Zombie Apocs - No Cis-Male Authors Allowed ☠
If you ask someone what apocalyptic fiction they've read involving zombies, there's a fair chance most or even all of that list will have been written by cis men, because they're the books that get the most publication & promotion in the genre
My hope is that this list will help someone find a new favourite author! ♡
Sister list to The End & After - No Cis-Male Authors
First of a series only
Suggestions so welcome, particularly for trans, enby & other authors of marginalised genders
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created by KittenInACave
last updated August, 2026
Comments
I’m obsessed with this new to me list! I saw someone recently mention needing a Zombie Quest and I agree so I’ve been pursuing the lists for Zombie reads.
I have a few recs that fit the agenda if you want:
Tied to Life by Vee Debras Janitors vs the living Dead by Michelle Garza Beneath Dark Skies by SA Ashburne Grave Situation by Louisa Masters
Ooh I'm glad! It's actually a fairly new, new list, too. I got it up.... A week ago? Two? 🤔
Looking up your reccs now! Thank you!!
The Vee Debras book doesn't appear to fit the "apocalypses" part (even with how super lenient I've been with that definition), however I'm also working on a queer zombie list, so I'll add it to that shelf!! Looks fun!
Janitors vs the living dead - Zombies in a gated community of rich assholes? Count me in!! Adding to both the list and my TBR list lol!
Beneath Dark Skies - are the authors definitely not cis men? All I have been able to track down is that it's a 2 person writing team ha!
Grave Situation - totally in! (Also I'm fascinated by the idea of a high fantasy zombie book lol!)
Thanks so much for this!!
Ooh I love this list! You could add If We Survive This by Racquel Marie!
Ugh I just realised my reply to you didn't actually reply to you lol. So, adding it where it's meant to be and deleting the original!
👇
Thanks!! I was excited, working on it! If We Survive This looks great! Adding it now!! Thank you!
155 books 😭😭😭 I could cry. You're doing the lord's work here.
I got more and more excited the more I was able to add! The best thing is, many of them are series, and I only added the first of each series! So, really, there's enough to keep us going for a real good while!! I don't even know where to start (past what's already in my TBR because I've been delving apoc fiction not written by cis men for a while now!)!
Only the first books??? Gosh, this is a treasure trove!! I didn't even know so many zombie books existed, let alone by authors other than cis men! You could say there's enough to keep us going during an apocalypse 😂
Hahaha, well you gotta have something to keep you going through The End!! Might as well be useful fiction that might help you survive, right? 😂
I feel like we all need an e-reader pre-loaded with these books and a solar charger!
True that. Any book can become a survival guide if the world goes to shit enough 😂.
A solar charger for my kobo and an iPod, that's the least I ask for at the end of the world 🙏
It's the little things that give ya cause to live!
Great list! 💕
If you still want recs - Affliction By Crystal J Johnson
I haven't read these yet, but - Cure By Belinda Frisch, Surviving her By Grace Parkes and The broken world series By Kate L Mary.
Thanks!!
Absolutely want reccs! Let's get allll the relevant books on here!!! rubs my hands together in geeky delight
I think Broken World is on there already as its on my TBR. Shall double check!
Adding Affliction, Surviving Her, and Cure (Holy zombie! That's quite the premise! 👀 😱)
Cure can also go on the "Zombies, but make it queer" list I'm building (currently just a shelf)! 🎉 Yay!
Thank you!!
Ooh. Queer zombies! Perfect list 🙂↕️
Cure sounds SO good but it's been gathering dust on my TBR for years 👀 Definitely need to get on that soon!
It is so hard to keep on top of a TBR list! 😭 Cure really does sound uniquely horrific though lol!
Yeah the queer list and the (non zombie) apocalyptic version of this one are the next up in my list making journey lol.
I also did non-American zombie and apoc lists because omg they are hard to find!!! 🤯 They honestly took so much work I burnt myself out and needed to breathe for a bit before finishing the others haha! (Thanks, ADHD, for making me do them all in a few days of solid work!)
Non American ones are so rare 😭
But why bother writing about somewhere where there isn't a gun (or much more) in every other house (and likely littering the streets in this situation!), right? Much more creativity required! 🤦♀️
That's exactly it! But the thing is it'd be SO much better without weapons like that. They make it too easy. Someone having to take down a zombie with a rolling pin would be insane. I'm actually still so annoyed at The walking dead daryl+Carol because of how London was treated. I was so excited to have them in the UK just to have 1 guy in it and then swiftly move on. 😬
All that's left in the world By Erik J brown might fit your queer apoc list btw - still need to read it again haha, unsure if it's just Apocalyptic or if it has zombies. Together in a broken world By Paul Michael Winters also!
Oh and hey, if you want zombies in London, just off the top of my head, The Enemy by Charlie Higson and Surviving the Evacuation by Frank Tayell are both in London. (Well, STE starts in London, then the series moves all around the UK, Ireland, then Europe, and beyond!)
Ooh, thanks! I've read the enemy but I'll check the other out!
Welcome! STE is a ridiculously huge, long series (plus 2 spin off series), and imo it gets markedly worse as it goes on....(he spits them out reaaaal fast so I guess that's not surprising) But there's a bunch of pretty decent books at the beginning, and tbh, I've read the majority of them regardless! I also love that they spend a fair bit of time on the island I grew up on (Anglesey) and where I've often imagined surviving the apocalypse. Fuel for the imagination indeed, lol!!
I know! They have to get so much more creative and I love it!
I haven't caught the newest TWD series' yet, that's disappointing to hear tho!!
Added all that's left in this world to an apoc queer shelf I hadn't even started yet lol.
Together in a broken world is on the queer zombies shelf!
Thanks heaps!!
Great list! A suggestion: The Hollowed by Amilea Perez is written by a Latinx woman (:
Ooh thank you! Finding it now!
(annnnnd it ended up on my TBR too!!)
