mondyboy

On a recent episode of Notes from Coode Street, Gary Wolfe commented that science fiction had lost its moral equivalent of zombies.  He said that in the 50s, SF - or at least the SF B-Movie - drew on the horrors of nuclear war through the metaphor... the shlocky metaphor... of the mutant ant, spider, possum or anything else that could be transformed into a rapacious monster spitting nuclear goo from its slavering, toothy maw.  Especially the mutant possum.  But today, Science Fiction, with its quantum entanglement and its talk of singularities and post humanity has grown beyond the need to use monsters as way of commenting on society.  Or to put it more succinctly, SF no longer has room for monsters in it.

But with Feed, Mira Grant (AKA seanan_mcguire) shows that in the hands of a capable writer the monster (in this case the zombie) can be as smart and as sophisticated as any hard science concept.

I had the painful pleasure of meeting Seanan at Worldcon.  Painful, because when I first met her (and I know I've mentioned this in a previous LJ entry) she nearly broke three of my ribs in a bear hug.  Pleasure, because spending anytime with Seanan is an absolute blast.  Not only does she know heaps about all sorts of shit (especially spiders and snakes and anything else that squirts venom), but she's extremely funny.  I mean, I'm no slouch with the anecdotes and the witty repartee, but Seanan could raconteur for a living. 

Her bold and vibrant and addictive personality comes across loud and clear in Feed.  Rather than just be a book about zombie slaughter and the munching of brains, Feed is also a book about new media, about a world recovering from a catastrophic change and about how truth and fear are so closely linked together.  The book follows a teams of bloggers, brother and sister Georgia and Shuan Mason and Buffy Mesonnier, who run a reasonably popular website.  In a stroke of genius, Seanan splits the blogger community up into three separate groups.  First there's the Newsies, like Georgia, who are all about reporting the news, then there's the Irwins (yes, the Irwins... I laughed as well) like Shaun, who are all about going out into the wild and poking zombies with sticks and finally there's the Fictionals, like Buffy, who've taken the fan fiction ethos and made it into something new and original and exciting.  When they're invited by Senator Peter Ryman to follow his presidential campaign, their popularity shoots through the roof.  Of course, that's also the start of their problems... 

Feed is a novel that never stops world building while at the same time ratcheting up the tension and providing us with a nice dollop of zombie mayhem.  It's also a genuine science fiction novel.

Listening to Coode Street, I get the feeling that science fiction is losing its audience.  I'm not talking here about the death of science fiction, but rather an audience transitioning from stories about post humanity duelling it out in the depths of space to young adult novels about vampires and the ever expanding range of urban fantasy books.  What Feed does is cleverly take the sensibility of urban fantasy, through the use of first person and a host of cool, funky characters, and puts a strong SFnal framework around it. 

The SFnal elements come from two sources.  The first of these is the world building itself.  The book is set thirty years into the future and twenty five years after a zombie uprising.  Seanan takes care in imagining what a world would be like if it (a) had survived a zombie apocalypse and (b) the zombie threat was still around.  There's plenty of references here to how the majority of people live in gated communities or protected places where the chance of exposure is minimised, and how even architecture has changed to deal with the new status quo.  Seanan's also careful not to go overboard with the technological development.  Most of the advances mentioned in the novel deal with, as you'd expect, the constant threat of the walking dead.  But Seanan also surmises that while advances in how we access our entertainment might have plateaued (for example there are no cranial implants on show here), the entertainment itself will have developed down a specific path.  Blogging, which in the last few years has emerged out of its infancy, has become as important - if not more so - than the mainstream news media.  

I suppose its questionable as to whether Seanan's take on blogging is particularly innovative.  I mean, you could argue that with blogging already a daily part of our lives that in thirty years it will be the mainstream media.  But, I did like the idea that while bloggers got a boost out of the zombie apocalypse (by being the people who got the truth out first), that the conservatism of the general public meant that the traditional forms of media are still as a viable source of news.  Actually... it's a bit depressing when you think about it.

The other SFnal element are the zombie themselves.  Seanan, again, goes to great pains in explaining the scientific reasons for her zombies.  In short, scientists looking to cure cancer and the common cold create two viruses that when joined together have the effect of taking over a host once it is dead.  Seanan not only is a strong enough writer to make it all sound a little bit too believable, but she makes the science sound so interesting.  In fact I fund I wanted to know more about how the virus was developed and how it worked.  And it was that sense of curiosity and wonder that makes this book a strong SF novel. 

I said above that there's an urban fantasy feel to Feed.  (And this should come as no surprise as Seanan is quite experienced with the whole urban fantasy shtick... what with the October Daye novels).  The novel is told in first person through the eyes of Georgia Mason who is the sort of take no bullshit, stubborn but also passionate heroine who'd fit very neatly into an urban fantasy novel.  But Georgia also plays against the cliché of the urban fantasy hero.  Unlike her Irwin brother, she's actually very conservative, not willing to rush right into trouble until she's considered all the options.  It was that side of her, more than her passionate fealty to the truth, that gave her character depth.

(There's been some chat on the interwebs about the actual relationship between Georgia and her brother and whether it's sibling love or something romantic.  It's only a very minor spoiler to say that they're not blood relatives and we're in fact adopted by their parents.  But I'll leave the question of whether they want to shag each other for you to decide).

As much as I loved the book, I do have quibbles.  Cat Valente, in this post here, sums up most of the problems I had with the novel.  Basically, Peter Ryman didn't ring true as a political candidate.  Maybe I'm just too cynical, or maybe - based on my experience of Fox News - I can't accept that a Republican candidate could be so nice.  I was sort of hoping that there'd be a scene where Georgia interviews Senator Ryman about his views on gay marriage, on abortion, on euthanasia, on the public healthcare system (which seems to exist in this future America).  And I think for a novel that's about the truth, about fear and about politics, this sort of ideological layering was missing. 

There's also the fact that the baddie in Feed is just so very evil and a result a one dimensional character (and a bit of a strawman as well).  Again, it's annoying because Seanan does take great care in giving most of her main character's depth. 

(Some might also argue that there isn't enough zombie munching in the book.  I'm not one of those.  I think Seanan did a great job in balancing the political thrills and spills and the scenes of zombies ripping hapless innocents to shreds).

Still, quibbles aside, Feed is a really clever take on not just the zombie novel but the use of new media.  It also has great narrative punch, moving like a rocket once you reach the halfway mark (and the first half of the book aint no slouch either).  Seanan's fantastic at both raising the stake and also throwing in the odd curve ball just to spice things up.  I read the last two hundred pages in one evening... going well past my bedtime.  And so will you, especially when you reach that moment toward the end when --

-- no... better not.  Just read the book.  It's an awesome zombie novel, an exciting thriller, and best of all a science fiction novel with monsters in it.  And I can't wait for the sequel.