Max Brooks' World War Z became an instant favourite of mine the moment I flipped the first page a decade ago. The epistolary style blew me away, and the varied perspectives on the apocalypse all the way from high level politicians to the average guy on the street really grabbed me by the balls and pulled me into the world. It was one of the first zombie apocalypse books I read, and even after more than a dozen rereads and the fact that I've listened to the audiobook so many times I could probably recite it end to end it still feels fresh and exciting to me.

What pissed me off, though, was that nobody ever tried to write a similar novel (and the less said about Brooks' own half-baked sequel the better). It seemed like the kind of novel that could spawn a whole new arm of the PA genre, but I spent ten years searching for a book like World War Z and came up wanting.

Late last year I finally lost patience and decided that if nobody else was going to take up the challenge I'd do it myself. I figured I was fairly well qualified to take it on. I've sold over a million copies of my books over the years and my first foray into the post apocalyptic genre, last year's Last Man Standing series, hit the top 200 in the Amazon store and has a solid 4.5/5 average rating. I locked myself away in my bunker here in deepest, darkest Mongolia and set about writing, and this week I finally emerged into the sunlight with a completed manuscript. Here it is:

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February, 2031: The global population now stands at an estimated 400 million, and every survivor bears the scars of humanity's struggle to defeat an enemy few believed could exist. Some nations have emerged from the war stronger than ever. Others still struggle to survive. Some no longer exist at all.

In the aftermath of the zombie pandemic Keith Taylor, noted pre-war author of apocalyptic fiction, traveled the world to gather the first hand accounts of survivors from every walk of life, culture and strata of society, ranging from American political leaders to British journalists to Mongolian miners to members of India's homeless underclass.

Together these chilling interviews describe the course of humanity's most brutal war, leading from the initial emergence of the virus in the Siberian wilderness to the visceral, heart-rending Shibuya footage, through the confusion of the US President's impeachment to the unintended and disastrous consequences of the UN's sweeping refugee amendment, and ending with us battered and broken, diminished but not defeated, in the fragile peace we now enjoy. Together these accounts represent the most illuminating and complete commentary to date of humanity's loss.

From these candid interviews emerges an image of early 21st century civilization as it truly was: imperfect, fragmented and wholly unprepared for a disaster on such a scale. This is the Way the World Ends takes an unflinching, uncompromising look at the world we had and lost; a look at the pain we suffered due to our inability to accept a single, simple truth:

Zombies are real.

Note: Readers who lived through the pandemic may find the interviews contained within this collection distressing. Discretion is advised.

This is the Way the World Ends is currently on a launch week sale at $0.99 (August 10-14). Take a peek at the reviews and the Look Inside. If you're a fan of World War Z I'm sure it'll be right up your street

Get the Kindle version here: https://www.amazon.com/This-Way-World-Ends-History-ebook/dp/B074JXHFYK/
Get the paperback version here: https://www.amazon.com/This-Way-World-Ends-History/dp/1974259501/