Who will you rely on in the zombie apocalypse?

Bodies on the TV, explosions, barriers, and people fleeing. No access to social media. And a dad who’ll suddenly bite your head off – literally.

These teens have to learn a new resilience…

Members of a band wield weapons instead of instruments.

A pair of siblings find there’s only so much you can joke about, when the menace is this strong.

And a couple find depth among the chaos.

Highway Bodies is a unique zombie apocalypse story featuring a range of queer and gender non-conforming teens who have lost their families and friends and can only rely upon each other.

Alison Evans’ first YA book, Ida, was published in 2017 (Echo Publishing). Ida won the People’s Choice Award in the Victorian Premier’s Awards 2018, was shortlisted in the 2017 Aurealis Awards, and longlisted for a 2018 Gold Inky Award. Alison is the co-editor of the zine Concrete Queers, which they started with Katherine Back in 2015. So far, the zine has featured over sixty queer artists. Alison has been an artist at Melbourne Writers Festival, Emerging Writers Festival, National Young Writers Festival, Reading Matters, and Feminist Writers Festival, and has done many library and bookshop events.

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‘Highway Bodies is a compassionate story imbued with softness, which helps make the intense horrors and violence more digestible. Evans’ second novel shares similarities with John Marsden’s Tomorrow series and will be of interest to teachers, librarians and schools wishing to diversify their collections or reading lists.’ – Books + Publishing

‘Highway Bodies warms hearts as often as it slits throats, telling a story driven by equal parts love, acceptance, and lots of zombies. Every inch the horror story, Alison Evans has injected new (after)life into the genre, with their diverse cast and wonderful writing. This is a unique slice of Australia YA, and it comes highly recommended.’ – The AU Review

‘The prose is striking. The discourse and interactions allow readers to empathise with characters, their terror and sorrow is palpable. As a debut, Alison’s IDA was brilliant and a wonderful precedent of how authors can write diversely. Alison Evans’ writing has matured and flourished, their vibrancy shining throughout the narrative by enthralling and captivating readers until the final page.’ – Diva Booknerd