Newsflesh
The Newsflesh series by Mira Grant has 8 known books (8 published). It is best read in publication order, starting with Feed (2010). San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats is the latest book with a fully recorded publication date.
- Books
- 8 known books (4 novels + 2 novellas + 1 short story + 1 collection)
- Published
- 8
- First published
- 2010
- Status
- completed
- Shelved under
- Horror
Reading order
- Book 1:
Feed
Feed opens Newsflesh in 2010, introducing bloggers Georgia and Shaun Mason, adoptive siblings whose news team lands the assignment of covering a presidential campaign twenty-some years after a virus that reanimates the dead upended the world. Author Mira Grant has described it as a political thriller with zombies; it runs 592 pages and launches the trilogy's tightly plotted story. Alternative text for cover: Cover of Feed - Book 2:
Apocalypse Scenario #683: The Box
Apocalypse Scenario #683: The Box is a short standalone e-story set in the Newsflesh world, published in April 2011 between Feed and Deadline. At 24 pages it's one of several shorter Newsflesh pieces Mira Grant wrote alongside the core trilogy, later collected in Rise: The Complete Newsflesh Collection. Alternative text for cover: Cover of Apocalypse Scenario #683: The Box - Book 3:
Deadline
Deadline continues the Mason siblings' story as the second Newsflesh novel, published in 2011 at 584 pages. Mira Grant has described it as a medical thriller with zombies, escalating the rigorously science-grounded outbreak mythology -- the Kellis-Amberlee virus, blood-testing checkpoints, amplification thresholds -- established in Feed. Alternative text for cover: Cover of Deadline - Book 4:
Countdown
Countdown is a prequel novella covering the origin of the Kellis-Amberlee virus, published in August 2011 between Deadline and Blackout. A Hugo Award finalist for Best Novella, it fills in the scientific backstory behind Newsflesh's zombie outbreak and is also collected in Rise: The Complete Newsflesh Collection. Alternative text for cover: Cover of Countdown - Book 5:
Blackout
Blackout closes out the core Newsflesh trilogy in 2012 at 659 pages, following Countdown in the publication order. Mira Grant calls it a conspiracy thriller with zombies, bringing the Mason siblings' investigation into the truth behind the outbreak to its devastating conclusion. Alternative text for cover: Cover of Blackout - Book 6:
San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats
San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats is a novella narrated by Mahir, covering an early outbreak at San Diego Comic-Con, published shortly after Blackout in July 2012. A Hugo Award finalist for Best Novella, it's also collected in Rise: The Complete Newsflesh Collection. Alternative text for cover: Cover of San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats - Book 7:
Feedback
Feedback is a parallel novel set in the same outbreak-era timeline as the original trilogy, published in 2016 at 489 pages, but follows a different campaign-trail news team whose experience of the virus diverges sharply from the Masons'. It can be read anytime after the trilogy, since it fills in a different part of the same story rather than continuing from Blackout. Alternative text for cover: Cover of Feedback - Book 8:
Rise: The Complete Newsflesh Collection
Rise: The Complete Newsflesh Collection gathers the series' shorter fiction and novellas -- including Countdown, San Diego 2014, and Apocalypse Scenario #683: The Box -- into one 656-page volume, published in 2016 for readers who want the full Newsflesh picture beyond the core trilogy and Feedback. Alternative text for cover: Cover of Rise: The Complete Newsflesh Collection
Key facts about the Newsflesh series
Our list has 8 books in the Newsflesh series. Since all 8 are out now, you can read the whole list today. 4 are novels, while the rest are a short story, 2 novellas and a collection.
Start with Feed, since it opens the publication order in 2010. Apocalypse Scenario #683: The Box is book 2, from 2011. Deadline is book 3, from 2011.
Countdown is book 4, from 2011. Blackout is book 5, from 2012. San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats is book 6, from 2012. Feedback is book 7, from 2016, while Rise: The Complete Newsflesh Collection is book 8, from 2016.
The list keeps the books in date order, while each title links to its own page. Each book page shows its dates and editions.
San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats is the latest book with a full release date, out on 11 July 2012. Since the catalogue marks the series as complete, we list no next book.
The books came out between 2010 and 2016, while their length runs from 24 to 659 pages. That is a run of 6 years.
Mira Grant has 11 books on our list. Additionally, they write Parasitology. We shelve the books under horror.
About the Newsflesh series
Twenty-some years after two well-meaning cures -- one for cancer, one for the common cold -- combined to accidentally create a virus that reanimates the dead, humanity has adapted. Blogging, not broadcast news, is the trusted press, since bloggers proved they'd report the truth about the outbreak when traditional media wouldn't. Feed opens Newsflesh with bloggers Georgia and Shaun Mason, adoptive siblings running a news team, landing the assignment of a lifetime covering a presidential campaign in a world where every rustle in the bushes could be the infected dead -- and discovering the official story about the zombie apocalypse is nowhere near the whole truth.
Mira Grant (a pen name of Seanan McGuire) builds a rigorously scientific zombie mythology here -- the Kellis-Amberlee virus, blood-testing checkpoints, amplification thresholds -- and uses it to write political and media thrillers as much as horror: Feed is described by the author as a political thriller with zombies, Deadline a medical thriller with zombies, and Blackout a conspiracy thriller with zombies. Feedback runs parallel to the original trilogy, following a second campaign-trail news team whose outbreak experience diverges sharply from the Masons'.
Sharp, political, and willing to make devastating choices with its cast, Newsflesh is one of the more acclaimed literary takes on the zombie genre, earning multiple Hugo Award nominations.
Frequently asked questions
How many books are in the Newsflesh series?
Four novels: Feed (2010), Deadline (2011), Blackout (2012), and the parallel novel Feedback (2016), plus the collection Rise: The Complete Newsflesh Collection (2016).
What order should I read Newsflesh in?
Read the core trilogy in order: Feed, Deadline, Blackout. Feedback is a parallel story set in the same timeline with a different cast and can be read after the trilogy, whenever you like.
Is Newsflesh finished?
Yes, the core trilogy and its parallel novel are complete. No further Newsflesh novel has been announced.
Is Mira Grant the same person as Seanan McGuire?
Yes -- Mira Grant is a pen name Seanan McGuire uses for her science fiction and horror novels, kept separate from her urban fantasy work published under her own name.
Is Newsflesh connected to Mira Grant's Parasitology series?
No, they're separate series by the same author with different premises -- Newsflesh is a zombie-outbreak political thriller, Parasitology is about engineered tapeworms.