It is time for another edition of “Movie Nights With Permuted Press”, our original column that pairs this year’s most anticipated and highly recommended horror and science fiction films with Permuted Press novels. Supplement your weekly movie night with the a book or two from today’s best genre literary names!
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BOOK: THE BECOMING: GROUND ZERO by Jessica Meigs
One year after the Michaluk Virus decimated the southeast, Ethan Bennett and his six companions have become as close as family while facing the trials of living in a drastically changed world. Then a mysterious woman arrives at their safe house in Alabama, pleading for assistance in getting into Atlanta. Despite their suspicions that the woman is hiding important information, Ethan and his friends agree to help. But when they’re suddenly forced to flee from the infected, the cohesion the group cultivated is shattered. As members of the group succumb to the escalating dangers on their path, new alliances form, new loves develop, and old friendships crumble. In the face of unending horror, one man is forced to make the ultimate sacrifice to save his friends, while another reveals secrets that could hold the key to humanity’s survival.
MOVIE: The Guest
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BOOK: THE SLEEPERS by Jacqueline Druga
A normal spring morning cascades into a nightmare world for Mera Stevens as 1.8 billion children simultaneously fall ill and then vanish from the face of the earth. Her son, Jeremy, is one of them. Increased natural disasters, onslaught of disease and other phenomena throws the world into chaos as it balances on the brink of extinction. With communications down, Mera gathers the courage and strength she needs to trek across a dying country in search of a daughter she desperately hopes is still alive. While en route to Seattle, Mera is joined by others on a similar mission. Their travels are not easy. Not only do they have to face nature’s roadblocks, they must combat the infected who have become their most deadly obstacle. More than just facing the physical and emotional challenges that test their survival, the group faces a journey that will take them much further than just a search for loved ones in a desolate world.
MOVIE: Cooties
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BOOK: THE LAST MAILMAN: NEITHER RAIN, NOR SLEET, NOR ZOMBIES by Kevin J. Burke
Four-year degree in business. Trained in hand-to-hand combat. Works well with zombies. This is the resume of the last mailman on Earth. It is the near future, and the modern world we knew has been overrun and destroyed by reanimated corpses who hunt humans for food. Mankind has retreated to small pockets of civilization and practically surrendered to the walking dead. But one man routinely leaves behind the safety and comfort to find the people and things we’ve long abandoned. He battles the elements. He battles his own brewing insanity. But mostly, he battles zombies.
MOVIE: Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead
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BOOK: BLOOD SOAKED AND INVADED by James Crawford
Zombies were bad enough, but now we’re being invaded from all sides. Up to our necks in blood, body parts, and unanswerable questions… As soon as the realization hit me, I lost my cool. I curled into the fetal position in a pile of blood, offal, and body parts, and froze there. What in the Hell was I becoming that killing was entertaining and satisfying? I don’t know how long I was on my side in the remains of my opponents, but the mess was coagulating and getting cold… to say nothing of the smell of sliced-open bowels. There were periodic noises suggesting violence around and about where I was glued to the ground by noxious goop, but I couldn’t even raise my face to take a look around. My brain spun around and around, propelled by unanswered questions and abject horror. The person I thought I was—a guy who does what he has to do when the chips are down—had been replaced by someone I didn’t know and it made me terribly afraid.
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Check back next week for another edition of “Movie Nights With Permuted Press”! Enjoy the apocalypse!