If vampires were real, could they adapt to our present world? This unearthly idea becomes a bona fide reality in V-Wars, a gripping horror anthology of shared-world stories edited by Bram Stoker Award winner and New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Maberry.
Global warming has melted the ice caps, causing the release of a millennia-old virus from deep within the glaciers of Antarctica. On a voyage to Alaska, screenwriter/Starbucks barista Michael Fayne becomes patient zero, the first person to contract I1V1—soon known as the “ice virus”—and a worldwide epidemic ensues. In unusual cases, the virus, which contains humanity’s dormant codes, activates the “junk DNA” of its carriers, changing its hosts into beings previously believed to be mythological creatures, such as werewolves or vampires. Not only does the virus forcibly turn its hosts into menacing supernatural beings, each carrier takes on physical and psychological traits based on the myths and folklore associated with his or her ethnic heritage.
Maberry’s “Junk,” the first story in the collection, sets the stage for a captivating chronicle of the global takeover by werewolves and vampires—and mankind’s response to the sudden invasion. Moving from the Mexican-American border to the Bronx, from an Indian reservation to Europe, these stories introduce fascinating new perspectives on the aftermath of the ice virus that leads to the V-Wars—an all-out battle between the supernatural beings and the human race.
Culled from the remarkable imaginations of authors including Nancy Holder, James A. Moore, Yvonne Navarro, and Gregory Frost—as well as Maberry himself—V-Warsshowcases the inventive world-building talent of each writer, woven into a jarring paranormal collection brimming with terror, intrigue, and action. A brilliant patchwork that flows effortlessly between authors, V-Wars is a must-read for all fans of horror fiction.
To learn more about Jonathan Maberry and his novels, visit his author page here.