Karina Sumner Smith – författare

In this grizzly anthology of the undead, four fascinatingly horrid dystopian universes are described, with zombies taking centre stage.Included are:What Will Come After - Scott EdelmanIn this most personal of zombie stories, the author imagines himself as the protagonist, looking ahead to what would happen after his own death . . . and rebirth. Christmas with the Dead - Joe R. LansdaleThe ultimate in holiday horror stories.Fort Clay, Louisiana: A Tragical History - Albert E. CowdreyWhen a young photographer welcomes an elderly man to her house to see the book she has published about a long-deserted 19th century military fort on the Mississippi, watery southern horrors emerge from the past.When the Zombies Win - Karina Sumner-SmithThe ultimate in dystopian what-ifs, Karina Sumner-Smith''s story is set after the zombie apocalypse has reached its zenith. When there''s no one left to infect, where do the zombies turn?

Once, Xhea''s wants were simple: enough to eat, safety in the underground, and the hit of bright payment to transform her gray-cast world into color. But in the aftermath of her rescue of the Radiant ghost Shai, she realizes the life she had known is gone forever.In the two months since her fall from the City, Xhea has hidden in skyscraper Edren, sheltered and attempting to heal. But soon even she must face the troubling truth that she might never walk again. Shai, ever faithful, has stayed by her side-but the ghost''s very presence has sent untold fortunes into Edren''s coffers and dangerously unbalanced the Lower City''s political balance.War is brewing. Beyond Edren''s walls, the other skyscrapers have heard tell of the Radiant ghost and the power she holds; rumors, too, speak of the girl who sees ghosts who might be the key to controlling that power. Soon, assassins stalk the skyscrapers'' darkened corridors while armies gather in the streets. But Shai''s magic is not the only prize-nor the only power that could change everything. At last, Xhea begins to learn of her strange dark magic, and why even whispers of its presence are enough to make the Lower City elite tremble in fear.Together, Xhea and Shai may have the power to stop a war-or become a weapon great enough to bring the City to its knees. That is, if the magic doesn''t destroy them first.

Xhea has no magic. Born without the power that everyone else takes for granted, Xhea is an outcast-no way to earn a living, buy food, or change the life that fate has dealt her. Yet she has a unique talent: the ability to see ghosts and the tethers that bind them to the living world, which she uses to scratch out a bare existence in the ruins beneath the City''s floating Towers.When a rich City man comes to her with a young woman''s ghost tethered to his chest, Xhea has no idea that this ghost will change everything. The ghost, Shai, is a Radiant, a rare person who generates so much power that the Towers use it to fuel their magic, heedless of the pain such use causes. Shai''s home Tower is desperate to get the ghost back and force her into a body-any body-so that it can regain its position, while the Tower''s rivals seek the ghost to use her magic for their own ends. Caught between a multitude of enemies and desperate to save Shai, Xhea thinks herself powerless-until a strange magic wakes within her. Magic dark and slow, like rising smoke, like seeping oil. A magic whose very touch brings death.With two extremely strong female protagonists, Radiant is a story of fighting for what you believe in and finding strength that you never thought you had.

War. Fire. Destruction. Xhea believed that the Lower City had weathered the worst of its troubles-that their only remaining fight would be the struggle to rebuild before winter. She was wrong.Now her home is under attack from an unexpected source. The Central Spire, the City''s greatest power, is intent on destroying the heart of the magical entity that resides beneath the Lower City''s streets. The people on the ground have three days to evacuate-or else.With nowhere to go and time running out, Xhea and the Radiant ghost Shai attempt to rally a defense. Yet with the Spire''s wrath upon them, nothing-not their combined magic, nor their unexpected allies-may be strong enough to protect them from the power of the City.From Nebula Award-nominated author Karina Sumner-Smith, Towers Fall is a fantastic climax to this amazing and thought-provoking trilogy.