Written by: Eric R Lowther
My first novel, “Area 187; Almost Hell” published by “Library of the Living Dead Press” is finally available for purchase through Amazon (LINK) in print, with versions for the Kindle, e-Reader, Nook and other popular electronic formats coming very soon. It can also be ordered at any brick-and-mortar bookstore through the Ingram catalouge or by its ISBN number and may even have a limited presence in area bookstores on the local author shelves in the coming weeks. It joins my other and numerous published short fiction, novellas, anthology appearances and e-magazine spots and will soon be joined by my own complete anthology, “The Dead Tell Tales”, coming soon to Smashwords, Amazon, iTunes and other popular outlets as well as a free audio anthology of my work which is currently under development and should be released by the end of summer 2011. “Area 187; Almost Hell” is recommended for mature readers only and includes scenes of extreme violence, language, visceral horror and sexual content. While this book may not be for you, it makes a great gift. And, at 624 pages, it also makes one hell of a doorstop.
Synopsis below;
In the year 2007 an accident at a clandestine U.S. government facility in rural West Virginia releases several test subjects infected with a necrotic virus. Within weeks the U.S. military and the Department of Homeland Security are forced to declare the bulk of the state under quarantine. Defensive lines are fortified and nothing is allowed in or out, damning those missed in the short period of evacuations to a living hell and locking away the real truth of the virus’ creation. The government transfers the responsibility of maintaining the quarantine from the military to the Department of Homeland Security, which christens it “Area 187”. Suits and claims are dismissed under anti-terror legislation as the rest of government scrambles to cover their involvement in the original project, distancing themselves and their reelections.
Seven years pass.
Homeland Security enforces a total news blackout on all things Area 187, and as with other disasters before it the bulk of America is more than willing to move on. Conspiracies continue to thrive outside the now-immense defensive wall and fortifications, and mercenaries known as “grave robbers” regularly slip in and out of the Area, stealing valuables and taking contracts to bring back specific items for well-paying customers. Our story follows Josephine Terrell, a television reporter and John Heath, once an Air Force search-and-rescue team leader that escaped the Area after five years of fruitless searching for his wife, as they risk their lives from both the dead and the living inside Area 187 to rescue a group of survivors. Josephine is looking for the story of the century, one that will prove living, breathing Americans still await rescue inside the Area and that Homeland has been covering up their existence. Heath joins her mission after he sees what may be his wife, Eileen, in a video message from the survivors. Personal rivalries, government conspiracies and a simple man’s simple promise weave together with death incarnate to follow their every step as they make their way through a blasted, nightmarish landscape full of the hungering dead. But the peril offered by the mindless corpses behind the wall becomes second to the danger presented by the living beyond it…
If you’d like more information about the book or my other works, you can also visit my blog at www.ericrlowther.blogspot.com where you can get updates on where to find my work as well as over 30 original works of horror, fantasy, dark comedy and non-fiction articles (including two novellas) that are all free for the reading. My genre movie reviews and interviews with writers, directors and other artists can be heard on The Witch’s Hat Blogcast as well for those so inclined, and feel free to forward this mail to anyone you think may have an interest. So until the next time I have something to shamelessly self-promote…
Eric R. Lowther
“biguglyhairyscary”
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Set in Worthing on the south coast of England, the three-hundred-page novel – which has been four years in the writing – tells the tale of two zombie film-fans who already know what to do in the event of such an outbreak. They know what to arm themselves with and how to survive, but everyone else seems a little preoccupied! They seek shelter atop an ancient Iron Age hill fort on the West Sussex Downs and are soon joined by friends and enemies alike.
