Jonathan Maberry - Rot & ruin. Warrior smart

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Rot & Ruin

This is a romping, stomping adventure. And while most zombie novels are all about the brains, this one has a heart as well. With the dead prowling all around, fifteen-year-old Benny Imura learns the bittersweet lessons of life, love, and family in the great Rot and Ruin. Anyone with a pulse will enjoy this novel, and anyone with a brain will find plenty of food for thought inside.

MICHAEL NORTHROP, AUTHOR OF GENTLEMEN

George Romero meets The Catcher in the Rye in this poignant and moving coming-of-age novel set during zombie times. I welled up at the end, then smiled through my tears when I realized there was going to be a sequel. Bravo, Jonathan Maberry. Cant wait to read more.

NANCY HOLDER, NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE WICKED SERIES AND POSSESSIONS

An action-packed, thought-provoking look at lifeand deathas readers determine the true enemy.

KIRKUS REVIEWS

A LSO BY J ONATHAN M ABERRY

Dust & Decay

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Special thanks to some real-world people who were willing to enter the world of Benny and Tom Imura. I believe that if the world ends, youll still be there. My agents, Sara Crowe and Harvey Klinger; David Gale and Navah Wolfe at Simon & Schuster; Nancy Keim-Comley, Tiffany Schmidt, Greg Schauer, Rob and Andrea Sacchetto, Randy and Fran Kirsch, Jason Miller, Sam West-Mensch, Keith Strunk, Charlie and Gina Miller, Arthur Mensch; and the Philly Liars Club: Gregory Frost, Don Lafferty, L. A. Banks, Jon McGoran, Solomon Jones, Ed Pettit, Merry Jones, Maria Lambra, Sara Shepherd, Kelly Simmons, Keith Strunk, and Dennis Tafoya.

Excerpt from The Onion Girl by Charles De Lint used by permission of the author.

Richard Pryors comment used by permission of Jennifer Lee Pryor.

An imprint of Simon & Schuster Childrens Publishing Division

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www.SimonandSchuster.com

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the authors imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright 2010 by Jonathan Maberry

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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Also available in a hardcover edition

Book design by Laurent Linn

Cover design by Laurent Linn

Top cover photograph copyright 2010 by iStockphoto.com/Lucian

Bottom cover illustration copyright 2011 by Chad Michael Ward

Zombie Card art by Rob Sacchetto

First paperback edition May 2011

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:

Maberry, Jonathan.

Rot & Ruin / Jonathan Maberry. 1st ed.

p. cm.

Summary: In a post-apocalyptic world where fences and border patrols guard the few people left from the zombies that have overtaken civilization, fifteen-year-old Benny Imura is finally convinced that he must follow in his older brothers footsteps and become a bounty hunter.

ISBN 978-1-4424-0232-4 (hardcover)

[1. ZombiesFiction. 2. SurvivalFiction. 3. Bounty huntersFiction. 4. BrothersFiction.] I. Title. II. Title: Rot and Ruin.

PZ7.M11164Ro 2010 [Fic]dc22 2009046041

ISBN 978-1-4424-0233-1 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-4424-0234-8 (eBook)

For the young writers in my Experimental Writing for Teens class: Rachel Tafoya, Clint Johnston, Brandon Strauss, Brianna Whiteman, Jessica Price, Tara Tosten, Jennifer Carr, Kellie Hollingsworth, Nathanial Gage, Maggie Brennan, Kris Dugas, Evan Stahl, and Jackson Toone. You always amaze and inspire me.

And, as always, for Sara Jo.