First Night Memories

Rot & Ruin #0.5

by Jonathan Maberry

Genres: Zombies, Young Adult, Horror, Short Stories, Dystopia, Ebooks, Post Apocalyptic

13 pages, ebook

First published March 1, 2012

About the author

JONATHAN MABERRY is a NYTimes bestselling author, #1 Audible bestseller, 5-time Bram Stoker Award-winner, 4-time Scribe Award winner, Inkpot Award winner, comic book writer, and producer. He is the author of more than 50 novels, 190 short stories, 16 short story collections, 30 graphic novels, 14 nonfiction books, and has edited 26 anthologies. His vampire apocalypse book series, V-WARS, was a Netflix original series starring Ian Somerhalder. His 2009-10 run as writer on the Black Panther comic formed a large chunk of the recent blockbuster film, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. His bestselling YA zombie series, Rot & Ruin is in development for film at Alcon Entertainment; and John Wick director, Chad Stahelski, is developing Jonathan’s Joe Ledger Thrillers for TV. Jonathan writes in multiple genres including suspense, thriller, horror, science fiction, epic fantasy, and action; and he writes for adults, teens and middle grade. His works include The Pine Deep Trilogy, The Kagen the Damned Trilogy, NecroTek, Ink, Glimpse, the Rot & Ruin series, the Dead of Night series, The Wolfman, X-Files Origins: Devil’s Advocate, The Sleepers War (with Weston Ochse), Mars One, and many others. He is the editor of high-profile anthologies including Weird Tales: 100 Years of Weird, The X-Files, Aliens: Bug Hunt, Out of Tune, Don’t Turn out the Lights: A Tribute to Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Baker Street Irregulars, Nights of the Living Dead, Shadows & Verse, and others. His comics include Marvel Zombies Return, The Punisher: Naked Kills, Wolverine: Ghosts, Godzilla vs Cthulhu: Death May Die, Bad Blood and many others. Jonathan has written in many popular licensed worlds, including Hellboy, True Blood, The Wolfman, John Carter of Mars, Sherlock Holmes, C.H.U.D., Diablo IV, Deadlands, World of Warcraft, Planet of the Apes, Aliens, Predator, Karl Kolchak, and many others. He the president of the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers, and the editor of Weird Tales Magazine. He lives in San Diego, California. Find him online at www.jonathanmaberry.com

Reviews

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

FIRST NIGHT MEMORIES is free bonus manterial for ROT & RUIN available on the Simon & Schuster webpage for the book. http://books.simonandschuster.com/Rot...

And there are twenty-five pages of free scenes set between ROT & RUIN and DUST & DECAY. Here’s a link to the main page; access the scenes by clicking on the banner that reads: READ BONUS MATERIAL BY JONATHAN MABERRY: http://books.simonandschuster.com/Dus...

[Joanna Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

4 short stories of 4 different people with interesting ideas on how to survive the zombie apocalypse. Out of the 4, Nix and Tom had the strongest voices for me, one an adult, and another, a child/teen.

The First Night was everyone's nightmare turning billions of people into "zoms". Dead, decayed yet brought back to life to kill and infect more people. Of course, these 4 survivors wouldn't want to be like them so they have to kill these monsters whom have been their previous friends, neighbors, and even relatives.

This prequel which introduced a glimpse of running and migrating, already enthralled my imagination. The writing, the first and third person narrative was impressive to portray each character of various sizes and ages. What a nice prep to start the series! :)

[Toni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me start by saying Jonathan Maberry is brilliant. I am almost finished with the first book, Rot & Ruin, and can't wait to get the second book. Jonathan provides such a unique look at life after the zombie apocalypse. I look forward to reviewing Rot & Ruin on my blog, along with the rest of the series!

First Night Memories was a great, quick read. I love back stories.. getting some insight into the characters history and memories.

[Malissa]

I'm not going to actually rate either #.5 or #1.5 because I'm just not sure how to. I enjoyed them for what they are, bonus content for fans to either give a bit more insight into the characters' world or to tide us over until the next book. Or both. At least reading them *after* finishing bk #2, I don't feel like they added anything I'd feel any real loss without, yet I do really love the fact that the relative ease of eBooks and electronic content gives authors the ability to offer things like this and readers the chance to indulge their obsessions even more ;)

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting! I read FIRST NIGHT MEMORIES after I finished ROT & RUIN, which I actually consider a better order. I enjoyed meeting the characters in the novel and then going back to view their memories of First Night. It’s great to see how what they remember (and for some characters their actions) shaped the person they were in ROT & RUIN, and how it affected their views on Zombies and the future of Mountain Side.

[Janie Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a short pre look into the Rot and Ruin series with "First Night Memories" when everything on the planet went wrong. When the population went from billions of live people to 30,000. Gives a little insight into the lives of those survivors when first night came. I would love a full blown out novel of "First Night Memories" I think it would be awesome.

[Gretchen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A prequel of collected short stories meant to introduce "Rot & Ruin," the first in the Benny Imura series. I didn't read this until after I finished "Rot & Ruin," so it isn't necessary to fully enjoy the series, but it gives great insight into some of the characters.

[kirstin ✿ · Rating 4 out of 5]

*fangirling over Tom Imura*
Such a short read! Still, I loved it. Each character has his/her own distinct voice that helps you distinguish him/her from the others without difficulty. I also liked how Jonathan Maberry made the characters sound genuine to their age. ^^

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

should just be included as a n intro to the rot & ruin book. at least it was free :)

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably more of an uneven 3/5, but it adds to the mythology.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short prequel to the excellent Rot&Ruin series. Only 14 pages, but it was good.

[Katie Kenig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This little mini novella - or collection of short shorts, to be fair - was intended as bonus material for the book Rot and Ruin, but I grabbed it off of the Simon and Schuster site as it wasn't included in my audiobook version of the full book.

While it's interesting stuff, much of it is repetitive if you've already read Rot and Ruin. Though if you have already read it, the very last lines of the last story will give you chills - as it did me!

This collection is a group of memories centered around First Night, the night of the zombie uprising that took place fourteen years before the book Rot and Ruin begins. You'll learn about much of this reading the novel, though there was a bit of new material as well.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

First Night Memories is suppose to be a prequel to the story Rot & Ruin but I read this particular story afterwards. It's a collection of short stories told from the POV of the following characters Tom, Nix, Benny and Pastor Kellogg.

Albeit while it was a short and fast read it still was able to provide insight into the minds of some of the characters. I especially like that we got to see things from Tom's POV during THAT night.

I liked getting to see how the kids who essentially grew up after those events look upon the adults in their lives, not fully understanding what it was to really, truly go through something like that...

Even though I am just beginning to delve into this series I think people should give it a read.

[Nora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jonathan Maberry has written/is writing one of the only zombie series that actually make me stop & think. So picture this: I'm pondering humanity--its faults, flaws, and amazingness--while I'm reading about people surviving & zombies chowing down. Weird. But cool.

This is a small grouping of the first night stories of several individuals. Sad, but also somehow inspiring. Don't ask me, I don't know.

[C Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been awhile since I've read this author's work and I missed it. I delayed reading Benny Imura books because I always felt I've been left hanging. It's good to read about where it all began and how different the young and old think. We see glimpses of the just-turned-15 Benny and how he views his brother. I also appreciated Tom's side of the story the First Night. I'm excited to read the rest of the books because I have them already, I just need to get the in-between books and I'm all set.

[Renae · Rating 4 out of 5]

This felt like it might've been Maberry's first draft of Rot and Ruin. Almost like it was a pitch to a publisher.

It was interesting to see Tom's perspective on First Night, but it was necessary to hide that in order to build more of Benny's misplaced resentment toward his brother in the first book.

Definitely worth reading, but not before reading the first book.

[Katt Hansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little disjointed. I know this is just bonus material but I would have liked it to be a bit more cohesive. And I'm not entirely sure it added all that much to the story. On the other hand, I enjoyed being in Nix's head for a bit, and it was good to get a little extra...so it's worth reading.

I'd probably give this 3.5 stars if there was an option for half stars. :)

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Coming from someone who had never read this series before, I really enjoyed this. It really surprised me how much I liked this. I don't normally like zombie stories. I will definitely be completing this series!

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

only took a couple of minutes to read this PDF file (the link is above in the book description if you want to read it too). i enjoyed knowing what the beginning of first night was for tom (i'm in love with him!)

[Cameron Mascari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good little story talking about First Night. I liked seeing the different perspectives of the characters. It's kind of crazy to read how different the characters were prior when the books started, they all have changed so much, and for the better I think.

Excited for the final book.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Free on publisher's website.

A good addition to the series that gives First Night stories from Nix, Tom and Pastor Kellogg. We also see Benny on his 15th birthday - back when he admired Charlie and the Motor City Hammer.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

AWESOME! I read this after Rot & Ruin (book #1) and before Dust & Decay (book #2) and I loved it! Just cool to hear some back stories from the night it all went wrong. Awesome for Maberry to post them for free as well!

[Francesca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally, Tom's POV, event if it's for few moments.

[Gale]

20** Unannounced

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's only 13 pages and I'm currently reading Rot and Ruin so I'm still in the honeymoon phase with the series.

[Shawn Kass · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having already read the first three books in the series, it was interesting to go back for this perspective, but it was very short.

[Thalia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read the review on my blog:
http://thaliasbooks.tumblr.com/post/4...

[Kami · Rating 5 out of 5]

- Little short stories about First Night and prequel stuff to Rot & Ruin.

- I loved the little bit about Tom's First Night experience. I wish there was more on other people's First Night.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really intresting should of probably read it before the first book. It would of made alittle more sense.

[Fi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Available free online