Books published by Sam Kates

A collection of three dark novellas that delve into the nature of memory, madness and the afterlife.The Goldfish Syndrome: a mystery takes a sinister turn-some secrets are best left undiscovered…Moths: when the line between reality and fantasy grows blurred, tragedy beckons.Returned: a soul dragged from the afterlife, an ancient secret and a race against time to thwart evil.

Apocalypse unleashed. Swift and deadly. Merciless.Seven billion people inhabit this planet in blissful ignorance of imminent annihilation. Destruction comes, not from meteors or nuclear holocaust, but from a source no one even knows exists.The architects of doom have long moved among us, hidden in plain sight, waiting for the signal to trigger our extinction.A handful of survivors, traumatised and bewildered, must come to terms with the new reality. And quickly. For the Cleansing is only the beginning…

You'll wish you'd taken the stairs.In Book 1, Matt and three others step into an unremarkable elevator, intent only on reaching their offices, but all thoughts of work are driven from their minds the moment the door slides open. Thus begins a day that will change the lives of all four reluctant travellers. A day Matt will never forget, no matter how much he'd like to.Book 2 sees Jack journey to a strange land inhabited by people lost in space and time. A land where the Scourgers roam. What he discovers changes all: it is not merely his own and former Elevator companions' lives that are at risk. The stakes are much higher. And, like it or not, Jack is forced to join the game.In Book 3, a future hangs in the balance. Only one person has the power to prevent it all unravelling and he can't do it alone. But for humanity to prevail, the choreographer of chaos must be vanquished. Personal demons confronted. Insanity and depravity overcome. The Lord of the Dance lies in wait…All three books of The Elevator trilogy together for the first time.

Paradise isn't all it's cracked up to be.Unlucky in love, unlucky in life, Quirke yearns for something more. That indefinable, elusive something.In his role as a prison counsellor he meets Seff, an enigmatic convict who hints at an earthly Paradise, a place where Quirke may find his heart's desire. When fate and an embittered co-worker conspire to lose Quirke his job, he sets off with his best friend to follow Seff's vague directions.Concealed by mountains and remote forests in deepest Wales, they stumble across a self-sufficient settlement inhabited by escapees of the pressures of the late twentieth century. When Quirke discovers that they brew their own beer, he feels he has found a way of life that might bring him contentment.But beer's not the only thing brewing in Paradise…

Unnatural calm. A silent storm gathers. Extinction beckons.Survivors from mainland Europe and North America converge on Britain. Weary, confused, all come seeking answers; many come spoiling for a fight.What began with the Cleansing, and was hastened by the Beacon, nears fruition. Time is running out, and human numbers are too few to win the last battle alone. Unless help can be found from the unlikeliest of allies, failure is assured.Humankind faces its ultimate test. The Reckoning is upon us.

When war ends, terror begins.A fist fight that reverberates down the years. A family devastated by war. A flight from despair.John Andrews leaves industrial Newcastle for a remote village in post-war Cornwall. A village of reclusive inhabitants, where the birds don't sing. A village haunted by its past that intrudes upon the present.He falls in love, but it is overshadowed by a series of increasingly terrifying events. He encounters members of a tragic family, sees his maternal grandfather, meets his older brother; not so remarkable, perhaps, except that all are dead.Events spiral out of control and John is forced to battle to save what remains of his family, his first love, his very sanity. Not to mention his life.The Village of Lost Souls is hungry to claim more…

A post-viral planet. Annihilation approaches.Tom Evans and Ceri Lewis occupy a silent new world. Little more than a million people survived the Cleansing. They are spread out, weak, compelled by a force beyond their comprehension to remain where they are. Humankind teeters on the brink, its fate in the hands of the few who can resist the power that seeks to control them. But resistance may be futile.In the midst of deathly calm, a new threat arises, one that will finish the job started by the Cleansing. Tom and Ceri face a stark choice: gamble their lives to try to stop activation of the Beacon, or lie low and wait for the human race to be exterminated. Either way, the end seems certain…