From bestselling author Greig Beck, with new book Extinction Plague: A Matt Kearns Novel 4 out soon. EXTINCTION IS CONTAGIOUS Matt Kearns, linguist, archaeologist and reluctant explorer from Beneath the Dark Ice and Black Mountain returns to help save the world. And this time he doesn't have Alex Hunter to save him when the stuff hits the fan. When a fame-hungry scientist brings an impossible, living specimen of a creature long thought extinct back from the wild jungles of South America he unwittingly brings along a passenger. Something with the potential to destroy every living thing on our planet. The infestation begins, rapidly overtaking medical resources and resisting all treatment. One woman knows the danger, Carla Nero, chief scientist of the Center for Disease Control. She makes Matt an offer he can't refuse and together they join a team heading to the deep jungle in a desperate race to locate the hidden place where the specimen was taken. Only by finding the location of the specimen can the team - and the world - hope to uncover the secret of how to survive the ancient, horrifying parasite that has been released. SHORTLISTED FOR BEST HORROR NOVEL AT THE 2014 AUREALIS AWARDS

Matt Kearns, linguist, archaeologist and reluctant explorer from Beneath the Dark Ice and Black Mountain returns in his first full-time adventure. And this time he doesn't have Alex Hunter to save him when things get weird. When a fame-hungry scientist brings an impossible, living specimen of a creature long thought extinct back from the wild jungles of South America he unwittingly brings along a passenger. Something with the potential to destroy every living thing on our planet. The infestation begins, rapidly overtaking medical resources and resisting all treatment. One woman knows the danger, Carla Nero, chief scientist of the Centre for Disease Control. She makes Matt an offer he can't refuse and together they join a team heading to the deep jungle in a desperate race to locate the hidden place where the specimen was taken. Only by finding the location of the specimen can the team – and the world – hope to uncover the secret of how to survive the ancient, horrifying parasite that has been released. This title is a novella-length episode of The First Bird. It will conclude with Episode 3 on 1 August. Please visit www.momentumbooks.com.au for release dates, further information and to sign-up to be notified of the next release.

Matt Kearns and the remnants of the scientific team return to a ravaged America. Modern medicine has failed to halt the spread of the flesh-consuming parasite, and humans have been forced to hide, even from each other. The infected roam the cities and suburbs of a ruined nation. But the devastating effects on human physiology are only the beginning. Something has been let loose, something that the team were not prepared for – human nature itself. Matt and Carla must make it back to the CDC headquarters, crossing the apocalyptic countryside that proves every bit as dangerous and deadly as the South American jungle. The race is on to test their eradication cure, before their world suffers the same fate as that of the giant saurians of prehistory. But there is something they don't count on – the solution has a high price. If they don't use the cure it means the end of mankind, but what if the remedy is worse than the disease? This is a novella-length episode of The First Bird. To read the full story, check out The First Bird: Omnibus Edition.

The South American Boreal: one of the last truly unexplored jungles on our planet. In its dark heart is an ancient crater basin, sealed in by a living cage, making it a time capsule for an ancient, deadly ecosystem. Matt Kearns, Carla Nero and a team of scientist explorers have found their way in. In the crater's sunken interior are creatures from a primordial nightmare. Dangers lurk in every treetop, under every rock or loom monstrously over them. It is a place where mankind is out of time. Matt and Carla must find out how the terrifying parasite wreaking havoc in the United States can be controlled while staying ahead of things that defy belief and shake their understanding of evolution on our planet. Trapped, with time running out, the team of explorers will find themselves a part of a food chain ... and nowhere near the top. This title is a novella-length episode of The First Bird. The final episode will be released on 1 August. Please visit www.momentumbooks.com.au for release dates, further information and to sign-up to be notified of the next release.

"Matt Kearns, linguist, archaeologist and reluctant explorer ... faces a terrifying new challenge as a prehistoric contagion threatens the survival of the entire world. And this time he doesn't have Alex Hunter to save him"--Page 4 of cover.

The Arcadian returns to the dark ice in a reprisal of one of his first and most deadly missions. But this time the stakes couldn't be higher. In 2008, a top secret US submarine went missing on its test voyage off the coast of Antarctica. After years of silence, its emergency beacon is suddenly activated, but strangely, the beacon is emanating from a point miles below the ice sheets of the frozen continent. The race is on. The Chinese government, alerted at the same time as the Americans, is after the submarine's secrets. And the Americans need to retrieve their technology, quickly and quietly, from a place now marked as an international forbidden zone. With the reluctant assistance of petrobiologist Aimee Weir, Alex Hunter and his team of HAWCs return to the location of their first mission together. But only a few members of the team know the truth. A treacherous horror lies in wait for them, deep beneath the Antarctic ice. A direct follow up to 2009's Beneath the Dark Ice this thriller is packed with mystery and suspense, and perfect for fans of Matthew Reilly, Steve Alten, Myke Cole, Graham Masterton, James Rollins and Michael Crichton.