Review: Fantastic addition to the Newsflesh story
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 23, 2012
San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats is a short story/novella set in the early days of the Rising, the zombie plague that ravaged the Earth in Mira Grant's excellent Newsflesh trilogy. In this story, attendees of the famous San Diego ComicCon are among the first to experience the horrors of the new plague. The story is told almost World War Z style, through interviews with a survivor, surveillance cameras and the like, so readers get the 2040's perspective (as we did in the trilogy) of 2014 events.Grant gives both an interesting look at the ComicCon scene as well as what might happen if such a chaotic scenario was to erupt there. True to her style, this novella has many memorable characters and plenty of wry observations, but you know going in that there's no happy ending to be found. It's a story of desperation and even heroism, but it's also a sad story at heart.San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats is a must-read for anyone who enjoyed the Newsflesh trilogy, and that trilogy is a must-read for any fan of intelligent and engaging horror, zombies or not. It's a bit pricey given the low page count, but it's worth every penny.