Short Fiction Friday: The Day the Dead Came to Show and Tell by Mira Grant

The Newsflesh world is one that I really just can't get enough of. I still haven't actually read the third book - and that's only because I can't bear for it to be the final one! But it's not anymore. Oh, happy day! Mira Grant/Seanan McGuire has signed on to do a fourth Newsflesh title!

In the meantime there are a handful of enovellas that tie into the series, like this one: The Day the Dead Came to Show and Tell. And OMG it is awesome!

The tragedy at Evergreen Elementary in 2036 was a perfect storm of circumstances: a child with a secret, a moment of inattention, and a security protocol designed to keep everyone safe in the event of an outbreak that failed in every imaginable way.  

For Elaine Oldenburg the day began as any other. In fact, it may have gone a bit more smoothly and quickly than normal. It seemed as though it was shaping up to be a fine day. But by lunchtime the alarms would sound and Elaine would find herself fighting to protect her fifteen students as best as she can in a post Rising world. 

Apparently Elaine Oldenburg makes an appearance in Blackout as the character Foxy. And since I haven't read Blackout, this was my introduction to her. Shame on me, I know, reading out of order! But I think it's totally fine. This is Foxy's origin story if you will.

Hm, outbreak at an elementary school... yes, it is as great as you can imagine. And sick and twisted too. And a bit shocking and heartbreaking in a way. The actual narrative features pieces of a report on the incident that Alaric Kwong is writing for After the End Times in 2044. Of course he already knows the aftermath and most of the circumstances of the event, and alludes to those throughout the story. It's impossible to go into it expecting a good outcome anyway, it's a world filled with zombies! But that's the world I do love - the one where humanity has picked itself back up and attempted to go on as usual. It does make for lots of possibilities, many of which Grant has already explored in the series, and many more (like this one) that she'll hopefully pull out of her hat for us in the future.

For readers like me who are anxious to gobble up anything and everything they can get in this series (except that final one we're holding for the perfect rainy day), The Day the Dead Came to Show and Tell technically comes after book three. There are three additional novellas out now - Countdown (set in 2014), The Last Stand of the California Browncoats (also set in 2014), and How Green This Land, How Blue This Sea (set in Australia).