Feed - Mira Grant (review)

"Shaun and Georgia are orphans of the Rising, the cataclysmic event which left the world reeling in the aftermath of the zombie uprising. Adopted by the Masons and raised in the strange world of the post-Rising media, they've spent their lives chasing the next big story, the one that will allow them to break into the big leagues once and for all. Now, in Senator Peter Ryman's run for the Presidency of the United States, they've finally found it.

All they have to do is survive until the election.

In a world filled with the constant threat of both the living and the living dead, it will be all that Shaun and Georgia can do to keep themselves in one piece. Accompanied by the rest of their blogging team, Senator Ryman's staff, and a whole lot of caffeine, they might succeed...or they might finally answer the big question of their post-Rising world: When will you rise?"

        -- miragrant.com

This is the first book in Mira Grant's Newsflesh trilogy.  I'll admit that this was my very first zombie read.  I know, I'm behind the times.  And this book has made me wonder why I waited so long!

Shaun and Georgia, are wonderful characters.  Georgia has just the right amount of smarts and logic while Shaun is daring and would do almost anything for a good video clip.  Both of them were snarky and fun.  They balanced each other.  Their relationship, as brother and sister and as co-workers as well, showed that they knew that too.  I think that was part of what made me care about them.  It was kind of funny when I found myself caring more about them personally and their part in the Senator's run for the Presidency instead of the fact that there are zombies running around trying to eat people.

I feel like she was able to give the details about the world that they were dealing with now without sounding like she was giving an essay.  I appreciate that because that's where I start to lose interest sometimes if I get to an 'info dump' part of a story.  At the same time, she still was able to give a lot of information.  She told where the virus that created zombies started, different forms of the disease, the transformation from human to zombie, and how zombies act.  But not only about zombies but how the news has changed now and the different types of people that are working in the journalistic field.  I like having that knowledge even though I could have just been told 'there's zombies now' and I probably would have been fine with it too if I didn't think about it too much.

I wish that I had read more zombie books to know if any of this was unique to her book or not but at the same time I'm glad I could enjoy it without being able to make any comparisons.  It was a great read and I can't wait to get started on the next of the series.

Barbies and Super Heroes

I've been spending a lot of time with some of my friends and family's kids lately.  All boys aged 2-6.  I know, and yes I'm still as sane as I was before... which might not be saying much.  Lol.

One thing I've come to notice is how randomly creative that kids in their age range are.  A lot of the time a kids first 'real' toy will be some kind of action figure or doll from a favorite TV show or movie.  What I find interesting is that no one teaches a kid to play with one of those things, but what do they do?  Pick it up and make it talk.  If I wasn't already used to them I would be surprised at the amount of detail the kids put into playtime.  I'm fairly certain that if I listen close enough that I would be able to get a plot for a new story out of them.

The younger ones tend to go for the action.  ("I kick you.  Jump over here!" "Oh no, I crash!")  The one in the middle could hold a conversation with two of his guys for who knows how long.  The oldest, however, likes to play with words themselves now.  He likes to make up words and exchange random words with the word 'fart' a lot...  I don't know what any of it means but as long as he's having fun I guess!

I do remember playing with action figures and dolls when I was little, especially at bath time, and to be honest I miss it!  Being in the frame of mind where nothing has to make sense and having whatever comes to mind fall out and essentially come to life through the toys was fun.  But kids grow out of it, as they will do, hopefully moving on to equally creative games and interests.  And adults grow out of it even more.

But some of us grow up to keep playing.  I do.  I just exchanged my dolls in the bathtub for pens on the paper.

Howdy Strangers

Been awhile, hasn't it?

Well, while I don't really have any New Year's Resolutions, I've been trying this new thing where I don't spend every spare (and not so spare) moment that I have on the internet.

It got pretty bad.  Like, I was scrolling through news feeds and videos like it was my job.  And it literally was starting to feel like a job.  I would reach a point sometimes that I didn't even want to be doing it but felt like I had to.  Then I would get my common sense back and shut it down.

So what do I do with this new found free time?  Write, of course.  Then read, housework, exercise, get a job....  Wait, why am I doing this again?  -_-  Lol.

While I do intend to cut back on the web, I do hope to become less of a stranger here.  So how are you all?!

Until next time!