Feed

When I started play testing my game, I used a zombie apocalypse setting. I love the survivalism aspect of apocalypse stories and I thought zombies would make for a fun game. I started looking for stories and movies for inspiration (which was tricky because I am a total wuss. I once got nightmares from a friend describing a scary movie to me). After I got my first zombie nightmare, I decided it was time to take a break from that setting. However, I still like the setting idea and want to flesh it out. To that end, I still look for good zombie stories.

In honor of zombies and blogging, I introduce Feed by Mira Grant.

This story follows Georgia Mason, Newsie blogger in a world where the cure for cancer and the cure for the common cold equals zombies. What I liked most about this story is that society didn't fall. In most zombie stories I have come across, humanity exists in isolated pockets. In Feed, society survived and continued, just more paranoid (Georgia is part of the press detail for a candidate in the presidential election). Everything felt very plausible from the technologies and procedures used to deal with the plague to the cultural changes that result from living in constant fear; I especially liked the differences between the pre and post rising generations.

One thing I knew I wanted to do with my setting was offer play options for different points in the timeline. That way a GM could start during the rising and play through or simply focus on what happened after. This story made me think about offering alternate versions of the timeline. GMs could play through the normal fall of society or play in a world that survives and adapts (possibly due to the actions of the characters?).

To conclude: Feed is an excellent read for those who like more than gore in their zombie fiction and I can't wait to read the rest of the trilogy.