Feed (Grant novel)

Last updated
Feed
Feed Mira Grant novel cover.jpg
First edition
Author Seanan McGuire (writing as Mira Grant)
Language English
Series Newsflesh Trilogy
Genre Science fiction/horror
Publisher Orbit Books
Publication date
2010
Publication place United States
Media typePrint (Paperback), Ebook (Kindle)
Pages599 pp
ISBN 978-0-316-08105-4
Followed by Deadline  

Feed is the first book in the Newsflesh series of science fiction/horror novels written by Seanan McGuire under the pen name Mira Grant and published by Orbit Books in 2010. Set during the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse and written from the perspective of blog journalist Georgia Mason, Feed follows Georgia and her news team as they follow the presidential campaign of Republican senator Peter Ryman. A series of deadly incidents leads Georgia and her brother Shaun to discover efforts to undermine the campaign, linked to a larger conspiracy involving the undead.

Contents

McGuire's interests in horror movies and virology inspired her to write the book, but she struggled with the plot until a friend suggested using an election as a framing device. The novel has been praised for its detailed worldbuilding, including the characters' awareness of previous zombie fiction—an element McGuire had found lacking in most horror works. Feed came second in the 2011 Hugo Award for Best Novel category. Deadline is the second book in the Newsflesh series. Just before the third installment, Blackout (May 22, 2012), was published, McGuire released an alternate ending to Feed.

Plot

Feed is set several decades after the zombie apocalypse, referred to as the Rising. Two man-made viruses (a cure for cancer and a cure for the common cold) combined to form Kellis-Amberlee, a virus that quickly infects all mammalian life. Kellis-Amberlee is normally benign, but the virus can "go live" or "amplify", converting any host mammal over 40 pounds (18 kg) into a zombie. There are three mentioned ways amplification takes place: the death of the host, contact with a live specimen (being bitten by a zombie) and spontaneous conversion. Those infected that have not undergone amplification remain lucid until the virus has time to spread through the body. Lucidity is followed by lack of sensitivity to pain, memory loss and finally conversion.

Most humans reside in tightly controlled safe zones, with rigorous blood testing and decontamination protocols used to prevent the spread of the live K-A virus. After the inaction of traditional media during the Rising, blogs and other new media have taken over as the primary source of information and entertainment; bloggers are recognised as professional journalists, with individuals specialising and identifying as "Newsies" (objective, fact-based reporters), "Stewarts" ("who report opinion informed by fact"), [1] "Irwins" (named after Steve Irwin, who seek to educate and entertain by going out and "poking things with sticks"), "Aunties" (who share personal stories, recipes, and other content "to keep people happy and relaxed"), or "Fictionals" (fictional content and poetry creators). [1]

Feed occurs in 2040 and is written from the perspective of Georgia "George" Mason, a Newsie blogger and head of the After the End Times website. Georgia, her brother Shaun (an Irwin), and their friend Georgette "Buffy" Meissonier (a Fictional and a technology guru), are selected to cover the presidential campaign of Senator Peter Ryman, a moderate Republican. The campaign is mostly uneventful until it reaches Eakly, Oklahoma, where zombies attack the campaign convoy, killing several before security (assisted by Georgia and Shaun) can contain them; they later discover it was an orchestrated attack. The next stage of the campaign is the Republican National Convention, where Ryman faces off against religious, right-wing Governor David Tate and sex-over-substance Congresswoman Kristen Wagman. During the convention, Rick Cousins (a Newsie and former print journalist) defects from Wagman's campaign to join After the End Times. Ryman is selected as the Republican presidential candidate, but as this is announced, Georgia learns that a zombie outbreak occurred at the senator's horse ranch, and his eldest daughter is dead. Georgia and company investigate and find that the outbreak started from a horse injected with the live virus.

Ryman and the campaign relocate to Texas, where Ryman joins his vice-presidential candidate: Tate. The bloggers must drive their vehicles and equipment overland. During the trip, the journalists' convoy (which has become separated from that part of the presidential entourage that drove ahead of them) is attacked by a sniper. Georgia, Shaun, and Rick survive, but the van carrying Buffy and Chuck (Buffy's beau) crashes. Chuck dies, zombifies, and bites Buffy. She confesses to leaking information to a group undermining Ryman's campaign; the attack occurred because she had refused to continue. After administering a coup de grâce, Georgia calls for rescue, but the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) team drugs the surviving group members and takes them for testing. After being released, the team's work on the campaign is hampered as they dig into the underlying conspiracy, souring the bloggers' relationship with Ryman and Tate. The team finds evidence linking Tate to the attacks, along with hints of a broader conspiracy involving the CDC and other parties, but when Georgia confronts Ryman during an event in Sacramento, California, he is skeptical and sends them away to prepare to convince him with facts, otherwise he will fire them from the campaign. As the bloggers leave, they are attacked, and Georgia is shot with a tranquiliser dart containing the live virus. Rick escapes with a copy of the group's evidence just before a zombie outbreak is instigated, and Shaun helps Georgia expose the conspiracy through one last blog post. She then begins amplifying, forcing Shaun to execute her.

The novel's narration then changes to Shaun's perspective. He rallies Ryman's security detail to help contain the outbreak, then breaks into the convention centre to confront Ryman and Tate. Tate takes Ryman's wife hostage with a syringe of the zombie virus, claiming his actions were part of a plot using fear of the zombies to reshape America into a more faith-based society. Then the governor injects himself instead, and Shaun shoots him to prevent zombification.

Background

The inspiration to write Feed came from the combination of McGuire's interests in horror movies and virology. [2] McGuire wanted a zombie virus that was society-changing but survivable, and spent two years developing the concepts of the virus and its consequences. [2] Another aspect McGuire wanted to tackle was the apparent lack of awareness horror fiction characters had of horror fiction canon: in her novel, movies like Dawn of the Dead (1978) are credited with helping the human race survive. [2]

Despite establishing the above-mentioned background, McGuire struggled with the plot until a friend suggested using a presidential campaign as a framing device. [2] This allowed McGuire to explore a large cross-section of issues and demonstrate the life-changing result of the zombie apocalypse. [2]

Reception

Reviews

Zack Handlen's review of the novel for The A.V. Club describes Feed as " The West Wing by way of George Romero". [3] He singles out the level of detail in McGuire's worldbuilding for praise, and he observes that although most of the cast are stock characters, this is not a major obstacle in enjoying the book's narrative. [3]

Writing for Strange Horizons , Jonathan McCalmont praised Feed as a "delight", highlighting its overall structure, well written action and dialogue, and detailed worldbuilding. [4] However, McCalmont found it hard to take the book at face value as a political thriller, and chose to interpret it as a merciless satire of contemporary journalism and the issues associated with it. [4]

The fact that Feed and its characters acknowledge previous zombie fiction is praised by Schlock Mercenary webcartoonist Howard Tayler. [5]

Awards and honors

Feed was listed as number 74 in NPR's 2010 "Top 100 Killer Thrillers" poll. [6] Publishers Weekly included it on their list of the best books of 2010. [7]

Awards for Feed
YearAwardResultRef
2010Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award for Science Fiction NovelNominated [8]
Shirley Jackson Award for NovelNominated [9]
2011 Audie Award for Science Fiction Nominated [10]
Hugo Award for Best Novel Nominated [11] [12]
Philip K. Dick Award Nominated [13]

Alternate ending

Shortly before the 22 May release of Blackout (2012), McGuire released an alternate ending to Feed, titled Fed. [14] [15] The ending was initially made available on Facebook on 17 May, then released online by Orbit on 23 May. [14] [15]

The new ending starts shortly after Ryman kicks Georgia, Shaun, and Rick out of the Sacramento event, and diverges with the virus dart hitting Shaun instead of Georgia. Georgia and Rick retreat inside the van to post their findings on Tate and the conspiracy, while Shaun dies defending them from the outbreak. Georgia confronts and kills Tate, then commits suicide a week later, unable to live in a world without Shaun. The perspective changes to Rick's, broken and alcoholic, as he organizes the Masons' funerals. He notes that the conspiracy may not have ended with Tate, but "someone else was going to have to save the world next time."

Related Research Articles

Resident Evil, known as Biohazard in Japan, is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person shooter games, with players typically surviving in environments inhabited by zombies and other mutated creatures. The franchise has expanded into other media, including a live-action film series, animated films, television series, comic books, novels, audiobooks, and merchandise. Resident Evil is the highest-grossing horror franchise.

<i>28 Days Later</i> 2002 UK horror film by Danny Boyle

28 Days Later is a 2002 British post-apocalyptic horror film directed by Danny Boyle and written by Alex Garland. It stars Cillian Murphy as a bicycle courier who awakens from a coma to discover the accidental release of a highly contagious, aggression-inducing virus has caused the breakdown of society. Naomie Harris, Christopher Eccleston, Megan Burns, and Brendan Gleeson appear in supporting roles.

<i>Shaun of the Dead</i> 2004 film directed by Edgar Wright

Shaun of the Dead is a 2004 zombie comedy film directed by Edgar Wright and written by Wright and Simon Pegg. Pegg stars as Shaun, a downtrodden London salesman who is caught alongside his loved ones in a zombie apocalypse. It also stars Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield, Lucy Davis, Dylan Moran, Bill Nighy, and Penelope Wilton. It is the first film in Wright and Pegg's Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, followed by Hot Fuzz (2007) and The World's End (2013).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Max Brooks</span> American writer (born 1972)

Maximilian Michael Brooks is an American author. He is the son of comedian Mel Brooks and actress Anne Bancroft. Much of Brooks's writing focuses on zombie stories. He was a senior fellow at the Modern War Institute at West Point, New York.

<i>World War Z</i> 2006 novel by Max Brooks

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War is a 2006 zombie apocalyptic horror novel written by American author Max Brooks. The novel is broken into eight chapters: “Warnings”, “Blame”, “The Great Panic”, “Turning the Tide”, “Home Front USA”, “Around the World, and Above”, “Total War”, and “Good-Byes”, and features a collection of individual accounts told to and recorded by an agent of the United Nations Postwar Commission, following a devastating global conflict against a zombie plague. The personal accounts come from individuals from different walks of life and all over the world, including Antarctica and outer space. The "interviews" detail the experiences of the survivors of the crisis, as well as social, political, religious, economic, and environmental changes that have occurred as a result.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faith Hunter</span> American novelist

Gwendolyn Faith Hunter is an American author and blogger, writing in the fantasy and thriller genres. She writes as Faith Hunter in the fantasy genre, and as Gwen Hunter in the thriller genre. She also has collaborated on thrillers with Gary Leveille, jointly using the name Gary Hunter. Hunter is one of the founding members of MagicalWords.net, a writer assistance blog, and has developed a role-playing game based on her Rogue Mage series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zombie</span> Undead creature from Haitian folklore

A zombie is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. In modern popular culture, zombies are most commonly found in horror genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in which a zombie is a dead body reanimated through various methods, most commonly magical practices in religions like Vodou. Modern media depictions of the reanimation of the dead often do not involve magic but rather science fictional methods such as fungi, radiation, gases, diseases, plants, bacteria, viruses, etc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zombie apocalypse</span> Subgenre of apocalyptic fiction

Zombie apocalypse is a subgenre of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction in which society collapses due to overwhelming swarms of zombies. Typically only a few individuals or small bands of human survivors are left living. In some versions, the reason the dead rise and attack humans is unknown, in others, a parasite or infection is the cause, framing events much like a plague. Some stories have every corpse zombify, regardless of the cause of death, whereas others require exposure to the infection, most commonly in the form of a bite.

James Moran is a British screenwriter for television and film, who wrote the horror-comedy Severance. He works in the horror, comedy, science-fiction, historical fiction and spy thriller genres.

Dead Set is a British satirical zombie horror television miniseries written and created by Charlie Brooker. The show takes place primarily on the set of a fictional series of the real television show Big Brother. The five episodes, aired over five consecutive nights, chronicle a zombie outbreak that strands the housemates and production staff inside the Big Brother House, which quickly becomes a shelter from the undead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zombie film</span> Subgenre of horror film featuring zombies

A zombie film is a film genre. Zombies are fictional creatures usually portrayed as reanimated corpses or virally infected human beings. They are commonly portrayed as cannibalistic in nature. While zombie films generally fall into the horror genre, some cross over into other genres, such as action, comedy, science fiction, thriller, or romance. Distinct subgenres have evolved, such as the "zombie comedy" or the "zombie apocalypse". Zombies are distinct from ghosts, ghouls, mummies, Frankenstein's monsters or vampires, so this article does not include films devoted to these types of undead.

<i>Resident Evil 6</i> 2012 video game

Resident Evil 6 is a 2012 third-person shooter video game developed and published by Capcom. A major installment in the Resident Evil series, Resident Evil 6 was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in October 2012, and for Windows in March 2013. It was re-released with all downloadable content for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in March 2016, and for the Nintendo Switch in October 2019. Players control Leon S. Kennedy, Chris Redfield, Jake Muller and Ada Wong as they confront the force behind a worldwide bio-terrorist attack. The story is centred around their four interwoven campaigns, and every campaign features a unique style in both tone and gameplay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seanan McGuire</span> American author and filker (born 1978)

Seanan McGuire is an American author and filker. McGuire is known for her urban fantasy novels. She uses the pseudonym Mira Grant to write science fiction/horror and the pseudonym A. Deborah Baker to write the "Up-and-Under" children's portal fantasy series.

<i>Deadline</i> (Grant novel) Second book in the Newsflesh Trilogy

Deadline, published by Orbit Books in 2011, is the second book in the Newsflesh Trilogy, a science fiction/horror series written by Seanan McGuire under the pen name Mira Grant. Deadline is preceded by Feed (2010) and succeeded by Blackout (2012).

<i>Blackout</i> (Grant novel) 2012 science fiction/horror novel by Mira Grant

Blackout is the third book in the Newsflesh series of science fiction/horror novels set after a zombie apocalypse, written by Seanan McGuire under the pen name Mira Grant, and published by Orbit Books. It was published June 1, 2012 and preceded by Feed (2010) and Deadline (2011), and followed by ‘’Feedback’’ (2016).

<i>Hsien of the Dead</i> 2012 Singaporean film

Hsien of the Dead is a 2012 Singaporean horror-comedy film directed, produced, and written by Gary Ow for Monkeywrench, Genetix S Pte Ltd, and Arte Associates. The film stars Ernest Seah, Vivienne Tseng, Moses San Juan, Nurhada Choo, and Darrell Britt. It follows four unrelated Singaporeans escaping from a wave of animated corpses. Together they devise a plan to flee the zombie-infested city state. Released on 13 September 2012, the film is credited as "Singapore's first zombie movie".

<i>Plaga Zombie</i> (film series) Argentine film series

Plaga Zombie is an Argentine comedy horror film series created by Pablo Parés, Berta Muñiz, and Hernán Sáez. The films follow three misfit heroes who uncover an alien-government conspiracy after a zombie outbreak occurs in their hometown. Plaga Zombie was the first-ever zombie horror film released in Argentina and is the only zombie horror trilogy to be produced in Latin America.

<i>Survivor Song</i> 2020 horror novel by Paul Tremblay

Survivor Song is a horror novel by American author Paul G. Tremblay, published by William Morrow on July 7, 2020. The narrative centers on characters striving to survive amidst a devastatingly infectious viral outbreak in Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White House COVID-19 outbreak</span>

The White House COVID-19 outbreak was a cluster of SARS-CoV-2 infections that began in September 2020 and ended in January 2021 that spread among people, including many U.S. government officials, who were in close contact during the COVID-19 pandemic in Washington, D.C. Numerous high-profile individuals were infected, including then President Donald Trump, who was hospitalized for three days. At least 48 White House staff members or associates, closely working with White House personnel, tested positive for the virus. The White House resisted efforts to engage in contact tracing, leaving it unclear how many people were infected in total and what the origins of the spread were.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">What If... Zombies?!</span> 5th episode of the 1st season of What If...?

"What If... Zombies?!" is the fifth episode of the first season of the American animated television series What If...?, based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name. It explores what would happen if the events of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) and Avengers: Infinity War (2018) occurred differently, with members of the Avengers becoming zombies and initiating a worldwide zombie apocalypse, while a group of survivors search for a cure. The episode was written by story editor Matthew Chauncey and directed by Bryan Andrews.

References

  1. 1 2 Chapter 3, page 33 of 34)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Grant, Mira; Scalzi, John (30 April 2010). "The Big Idea: Mira Grant". Whatever. John Scalzi. Archived from the original on 7 January 2012. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  3. 1 2 Handlen, Zack (13 May 2010). "Feed". A.V. Club. Archived from the original on 25 February 2012. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  4. 1 2 McCalmont, Jonathan (21 February 2011). "Feed by Mira Grant". Strange Horizons . Archived from the original on 13 October 2011. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  5. ↑ Taylor, Howard (19 June 2011). "Feed Me Some Deadline". SchlockMercenary.com. Archived from the original on 20 March 2012. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  6. ↑ Matazonni, Joe (4 August 2010). "Audience Picks: Top 100 Killer Thrillers". NPR. Archived from the original on 4 March 2012. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  7. ↑ "Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2010". Archived from the original on 5 October 2012. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  8. ↑ "Winners of 2010 Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Awards". Locus Online . 2011-06-03. Archived from the original on 2023-06-07. Retrieved 2024-04-14.
  9. ↑ "2010 Shirley Jackson Award Winners". Locus Online . 2011-07-18. Archived from the original on 2022-06-22. Retrieved 2024-04-14.
  10. ↑ "2011 Audie Awards Finalists". Locus Online . 2011-05-05. Archived from the original on 2022-12-02. Retrieved 2024-04-14.
  11. ↑ "2011 Hugo and Campbell Awards Winners". Locus Online . 2011-08-21. Archived from the original on 2023-11-20. Retrieved 2024-04-14.
  12. ↑ "Awards: Hugo Nominees; Schwartz Children's Book". Shelf Awareness . 2011-04-25. Archived from the original on 2022-01-23. Retrieved 2024-04-11.
  13. ↑ "Awards: Jewish Book Winners; Shortlist Extravaganza". Shelf Awareness . 2012-01-11. Archived from the original on 2023-05-17. Retrieved 2024-04-11.
  14. 1 2 "Mira Grant makes alternative ending to Feed available, entitled Fed". Upcoming4.me. 17 May 2012. Archived from the original on 24 May 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  15. 1 2 Fitzgerald, Laura (23 May 2012). "What if things had ended…differently? FED by Mira Grant". Orbit. Archived from the original on 22 November 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.