Anthologies#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| History is Dead |
2007 |
Buy |
| Murdermouth: Zombie Bits |
2010 |
Buy |
| Best New Zombie Tales Vol. 3 |
2011 |
Buy |
| Undead Tales |
2011 |
Buy |
| Help! Wanted: Tales of On-the-Job Terror |
2011 |
Buy |
| Before Plan 9: Plans 1-8 From Outer Space |
2012 |
Buy |
| Attic Toys |
2012 |
Buy |
| Horror for Good |
2012 |
Buy |
| Read the End First |
2012 |
Buy |
| A Feast of Frights from The Horror Zine |
2012 |
Buy |
| Welcome To Hell: An Anthology Of Western Weirdness |
2012 |
Buy |
| Dark Light |
2012 |
Buy |
| Alt-Zombie |
2012 |
Buy |
| Blood Rites |
2013 |
Buy |
| High Stakes: A Vampire Anthology |
2013 |
Buy |
| Zombies |
2013 |
Buy |
| Bleed |
2013 |
Buy |
| Fear the Reaper |
2013 |
Buy |
| Best Tales of the Apocalypse |
2013 |
Buy |
| The Best of the Horror Society 2013 |
2013 |
Buy |
| Dark Discoveries - Issue #28 |
2014 |
Buy |
| Zombies: More Recent Dead |
2014 |
Buy |
| Limbus, Inc. - Book II |
2014 |
Buy |
| Seize the Night |
2015 |
Buy |
| V-Wars: Night Terrors |
2015 |
Buy |
| The Forsaken |
2017 |
Buy |
Best New Zombie Tales Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Best New Zombie Tales Vol. 1 |
2010 |
Buy |
| Best New Zombie Tales Vol. 2 |
2010 |
Buy |
| Best New Zombie Tales Vol. 3 |
2011 |
Buy |
| The HMS Swift Adventures |
2014 |
Buy |
Dead Lands Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| The Plague of the Undead |
2014 |
Buy |
| The Dead Won’t Die |
2015 |
Buy |
| Thunder Moon Rising |
2015 |
N/A |
| Boneyard |
2017 |
N/A |
Dead World Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Dead City |
2006 |
Buy |
| Red |
2008 |
N/A |
| Scarlet |
2009 |
N/A |
| Apocalypse of the Dead |
2010 |
Buy |
| Crimson |
2009 |
N/A |
| Flesh Eaters |
2011 |
Buy |
| The Crossing |
2011 |
N/A |
| Mutated |
2012 |
Buy |
| Dead World Resurrection |
2014 |
N/A |
Demonic Visions: 50 Horror Tales Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Demonic Visions: 50 Horror Tales |
2013 |
Buy |
| Demonic Visions: 50 Horror Tales # 2 |
2013 |
Buy |
| Demonic Visions: 50 Horror Tales #3 |
2014 |
Buy |
| Demonic Visions 50 Horror Tales #4 |
2014 |
Buy |
| Demonic Visions 50 Horror Tales #5 |
2014 |
Buy |
| Demonic Visions 50 Horror Tales #6 |
2016 |
Buy |
Journalstone’s DoubleDown Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Only the Thunder Knows – East End Girls |
2013 |
Buy |
| Smog - Baggage of Eternal Night |
2013 |
Buy |
| Dog Days - Deadly Passage |
2013 |
Buy |
| Biters / The Reborn |
2014 |
Buy |
| Secrets / Outcast |
2014 |
Buy |
| Paleo - The Doomsday Prepper |
2015 |
Buy |
| Frozen Shadows/WildWoman |
2015 |
Buy |
Non-Fiction#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Zombie Writing! |
2012 |
Buy |
Short Stories/Novellas#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| The Crossing |
2011 |
Buy |
| Bury My Heart at Marvin Gardens |
2012 |
N/A |
| Lost and Found |
2014 |
Buy |
Short Story Collections#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Dead World Resurrection |
2014 |
Buy |
Standalone Novels#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Quarantined |
2009 |
Buy |
| Dodging Bullets |
2010 |
Buy |
| The Red Empire |
2011 |
Buy |
| Inheritance |
2012 |
Buy |
| Crooked House |
2013 |
Buy |
| The Savage Dead |
2013 |
Buy |
| Lost Girl of the Lake |
2013 |
Buy |
| Dog Days |
2014 |
Buy |
The Retreat Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Pandemic |
2013 |
Buy |
| Slaughterhouse |
2014 |
Buy |
| Die Laughing |
2015 |
Buy |
| Alamo |
2016 |
Buy |
| Crucible |
2018 |
Buy |
| Forlorn Hope |
2022 |
Buy |
Joe McKinney spent years as a San Antonio police officer before becoming one of horror fiction’s most prolific zombie writers. That law enforcement background runs through much of his work – his protagonists tend to be cops, survivors with practical skills, and ordinary people making hard decisions under pressure rather than genre archetypes.
His output spans a wide range: the long-running Dead World series, which started with Dead City in 2006 and ran through nine books; the Dead Lands post-apocalyptic sequence; The Retreat military horror series; and dozens of standalone novels and shorter works. He also contributed to and edited numerous horror anthologies throughout the 2010s, making him a consistent presence in the zombie and dark fiction community.
Beyond his fiction, McKinney wrote Zombie Writing!, a 2012 non-fiction guide on the craft of horror writing. Readers drawn to horror with real-world grounding and authentic police procedure alongside the undead will find plenty to work through in his back catalog.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many books has Joe McKinney written?
Joe McKinney has written 75 books across eleven series.
What was Joe McKinney's first book?
Joe McKinney’s first book is Dead City, published in 2006.
What is Joe McKinney best known for writing?
Joe McKinney is best known for his zombie horror novels, particularly the Dead World series beginning with Dead City. His background as a police detective gives his fiction a grounded, procedural edge that sets his work apart from typical horror.