One of my absolute favorite authors, Mira Grant (Seanan McGuire’s horror/sci-fi pen name) is releasing a new full length novel, Overgrowth, on May 6th, 2025. Like much of her backlog under this pen name, it will blend science fiction and horror. If you’ve only ever read her work published as Seanan McGuire, or maybe read Into the Drowning Deep after its moment on BookTok and Booktube in 2023/2024 and want to continue with her backlog, read on to see where I’d recommend starting.
The description for Overgrowth, from Macmillan‘s website is:
What happens when you know what’s coming, and just refuse to listen?
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.
Into the Drowning Deep
Into the Drowning Deep is where I would recommend starting with Grant if you haven’t read anything of hers. It follows a larger cast of characters and more points-of-view than her others, and it shows off her incredible skill at writing science grounded fiction that is fun and engaging without being too heavy.
Years ago, a ship set sail for the Mariana Trench to search for proof of the existence of mermaids and mysteriously disappeared. At the start of this novel, the same company that funded the original expedition has funded a second ship to find out what really happened to the lost ship and clear their name of any wrongdoing. Our main point-of-view follows Tori, a marine biology graduate student, whose sister was lost on the original expedition, but we have a larger cast of characters including other scientists, media personalities, and hired security.
This title also has a prequel novella, Rolling In the Deep, that was released a few years before Into The Drowning Deep. It’s not quite as strong as the main entry, and is not a requirement to read Into the Drowning Deep either, but I would recommend reading both for the best experience.
Alien: Echo
If you’ve already read Into the Drowning Deep, don’t want to commit to the 700 pages of reading the novella and novel, or maybe want something with a plot more similar to Overgrowth, Alien: Echo would be my next recommendation. Set in the larger Alien universe, Alien: Echo is a YA horror/sci-fi that sees twins, Olivia and Viola’s life on a new colony planet, following their xenobiologist parent’s to a new assignment. Because this is technically a YA, we do see Olivia and Viola’s experience with a new high school and making friends in a new colony. However the horror ramps up as the story quickly devolves when an abandoned ship docked nearby introduces an Alien species to the planet. I was worried about the horror level of a YA, but this is gory, heavy on body horror. And as a bonus, there is a queer romance subplot!
Novellas
While I would recommended either of the above novels first, If you don’t want to start with a full length novel, Grant has 5 published novellas:
- Final Girls (2017)
- Kingdom of Needle and Bone (2018)
- In the Shadow of Spindrift House (2019)
- Square3 (2021)
- Unbreakable (2023)
I have, so far, found Grant’s novellas to all be slightly underdeveloped to what I would have liked them to be. I’ve read the first three, with the last two on my TBR, hopefully to be read this year. In typical Grant fashion, all three that I’ve read follow siblings with an unusual relationship dynamic.
Final Girls (112 pages): Following a pair of sisters who agree to participate in a newly developed piece of technology – VR that fully immerses the participants into a horror setting, with the intention that the hormones released from the terrifying experience will help them bond. If you love Black Mirror, I’d start with this one.
Kingdom of Needle and Bone (128 pages): Examines what could happen if the anti-vaxxer movement reached a breaking point. We follow Dr. Isabella Gauley, whose niece was the first confirmed victim of a newly outbreak, as she attempts to find a way to save as many as she can. This is Grant’s most grounded in our current political reality.
In the Shadow of Spindrift House (197 pages): A ghost story that reads like a Lovecraftian episode of Supernatural. This follows Harlowe, her adoptive brother, and their two best friends, the four of whom make up a group of amateur teen detectives, as they investigate a haunted house. This novella leans the least into science fiction and more straight away horror. It also has a younger feel bordering on YA.
Square3 (144 pages): About twin sisters who are stranded in separate dimensions when their reality is torn apart. I haven’t read this one yet, but I’ve seen it recommended for fans of Stranger Things and The Kaiju Preservation Society.
Unbreakable (152 pages): The most fantasy leaning of Grant’s novellas while still firmly having sci-fi and horror elements, Unbreakable is Grant’s take on the magical girl story, often compared to Sailor Moon and Magica Madoka.
Note that for most of these, they were only available as physical copies for limited edition runs and need to be read as ebook, audiobook, or through your local library.
Series
The Newsflesh Trilogy: Feed, Deadline, Blackout + several short stories and novellas
The Newsflesh Trilogy is part zombie horror, part political thriller. Vaccines developed for the common cold and cancer were released to the public, but an unforeseen reaction between the two vaccines created a new virus – one that causes the dead to rise. Twenty years later, the outbreak has largely been contained, and some semblance of life from before exists – the government is still in place, people still work and go to school (albeit virtually), and for the most part, can live safely as long as they stay inside and away from risky or contaminated areas. We follow Georgia and Shaun (adopted siblings), who are both internet journalists, as they take on the biggest opportunity of their careers yet – the chance to follow along on a presidential campaign and report what they observe. On the campaign, they uncover a conspiracy about the virus, and finding out the truth may cost them their lives.
In addition to the main three entries into the series, there are eight additional stories, ranging in length from short story to novella, and almost all of these are excellent as well. There is technically a fourth novel in the series, but it is essentially a rehashing of the first book from a different group of characters point-of-view, and can be skipped – it doesn’t add anything new to the story. This is where I started with Grant because I love zombies, but this is a long series, and might be better saved for once you are a Grant convert and ready to dedicate the time and pages (just under 3,000 if you read the shorts/novellas and fourth novel).
The Parasitology Series: Parasite, Symbiont, Chimera
From Hachette:
From New York Times bestselling author Mira Grant comes a vision of a decade in the future, where humanity thrives in the absence of sickness and disease.
We owe our good health to a humble parasite — a genetically engineered tapeworm developed by the pioneering SymboGen Corporation. When implanted, the Intestinal Bodyguard worm protects us from illness, boosts our immune system — even secretes designer drugs. It’s been successful beyond the scientists’ wildest dreams. Now, years on, almost every human being has a SymboGen tapeworm living within them.But these parasites are getting restless. They want their own lives . . . and will do anything to get them.
I haven’t read this series yet, which is why it’s at the bottom of the recommendations. Additionally, I’ve seen the lowest reviews for this of all her published work, and while reviews aren’t everything, I don’t have many other metrics to evaluate this one on just yet. Unless you loved other horror surrounding a tapeworm type creature, like The Troop, I’d suggest starting elsewhere and coming to this once you’ve made your way through the rest of her backlog.
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