Warm Bodies and The New Hunger: A Special 5th Anniversary Edition - Softcover

Marion, Isaac

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1501152068 ISBN 13: 9781501152061

Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books, 2016

Synopsis

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER, NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE

“Gruesome yet poetic...highly original.” —The Seattle Times
“Dark and funny.” —Wired
“A mesmerizing evolution of a classic contemporary myth.” —Simon Pegg
“A strange and unexpected treat...elegantly written, touching, and fun.” —Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler’s Wife
“Has there been a more sympathetic monster since Frankenstein’s?” —Financial Times

In Warm Bodies, Isaac Marion’s New York Times bestselling novel that inspired a major film, a zombie returns to humanity through an unlikely encounter with love. This special five-year anniversary edition includes the powerful prequel novella, The New Hunger, which sheds light on the saga’s past while setting the stage for its epic conclusion.

“R” is having a no-life crisis—he is a zombie. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he is a little different from his fellow Dead. He may occasionally eat people, but he’d rather be riding abandoned airport escalators, listening to Sinatra in the cozy 747 he calls home, or collecting souvenirs from the ruins of civilization.

And then he meets a girl.

First as his captive, then his reluctant house guest, Julie is a blast of living color in R’s gray landscape, and something inside him begins to bloom. He doesn’t want to eat this girl—although she looks delicious—he wants to protect her. But their unlikely bond will cause ripples they can’t imagine, and their hopeless world won’t change without a fight.

Together, Warm Bodies and The New Hunger form a richly layered tale of love and hope in the darkest of times, while also opening the doors to an epic saga that continues with The Burning World, an excerpt of which is included in this edition for current fans and newcomers alike.

About this title

About the Author

Isaac Marion grew up in the mossy depths of the Pacific Northwest, where he worked as a heating installer, a security guard, and a visitation supervisor for foster children before publishing his debut novel in 2010. Warm Bodies became a #5 New York Times bestseller and inspired a major Hollywood film adaptation. It has been translated into twenty-five languages worldwide. Isaac lives in Seattle with his cat and a beloved cactus, writing fiction and music, and taking pictures of everything. Visit IsaacMarion.com for more on these endeavors.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The New Hunger


THIS IS NOT the beginning.

The beginning is darkness and fire, microbes and worms—the very first of us, killing by the billions on their way up the ladder. There is little to learn from the beginning. We prefer the middle, where things are getting interesting.

Who are we? We are everyone. We are every thought and action. Time is just a filing system for the vastness of our Library, but we linger in the present with the unfinished books, watching them write themselves. The world is changing. The globe is bulging and straining, erupting and blazing with miracles, and we don’t know what shape it will take when it cools. Even with all of history inside us, we don’t know, and this is a little scary.

So we narrow our focus. We zoom in on a country, then a city, then the white rooftop of a stadium, where three young people are sitting on a blanket.

The sky is dark. They are the only ones awake for miles around. It’s hard to catch a sunrise in the middle of summer—the sun barely sets before bouncing back up—but today the need to see beauty was urgent. They have seen too much ugliness. Their lives are smeared with it like blood and shit, so thick they can barely breathe, so today they’re on the roof in the cold morning air, waiting for the sun to wash them.

Who are these people? Why do they interest us? They are not special—no one is—but there is something in them that draws our gaze. A short, pale girl full of strange dreams. A tall, dark girl with a promise carved on her heart. And a half-alive man whose head buzzes with voices, who talks to us and listens without knowing we exist.

We want them to know we exist. We want them to read our Library and share it with the world, because there is nothing sweeter than being known. But first we have to know them. We are books that read our readers, not a story but a conversation, and we open it with a question:

Who are you?

We circle around them, peering in the windows of their souls.

What’s in there? Where did it come from? Show us and we’ll show you.

Up and down the Library, from its bright ceiling to its black basement, pages begin to flutter.

About this edition

• Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1501152068
• ISBN 13: 9781501152061
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 5
• Number of pages: 416