Book Report: Feed by Mira Grant

Image from ShadesOfSentience,
who also reviewed Feed

The problem with zombie stories is always the ending. The king of zombie movies, George Romero, has produced--at last count--six movies, all of them with bleak endings. The problem is, most zombie apocalypses are just that: effectively the end of the world. Humanity is all but wiped out, and there is no hope of renewal. The Walking Dead mostly avoids this trope by having a continuing story, with humanity continuing, though in a ravaged state. It's still not a sunny future.

The Newsflesh trilogy of books by Mira Grant (a pseudonym of Seanan McGuire) avoids the trope by showing that humanity did survive after the "rising" of zombies. It was a hell of a mess, and it continues to present major challenges, but there is still a United States of America, with law and order, a CDC, FBI and presidential politics. After finding out about this series, I quickly reserved Feed, the first book, at my local library. I thought it would be right up my alley, and I was not disappointed.

I was immediately drawn in by Grant's snappy writing, and ability do fully create this world, in 2040 America. The rising occurred decades ago, and a generation of adults has known nothing else. Complicated procedures are required for daily life, with lethal security systems, constant redundant blood testing, and the threat of "amplification" of the dormant virus in any mammal over 40 pounds. Death by any cause--other than brain trauma--results in zombification, sometimes very quickly.

**Minor Spoilers Ahead**

The story focuses on citizen bloggers who have supplanted the traditional media, and seen as more trustworthy. The bloggers are categorized as newsies (straight news reporters), irwins (zombie engagers), fictionals (poetry, story telling) and stewarts (commentators). Obviously, Steve Irwin and Jon Stewart are influences, as is George Romero, whose zombie movies provided instructions for humanity to deal with the apocalypse! Yes, Feed is genre-savvy!

Of course, I thought of this. . .

Much of Feed deals with the development of Georgia and Shaun Mason's blogging enterprise, and their eventual assignment as official press for a moderate Republican presidential candidate. The brother and sister team have a network of subordinates and partners in their After the End Times blog site, striving to keep their ratings up through thick and thin. As the campaign goes on, saboteurs cause dire problems for the candidate and the blogging team, leading to a major tragedy that sets up the ending (and sequel books).

The book is very enjoyable, though I did have a few issues with it. The intricacies of the After the End Times enterprise is more detailed than it needs to be, as is the amount of time focused on the campaign. If I were writing a screenplay based on the book (and I did picture it as a movie), I'd have trimmed some of that down, thrown in a little more detail on the sabotage and the zombies (who actually recede to an afterthought for much of the book). Also? The blood tests. I get it, they're important to the story, and in a movie they would be a quick zap, but reading about them got repetitive.

Another thing that made me stop and think was the technology being used, and the whole concept of blogging and computers, keyboards, cameras, phones, PDAs, the works. It's always hard to predict what the future holds. Trying to imagine technology 30 years in the future--even with an intervening zombie apocalypse to slow things down--is nigh impossible. Grant does posit some interesting things, micro cameras, ear cuff phones, and other things. But I still kept wondering about blogs being a "thing" in 2040, about MP3s still being around, particularly MP3 recorders. I suppose we've had CDs for 30 years now, so maybe. . .

Also, and **This Is  A Major Spoiler Alert**, there is a trope used in the book that I know bothers a lot of people. It bothered me a little bit, enough to take me out of the story for a minute (swipe your mouse over the black to see it): the protagonist of the story is also the first-person narrator, and she dies before the book ends. The narration picks up using a different character, but wait! This chick's been talking to me for 4/5 of the book and now she's dead? How did she. . .I mean. . . Oh, forget it, I know. Mary Alice on Desperate Housewives narrated the whole series from the grave.

All of that said, I really enjoyed Feed, and will be reading the other two books in succession. I'd also really like to see an adaptation, and hopefully not as a SyFy special, but on a real network or movie screen. Given the popularity of The Walking Dead, there is hope!

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that I've always been a fan of dystopian future types of novels, and that this  one put me in the mind of the Left Behind series of apocalyptic (seriously) religious books. Not that LB is anywhere near as good, ore even worthwhile reading (it's not, it's terrible). But Mira Grant could teach Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye a thing or two about how to create a post-disaster world, how to build tension, and how to write distinct and fully-rounded characters.

My score: Recommended

Ray Bradbury Dies at 91

My good friend, Rev. Stu of Stupid Monkey Planet Church of Primatheism alerted me to the fact that Ray Bradbury has died. I was quite embarrassed because I'm pretty good at the dead/alive celebrity game, and I'd have sworn he'd previously left this mortal coil. Surely, I had confused him with one of his contemporaries, such as Isaac Asimov. I don't know. But I very much did enjoy Mr. Bradbury's works, including The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451. He was amazingly talented, and his works started my love affair with science fiction and dystopian future fiction. RIP, Mr. Bradbury.


[Excerpt]


Me and you and Ray Bradbury

In recent years, following his stroke, Ray Bradbury continued to write stories, which appeared in national publications, by talking to his daughter over the phone. He’d call her up, long distance, and, in essence, talk the story to her; she would transcribe it. He’d go over the result with her later. His hands no longer worked well enough to type, but he was still a storyteller. He said being a writer, telling stories, kept him alive—and he lived to be 91. . .

Read more at: Raw Story

Daily Show: Debt Ceiling Alternate Realities

Hilarious.

The Daily Show - Broke Bank Mounting - America's Dystopian Future
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Al Franken Seeks Answers from Apple on iPhone and iPad Tracking

Images from source, TPM

So, Big Brother is Steve Jobs? I suppose it could be worse. I mean, he's something of a cult leader, I guess. And many of his legion of fans are kind of snobby and elitist. But it's better than finding out that it's Glenn Beck. 

[Excerpt]

Al Franken To Steve Jobs On iPhone Tracking: I Want Answers



Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) wants answers. After reports Wednesday that Apple's iPhones and iPads secretly store information of the user's location, Franken wrote Apple CEO Steve Jobs a strongly worded letter. . .
 
Read more at: Talking Points Memo

Newt Gingrich Still Using Politics of Fear

My theory is that Newt Gingrich spent the weekend watching Jessica Alba's short-lived sci-fi series, Dark Angel, on DVD. That show, besides featuring the sexy young Ms. Alba, was about a dystopian future, where the US became a wasteland after an electronic pulse rendered all of our technology inert. The show was a hoot, and Alba kicked ass. But I wouldn't try to build our foreign policy around it.

[Excerpt]

Gingrich Still Clinging To Fiction Novels As The Basis For His Foreign Policy Ideas



. . .This morning, during a speech at the Heritage Foundation, Gingrich was at it again. He lamented how the world’s democracies “hid from reality” in the 1920s and 30s and failed to confront the emerging threat in Europe and East Asia. Citing what he had read in “novels,” he then linked that to his perceived EMP threat and deplored the “failure to translate the ability of the imagination into public policy.” “We are living at the edge of a catastrophe,” he said. . .

Read more at: Think Progress

Science is Scary: Solar Storm Could Wipe Out US

Image from source, NewScientist

If you ever watched the Jessica Alba TV show, Dark Angel, you may have seen something of a preview of what could happen in the United States. Not exactly of course. Nothing in this story talks about beautiful, genetically engineered women with barcodes on their necks. But in Dark Angel, a "pulse" destroyed the electrical grid, bringing with it a desolate, decimated country.

I like science fiction and dystopian future stories as much as anybody. But the excerpted article below is enough to give me a wiggins. And not in a good way. Do not read it if you like to remain blissfully unaware of possible future calamity.

UPDATE: I've also read a couple of comments out there on the interwebs that seem to think this story might be some sort of hoax or viral campaign. If so, you got me. I may just convince myself of that in any case, anyway. I'll sleep better!

[Excerpt]

Space storm alert: 90 seconds from catastrophe

IT IS midnight on 22 September 2012 and the skies above Manhattan are filled with a flickering curtain of colourful light. Few New Yorkers have seen the aurora this far south but their fascination is short-lived. Within a few seconds, electric bulbs dim and flicker, then become unusually bright for a fleeting moment. Then all the lights in the state go out. Within 90 seconds, the entire eastern half of the US is without power. . .

Read more at: New Scientist

Post-Apocolyptic Warnings from the Future!

Apparently, there is still a faction of the religious right that is convinced that Barack Obama is the Anti-Christ. I know, it's stupid. And they also seem to regard the very (very, very) bad fiction series Left Behind as literal truth. Scary. But also a little funny.







Fair warning: if you take the bait, and check out the Left Behind series, be prepared for a lot of wasted hours, and some dreadful writing. Read my review, and save yourself some time.

Found at: Jesus' General