Better Dead than Red cover art

Better Dead than Red

A Zombie Vale Novella

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About this listen

Four friends

A deserted island

And an undead nightmare they can’t escape

Living on the streets of Oklahoma, Brian Williams is haunted by a long history of personal failures. But he’s offered one last chance to repair his broken past.

A mysterious organization is recruiting test subjects for a scientific experiment. Participants will receive a generous cash reward, more than enough for Brian to finally rebuild his life. Along with a handful of his homeless friends, Brian jumps at the opportunity. But there’s a catch.

To earn the reward, Brian and his motley crew must hike through the jungle of a faraway deserted island…while something unspeakable and relentless hunts them down.

A hellish, undead nightmare awaits Brian and his friends, deep in the jungle, when their casual hike turns into a bloody, desperate quest for survival. Will they make it out alive?

Better Dead than Red is a standalone zombie apocalypse novella set in Nic Roads’ expanding, hair-raising, post-apocalyptic Zombie Vale series. If you like smart, edge-of-your-seat, and high-octane zombie thrillers like Mark Tufo’s Zombie Fallout, David Simpson’s Zombie Road, and Christopher Artinian’s The End of Everything, discover Nic Roads’ addictive new undead universe. You won’t be able to stop listening.

This book contains mature subject matter, language, and graphic violence.

©2022 Nic Roads (P)2022 Nic Roads
Fiction Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction Zombie
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I had already read the hardcopy of BDTR, so I knew what to expect from the story, but what I didn't know to expect was the fun I had listening to it be brought to life.
I had for a long time wondered what Brian and Shen would sound like....and now I know.
Following on from Nic's first release of Dom of the Dead, this prequel sets the tone and really throws loads of little nuggets at you as to why and how the zombies came to be. Too often do we immerse ourselves in zombie tales, only to never find out what caused the outbreak to begin with, this story however seems to be heading the way of telling us exactly what caused it, and why, too! I hope the main Zombie Vale series digs deeper into the how's and why's because I'm dying to know (see what I did there....)
Eagerly awaiting the next entry....keep them coming!

Gaining momentum...and better than the hardcopy!

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Listener received this title free

Entertaining zombie story, with the central theme more focused on the friendship between Brian and Shen, in a surrogate father/son dynamic, with redemption the ultimate goal. Again well written, with a focus on the characters as any good story should be. The dialogue between Brian and Shen feels natural and not clunky or forced, and you'll really root for them by the end.

Another well written prequel to Nic's forthcoming series, and I'm sure real Brian he honoured in his afterword would be very happy with his alternate fictional self, who ends being a character the reader/listener genuinely likes.

Good narration too and really leans into it in the emotive finale.

An emotive tale of two friends... with zombies

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