Fiend

Breaking Bad meets Night of the Living Dead in this manically energetic, stunningly written debut that pits a crystal meth addict against the zombie apocalypse.When Chase sees the little girl in umbrella socks savaging the Rottweiler, he‘s not too concerned. As someone who‘s been smoking meth every day for as long as he can remember, he‘s no stranger to such horrifying, drug-fueled hallucinations. But the little girl is no illusion. The end of the world really has arrived. And with Chase‘s life already destroyed beyond all hope of redemption, armageddon might actually be an opportunity — a last chance to hit restart and become the person he once dreamed of being. Soon Chase is fighting to reconnect with his lost love and dreaming of becoming her hero among the ruins. But is salvation just another pipe dream? Propelled by a blistering voice and featuring a powerfully compelling anti-hero, Fiend is at once a brilliant portrait of addiction, a pitch-black comedy, and the darkest, most twisted love story you‘ve ever read — not to mention one hell of a zombie novel.

Amazon.com Review

An Amazon Best Book of the Month, July 2013: Fiend may be his first novel, but Peter Stenson isn't dipping his big toe into the shallow end of the pool here; it's more like he's cannonballing naked into a murky lake of unknown depth, wearing a blindfold just for kicks. The payoff, for those willing to dive in with him, is an exhilarating rush of a first-person read that's rife with graphic violence, riddled with expletives, devoid of quotation marks, and determined to test your sense of squeamishness. Our protagonist, Chase Daniels, is an unlikely choice for a "hero" with an even more unlikely chance of survival--an unabashed addict who has just snapped out of a week-long drug binge to find himself facing a dystopian nightmare. In a world narrowed down to meth-heads and (a refreshingly original take on) zombies, this kid, with his only vaguely remaining moral compass, is our only option for empathy, our only hope for humanity. He's got no special skills, and he's not connected to a crucial government agency. He knows only what he sees or feels, and so do we. It's gritty, it's gripping, and it's a great debut. --Robin A. Rothman

From Booklist

How would you react if you suddenly realized the world was in the throes of a zombie apocalypse? Well, if you’re stoners Chase Daniels and his friend Typewriter John, you immediately figure you’re hallucinating that little girl feasting on the rottweiler, and you look around for another hit of meth to make the bad images go away. But this is no hallucination. Luckily, as Chase and Typewriter soon discover, being high stops the virus, or whatever it is, from turning you into a zombie; so as long as we’re high, they figure, we’re safe. It was probably only a matter of time before somebody got the bright idea of grafting a stoner comedy onto a zombie story, and Stenson, in his debut effort, performs the surgery very well. Chase and Typewriter come off as your typical goofy, addle-brained druggies, and the zombie elements of the story are appropriately frightening. Chase and Typewriter are a lot of fun to hang out with, and a surprising dramatic scene at the very end of the book leaves us with an unexpected catch in our throats. Very nicely done. --David Pitt

MTV.com

“Shockingly personal...Shaun of the Dead meets Trainspotting.”

there are more than a few similarities between meth heads and zombies. Stenson exploits all of them in Fiend.”

“Shambling, scabrous figures rotting from the inside out and driven by an insatiable hunger

Denver Post

“[Stands] apart from the pack of zombie lit...Stenson has a sharp ear for language and a gift for dark humor.”

SF Signal

“Best read of the year. Best zombie book, ever. Masterful illustration about how painful and overwhelming addiction can be...I want every book I read to enthrall me as consistently and emotionally as Fiend did.”

Donald Ray Pollock, author of The Devil All the Time and Knockemstiff

“Certain to invite comparisons to Hubert Selby and Cormac McCarthy…one scalding pressure cooker of a novel, and I advise you to buckle up and hold on tight because you're in for one hell of a ride.”

Warren Ellis, New York Times bestselling author of Gun Machine and Twisted Little Vein

“This is the real meat. The last zombie novel you'll ever need.”

Alan Heathcock, National Magazine Award-winning author of Volt

“Peter Stenson has done the near impossible in delivering a savage fire-storm of a page-turner while also enabling a hard and earnest look at addiction and love.  I tore through Fiend with the crazed fervor of an addict, but like all great stories these characters lingered in my thoughts long after I turned the last beautiful and brutal page.”

Steve Almond, New York Times bestselling author of Candyfreak and Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life

“Peter Stenson is the bastard child of Cormac McCarthy and George Romero. In Fiend, he takes the reader on a dark joyride replete with junkies, zombies, and buckets of gore. Here is a novel that will jack your pulse and break your heart all at once.”

About the Author

PETER STENSON received his MFA from Colorado State University in 2012. His stories and essays have been published in The Sun, The Bellevue Literary Review, The Greensboro Review, Confrontation, Post Road, Fugue, Harpur Palate, The Pinch, Blue Mesa Review, and elsewhere. He is also a recovering addict and has been sober for 10 years. He lives with his wife and daughter in Denver.

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