San Diego 2014: Last Stand of the California Browncoats, by Mira Grant

San Diego 2014 was nominated for an award (Nebula, I think--too tired to look it up) last year, but it was only available in electronic format and I don't know how to donate those to the library.  But I was searching for award winners this year and found that my library had acquired it in electronic form.  So by happy chance I am able to catch this up and provide a review.

This is a "prequel" to the Newsflesh trilogy (I have reviewed all three--the link is to Feed, the first one).  Mahir Gowdha, a survivor of the original trilogy's blogging group, is interviewing one of the very few survivors from San Diego Comic-Con 2014, where one of the early breakouts happened.  The novella tells the story of those trapped inside. 

Where Newsflesh was grim, yet sarcastic and humorous, this story tends more toward just grim.  No one gets out alive--it's mostly about their last moments, and doesn't really stand alone.  Best if you have read the original trilogy, since the story is set after the series.  I would say it's worth seeking out if you have.  And the original series is definitely worth the read if you have not.  3 stars for this one.

Parasite, by Mira Grant

Mira Grant (pen name for Seanan McGuire when she's writing adult SF) has started a new series, Parasitology, with a Nebula-nominated novel, Parasite.  Her previous series, the Newsflesh Trilogy, was quite a fun read and I enjoyed all three tremendously.  This one...well...

Grant is trying for a different heroine here.  Sally Mitchell is feminine and caring, where the protagonists of Newsflesh are hard as rocks.  The tone is earnest, not sarcastic. 

The zombies this time are tapeworms that start out as medical implants but get out of hand.  Seriously.  They kind of stagger and do violence with a vacant stare, at least at first.  But some of them get better at it.  Not so much the point, though.

The point is that the book comes off as a somewhat lesser reflection of the last trilogy.  Georgia Mason was caring within a hard shell.  Sally is just caring.  The earnestness gets repetitive.  The characters do have more differentiation here, but the book just has fewer notes--not as much variety.  Just three stars this time. 

Blackout, by Mira Grant

I am now starting on the Hugo-nominated books.  First one up is Blackout, the last in the Newsflesh trilogy.  The series is part of a huge wave of zombie fiction that appears to still be cresting, possibly because we are still pretty unhappy after the Great Recession.  Be that as it may, this particular entry is worth reading, because it's a prime example of why genre fiction is fun to read.  Grant gets right to the action and has a fine time with her wise-cracking protagonists.  My only minor complaint would be that if the quotes didn't have names next to them I couldn't really tell the characters apart.  But a lot of classic SF is like that, and doesn't diminish it at all.  And I'm seeing signs that Grant is not done telling this particular tale yet, so lots more to come there.  Read this book if you want to have some good, splattery fun. 3 stars, solid.

Deadline, by Mira Grant

Deadline is the second entry in the Newsflesh trilogy, nominated for this year's World Fantasy Award.  The first one was also nominated for an award, reviewed here.  Zombies are a done to death theme, so much so that according to the acknowledgements material in this volume the author's proofreader wouldn't even bother with the first one.  And I would not say it's a uniquely told story either.  But just because it's been done before doesn't mean it's not worth doing again.  There's a lot of zombie adventure stories because they are fun.  Feed, the first in the series, is fun, and this one is too.

We pick up where the last left off, after the death of Georgia Mason at Shaun's hands. He is a haunted man, clinging to the ghost of her in his head.  Shaun, his sister's ghost, and the rest of the organization try to solve a conspiracy that's gotten so big and bad they can't even describe it.

This is consistent with the world Grant has drawn, one in which the survivors of the Zombie Apocalypse have pulled together and done a considerable amount of infrastructure work to get by in the world.  Many governments actually pulled together a somewhat effective response, and it seems that even the poorest ordinary citizens have access to, say, serious disinfectant showers with instant blood tests for infection.  Roads are maintained and the Internet is bigger than ever.  In such a world, huge conspiracies are possible, and the one described here is just such a doozy.  And it's a truly fun read.  But it's definitely a middle volume, nothing is resolved, the protagonists just do a lot of running and fighting.

It seems an odd choice for a World Fantasy Award, as the science elements in this installment definitely come to the fore in a way they did not in the first volume.  Scientists investigating the origin and control of the zombie virus come to the fore, and there is explication.  Not very fantasy.  But for me that's a recommendation, I still appreciate a good attempt at a hypothesis.

Like the last volume, I had to buy this one for my local library.  Hope they start keeping these, they are definitely worth having on the shelves.  Go pick it up, I give it 4 stars.

Feed, by Mira Grant

This week I reached into my wallet and bought a used copy of Feed, by Mira Grant (aka Seanan McGuire), first in a trilogy.  Time to give back.  And overall I am not sorry.  Feed was a fairly good feed for the action itch.  This is basically a YA novel, though it does have enough development of the zombie virus (that's how they become zombies in this book) to count as semi-hard SF.  The rest of the speculation--is not very speculative.  It's 2039, and there have been zombies since 2014.  Bloggers are closing in on traditional media (yep, happened already, as was said in the Afterwords) and we figure the traditional media to be in bed with the powers that be anyway (check, again).  But as suspense, the novel works fine.  Grant builds the story effectively, and has that martyr-cynical voice down very well, so it is convincing.  The plot carries along at a good but not hectic pace.  The ending is telegraphed, but somewhat deliberately so it isn't disappointing. 

Grant has bloggers in her story getting government-issued licenses and breaking down into classifications (Newsies , Fictionals , and Irwins ).  Irwins?  Really?  And SF writers do seem to be attracted to having people put labels on themselves, for whatever reason.  I hadn't seen that trope in awhile and it was something of a flashback.

So read this one for the strong and direct plot, and good execution.  The speculation, not so much.  It got nominated for the Hugo in 2011--one normally expects more ambition in awards--but you gotta round out the category, and the thirty-third installation in a shared universe won't cut it.  3 stars.