New York Times bestselling author Jay Bonansinga joins the Capes and Tights Podcast for Episode 183 on September 4, 2024. To prepare for the conversation, we have compiled four-plus books by Bonansinga you should read.
In the world of fiction, Jay Bonansinga has established himself as a fixture in the genres of horror and suspense. He is the New York Times bestselling author of The Walking Dead novels (four volumes in collaboration with the creator of the franchise, Robert Kirkman, and four volumes as solo author). Bonansinga is also the author of fourteen original novels, including the Bram Stoker finalist The Black Mariah, the International Thriller Writers Award finalist Shattered, the acclaimed YA horror novel, Lucid, and Jay’s latest horror opus, Self Storage. Jay’s work has been translated into sixteen languages, and he has been called “one of the most imaginative writers of thrillers” by the Chicago Tribune.
In the world of film, Bonansinga has worked as a screenwriter with George A. Romero (Night of the Living Dead), Dennis Haysbert (24), Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad), and Will Smith’s Overbrook Productions. In 2009, Jay’s directorial debut, Stash, starring Tim Kazurinsky and Marilyn Chambers, won top honors at three separate independent film festivals, as well as premiering in 50 million households on-demand. Jay is a lifetime member the Writers Guild of America, and has optioned several original screenplays now in development as major motion pictures.
In the world of non-fiction, Jay’s 2004 historical narrative, The Sinking of Eastland, received national acclaim as well as the certificate of merit from the Illinois State Historical Society, ultimately becoming the source for the hit musical, Eastland, staged in Chicago by the Tony-award winning theater company, Lookingglass. Jay has also authored acclaimed books on Alan Pinkerton and the Las Vegas mob.
In other media, Jay has also created or co-created the stories for a number of video games in The Walking Dead universe, as well as directed several music videos that have received national airplay.
Self Storage
Welcome to Hell… Meet Johnny Fitzgerald, a lonely, divorced graphic illustrator with a major heroin habit. When Johnny accidentally gets trapped inside a deserted self-storage warehouse with his six-year-old son, he is forced to face demons both real and imagined. For the next 10 days, father and son fight for their lives. They battle thirst, hunger, and perhaps the worst human craving of them all — heroin withdrawal. But this is only the beginning of Johnny s painful education in de-tox. Because there is something dark and terrifying behind Johnny s dope-sick hallucinations … something touched off by the place itself.
Stan Lee’s The Devil’s Quintet: The Armageddon Code
In Stan Lee’s The Devil’s Quintet: The Armageddon Code, the world-famous architect of the Marvel Universe, teams up with New York Times bestselling author Jay Bonansinga to unleash a bold new superhero series on the world.
A five-person special ops unit, composed of a diverse assortment of former Navy SEALS from all walks of life, are responding to a terrorist threat deep in the Caucasus Mountains when their mission goes south in a big way. Facing certain death and torture, they’re unexpectedly offered a Faustian bargain by the Devil himself, who grants them unearthly powers in order to send evildoers to Hell on his fiendish behalf.
But “The Devil’s Quintet” do things their own way, fighting to protect America and the world, while trying their best not to let their hellish new abilities corrupt them beyond redemption . . .
It is also worth reading the sequel Stan Lee’s The Devil’s Quintet: The Shadow Society.
The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor
Following in the footsteps of the New York Times best-selling graphic novels and the record-breaking new television show, this debut novel in a trilogy of original Walking Dead books chronicles the back story of the comic book series’ greatest villain, The Governor.
In the Walking Dead universe, there is no greater villain than The Governor. The despot who runs the walled-off town of Woodbury, he has his own sick sense of justice: whether it’s forcing prisoners to battle zombies in an arena for the townspeople’s amusement, or chopping off the appendages of those who cross him. The Governor was voted “Villain of the Year” by Wizard magazine the year he debuted, and his story arc was the most controversial arc in the history of The Walking Dead comic book series. Now, for the first time, fans of The Walking Dead will discover how The Governor became the man he is, and what drove him to such extremes.
We list the first in the series of The Walking Dead novels, but we HIGHLY recommend reading the entire series of eight books.
The Killer’s Game
Joe Flood is the professional assassin known as “the Slugger.” He’s made a career out of murder for hire, but only those who deserve it.
Then a routine physical turns into a reckoning. Joe has cancer, his doctor tells him, with maybe six months to live.
Joe decides to take fate into his own hands. Accessing the underground network of fellow hit men, he puts out a contract on himself: six million dollars from a Swiss bank account to the professional who will end his suffering quickly. The money and bragging rights for putting away one of the world’s most accomplished assassins draws his colleagues from around the world. The killer’s game is on.
But then Joe gets a follow-up from his doctors. He was misdiagnosed. It’s not cancer; he should have many years to live. Except that now there’s no way to call off the hit.
Armed with only a few dollars and a credit card, Joe is on the run from a formidable lineup of talented killers. Will the Slugger have what it takes to outrun the competition?
