Stephen King’s Under the Dome meets The Last of Us in this harrowing dystopian novel about the downward spiral of a seaside town that becomes infected by a mysterious ocean-borne contagion.
If you want to stay, you have to die.
In a small fishing town known for its aging birding community and the local oyster farm, a hidden evil emerges from the depths of the ocean. It begins with sea snails washing ashore, attacking whatever they cling to. This mysterious infection starts transforming the wildlife, the seascapes, and finally, the people.
Once infected, residents of Baywood start “deading”: collapsing and dying, only to rise again, changed in ways both fanatical and physical. As the government cuts the town off from the rest of the world, the uninfected, including the introverted bird-loving Blas and his jaded older brother Chango, realize their town could be ground zero for a fundamental shift in all living things.
Soon, disturbing beliefs and autocratic rituals emerge, overseen by the death-worshiping Risers. People must choose how to survive, how to find home, and whether or not to betray those closest to them. Stoked by paranoia and isolation, tensions escalate until Blas, Chango, and the survivors of Baywood must make their escape or become subsumed by this terrifying new normal.
At points claustrophobic and haunting, soulful and melancholic, The Deading lyrically explores the disintegration of society, the horror of survival and adaptation, and the unexpected solace found through connections in nature and between humans.
Genre: Horror
If you want to stay, you have to die.
In a small fishing town known for its aging birding community and the local oyster farm, a hidden evil emerges from the depths of the ocean. It begins with sea snails washing ashore, attacking whatever they cling to. This mysterious infection starts transforming the wildlife, the seascapes, and finally, the people.
Once infected, residents of Baywood start “deading”: collapsing and dying, only to rise again, changed in ways both fanatical and physical. As the government cuts the town off from the rest of the world, the uninfected, including the introverted bird-loving Blas and his jaded older brother Chango, realize their town could be ground zero for a fundamental shift in all living things.
Soon, disturbing beliefs and autocratic rituals emerge, overseen by the death-worshiping Risers. People must choose how to survive, how to find home, and whether or not to betray those closest to them. Stoked by paranoia and isolation, tensions escalate until Blas, Chango, and the survivors of Baywood must make their escape or become subsumed by this terrifying new normal.
At points claustrophobic and haunting, soulful and melancholic, The Deading lyrically explores the disintegration of society, the horror of survival and adaptation, and the unexpected solace found through connections in nature and between humans.
Genre: Horror
Praise for this book
"Belardes is a fine writer. The Deading hits hard out of the gate and keeps escalating. A delightfully gruesome combination of science fiction and eco-horror." - Laird Barron
"The Deading is a gorgeous and grotesque nightmare-vision of the inescapable connections between human beings and the natural world they so often exploit: a must-read for fans of eco-weird, cosmic horror, and dystopia." - Kay Chronister
"Do not eat fish from these waters. Or oysters. Really, just stay inland. Except that, in The Deading, that doesn't necessarily mean you're safe." - Stephen Graham Jones
"With prose as precise and dazzling as a diamond, The Deading is a masterwork." - Caroline Leavitt
"The Deading is a stellar novel: superb prose and a compelling mix of horror, ecology, and social commentary. Darkly beautiful and chilling, The Deading will linger long after the read ends." - Lucy A Snyder
"A lyrical meditation on nature and mortality." - Erika T Wurth
"The Deading is a gorgeous and grotesque nightmare-vision of the inescapable connections between human beings and the natural world they so often exploit: a must-read for fans of eco-weird, cosmic horror, and dystopia." - Kay Chronister
"Do not eat fish from these waters. Or oysters. Really, just stay inland. Except that, in The Deading, that doesn't necessarily mean you're safe." - Stephen Graham Jones
"With prose as precise and dazzling as a diamond, The Deading is a masterwork." - Caroline Leavitt
"The Deading is a stellar novel: superb prose and a compelling mix of horror, ecology, and social commentary. Darkly beautiful and chilling, The Deading will linger long after the read ends." - Lucy A Snyder
"A lyrical meditation on nature and mortality." - Erika T Wurth
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Used availability for Nicholas Belardes's The Deading