With their unpredictable, far-reaching satire, my novels do defy the strict categories of mass-market fiction (even Xombies is a bit quirky for the genre-horror crowd - kudos to Berkley for running with it). That’s my challenge, as I see it: I love good literature, but oftentimes reading literary fiction is like taking medicine - it’s not fun. Hey, I’m a reader too, and this is what I most want to read - that’s why I write it.

XOMBIES: APOCALYPSE BLUES

My original title for Xombies was Dead Sea, which I still prefer because it references not only the George Romero zombie films, but also the extinct culture of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the inner sea of the human body - specifically, the tides of the menstrual cycle (the X in Xombies refers to the female chromosome). It is also more forthright about the submarine-voyage aspect of the story, which is the majority of the book. But Xombies is catchier, I guess.

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XOMBIES: APOCALYPTICON

XOMBIES: APOCALYPTICON is the continuing saga of the USS No-Name, an Ohio-Class submarine converted to a refugee vessel during the worldwide plague of "Agent X"--a disease that changes women into raving, homicidal Typhoid Marys.

Leading the fight to survive are Dr. Alice Langhorne, whose research helped spawn the plague; Commander Harvey Coombs, Navy captain minus a navy; Sal DeLuca, BMX champ facing the ultimate Xtreme sport; and troubled teenager Lulu Pangloss, who died and was born again.

Facing off against them are mutinous shipmates, yoga-crazed prison convicts, hostile mercenaries...and the all-encompassing threat of the Xombies themselves.

"Xombies is a triumph, both epic in scope and entirely unpredictable, and anchored by one of the most refreshing and unique voices in modern horror fiction." --Nate Kenyon, author of Bloodstone; Horror World Reviews

"Greatshell wrote an amazing novel called Xombies. It's really, really good."--Bob Fingerman, author of Bottomfeeder

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XOMBIES: APOCALYPSO

The Agent X plague infected women first, turning mothers, daughters, and sisters into killers intent on spreading their contagion, turning most of the human race into Xombies.

Now, Lulu Pangloss and the Xombified crew of the USS No-Name are wandering the seas on a mission of "mercy": converting the last mortal humans into immortal beings like themselves, believing it is mankind's only hope of surviving a cataclysm that will wipe out all life on Earth.

But Lulu and her shipmates are about to learn that there are worse fates than death...

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MAD SKILLS

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY REVIEW OF MAD SKILLS:
Walter Greatshell, Ace, $7.99 mass market (320p) ISBN 978-0-441-02012-6

Equal parts science fiction thriller and coming-of-consciousness tale, this page-turner lays bare the inanity of modern-day existence in grand style. After 17-year-old Madeline "Maddy" Grant suffers a severe brain injury, an experimental neurological treatment from the enigmatic Braintree Institute not only restores her to her former self but also advances her intelligence exponentially. When she goes home, Maddy is appalled by shallow, "suffocating" everyday human lives and is eventually sent back to the institute for re-evaluation. Eventually, she begins to realize that the institute isn't purely benevolent, and their scientists' experiments have downright terrifying implications. Powered by an endearing heroine (whose ingenuity and resourcefulness make MacGyver look inept), pedal-to-the-metal pacing, and generous amounts of social commentary, this science fiction thrill ride is the literary equivalent of a syringe full of adrenaline.

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ENORMITY

"An enthralling, apocalyptic fusion of Gulliver's Travels and Food of the Gods, Enormity comes at you with big ideas, voluminous scope and colossal pace. Marshall has the high-tech savvy and breadth of vision of a great SF writer, coupled with considerable daring." -- James Lovegrove, New York Times bestselling author of Redlaw and The Age of Zeus

"Hilarious, fast-paced, and just mind-blowingly cool, Enormity is part Michael Crichton, part Jonathan Swift, maybe even a little bit Tom Clancy, but in the end genuinely unique...a page-turning thriller that will make you remember why you fell in love with Science Fiction all those years ago. This is some seriously good stuff!" -- Joe McKinney, author of Apocalypse of the Dead and Flesh Eaters

"Enormity is at once tight and sprawling, a vibrant rush of Phildickian apocalyptic menace. What feels at first like the collision of genres in a particle accelerator blends seamlessly into a whirling dervish of a novel that goes down like Everclear with a quark-gluon chaser. If you like spy movies, heist novels, Tom Clancy, and crazed speculations on the underlying structure of the universe, you'll eat Enormity up with a spoon." -- Thomas S. Roche, author of The Panama Laugh

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TERMINAL ISLAND

The gripping new thriller by Walter Greatshell, acclaimed author of Xombies, Mad Skills, and (writing as W.G. Marshall) Enormity.

"A psychedelic descent into madness and cultural insanity, Greatshell has given us a tale of ancient gods and nameless cults that practice their rites not in some wasted land far away, but right in our own backyard. This book never slows down until the high energy climax. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED." -- Brett J. Talley, Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of That Which Should Not Be and The Void.

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SAFARI MINE

Henriette "Jenny" Kerschon's 21st birthday is nothing to celebrate. She is out of work, out of money, and returning home in disgrace to the gloomy German village she has tried so hard to escape. But little does Jenny realize that her ship is about to come in, a ship with the funny name of Watussi, and soon she will trade her troubles in Weimar Germany for a whole new life...in Africa.

Jenny's decade-long odyssey will carry her from the windswept heights of Cape Town to the sweltering depths of the Belgian Congo...and finally back to the dark heart of Nazi Germany, where Jenny Kerschon must confront an evil she never imagined possible.

SAFARI MINE is based on a true story. It is a chapter of history few know about--except those who lived it.

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SPECIAL FEATURES

Was DARTH VADER originally the hero of a glam-rock musical? Which JAMES BOND movie shamelessly cashed in on the success of STAR WARS? What does GODZILLA VS. HEDORAH have in common with MIDNIGHT COWBOY?

Cult author Walter Greatshell answers these burning questions and poses many more in this wittily informative collection of essays about the movies, books, and comics that fill his brain instead of actual useful knowledge.

SPECIAL FEATURES--Short Takes on Pop Culture from Androids to Zombies. Read it today!

Walter Greatshell is the author of the XOMBIES trilogy as well as the novels MAD SKILLS, TERMINAL ISLAND, and (writing as W.G. Marshall) ENORMITY. Aside from SPECIAL FEATURES, his most recent work includes the historical epic SAFARI MINE and the science fiction thriller TRANS ATLANTIC. He has also authored short stories, plays, children's books, and feature articles for newspapers and public radio. When not writing, Greatshell has run a landmark art cinema, worked in a submarine factory, and acted in theater productions of Oedipus Rex, Karel Capek's RUR, and Andy Kaufman's BOHEMIA-WEST. He also likes to draw pictures. Greatshell currently lives in Providence with his infinitely patient wife.

"Expect great things from Mr. Greatshell."--Nate Kenyon, author of Sparrow Rock

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THE LEAF BLOWER

Coming Soon!

The Leaf-Blower is a strange, pseudo-sci-fi novel I wrote immediately after Xombies. It’s my homage to the Japanese monster movies of my youth: Godzilla, War of the Gargantuas, etc. Basically it’s the story of an American living in Korea, a guy named Manny Lopes, who feels very small. Not only physically (in his own words, he’s a “Creole shrimp”), but his work, his marriage, his race, all conspire to make him feel puny and insignificant, the proverbial 98-pound weakling. Then one day an accident happens, a quantum explosion, and suddenly Manny is a giant - a really GIANT giant. And now there’s no stopping him: he’s a one-man weapon of mass destruction.

Like all my work, The Leaf-Blower takes some odd turns, and features characters like a North Korean assassin who thinks she’s Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. There’s also sex, violence, and action galore, with the army throwing everything it has against the rampaging colossus that is Manny Lopes. But there’s only one weapon that has any chance at all of stopping him: His wife.