[Empire of Rust 01] • Empire of Rust

The court intrigue of Game of Thrones, the pulse-pounding danger of The Walking Dead, and the complicated, compelling sorts of characters you’ve come to expect from V. J. Chambers.

Two hundred and fifty years after the zombie apocalypse, the surviving humans live under the rule of a regime which denounces technology and knowledge as the source of the Scourge…

One: Necromancer Rising

In the southern capital city of the empire, Ezekiel, son of the regent of Caroly, has come to confront the emperor about the accidental death of his sister. Her body was not returned to her family, as is custom. Ezekiel is here to retrieve it. But no one seems to have seen her body or know where it is, least of all her former fiancé, the emperor’s son Gabriel. No, Gabriel’s moved on, already married to another woman.

Ezekiel is beginning to suspect what happened to his sister was no accident.

In the northern wilderness, Darius lies chained to a wooden plank while another man tells him that he has changed him. He’s turned him into a necromancer—a man who can control the revenants, who can gather a revenant army.

This man wants Darius to lead such an army to the capital.

All the while, the revenants surround the empire, tearing at fences, pounding on walls, their jaws open and gaping. Hungering. For flesh.

Empire of Rust is a serial novel being published in six parts. This first part is approximately 20,000 words or 62 printed pages.