Enter This Contest And Have a Better Chance At Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse

It’s time for a little audience participation! Yesterday, io9 published an excerpt of Mira Grant’s Blackout from Orbit Books, the final book in her Newsflesh trilogy. Today, some “clever girl” hacked into the CDC computer system and liberated another file. For this one, though, you’ll have to work for it… 

Mira Grant is the pseudonym of writer Seanan McGuire, author of the October Daye novels as well as several other works. Her Newsflesh trilogy are political/medical thrillers set in a zombie apocalypse. The third, Blackout, will be released May 22 and we’ve got a special opportunity for you to play a part in the fun.

Below is a puzzle whose answer reveals one of the five codes you’ll need to access the second, top-secret document. Rumor has it that you should be hanging around these other blogs to gather the other four:

Rose-Owls and Pumpkin Girls (The Journal of Seanan McGuire)

Sword & Laser

SF Signal

Fantasy Café

Once you’ve gathered all five codes, you can access the encrypted document at the Orbit Books site. WARNING: Massive spoilers for Feed and Deadline ahead!

Here’s what you need to decipher.

But wait! There’s more!

We’re also happy to be able to give away one full Newsflesh trilogy (Feed, Deadline, Blackout) to one lucky winner! This is going to be a Twitter contest open to US, Canada, and UK residents. Tweet this bolded text (and only this bolded text): I need help surviving the zombie apocalypse! Winning the #NewsfleshTrilogyContest from @The_MarySue might do the trick! http://bit.ly/JwSg1Y

Do not @ reply The Mary Sue in your tweet, only tweet the bolded text which already has our username in it. REMEMBER TO FOLLOW US. If you do not follow @The_MarySue we will be unable to contact you if you win. Entries must be received by noon Eastern Standard Time, April 26th (that is, 24 hours after this post was published)… Good luck!