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Bryan Way

Goodreads Author

Born

in Upland, PA, The United States

Website

https://amzn.to/38Ye4ny

Twitter

TheBryanWay

Genre

Horror, Science Fiction, Thriller

Influences

George R. Stewart, Joe Haldeman, Kurt Vonnegut, George A. Romero, Nich ...more

Member Since

July 2013

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/bryanway

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Bryan Way is an author and screenwriter who loves life in Philly. Starting with Life After The Arising , this bootstrapper has self-published two novels and nearly a dozen short stories for which he does all the design, editing, and typesetting. An optimist and ambivert at heart, his first love in any writing project is a strong story populated by stronger characters.

Also, he was a video store clerk for nearly 14 years. Other than writing, it's the best job he's ever had. ...more

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Popular Answered Questions

How do you deal with writer’s block?

Bryan Way Never stop writing. It sounds counterintuitive, but if you come to an impasse, you can start writing something else. Doesn't matter if it's a novel, s…moreNever stop writing. It sounds counterintuitive, but if you come to an impasse, you can start writing something else. Doesn't matter if it's a novel, short story, poem, article, essay, journal entry, ideas, or even if you edit something you've written before. The other work will be waiting for you when you're ready.(less)

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What are you currently working on?

Bryan Way The wide release for Life After: The Void , the novel following Life After: The Arising in the Life After series.

Through …moreThe wide release for Life After: The Void , the novel following Life After: The Arising in the Life After series.

Through the short stories Life After: The Cemetery Plot , Life After: The Basement , Life After: The Phoenix , and the anthology All Things Zombie: Chronology of the Apocalypse featuring Life After: Consequences , I examine the new challenges a Zombie apocalypse imposes on the personal and societal conflicts we've endured throughout history on a smaller scale. While these shorts are designed to enrich the world of Life After beyond the novels, the books will always be my first priority, and protagonist Jeff Grey will always be the eye of the hurricane.

Life After: The Void picks up two months after the conclusion of Life After: The Arising , with Grey and his newly anointed companions having fortified the school and gathered supplies to weather the apocalypse. They may live in relative safety and security, but the friendship they forged out of necessity is unraveling; Grey and Rich are getting under each other's skin, Anderson has become romantically involved with a controlling new arrival, Jake's teenage apathy manifests as defiance, and Melody's newly found pragmatism is becoming abrasive, but their personal strife is about to become the least of their problems. The true test of their mettle won't be surviving each other, it'll be staying alive once they're forced to confront the dangers of the outside world.

The first draft of Life After: The Arising was written from December 2003 to July 2004, at which point I realized three things:

1. My book might not be long or complete enough for publication.
2. I wasn't a good enough writer to publish anything yet.
3. I intended to continue the story, and I would consider myself a hack if I waited until after publishing the first book to start a second.

I allayed these concerns by starting Life After: The Void in January 2005, but didn't finish the first draft until September 2008 for a variety of reasons. It was only once I published Life After: The Arising in 2013 that I returned to edit its sequel, assuming that I had forged a manageable précis. Boy, was I wrong. I languished in editing this turgid adolescent fever dream for upwards of 20 months, trying to wring out all the awful characterizations and absurd digressions while staying true to aspects of my original vision. The limited edition release in October 2015 was partially to avoid disappointing what few dedicated fans I've earned and partially because I had no idea what to make of the finished product. Fortunately, their response has been largely positive, so I've spent the last five months fine tuning. The end is now in sight.(less)

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Bryan Way’s books

Average rating: 4.3 · 167 ratings · 87 reviews · 14 distinct works

	Life After: The Arising (Life After, #1) 3.94 avg rating — 48 ratings — published 2013 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Life After: The Void (Life After, #2) 4.62 avg rating — 21 ratings — published 2015 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hosts 4.75 avg rating — 12 ratings — published 2013 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Life After: The Cemetery Plot (Life After, #1.1) 4.33 avg rating — 12 ratings — published 2014 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Life After: The Basement (Life After, #1.2) 4.64 avg rating — 11 ratings — published 2014 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Life After: The Phoenix (Life After, #1.3) 4.27 avg rating — 11 ratings — published 2014 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Life After: The Line of Duty (Life After, #2.3) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 5 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Plight 3.83 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 2020	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Life After: Zugzwang (Life After, #2.2) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 4 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Life After: The Maze (Life After, #2.1) 4.50 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 2016	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Bryan Way's Blog

Evolution of the Soul

~~---------------------------------------------------------------------~~

It would be an understatement to say this will be different from what I generally post here, and it will most certainly veer past pseudoscience into the realm of dime-store philosophical claptrap. Consider yourself warned.

Having been raised in an environment with no discernable spiritual doctrine, I'm a lifelong, dyed-in-the-wool Read more of this blog post »

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Published on May 09, 2023 11:32

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Series by Bryan Way

Life After (2 books)
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Bryan Way (Goodreads Author)

4.31 avg rating — 117 ratings

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Bryan’s Recent Updates

Bryan Way and 1 other person liked Joe Smith's review of Life After: The Arising (Life After, #1):
Dec 14, 2024 01:55AM · see review
Bryan Way liked Mr. Robert's review of Life After: The Arising (Life After, #1):
Oct 15, 2024 11:27PM · see review
Bryan Way is now following Daniel Simmonds's reviews
Sep 12, 2024 09:25AM · like
Bryan Way liked Daniel Simmonds's review of Life After: Shorts Anthology Volume I (Life After #1.1-1.3, 2.1-2.4): "It was back in 2022 when I first heard of horror author Bryan Way's Life After series of zombie stories. Life After: The Arising featured an unlikeable lead and told a relatively (for a zombie apocalypse) mundane story but something about it just wor" Read more of this review »
Sep 04, 2024 10:58PM · see review
Bryan Way liked that Dustin is now a friend of Bryan
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Bryan Way rated a book it was amazing The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity by Carlo M. Cipolla	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Feb 11, 2024 09:47AM · like
Bryan Way voted on a poll in the group Goodreads Authors/Readers I hv a booktube channel I would love it if you could check it out And I also just uploaded a new video called- bookish gift guide video: https://youtu.be/9TkzvrCluJ4 channel https://youtube.com/@PowerOfBooks1902... ...more He voted for: later.......
Nov 30, 2023 06:58PM · like · take the poll
Bryan Way has read Life After: Shorts Anthology Volume I (Life After #1.1-1.3, 2.1-2.4) by Bryan Way (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 26, 2023 11:53AM · 1 like · like
Bryan Way has read Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Aug 18, 2023 12:24AM · like

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Quotes by Bryan Way (?)

“When you open yourself up to people, you show them where to put the knife in.”
― Bryan Way, Life After: The Void

tags: betrayal, double-crossing, emotional-availability, honesty, knife-in-your-back, opening-up, vulnerability

6 likes

“There are never enough hours in the day when you need them and always too many when you don't.”
― Bryan Way

2 likes

“A well trained skydiving instructor can't save one from a broken parachute.”
― Bryan Way

2 likes

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Bryan’s Quotes

“The pursuit of happiness seems worthwhile only because of the chase. You love it only if you don’t realize you’re never going to catch up.”
― Bryan Way, Life After: The Void

tags: hopelessness, life, perspective, society, wisdom

1 likes

“Every moment we wait, we get closer to being too late.”
― Bryan Way, Life After: The Phoenix

2 likes

“How does it look?” Richard asks.
“You know the expression about shit hitting the fan?”
“Yeah.”
“It looks like the other side of the fan.”
― Bryan Way, Life After: The Arising

1 likes

“Look… I don’t think the universe exists on a basis of reasons…” Mia starts. “…it’s causality without meaning. Evolution is causality… but it doesn’t have significance because we attained consciousness. Imposing meaning on a void is like looking down the barrel of a gun after someone pulls the trigger and asking why the bullet wants to kill you. Just because you see a face on Mars doesn’t mean it’s there.”
― Bryan Way, Life After: The Basement

1 likes

“When I got home, I thought about the fact that Einstein supposedly used to stock his wardrobe with the same suits and shoes so he’d never have to think about what he was going to wear. I lack the intellect it takes to solve problems that way. I’ve advanced nothing in the field of psychology, and my paper on PTSD was given little attention; I wrote that psychological disorders with a genetic link, such as borderline personality disorder, might seem impossible to treat, while PTSD, which is based in trauma that has been experienced, seems easy to tackle, at least to the layperson. The opposite is true. It can be difficult to find the right medication for genetic disorders, but they can be sufficiently treated. Conversely, PTSD never goes away. One might think that our genes are so elementary that we cannot escape them, but our experiences have the ability to do far greater damage.”
― Bryan Way, Hosts

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