Posts Tagged ‘Mira Grant’

PSA: Zombie Outbreak Ravages San Diego

It’s that time of year again. Time for a horde of readers, superheroes, and Jedi to descend on the city of San Diego for Comic Con!

To kickoff the festivities, a new piece of Newsflesh short fiction is available now and set during San Diego Comic-Con…the very last San Diego Comic-Con.

It was the first days of the Rising and no one realized that most of the people who picked up their badges that fateful weekend would never make it out alive. This was the last stand of the California Browncoats.

SAN DIEGO 2014 a really fun story whether you are a regular at the convention or not. If you couldn’t make it out to California,  you can still get a taste for the experience by picking up SAN DIEGO: 2014.  For those of you who are going to Comic Con,  then definitely stop by our booth:  #1118. We will be giving away the yellow button that you see on the cover at various times throughout the weekend. Mira will also be at the show this year so check out her panels and signings.

The only thing we ask is that you leave the zombie plague at home. Remember the Rising doesn’t happen until for another two years, but if you must shamble on over to San Diego, please snack responsibly and try not eat the cast of Firefly.

Details on all our Comic-Con events are  here.

July Events

Orbit will be at San Diego Comic-Con this year! Watch this space for details.

July 7
Rachel Aaron at Barnes & Noble, Forest Drive, Columbia, SC, 7:00 PM

July 12-15
James S.A. Corey (Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) at ReaderCon, Burlington, MA

July 13
Kate Locke (with Eli August) at the Way Station, Brooklyn, NY

July 25-28
Nicole Peeler at RWA Annual Conference, Anaheim, CA

July 27-29
Mira Grant (Seanan McGuire) will be Guest of Honor at Confluence, Pittsburgh, PA
Robert Jackson Bennett at ArmadilloCon, Austin, TX

July 28
Kate Elliott (with Lynn Flewelling) at Mysterious Galaxy, Redondo Beach, CA, 2:30 PM

What if things had ended…differently? FED by Mira Grant

BLACKOUT (US | UK | AUS) released yesterday and I’m sure by now many of have heard the news that the film rights of FEED (US | UK | AUS) have been optioned. So what else can go right for the hordes of Newsflesh fans shambling towards their local bookstores? Check out FED by Mira Grant — an alternate ending to FEED.

Be advised there are major spoilers for FEED contained therein.  If you haven’t read FEED yet, don’t go any further.  These books are fantastic as the many Newsflesh fans will tell you. You’ll want to enjoy every surprising twist and turn on what has been one wild ride for the Mason siblings.

But if the crew of After the End Times are old friends of yours, then by all means continue and read FED beneath the cut or download a pdf.

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An Interview of Mira Grant by Seanan McGuire

BLACKOUT (US | UK | AUS), the conclusion to the epic trilogy that began in the Hugo-nominated FEED and the sequel, DEADLINE, is on-sale today! As a special treat, both Seanan and Mira were able to join us on the blog today for a little chat about the final volume of the Newsflesh trilogy.

***

SEANAN: As part of an effort to strain the fabric of reality even further, eventually allowing our dread lords to work their way through from the dark dimensions beyond, I have agreed to interview Mira Grant, who nominally doesn’t exist. Mira, thanks for agreeing to talk with me today.

MIRA: Like I had a choice? You’re talking to yourself. On a bench. In a public park. Honestly, I’m just hanging out to see how long it takes before someone calls security on you.

SEANAN: Aren’t you…sweet. Okay. Questions time. You wrote the Newsflesh trilogy for Orbit.

MIRA: That’s not a question.

SEANAN: I’m getting there! Newsflesh. Science makes zombies. Zombies eat people. What was the appeal of doing scientific zombies, and what made you think you had something new to say about the walking dead?

MIRA: Everyone has something new to say, about everything. No two people have the same perspective on anything; sometimes the same person won’t even have the same perspective from hour to hour. I wanted to see what would happen if I started explaining zombies. As for the science…I love me some horrifying, disgusting, man-was-not-meant-to-know science. Every meal with me is like high school biology as taught by Herbert West. If I was going to do zombies, I was going to do science zombies.

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BLACKOUT releases tomorrow

The world is preparing for Mira Grant’s BLACKOUT (US | UK | AUS), the final installment of the Newsflesh Trilogy that began with FEED (US | UK | AUS) and continues with the Hugo-shortlisted DEADLINE. (US | UK | AUS). We have seen signs and portents:

For those who can’t wait, io9.com has the first chapter.

For the adventurous reader, there’s a way to unlock chapter two.

And read an alternate ending to Feed on Facebook. Not on Facebook? Don’t worry.  Fed will be available to everyone this Wednesday.

BLACKOUT is right around the corner. This “high-energy tale of life and politics among the dead and not-so-dead” (Publishers Weekly) will be available beginning May 22, 2012.

Rise up while you can.

Cracked the BLACKOUT code?

It has been over a week since a group of intrepid bloggers hacked into the CDC’s Central Archives and found the encrypdated data which unlocked an extended excerpt from Mira Grant’s upcoming novel, BLACKOUT – the third and final volume of the Newsflesh Trilogy.

Were you able to figure out the passwords? You can still play along by going here; however, you can also just skip straight to the answers beneath the cut.

Chapter One of BLACKOUT was previously released on io9. You’re going to want to read that before continuing with our extended excerpt. If you’ve never read any of the Newsflesh books, be warned – there are jaw-dropping spoilers to be found in these excerpts.

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An excerpt (or two) from Mira Grant’s BLACKOUT

Chapter one of Mira Grant’s Blackout, the final book in her Newsflesh trilogy, is now available on io9! WARNING: this excerpt contains HUGE spoilers for the first two books. Proceed with caution.

Today, an intrepid Newsie hacked into the CDC computer system and liberated another file. For this one, though, you’ll have to do a little digging…

Each of these five blogs has part of the code you’ll need to access this second, top-secret document:
Rose-Owls and Pumpkin Girls (The Journal of Seanan McGuire)
The Mary Sue
Sword & Laser
SF Signal
Fantasy Café

Once you’ve gathered all five codes, you can access the encrypted document here on the Orbit site.

Orbit signs up two new novels and three novellas by Mira Grant!

Following the rampant success of Mira Grant’s zombie novels FEED (US | UK | ANZ) and DEADLINE (US | UK | ANZ), and after the forthcoming BLACKOUT (US | UK | ANZ), Orbit will publish three novellas in the Newsflesh world:  Countdown (already released in the US and soon-to-be-published in the UK), San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats, and How Green This Land, How Blue This Sea. As inventive, fast-paced, and dare-I-say charming as the novels, these shorter works provide a more global view of the Rising.

And the centerpiece of the deal is a duology of completely new novels: science fiction thrillers titled PARASITOLOGY and SYMBIOGENESIS, drawing on the author’s abiding fascination with subjects medical, biological, parasitological, and beyond. We are delighted that Mira Grant (alter-ego of bestselling author Seanan McGuire) will be launching a new series with Orbit. It promises to be cool, creepy, and incredibly fun.

Follow along on Facebook for more news about the Newsflesh Trilogy and forthcoming novellas.

March Events

On either side of the pond, there are plenty of places to run into Orbit authors in March.

Thursday, March 1
Gail Carriger at Mysterious Galaxy, San Diego, CA, 7 PM

March 2-4
Kristen Painter at Fantasy on the Bayou, New Orleans, LA
Mira Grant at Consonance, San Francisco, CA

Friday, March 2
Gail Carriger at Murder by the Book, Houston, TX, 6:30 PM

Saturday, March 3
Gail Carriger at Book People, Austin, TX, 7 PM

Thursday, March 8
Jon Courtenay Grimwood at A Gothic Evening at Blackwell’s, Blackwell’s Charing Cross, London

Saturday, March 10
A. Lee Martinez at B&N at North East Mall, Hurst, TX, 2 PM

Wednesday, March 14
Amanda Downum at Dragon’s Lair Comics, Austin, TX, 6 PM

Saturday, March 17
Robert Jackson Bennett at Murder by the Book, Houston, TX, 1 PM

Wednesday, March 21
Ken MacLeod at Pulp Fiction Books, Edinburgh

Thursday, March 22
Amanda Downum at Pandemonium Books, Cambridge, MA, 7 PM

March 23-25
Mira Grant at AggieCon, Austin, TX

March 30
Gail Z. Martin at Books-a-Million Carolina Mall, Concord, NC

March 30-April 1
Mira Grant at Emerald City Comic Con, Seattle, WA

Locus’s 2011 Recommended Reading List

Locus published their 2011 Recommended Reading List today, and you’ll see a lot of Orbit authors among their choices:

  • Leviathan Wakes, James S.A. Corey (US | UK | ANZ)
  • Deadline, Mira Grant (US | UK | ANZ)
  • Rule 34, Charles Stross (UK | ANZ)
  • The Heroes, Joe Abercrombie (US)
  • The Dragon’s Path, Daniel Abraham (US | UK | ANZ)
  • Heartless, Gail Carriger (US | UK | ANZ)
  • The Fallen Blade, Jon Courtenay Grimwood (US | UK | ANZ)
  • The Kingdom of Gods, N.K. Jemisin (US | UK | ANZ)
  • The Hammer, K.J. Parker (US | UK | ANZ)

And, in case you missed them the first time around, keep reading for a round-up of other Best of 2011 lists!

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