This Dark Earth

John Hornor Jacobs

Language: English

Publisher: Gallery Books

Published: Jul 2, 2012

Pages: 324
ABC: 1

Description:

The land is **contaminated**, electronics are **defunct**, the **ravenous undead **remain, and life has fallen into a **nasty **and **brutish **state of nature. Welcome to Bridge City, in what was once Arkansas: part medieval fortress, part Western outpost, and the precarious last stand for civilization. A ten-year-old prodigy when the world ended, Gus is now a battle-hardened young man. He designed Bridge City to protect the living few from the shamblers eternally at the gates. Now he's being groomed by his physician mother, Lucy, and the gentle giant Knock-Out to become the next leader of men. But an army of slavers is on its way, and the war they'll wage for the city's resources could mean the end of mankind as we know it.
Can Gus become humanity's savior? And if so, will it mean becoming a dictator, a martyr . . . or maybe something far worse than even the zombies that plague the land?

*"This second novel by Jacobs has all of the right elements of the bookshelf's worth of zombie novels swarming the market: zombies, blood, gore, terror and the gruesome mechanics of survival--but this bloody entry also offers something more in style, substance and readability... The novel's tenderness in places is balanced by a ferocity that pulls no punches. For readers who get off on what-would-I-do? questions, this book offers satisfaction." - Kirkus Book Reviews*

*"This smart addition to the zombie genre is heroic and strangely hopeful, championing the unyielding human drive for justice and civilization." - Publishers Weekly*

*"Readers will become immersed in the dark, unforgiving world Jacobs has created, and the morally ambiguous choices his characters make will give them plenty to ponder." - Booklist*

"*This Dark Earth is a smart, thoughtful look at the end of humanity that delivers horrifying detail packed with an emotional resonance. It's *The Road meets*World War Z. Deftly written, with eloquent prose peppered with crisp, dark humor, Jacobs crafts a chillingly believable tale that transcends genre fiction and manages to do what I long for whenever I sit down to read a book: make me wish I'd written it."
- Scott G. Browne, author of BREATHERS and LUCKY BASTARD

"A savage gut-punch of a tale, lurching hellbent to a spectacular showdown ending unparalleled in the zombie canon."
- Sophie Littlefield, author of *Aftertime and *Rebirth*
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"*This Dark Earth* is, quite simply, the best zombie novel I've read in years. Breathes some much-needed new life into the dead."
- Brian Keene, best-selling author of *The Rising* and *Ghoul*****

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### About the Author

**John Hornor Jacobs** has worked in advertising for the last fifteen years, played in bands, and pursued art in various forms. He is the cofounder of *Needle: A Magazine of Noir* and author of *Southern Gods*.