Deadlands - Lily Herne

Welcome to the Deadlands, where life is a lottery.

Since the apocalypse, Cape Town's suburbs have become zombie-infested Deadlands. Human survivors are protected from the living dead by sinister, shrouded figures - the Guardians. In return, five teenagers are 'chosen' and handed over to them for a mysterious purpose: this year, Lele de la Fontein's name is picked.

But Lele will not stick around and face whatever shady fate the Guardians have in store for her. She escapes, willing to take her chances in the Deadlands.

Alone, exiled and unable to return home, she runs into a misfit gang of renegade teens: Saint, a tough Batswana girl; Ginger, a wise-cracking Brit; and handsome Ash, a former child soldier. Under their tutelage, Lele learns how to seriously destroy zombies and together they uncover the corruption endemic in Cape Town, and come to learn the sickening truth about the Guardians . . .

Lily Herne divides her time between Cape Town and Norwich, UK, and can sometimes be found in both places at once. Her interests include chainsaws, Steampunk and cake. You can contact her through the contact form below, follow her on twitter at @Herne13 or friend her on Facebook. She'd love to hear from you.

Herne has masterfully created a fictional war-torn South Africa that is slowly being reclaimed by nature... The real story lies in the lives of the teen exiles, told with meticulous detail... Worthy to be ranked among the likes of Twilight and The Hunger Games.
The Times (South Africa)

Fantastic! Teen-fighting-zombie fun, The Hunger Games meets The Walking Dead!
Lauren Beukes

Enjoyably fresh... A good natured anti-capitalist message, pacey prose packed with cliffhangers, and an ensemble of diverse and likeable characters elevates Deadlands from generic teen mush to digestible political satire via a pop-culture plot.
SFX Magazine