#Mira grant

[thelibratrix]

I'm rereading Into the Drowning Deep for the umpteenth time and specifically came to tumblr to check for Michi Abney Appreciation

honestly i think i’m the only person left on tumblr who gives a single shit about michi abney lmao

[hellchilde]

seanan mcguire writing Feed in 2010: there was a presidential election, and a perfectly normal and reasonable human was running against the personification of evil

me in 2010: i dunno that seems like a caricature, surely that would never happen

me in 2024: uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[robocatfan]

I won’t be the only person in this hellsite who is obsessed over horror killer mermaid stories and then constantly die inside when not only there is a severe lack of that sub genre, but also when amongst those few these two mfs are one of the few ones that actually have good compelling stories, and I’ll make sure of that!

[nzbookwyrm]

Coming 6 May 2025, Overgrowth, a new book by Mira Grant (aka Seanan McGuire)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers meets Day of the Triffids in this full-on body horror/alien invasion apocalypse.

This is just a story. It can't hurt you anymore.

Since she was three years old, Anastasia Miller has been telling anyone who would listen that she's an alien disguised as a human being, and that the armada that left her on Earth is coming for her. Since she was three years old, no one has believed her.

Now, with an alien signal from the stars being broadcast around the world, humanity is finally starting to realize that it's already been warned, and it may be too late. The invasion is coming, Stasia's biological family is on the way to bring her home, and very few family reunions are willing to cross the gulf of space for just one misplaced child.

What happens when you know what’s coming, and just refuse to listen?

[nudityandnerdery]

Hey, so, have you read Feed and all the Newsflesh books by Mira Grant (aka @seananmcguire)? They're fantastic and I love them and I totally had my heart ripped out and cried several times so much fun! Highly recommended!

[yourfavebooklrsfavebooklr]

Some books I’d recommend that feature disabled characters to read this July!

image IDs in alt text!

Note: I’m aware that not all everyone in every community represented on this list considers themself disabled. As an outsider, it’s not my place to say- they are included because some people in these communities do consider themselves disabled, especially with many being spectrums where different people will experience different severities.

Cosmoknights - Amputee side character (major character in book 2)

Nimona - Amputee main character

Before the Devil Knows You’re Here - Dyslexic love interest

The Spirit Bares its Teeth - Autistic main character, autistic side character

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue - Love interest with epilepsy, main character becomes deaf in one ear, MC with anxiety in the third book of the series

To Shape a Dragon’s Breath - Autistic major side character, wheelchair user minor side character

A Lady For a Duke - Love interest with PTSD

Cemetery Boys - Love interest with undiagnosed ADHD (confirmed by author)

Into the Drowning Deep - Autistic character, two Deaf characters

Don’t Be a Drag - MC with depression and anxiety

Iron Widow - Wheelchair user MC with chronic pain

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet - Little person character

[crownofstardustandbone]

I am SO excited to finally have my hands on the hard copies of my favorite series by the incredible @seananmcguire !!!!!

I have the kindle versions, but have been yearning to get my hands on them and finally made it happen! Also suuuuuuper excited for the Feedback story which I didn’t know existed!!!

Next up is the novellas in the series and then on to the Parasitology series!!!

Seanan, you’re a goddamn genius and I love every single word I’ve ever read of your works!!!! ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

[beganavagabond007]

Into The Drowning Deep, by Mira Grant

[leveragehunters]

Feed is on sale! For 2.99!

Amazon link.

This is a bloody incredible series, and it hits even harder now that we've experienced a full blown pandemic. It's takes place in a world where we won a zombie apocalypse, but I describe it as: "It's about zombies the same way Animal Farm is about pigs."

Seanan McGuire AKA Mira Grant gives an overview of the series in this fantastic interview (from 2012):

The basic concept behind the Newsflesh trilogy is that in 2014 the Zombie Apocalypse happened, and it took us about three years, but around 2017, 2018, we actually managed to win. A lot of people died, a lot of land was permanently ceded, but we came out on top. So 20 years pass, and you have an entire generation of people that’s grown up in a world where zombies just are. They’re not something special. They’re not something exciting. They just are. And people go on, people do what they do.

It also includes gems like:

I would call [the CDC] back and say, “If I did this, this, this, this, this and this, could I raise the dead?” And every single time they would say, “No.” And I’d say, “OK,” hang up, and go back to working. After about the 17th time, I called and said, “If I did this, this, this, this, this, this and this, could I raise the dead?” And got, “Don’t … don’t do that.” And at that point, I knew I had a viable virus.

[offonaherosjourney]

Unbreakable by Mira Grant (aka Seanan McGuire) is a book about magical protectors and cosmic horrors.

If you like the magical girl genre you will love this book.

If you liked Madoka you will love this book. But also, if you didn't, you will love this book.

If you want a more nuanced and dark take on the magical girl genre (while still keeping the sparks and rainbows) that doesn't introduce mature and gritty themes just for the sake of subverting expectations, because it was written by someone that understands how to embrace and successfully marry the magical girl genre and the cosmic horror genre, while at the same time packaging it all with a realistic portrayal of how our world would react to/deal with magical protectors, you will love this book. And if you have already read this book please come talk to me about it.

[theinquisitxor]

January 2025 Reading Wrap Up

I read 10 books in January, which is a very high number for me right now, but January always tends to be the month were I read the most books. I was super happy with what I read this month, and I enjoyed a lot of 5 star reads, but there were a few disappointments.

1.A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft, 3/5 stars. This was my first book of the year, and a bit of a let-down. I've read Saft's other books and liked them all, but this one was an outlier. I liked the folklore and magic, but didn't care much for the characters and themes.

2.Spindle's End by Robin McKinley, 4/5 stars. I want to read everything McKinley's written, and this was the next one I picked up. I loved the magic and worldbuilding, as well as the changes she made from the classic or disney story. I loved the focus on friendship and family love as well.

3.The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer. This is a new essay published by Kimmerer which I listened to on audio. Another thought provoking and necessary essay about how we live and interact with the world.

4.Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant, 5/5 stars. This was my Random TBR pick for the month, and this book had been on my tbr since 2020. I had such a good time reading this sci-fi horror, and I did not want to put this down. I enjoyed the deep sea horror, our ensemble cast, and the plausibly mad biology.

5. A Little Princess by Francis Hodgson Burnett, 4/5 stars. This was my other Random TBR pick for the month, and has been on my tbr since 2018. This was a classic I never read growing up, but I was glad to read it as an adult. I didn't love this as much as The Secret Garden, but I can see why it's so beloved.

6.Buried Deep and Other Stories by Naomi Novik, 5/5 stars. I don't typically gravitate towards short story collections, but I'm so glad I picked this up. This was a mix of short stories from her publishes series, plus original works. The sneak peak at her newest project was a treat, I recommend picking this up if you are interested!

7.Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid, 2/5 stars. This was another disappointment, but one I can't say I didn't see coming. I've liked all of Reid's other works, but this was not good. I do think Reid is a talented writer, and the writing is very strong, but the rest of this is just not good. Bad portrayal of the middle ages, xenophobic of scotland, butchered the characters from the original. :(

8.The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door by HG Parry, 5/5 stars. A new favorite, and HG Parry keeps getting better and better. This is a dark academia magic school book about faeries, portals, 1920s England, classism, friendship, and trying to fix things. I loved this book from start to finish, and it's my favorite I read this month.

9. Melmoth by Sarah Perry, 3/5 stars. An interesting little gothic (horror-ish) novel set primarily in Prague. This was much more gothic and dark than I was anticipating, with a bit of a speculative twist. I can't say I enjoyed this book a whole lot, but rather appreciated the writing, the story, and craft of it.

10. Forging Silver into Stars by Brigid Kemmerer, 5/5 stars. A reread that I enjoyed just as much as the first time in 2022. This is one of the few YA series I'm still reading and loving, and I can't wait to pick up the second book which just released at the end of the month. I've been waiting years for it, and can finally see what happens next!

Overall, very strong month and a good way to start the new year! I hope the rest of my year stays as strong, and I'm hoping to pick up a new series to start in February!

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2025: OVERGROWTH by Mira Grant.

Plant-astically delighted to report that I received an ARC via Tor (Nightfire) and Goodreads! I love Seanan McGuire's writing, and my first foray into her work as Mira Grant was INTO THE DROWNING DEEP, which was phenomenal (think all the best parts of Michael Crichton--the Science, the Speculation, the Consequences--but women and queer people are Entire Characters)(we love a good sci-fi horror paced like a thriller in this house).

The premise of OVERGROWTH is basically "the pod people are coming, they've been warning you about it for decades, and no one has been listening." Stasia, our main character and (first person, past tense) narrator, has spent her whole life telling people that she's "the vanguard of an invading species of intelligent alien plants," which is confirmed via a broadcast from space.

And the chapters are time-stamped "X days pre-invasion."

Yeah.

This book was an absolute delight and all around a lot of fun--the tone was the perfect balance of funny and heartfelt and relatable and dread-inducing, and it very much read like a love letter to the genre with lots of cross-pollinated references (Seymour? Little Shop of Horrors? War of the Worlds? Jurassic Park? Hello????).

It was also very much a book about the distinction between being human and being a person, and about alienation and belief and trust and friendship, and about queerness and neurodivergence and belonging. And, y'know, mimetic plant aliens, in myriad shades of green.

I was initially surprised by the choice to tell this story in past tense and first person (because DROWNING DEEP was patently not that, and most of what I've read of McGuire hasn't been either), but it turns out that was The Only Correct Way To Do It: For most of the book, Stasia didn't have the full picture of what was going on, but her partial understanding + our readerly perspective from inside her head carried both the relatability and the horror. It was a really interesting and cool way to do an alien invasion book (from the perspective of the invader's plant)(ahaha, botanical pun). Also, the narrative frame made me pterodactyl Hunter shriek my way through the last two pages, which. OOF. WHAT A RIDE!!! I'll be rotisserie-ing over the late-game twist (page 396/465 in my copy) and the ending for a long time.

I loved that the aliens felt alien and all too much like people; I loved Toni and Hunter; I loved the biology and worldbuilding; I loved the botanical quips ("salad bar" is, in fact, the best possible term of address to an alien invader, no notes); I loved the shady government agencies and unethical experimentation; I loved the "we are the monsters you have made". I stayed up way past my bedtime several times for this, and it was worth every second. Do recommend, check this out in May!!

Half-assed spoilery content warnings under the cut (I'm not good at these because I have a weird concept of what necessitates a warning, so please do NOT consider these complete in any way shape or form):

on-page toddler death (graphic, in prologue, signposted with "look away"); transphobia (toward beloved trans character); spider (alien); bug-adjacent (alien); vampirism/blood drinking; other usual horror/alien invasion type tropes etc. (body horror? do people tag body horror?? i was an animorphs kid i'm sorry i don't know what a normal amount of body horror is but i love it all)

[words-and-coffee]

Leave the dark places in the sea for fools and explorers.

Mira Grant, Rolling in the Deep

[ramavoite]

We made a vow, unshakable: In starlight, we're unbreakable. We’ll protect the world with all we are, And when we fall, we’ll fall like stars.

- Mira Grant, Unbreakable

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

[lowhorrors]