An Undead Glitch

A LitRPG Nightmare (Patch 1.0 of The Corrupted Campaign)

Seth Willard is broke, sick, and running out of time.

A single dad drowning under bills and a cancer diagnosis, his last chance comes from a desperate gamble: taking a job as an NPC in a real world, fully immersive zombie survival experience. The nanites injected into his body that will project the game’s experience into his senses will also cure his cancer as he safely sells supplies to rich players out killing monsters that aren’t really there.

At least, that’s the plan. His sense of humor ain't getting it done, that's for sure.

A glitch drops him into the streets of the game environment as a player instead, looted hatchet in hand, surrounded by the stench of decay and the teeth of the undead. The wounds, the hunger, the terror—it seems all too real. And if Seth dies here, he loses his job, the nanites shut down, and not long after…so does his real body.

But death isn’t the only danger. The deeper Seth fights into this popular “game,” the clearer it becomes: this isn’t just a job, and it isn’t just a harmless simulation. Someone built this world for more purposes than entertainment—and it holds terrors darker than the digital zombies clawing through its ruins.

Seth’s survival isn’t just about levelling up, gaining skills, and finding loot. It isn't about living another day in the game. It’s about uncovering the truth—and carving out a future for his sons and maybe a whole lot more people—before the glitch that should save him destroys him for good instead.

Fans of Chris Philbrook's 16 book long Adrian’s Undead Diary will love this fast-paced, raunchy LitRPG/GameLit zombie adventure packed with action, gore, sarcasm, a whole lot of heart, and a terrifying twist.

©2025 Chris Philbrook (P)2025 Chris Philbrook

Reseñas de la Crítica

"I like video games, zombies and dystopian world building and this brings all three wrapped up into an old play style wrapper. The characters are fleshed out, their backstories are real and lived in. I really wish that there were more zombie fantasy out there and this brings it to life. The Undead Glitch feels like 'The Expanse, mixed with Dungeon Crawler Carl.' Super easy read, I started with the sample and had to demand the whole book!" (Michael Chatfield)

"I'm not typically a zombie fan, but litrpg and zombies mixed together by a master of the zombie horror? Yes, please." (Troy Osgood, author of Sky Realms Online, and The Connected System)

Another zombie Hit!

Holy cow, Chris Philbrook did it again, and within the LitRPG genre! I love the Adrian's undead series (which Chris also wrote) and this has ALL of the points I loved about that and MORE! The story has action, mystery, and all of the same humor I've come to love from the author. It has many winks and nods to other zombie media which was fun to try and catch. The main character Seth, is down to earth and relatable, he is who we all think we'd be in a zombie apocalypse.
Overall, I'd recommend this to any and everyone who either likes the litrpg genre, or zombies, you can't lose either way!

More than I'd hoped for!

Philbrook is one of my favorite authors but when I read the summary, I wasn't really sure to start with. However, I wasn't into it more than about 10 minutes when I was hooked. I was listening on my drive to work and ended up sitting in the parking lot until the last second before I had to get inside just so I could listen to a little bit more.

Mr. Philbrook has an uncanny ability to make his readers/listeners actually care about the characters in his stories. I was moved by the main character's plight and the rather "convenient" way he finds to solve his most pressing life issues. I say convenient because that's where the story really turned for me. I don't mean it was convenient as in it was some blah blah blah plot device some lazy writers use to send a character on their way to their fate.

I mean the solution is so convenient that as an outside observer, it foreshadowed the ominous subplot holding things together.

Mr. Samson's narration is rendered perfectly and I'll be looking for more of his work.

This story comes with sound effects and usually those don't help an audiobook but this time they Really helped to bring the story to life.

The only complaint I have, and it's VERY minor, was that each time the main character added levels or increased stats he would go through and list all of them. Now if I were in this RPG with my own character sheet, it would have meant more to me. As I said, it's VERY minor.

All in all, the writing, story and the narration are amazing!

Need more ASAP please?!

I had no idea lit rpg was a thing, but I thoroughly enjoyed it because survival/horror/crafting games are my favorite. The world here is well-crafted and detailed enough to stick with me… but there’s a reason I never start a series before it’s nearly finished. I like to binge, and this world only having one book so far is painful. lol Great character development, action that doesn’t feel repetitive, and I found myself actually laughing out loud several times. The Easter eggs in this book were spectacularly satisfying.

Philbrook is one of a handful of male writers in the zombie genre I can always rely on not to be a “bro” writer and to make his characters and stories more complex and beyond the typical testosterone-laden, superhero-style slugfest that gets real boring real fast. I enjoy his writing as a woman who also enjoys some dirty jokes. Keep it up!

What is happening?

What is happening? You think you know but you don't. I certainly don't. The surface story is amazing and fun. I can't wait to find out what happens in the rest of the story.

best story I've heard in a while

Really looking forward to the next in this series. Its just as enjoyable as the KTF, the bad guys, good guys and a couple others that have been favorites