Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: geeky
  • Music: Halestorm, "Freak Like Me."

When will you rise...and when will you fall?

I've spoken before about my love of fanfic, and how it allows you to do things you can't necessarily do "in canon." One of those things, one of my favorite things, is the alternate universe. What would have happened if Toby had never become a fish? If Thomas had convinced Alice to go back to the Covenant with him, instead of leaving it for her?

If someone else had been the first to die?

I have written an alternate ending to Feed, picking up at what was originally chapter twenty-five. It's called Fed, and I'm very pleased with it, in part because it shows that no, the original ending wasn't the worst possible outcome. This was.

Fed is kindly being hosted by Orbit, thus preventing me from becoming a blibbering mess in the week leading up to the release of Blackout, and for right now, you can download and read by liking the Facebook page they've set up specifically for this purpose. (It's getting a one-week Facebook exclusive for marketing purposes, and I surely would appreciate it if you went and hit the "like" button.) This is full of spoilers, so I recommend against reading it if you haven't read Feed.

Rise up while you can.
Tags: blackout, book promotion, feed, mira grant, pandemic time, short fiction, silliness, zombies
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wood_dragon

May 16 2012, 21:25:10 UTC 5 years ago

::sniffle:: I'd started reading at work, realized quickly that was a bad idea and just finished reading.

::more sniffles::

seanan_mcguire

May 17 2012, 16:30:49 UTC 5 years ago

Aw.

rhoda_rants

May 16 2012, 21:43:55 UTC 5 years ago

I really want to read this, but all the comments are making me nervous. *whimpers*

rhoda_rants

May 16 2012, 21:44:26 UTC 5 years ago

I'll "like" it regardless though. ;)

seanan_mcguire

5 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

May 17 2012, 16:46:08 UTC 5 years ago

Yay!

kengr

May 16 2012, 21:49:19 UTC 5 years ago

Ow. Too overwhelmed to say much more.

Oh. One thing while I'm still in "analyze (so as to avoid emotions)" mode:

spank Orbit's proofreader. He has Rick saying he's required to *circumnavigate" the security, rather than *circumvent* it.

Ps. you get extra evil points for the bit about "we should have taken the gun from her". That had me thinking Georgia shot herself shortly after shooting the Governor.

seanan_mcguire

May 17 2012, 16:46:29 UTC 5 years ago

*curtsey*

herewiss13

May 16 2012, 23:06:18 UTC 5 years ago

Dear God in Heaven, that was bleak. Bleak and brutal.

seanan_mcguire

May 17 2012, 16:46:39 UTC 5 years ago

Yay!

pointedulac

May 16 2012, 23:11:14 UTC 5 years ago

This was no easier to read than the real ending but I enjoyed it. Now I'm doubly jazzed for Blackout. I'm flying next Thursday and I really want to hold out til then since Deadline made a plane ride fly by (no pun intended) but I don't think I can resist that long.

seanan_mcguire

May 17 2012, 16:48:50 UTC 5 years ago

Awesome.

jennygriffee

May 17 2012, 00:13:50 UTC 5 years ago

....I need a hug.

(So do Mahir and Rick, I think. Can we have a group hug? Probably won't help, but it's something. *wibbles* ;)

seanan_mcguire

May 17 2012, 16:48:56 UTC 5 years ago

*hugs*

calico_reaction

May 17 2012, 00:55:27 UTC 5 years ago

I liked it, and got FED on my screen, but I haven't figured out how to download it so I can read it later. Am I missing something?

seanan_mcguire

May 17 2012, 16:49:08 UTC 5 years ago

To be honest, I don't know. :( I'm sorry.

calico_reaction

5 years ago

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paksenarrion2

5 years ago

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calico_reaction

5 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

5 years ago

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Charles Ellis

May 17 2012, 01:05:43 UTC 5 years ago

I love it! The only problem I have with that ending is that it pretty much would have gutted the hell out of "Deadline." Writing that and presenting it to your fans took some major testicular fortitude (that is intended in an entirely complimentary and non gender-patronizing way). I haven't read an ending quite like that since A. Bertram Chandler's "Frontier of the Dark" and you pulled it off in a far more gut-wrenching manner.

seanan_mcguire

May 17 2012, 16:49:32 UTC 5 years ago

There wouldn't have been a sequel. If that had been the ending of the book, it would've been a stand-alone.

ladymurmur

May 17 2012, 01:11:35 UTC 5 years ago

Couldn't wait. Too weak. Found a friend with FB who has already read Feed, who let me read Fed over her shoulder.

Joss Whedon himself couldn't have broken my heart so thoroughly.

seanan_mcguire

May 17 2012, 17:40:48 UTC 5 years ago

That is HIGH PRAISE.

snowcoma

May 17 2012, 01:14:26 UTC 5 years ago

I knew, I knew not to read this while I'm out of critical psych meds. But did that stop me? Noooooooooooooo...




seanan_mcguire

May 17 2012, 17:40:56 UTC 5 years ago

...oops.

effervescent

May 17 2012, 02:08:27 UTC 5 years ago

tears

Need to reread the books, since I've just had a brilliant reminder of how much I love Shaun and George.

This ending is definitely worse, but somehow it still fits. Breaks my heart, but it still fits.

seanan_mcguire

May 17 2012, 17:57:36 UTC 5 years ago

Yay!

batyatoon

May 17 2012, 02:10:11 UTC 5 years ago

I'm not on Facebook, and they don't let non-members hit the Like button. :(

Is there any other way I can read/support this?

bercilakslady

May 17 2012, 03:24:36 UTC 5 years ago

It will be non-exclusive to Facebook in a week, according to comments above. Or email me if you want to borrow my facebook account?

seanan_mcguire

5 years ago

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thedragonweaver

May 17 2012, 02:23:31 UTC 5 years ago

But, but, but... NO BREADSTICKS? The breadsticks were my favorite part!

(actually, they kinda were... my brain is weird.)

wendyzski

May 17 2012, 06:19:19 UTC 5 years ago

(mine too)

seanan_mcguire

5 years ago

  • New comment

huggebear

May 17 2012, 03:19:06 UTC 5 years ago

Oh...wow. I can only imagine if I had read this and NOT KNOWN the original ending. Yikes!

I am curious: what was the deciding factor that made you go with the other ending as opposed to this one?

(Just for the record, I agree with that choice. The real ending worked better narratively, I think. But I am curious.)

seanan_mcguire

May 17 2012, 17:58:48 UTC 5 years ago

The book was told from Georgia's point of view, and killing Shaun was...too predictable. It was what everyone expected.

silvertwi

May 17 2012, 03:22:44 UTC 5 years ago

Oh no. Not reading that tonight. I have a song to finish composing before 2pm tomorrow and I won't wake up in time if I stay up to read.

After our class concert though, maybe.

Can't wait to see it!

seanan_mcguire

May 17 2012, 17:58:57 UTC 5 years ago

Yay!

judifilksign

May 17 2012, 03:38:12 UTC 5 years ago

Georgia went home to make as big an issue for the Masons as possible. I still note that the CDC acts strangely regarding the disposition of those ashes...

I'm assuming that Shawn was shot; because there were two sets of ashes. Or else the contents of Dr. Abbey's letter to Dr. Shoji from Deadline would've had a much sooner reveal!

seanan_mcguire

May 17 2012, 17:59:17 UTC 5 years ago

Seriously.

notalwaysweak

May 17 2012, 04:38:18 UTC 5 years ago

Your fic is an evil fic.

seanan_mcguire

May 17 2012, 17:59:25 UTC 5 years ago

Ha ha ha ha die.

wendyzski

May 17 2012, 06:08:29 UTC 5 years ago

I was ok until the last paragraph.

seanan_mcguire

May 17 2012, 17:59:32 UTC 5 years ago

Hee.

drcpunk

May 17 2012, 06:29:05 UTC 5 years ago

I think the original ending is better. I think that I think that because I'm right, not because I"m biased on account of having read it first. I did think you were going somewhere even darker, based on having read Blackout and the Blackout Here Be Spoilers thread, and am torn between being curious about that path and being relieved not to know.

Hm. I may need something light and fluffy to (re)read, like The Ghost Map. (Actually, the second InCryptid book would be ideal, but I carelessly neglected to invent the time machine.)

seanan_mcguire

May 17 2012, 17:59:49 UTC 5 years ago

I tend to agree, but wanted to show the "What If...?"

drcpunk

5 years ago

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estelendur

May 17 2012, 07:14:53 UTC 5 years ago

oh my god

*cries*

seanan_mcguire

May 17 2012, 18:00:17 UTC 5 years ago

Yeah.

tsgeisel

May 17 2012, 08:49:31 UTC 5 years ago

I have to admit, that's not how I imagined things would have gone if Fed were canon, but I'm not the one who had the characters rummaging around my brain looking for spare neurons for however long it took between original idea and the machete squad saying "No, it's all good. Damn you."

Well done. (As usual.)

seanan_mcguire

May 17 2012, 18:00:28 UTC 5 years ago

Thank you.

chaoticgoodnik

May 17 2012, 11:20:09 UTC 5 years ago

I liked it! But only because I've already read Deadline and Blackout is almost here. I think I would have enjoyed a whole book full of Rick being morose and then being forced to snap out of it when ... things happened.

seanan_mcguire

May 17 2012, 18:00:44 UTC 5 years ago

Ha!

B.e. Sanderson

May 17 2012, 12:58:58 UTC 5 years ago

OMG. That was awesome. Not that I really needed a good cry this morning, but thank you.

seanan_mcguire

May 17 2012, 18:00:52 UTC 5 years ago

Very welcome.

ladymurmur

May 17 2012, 17:49:03 UTC 5 years ago

Just heard back from my query to Orbit re: the ebook release date:

If you check Amazon today you should find that the Kindle edition is listed with a May 22nd release. We hope you enjoy BLACKOUT!

Best,
The Orbit Team
---
*happy dance*

seanan_mcguire

May 17 2012, 18:01:39 UTC 5 years ago

Excellent.
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