thoughtful(*All reviews are matters of opinion. One man's trash is another man's treasure is a third man's raw materials for their planet-buster earthquake machine. Please do not yell at reviewers, unless the reviewers are saying things like "and this book is so bad that it proves the author likes to microwave kittens." If I am accused of being a kitten microwaving fiend, feel free to step in.)
I did not meet this reviewer's expectations, and my ending did not meet his standards for "this is how a book should end." That is fair, and I am sorry, although I stand by the shape of the story. I do find it interesting that there's often this assumption that a) things are artificially inflated into trilogies, and b) my publisher forced me to end Deadline the way that I did. So I wanted to state two things, for people who may have been wondering:
This was always a trilogy. It's a trilogy not because people expected it to be, but because that was the shape the story took. I started writing Feed (then Newsflesh) as a stand-alone book, and watched as it turned into something longer, a story with a beginning, middle, and end. Acts one, two, and three. We went to Orbit with three books, one finished, one half-finished, and one heavily outlined. The next project I'm planning to undertake as Mira Grant is a duology, rather than the admittedly more marketable trilogy. Why? Because that's the shape of the story.
The ending of Deadline (then The Mourning Edition) was always exactly as written. Why the stress? Because when you read the book, I want you to understand that the book's last line was in the original pitch package. Orbit had absolutely nothing to do with that ending. If anything, they might have encouraged me to provide something a little more concrete, and a little less "now is the time that the house lights come up and we all go to intermission."
The Newsflesh trilogy is a Schwartz musical, not a Sondheim; it's a 1980s horror film, not a 1950s monster mash. That's just how the story is shaped. I'm really sorry if I let any of you down, or if you don't like this shape. But it was my choice, not my publisher's, and it was dictated to me by the way the story needed to go. I will always go the way the story needs to go, even if that way isn't the one that's guaranteed to make the most people happy.
Treasure, trash, or death ray. It's all in the eye of the beholder.
April 14 2012, 05:46:48 UTC 5 years ago
I know my comment is super super late, but I hope that you find it and can respond, because I really need some clarification.
I want to start off by saying that I love your novels. I've never read a zombie book quite like it. It's original and very thought provoking about how our society would adapt to zombies. I liked Georgia a lot too, to the point of where I was so mad at the ending that I had to rush the book back to the library so it wouldn't haunt me, and I refused to read Deadline until the librarian spoiled the end for me.
But something that has always made me very uncomfortable is the relationship between Shaun and Georgia. I am trying to approach this as respectfully as I can, so I hope I do not offend you, as my intention is to get clarification.
I have Googled this until I'm blue in the face, but everyone has come to the same conclusion that I have about the pair after reading Deadline, particularly the scene with Shaun and Becks: Shaun and Georgia are sleeping together.
They've always been extremely close, to the point of suspicion, but I wrote that off as surviving together and depending on each other, etc. But.. the way Shaun acted, and how he said Georgia's name in that particular scene, was like a slap in the face.
Are they really sleeping together? Is their relationship romantic? This has been haunting me since reading the book. If they are, which I assume is the case, why? I know they aren't biologically related, but...
I hope that my comment does not offend you. I really just want to understand. Like I said, I love your book, but that part made me so uncomfortable I almost had to stop reading for a bit. I hope you can shed some light on this situation for me.
Sorry for the book! I was just trying to be very articulate and careful with my words. Thank you for reading this.
April 14 2012, 12:13:37 UTC 5 years ago
April 15 2012, 07:36:33 UTC 5 years ago
April 15 2012, 15:23:25 UTC 5 years ago