Chad Waller

The Ninth Life Chad Waller

Animals are migrating north, slaves are turning against their masters, the devout are desecrating temples, and the moon is missing from the sky. The world is changing, but for one cat cursed with nine lives, none of that matters. It's hard to care about the living world when the door to escape the afterlife is almost closed. Kitgazka has lived and died eight times, and every death has ended the same: a dark forest, monsters made of fire, and a small door, shining far off in the distance. Hell is a real place, and once the door closes for good, it will last forever. So for the last 500 years, Kitgazka has roamed the world, hoping to find the place where life and the afterlife meet, but still the door remains hidden. Now on his last life, desperation sees him turn south, to a desert wasteland filled with bad memories, cannibalistic lizards, and an army of walking corpses. What's beyond the desert, no one knows, but it's the only place Kitgazka has not been. Accompanied by a naïve gerbil who wants to be a knight and his terrible squire, Kitgazka finally feels answers within reach. This time will be different. It has to be. Failure means an eternity of suffering. Little does Kitgazka know that he's walking into a warzone, and the answers he's craved for the last 500 years are more terrible than he ever imagined.