Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: geeky
  • Music: SJ Tucker, "Cheshire Kitten."

FEED spoiler party!

Okay, folks, I've been asked for it, and here it is: the spoiler party for Feed. Anything goes in the comments on this post only. If you haven't read the book, I ask that you not click. If you have, feel free to jump in, ask questions, discuss, or just yell at me. I'm cool either way.

Game on!
Tags: feed, mira grant, zombies
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  • 268 comments
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hsifyppah

May 11 2010, 18:26:00 UTC 7 years ago

A cold climate is like a stay-fresh beer cooler for zombies. So Alaska? Zombie tailgate party.

paradisacorbasi

May 11 2010, 18:28:15 UTC 7 years ago

Exactly why it'd be easy to kill them. They freeze and you can shoot them in the head while they're permafrosted.

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paradisacorbasi

May 11 2010, 18:36:24 UTC 7 years ago

Ohhhhhhhhhhh.

And yeah, people would be in their homes in the cold more too, so they'd be holed up with incubating cases.

To say nothing of thundering herds of Zombie Caribou (which is what I thought of first as a reason to give up Alaska).


cupcakery

May 11 2010, 18:38:39 UTC 7 years ago Edited:  May 11 2010, 18:41:25 UTC

Once there are zombie caribou, it's all over. And that's not even considering zombie wolves. Or zombie polar bears.

(And, even though they're on the opposite end of the globe, the idea of zombie penguins nearly makes me cackle.)

paradisacorbasi

May 11 2010, 18:43:45 UTC 7 years ago

Penguins wouldn't happen - they're not mammals.

But yes, zombie wolves occurred to me, too. But not Zombie Polar Bears OMG OMG OMG.

cupcakery

May 11 2010, 18:46:45 UTC 7 years ago

Alas, the image was too cracky to last.

Zombie bears of any kind = getting the hell out of dodge. No way anyone'll want to live in the Pacific Northwest. Bye-bye, British Columbia.

.... shit. Zombie whales. Zombie blue whales.

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cupcakery

7 years ago

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paradisacorbasi

7 years ago

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cupcakery

7 years ago

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lysystratae

7 years ago

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hasufin

7 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

May 11 2010, 19:17:40 UTC 7 years ago

Zombie blue whales exist.

greenmansgrove

7 years ago

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dormouse_in_tea

7 years ago

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dormouse_in_tea

7 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

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hasufin

7 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

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dornbeast

May 11 2010, 19:59:24 UTC 7 years ago

Oh, dear God, not the zombie whales.

I play a game where the zombie whales aren't just zombie whales; they're amphibious zombie whales. These things have wrecked mighty fortresses.

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cupcakery

May 11 2010, 18:50:18 UTC 7 years ago

The idea of zombie penguins makes me far more gleeful than it should. Maybe because I imagine them sliding down a slope in with a jump at the end, in a large group, and landing on some unsuspecting Antarctic researcher.

beccastareyes

May 11 2010, 19:08:01 UTC 7 years ago

I thought it was said that it had to be mammalian. Granted, there aren't many birds large enough, but you could at least run tests on zoo penguins to see if they have an inactive strain. Or sea turtles or commercial fish to cover your other bases. Or giant squid, which I think is the only invertebrate that comes to mind that could even get that big.

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beccastareyes

7 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

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deire

7 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

May 11 2010, 19:17:25 UTC 7 years ago

Actually, it is about species. Mammals only. There is no recorded evidence of avian transmission, and chicken is still safe to eat.

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paradisacorbasi

7 years ago

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dornbeast

7 years ago

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catnip13

7 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

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paradisacorbasi

May 11 2010, 19:34:02 UTC 7 years ago

It is too about species.

Only mammals above weight 40 lbs.

tibicina

7 years ago

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sheistheweather

May 11 2010, 22:54:00 UTC 7 years ago

I thought they just had to be warm-blooded, and 40+ pounds. Emperor penguins usually range from about 50 to 100 lbs, and are warm-blooded, so if that is the case, then there could very well be zombie penguins.

If it's JUST mammals, then we're safe from penguins.

sheistheweather

7 years ago

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tibicina

May 11 2010, 23:16:26 UTC 7 years ago

Also, zombie orcas and seals and sealions. And yeah, the bears and the cariboo and moose and wolves and sled dogs... and...

fionn320

May 12 2010, 02:53:58 UTC 7 years ago

Obligate carnivores, or any animal that subsists mainly on mammal meat, that reach breeding size after 40 pounds would die off as a species in one generation, as they would all convert prior to reaching breeding size.

hasufin

May 16 2010, 01:09:29 UTC 7 years ago

I wonder about this. I'm curious as the the mechanism by which viral amplification occurs in a recently-killed organism. It can't be happening on the cellular level, or everyone would be undergoing viral amplification. So it's at the system level, which might imply that there are ways to kill an organism without triggering amplification.

Which would probably - if they're not corrupt and power-mad as all hell - be a good direction for research by the CDC. Bad enough that people have to destroy the roving zombies; Gramps dying in his rocking chair is equally dangerous right now.

seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

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hasufin

7 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

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hasufin

7 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

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hasufin

7 years ago

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kshandra

June 9 2010, 06:33:17 UTC 7 years ago

Finally getting to join the party after finishing the book this past weekend....

It will no doubt please you to know that gridlore's usename on his journal has been "speed-metal zombie penguin!" for several years, now.

beccastareyes

May 11 2010, 18:41:17 UTC 7 years ago

Caribou, bears, seals, wolves, moose...

... In general, the more rural, especially when not developed for agriculture, I'd say the more dangerous, because rural areas can support large mammals in ways most urban places can't. I'd say probably a lot of the Rockies are unsafe areas as well, and that most people would either drive south through the desert if they didn't fly.

deire

May 11 2010, 23:25:48 UTC 7 years ago

Wouldn't there be a chance of it burning itself out too though? An environment only supports so many large, roving predators. Granted, this would take some time, and no sense exists in taking unnecessary risks. Irwins aside.

beccastareyes

May 12 2010, 00:19:19 UTC 7 years ago

I'd guess it would have a predator-prey relationship with the non-active ecosystem. I'd have to dig out my population models, since the virus acts opposite the way a predator does*. We'd also have to assume that zombies could eventually be killed by something other than humans with shotguns -- maybe if they don't eat enough, the virus exhausts its host's energy and can't keep the corpse moving. It was mentioned that the government lab zombies were what kept the last ranchers in business.

* In other words, when the zombies get scarce relative to their food supply, they zombify more of their prey, so they reproduce more. A conventional predator reproduces more when their numbers are higher.

seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

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anindigomind

May 11 2010, 23:26:59 UTC 7 years ago

Herds of zombie caribou was my first thought too - the concept kind of frightens me. ^^; Moose would be pretty nasty too, as us Alaskans are so used to seeing them wandering around.

What would be even worse then wildlife would be the dogs - we love our dogs up here and as soon as KA hit the sled dogs kennels(30+ dogs over 40lbs)... well, there goes to the neighborhood.

liret

May 12 2010, 01:50:53 UTC 7 years ago

Yeah, Alaska is a good place to hide from normal zombies, but once you can get infected by a moose the wild is no longer safe.