of victims has been infected. And this time, they are ravenous.

An abandoned hilltop farmhouse. Seven desperate people, and a surrounding darkness ripped by bloodcurdling cries of anguish. A state of emergency has been declared: the unimaginable is happening in the night.

By understanding the psychological forces that drive The Walking Dead's action, fans can better grasp Robert Kirkman's compelling fictional universe. Which characters suffer PTSD, which show the most hope for recovery, and which instead show post-traumatic growth? Has Rick Grimes lost his mind? In 19 chapters from a range of esteemed contributors, The Walking Dead Psychology: Psych of the Living Dead answers these and many other questions.

This audio presentation of the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction is a super-duper triple issue, comprising ten key selections (most of the contents, actually) of FSF's September issue and the forthcoming double October/November issue.

When the Dead Don’t Stay Dead, No One is Safe. In a world forever haunted by a terrifying past, the undead are no longer myths of horror films—they’re a brutal reality. Decades after the first outbreak, scientists and law enforcement still struggle to understand or contain the disease that transforms men into monsters. Among the afflicted is Roger Dowman, a soldier returned from war only to descend into a hellish transformation that turns him into an undead killer with a thirst for human flesh. As his blood-soaked rampage spreads terror through rural Pennsylvania, Detective Andy Brown...

Some secrets refuse to stay buried. When David Cristi was thirteen, his best friend Ron was brutally murdered in a crime that shocked their small town and forever changed David’s life. Three boys were accused of the grisly act, and the case was closed. But nearly three decades later, the convictions are overturned, leaving a haunting question: Who really killed Ron? Now a filmmaker known for his gritty horror movies, David is determined to dig into the past and solve the mystery that still casts a shadow over his hometown. But as he peels back layers of secrets, he begins to uncover a ...

One murder was self-defense. Now, survival demands so much more. In a world simmering with tension and buried secrets, The Hate Crime plunges readers into a deadly quest for justice, revenge, and survival. When renowned author and filmmaker David’s Cristi’s old friend Roland resurfaces, it’s not just for a friendly chat—he’s on a mission to find his estranged granddaughter, Katherine. Raised under Roland’s fierce protection, Katherine has fled a life of terror after killing her neo-Nazi husband, a violent extremist bent on mass destruction. Now, with her daughter in tow, she’s...

DEAD TIME IN DEADWOOD is a wild romp through the Wild West! It's historically true that Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane were together in Deadwood in 1876. But what is less well known is that while they were there, they were battling Comancheros, Ghost Dancers -- and ZOMBIES! Doc Holliday, a gunslinger, a frontier dentist, and a man with scientific ambitions, way back then had a valid theory that would have explained what causes the dead to arise! Sheriff Dylan Parkman and valiant U.S. Marshal Heck Thomas are trying to wipe out an epidemic of cannibalism. And ...

Seven bodies have washed ashore in Florida, and one of the drowned is Chango, the voodoo sorcerer whose leather pouch holds a child's severed finger. The sorcerer and his six followers have been buried in a mass grave. And prayers have been spoken to exorcise their unholy powers. But Chango's spirit still prowls the moonlit beaches, taking victim after victim...leaving them cannibalized and dismembered.

Cynthia and her brothers had heard the stories about grandpa, who could summon demons and compel people to die with a curse. Maybe, they also possessed the ancient powers. At first, they caught smallish demons who had assumed the shapes of rabbits and birds and then, larger ones like those who resembled the neighbor kids.

Hollywood’s lights are seductive, but in their shadows lurks a deadly obsession. David Cristi, the horror filmmaker dubbed “gore master” by the tabloids, has made a career from the macabre. But when a tragedy from his past resurfaces, he finds himself drawn away from fake blood and special effects to real-life horror. Together with Vito Martinelli, a retired detective haunted by a case gone cold, and Joy, a young investigator hungry for her first big story, David is pulled into an investigation that grows darker with each clue. Superstar Bonny Clanton, with her five Grammys and four ...

The evil soul of a witch doctor lives on in the body of Simon, the great jungle beast who leads his human followers - the Panther People - in their orgies of lust and blood. Now the innocent Martin family, George, Peg, and their beautiful daughter, Jenny, on vacation, will stumble upon this gruesome cult, trapped in a desert nightmare of terror and death - waiting. In the quiet wasteland, the sound of their own pulses will be all they can hear.

Benjamin Latham is young and handsome, his 18th-century mind wakened to a bizarre 20th-century world. And there is the need deep within...an animal need, frightening, murderous, unholy...a vital need that must be fed. And with his need comes a power over men and women to do his bidding, to quiet his dark craving...Until the murders begin...Now Benjamin must find a sanctuary: a lover, a partner, a friend. Someone who can share his darkness. Someone he can lead to...the awakening.

In a small New York State college, beautiful 18-year-old Laura Clark is blossoming, reaching out for love and trying to escape her controlling mother. But for Laura, there is no escape. Not from her mother, not from the unnameable horror that haunts her dreams, and not from the coven's spell of darkness.

The mind is a powerful weapon… But what happens when it falls into the wrong hands? Fairchild Academy is the most prestigious school in Manhattan, known for producing some of the brightest and most promising students. But beneath its shining exterior lies a sinister secret. Felicia Patterson, a top student, begins to experience terrifying "spells" that make her feel like a puppet, losing control of her thoughts, actions, and desires. Unbeknownst to her, a dark force is at play, manipulating the minds of the students, turning them into unwilling pawns in a horrifying experiment. Felicia is...

From the author of the horror classic Night of the Living Dead. Tiffany Blake was a beautiful dancer with a glorious future and the backing of a rich benefactor. Then a monstrous accident severed her leg at the hip. Now, the ballerinas are disappearing without a trace. One by one, they fall victim to a dark and deadly pattern of evil - caught by a psycho that would have them pay with their lovely bodies for the cruel fate of another...victims of a madman whose flashing knife will make them writhe a gruesome new dance.

On Channel 666, the horror isn’t just scripted... it’s real. In the shadowy world of low-budget horror films, struggling actress Sheila Gordon lands a role in a movie called Channel 666. It seems like a simple gig, a one-day shoot, but nothing could prepare her for the real horror that unfolds on set. As she faces a gruesome death at the hands of a sadistic cult, Sheila's life takes a sinister turn, blurring the lines between fiction and reality. Meanwhile, her sister, Fiona, is left to pick up the pieces. Determined to uncover the truth behind Sheila's gruesome murder, Fiona embarks on...

Dealey Plaza is one of the most notorious places in America, and when youthful conspiracy buffs go there in 1964 to stage their own reenactment of the Kennedy Assassination, four of them are brutally murdered - the first victims of a hate-filled legacy that continues for four more decades. The survivors of that long-ago Dallas trip, each of them now icons of the American way of life, are about to be honored - or killed.