{"product_id":"dead-zone-cole-ashburn-9798248443147","title":"Dead Zone: A LitRPG Apocalypse Novel","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe System gave humanity classes, levels, and stats. It forgot to mention the expiration date.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhen a hexagonal grid locks over Earth's atmosphere and seven billion people wake up with RPG interfaces, wildland firefighter Cole Maddox gets the worst class in the System: \u003cb\u003eAnomaly\u003c\/b\u003e. Zero damage output. Zero combat skills. A designation the System itself labels as a repair subroutine - a single-use tool designed to fix a failing installation node and die in the process. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHistorical success rate across seven worlds: zero percent. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTrapped in the Montana Black Zone - a region where physics breaks, monsters materialize from alien material, and the System's governance collapses - Cole must lead a group of survivors toward the zone's center while his framework builds toward activation. Every level-up offers a choice. Every choice reshapes what he's becoming. And the deeper he pushes into the zone, the more he realizes the System isn't the only intelligence that built him. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSomething older than the System lives in the earth beneath his feet. Something newborn and vast and frightened. Something that wants to exist. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe System wants suppression. The awareness wants survival. Cole is the only person who can translate between them - if his bilateral framework holds, if both sides negotiate in good faith, and if whatever the System was built to prepare humanity for doesn't arrive ahead of schedule. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eDead Zone\u003c\/b\u003e is a system apocalypse progression fantasy featuring stat screens, skill trees, and level-ups alongside first-contact diplomacy, tactical survival, and a protagonist who reads fires better than people. This is Book One of \u003ci\u003eThe Anomaly Protocol\u003c\/i\u003e - a five-book series. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003ePerfect for fans of Defiance of the Fall, Dungeon Crawler Carl, He Who Fights with Monsters, and The Primal Hunter.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Cole Ashburn\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798248443147\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Independently Published\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/15\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 290\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.86lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.65d","brand":"Cole Ashburn","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48450500722943,"sku":"9798248443147","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_4e08b987-f6e9-412e-a004-d64621fa25af.jpg?v=1777268091","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/dead-zone-cole-ashburn-9798248443147","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}