Created by Kevin J. Anderson
Perhaps the biggest surprise was that it took Kevin J. Anderson, sci-fi journeyman and acclaimed author of numerous Star Wars novels so long to jump on the bandwagon.
But it might have been worth the wait — his DAN SHAMBLE series is a hoot, a tongue-in-decaying-cheek romp that puts most of the other recent zombie P.I. series to shame, and exposes them for the po-faced, unimaginative mash-ups they are. But it’s the humour and downright humanity that brings it all home here. Dan may be dead, but he’s just a working stiff, really.
Hs first real case is detailed in his 2012 debut, Death Warmed Over, where he sets out to on a personal mission to discover who killed him (“although paying clients have to take priority,” he assures us).
He’s the detective half of Chambeaux and Deyer Investigation, and works the Unnatural Quarter, a neighbourhood where, ever since the catalclymatic events known as the Big Uneasy, the streets are filled with therapy-bound vampires, sweatshop golems, werewolve hitmen, souvenir-hawking necromancers and ghost girlfriends.
Dan’s partner, attorney Robin Deyer, presents a human face to the world, but it’s Dan who does the real leg work, retreiving stolen paintings on behalf of dead painters, investigating a werewolf divorcee’s ex, looking into a case of discrimination against a mixed race (werewolf/vampire) couple and the like.
Since the Big Uneasy, the dead may walk the earth, but they’re still tragically — and often hilariously — human.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
One of the hardest working men in showbiz who isn’t James Patterson, sci-fi/fantasy scribe Kevin J. Anderson has published over 140 books, a good chunk of which have been national or international bestsellers. Besiders the Dan Shamble series, he’s the man behind the Saga of Seven Suns series, the Terra Incognita fantasy trilogy, and the Saga of Shadows trilogy, and has written numerous novels in the Star Wars, X-Files, Dune, and DC Comics universes, as well as unique steampunk fantasy novels Clockwork Angels and Clockwork Lives with Rush drummer Neil Peart, based on one of their albums. He also edited numerous anthologies, written comics and games, and the lyrics to two rock CDs, and has been nominated for the Nebula, the Hugo, the Bram Stoker, the Shamus and the Silver Falchion awards. And instead of sleeping he and wife Rebecca Moesta run WordFire Press.
UNDER OATH
- “Wickedly funny, deviously twisted and enormously satisfying. This is a big juicy bite of zombie goodness. Two decaying thumbs up.”
— Jonathan Maberry - “An unpredictable walk on the weird side. Prepare to be entertained.”
— Charlaine Harris - “Anderson has become the literary equivalent of Quentin Tarantino in the fantasy adventure genre.”
— The Daily Rotation
SHORT STORIES & NOVELLAS
- “Road Kill” (2012, digital) | Kindle it!
- “Naughty & Nice” (2013, digital) | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
- “Stakeout at the Vampire Circus” (2014, Slimy Underbelly)
- “Locked Room” (2014, In Shambles)
- “The Writing on the Wall” (2014, Dark Discoveries #28)
- “Role Model” (2014, Fiction River: Fantastic Detectives)
- “Beware of Dog” (2014, Streets of Shadows)
- “Cold Dead Turkey” (2015, Naughty or Nice: A Holiday Anthology)
- “Eye of Newt” (2016, Shadowed Souls)
- “Head Case” (2017, Hardboiled Horror)
- “High Midnight” (2017, Straight Outta Tombstone)
- “Heartbreaker”(April 2018, Pulphouse Fiction Magazine)
- “Collector’s Curse” (July 2018, Pulphouse Fiction Magazine)
- “Wishful Thinking”(October 2018, Pulphouse Fiction Magazine)
- “Paperwork” (2018, Services Rendered)
- “Game Night” (2018, Services Rendered)
NOVELS
- Death Warmed Over (2012) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
- Unnatural Acts (2012) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
- Hair Raising (2013) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
- Slimy Underbelly (2014) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
- Tastes Like Chicken (2017) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
- Double-Booked (2022) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
- Bats in the Belfry (2023) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
- Stiffs and Stones (2025) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
- Horn Dogs (2025) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
COLLECTIONS
- Working Stiffs: The Cases of Dan Shamble, Zombie PI (2015) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
- Unnatural Hairy (2018) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
Collects two early novels, Unnatural Acts and Hair Raising - Services Rendered: The Cases of Dan Shamble, Zombie PI (2018) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
- Slimy Chicken Zomnibus (2019) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
Collects the novels Slimy Underbelly and Tastes Like Chicken
COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS
- Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. & Kolchak: The Night Stalker: Unnaturally Normal
(2016, Moonstone Comics)
Written by Kevin J. Anderson & Richard Dean Starr
Art by Sergio Ibañez
A natural team-up withJeff Rice’s Carl Kolchak.
FURTHER INVESTIGATION
- I Ain’t Afraid of No Ghosts
A listing of fantasy & occult eyes. Suffice it to say that we’re definitely not in Kansas anymore…
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
