When will you rise?

Thank YOU.

Thank you for writing this trilogy. These characters. I don't know why I've empathized with them as much as I have, but while Toby and her crew, and the Prices, are all beloved characters, somehow over the course of these past two years, the Masons and the crew at After the End Times have become almost like friends. I feel so deeply for and with these characters that it's crazy, and you've made them feel well and truly REAL.

I have sobbed disgustingly over these books. I threw Deadline across the room at least once because I was so overwhelmed by OH FUCKING HELL WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK JUST HAPPENED OH SHIT FUCK BEARS.

Two years ago, sitting in the break room on my lunch break and crying into my noodles, I couldn't imagine how you could possibly top Feed. Last year as I was on the verge of nodding off at work because I'd stayed up all night to read Deadline, I knew you'd topped Feed and couldn't imagine how you'd top Deadline, though at that point I was certain you would. And today, 5 hours after I finished Blackout and I'm still trying to process all the emotions I feel about it, I know you've succeeded.

I feel like I'm pretty much guaranteed to enjoy anything you write, because your characters are awesome and well-rounded and your worlds are intriguing, and we have similar taste in stories. But Newsflesh, to me, will always be the story that wormed its way into my heart and soul and became part of me.

So, thank you. I'm sad that there won't be any more stories with this particular team of bloggers that I've fallen so deeply in love with, but their story's been told, and I can't wait to see what you do next. I know I'll love it.

You too? When pitching FEED to my friends I tell them "I cried twice and threw the book across the room once"

To be perfectly honest, I was too eager to read Deadline and wasn't in the best of places - while the book itself made me feel better in the long run, during the actual reading of it, I may have punched a dent into my bedroom wall while sobbing hysterically.

And then I said "Ow" and realized that was a bit of an overreaction and went and had some tea to calm the fuck down.

But yeah, it's... an emotional roller coaster of a series, that's for sure.

I didn't react that strongly to DEADLINE, partly because I didn't identify with the POV character as much (being neither male nor insane) and also because I was reading it while possibly developing a pulmonary reservoir condition of Kellis-Amblerlee.

I adore FEED but I always feel somewhat bruised on the inside by the end because it's SUCH an intense emotional experience for me. Just prior to re-reading it in preparation for DEADLINE's release, I fortified myself with 2 weeks of Discworld's cheerful absurdity before wading in.

My copy of BLACKOUT arrived early (damn you Barnes and Noble - I'm NEVER pre-ordering anything ever again) and there was only one point where I put the book down to sob for a while. But now that I'm working on a re-read (as opposed to OMGWHATHAPPENSNEXT) I find myself pausing to think more often.

Oh man, see, from the very start I've found myself identifying with Shaun more than Georgia, if in part because while in the world we live in it's not what I do, I can easily see myself being the crazy "let's go poke zombies with sticks on camera while my girlfriend/sister/wtf-ever tells me to stop being an idiot" dude. So Deadline was a really hard read for me.

But Feed also put me through the wringer. And Blackout, holy crap, I was all over the place today when I was reading it. (My wife and I made the smart choice of getting TWO copies of Blackout after the disaster that was both of us sharing a copy of Deadline last year. She got it first, so I re-read Feed while she was reading it, and then I dove straight into Deadline when she was finished, and that was SUCH a rough ride. I made the precaution of doing my Feed and Deadline re-reads a week or so ago, so Blackout wouldn't be quite SO raw.)

I'd be a Newsie, but one of the Under The Lens guys (the ones who pride themselves on never actually going out to interact with any actual news). That's pretty much what I do now on facebook- OpEd and aggregate. Because while I'm a decent shot, I'm also one of those people who looks at skydivers and wonders why the hell anyone would jump out of a perfectly good airplane...

Heh, while I haven't done it (my body's kind of shit, tbh, I think i'd probably break something ELSE, with my luck), I think that skydiving would be a rush.

Which, really, is probably part of why I latched on to Shaun.

But yeah. I am emotionally EXHAUSTED after powering through Blackout today, and yet I can't stop myself from wanting to reread it again ASAP. Ah, the true joys of a great book.

...why the hell anyone would jump out of a perfectly good airplane...

I'm told that some of the airplanes used for skydiving are arguably not perfectly good airplanes.

("Isn't there supposed to be a door there? You know, something that can be closed when people aren't jumping out?")

I say the exact same thing. And the friend who first recommended it to me said the exact same thing.

I adore the Tobyverse and DA is awesome, but the Newsflesh books really grab you by the throat and don't let go.