Robert Kirkman’s Image Comics series The Walking Dead, which has already been adapted into a TV show that will debut on AMC on Halloween, will soon infect the realm of prose thanks to a trilogy of original Walking Dead novels that will be published by Thomas Dunne Books, an imprint of St. Martins Press.

According to Deadline, the books will be “conceptualized and outlined” by Kirkman before being written by horror novelist Jay Bonansinga (Perfect Victim).  The novels will take place in The Walking Dead universe, but will feature original plots.  Kirkman himself was the first to bring his creation to straight prose with a short story that he wrote entitled “Together, Alone,” which was published in the horror anthology volume The Living Dead 2, which was published by Night Shade Books in September.