Yup. Review roundup time.

So I'm still trying to dig my way out from under the review links that built up in the time leading to and including my trip to Australia. Thank you for being understanding; I'll be through them pretty soon, if I continue at my current pace, and shall reward you soon with kitty pictures. Anyway...

The Devourer of Books has posted a review of the audio edition of Feed, and says, "Honestly, Feed was everything I had hoped that The Passage would be but it wasn't." You know, that really works for me. It's a good review, and she definitely liked the audio edition.

2xKnight at Fanatic Space has posted a review of Feed, and says, "I highly recommend this book." Also, "Feed combines some wildly different subject matter in a way that is both natural and riveting. Not only does Mira Grant come up with a novel approach to zombification, giving her zombies a very interesting background, but she also makes the people living in that world just as much fun to read about." Win!

Grumpy Dan has posted his review of Feed, and says, "One of the better zombie stories I have read. I can't wait for the next book in this series." Rock on.

Word Nerd has posted an excellent review of Feed. It's structured in a way that doesn't lend itself well to pull quotes, unfortunately, but you should still take a look, as it's lovely.

Finally for today, Sommer Leigh has posted her review of Feed, brilliantly titled "President Bartlett Hates Zombies Too." She says, "Feed is like a cross between Dawn of the Dead, Hackers, and The West Wing. You think I’m joking, but I'm not." Goodnight, everybody!

More to come, later on.

Australia! Seanan signs stuff, changes hotels, and starts WorldCon.

Australia!

Having had our wacky outback adventure (tm), it was time to turn my attention to more mundane topics, IE, "checking out of the hotel, moving over to our convention hotel, and attending a signing." Yes, a signing. I was supposed to be at the Southlands Dymock's bookstore by mid-afternoon, which was super-fun, especially considering that I had no living clue where that was.

Jeanne and I managed to get packed and out of our first hotel in a reasonable amount of time, after bidding a fond farewell to our newly-familiar surroundings. (Had we been aware that we were also bidding farewell to the only free Internet in the ENTIRE COUNTRY, we might have been a little more tempted to stay where we were. I'm just saying.) Because we are not idiots, we took a cab between hotels. Because our room wasn't ready yet, we checked our bags with the concierge, picked up our taxi vouchers from the front desk (thank you, Orbit!), and were off.

Where were we going? Why, the Westfield Mall. You know. The biggest mall chain on the west coast of the United States. Because that is what every tourist should do. GO TO THE MALL. We found the bookstore, along with a Safeway, and basically every store I would expect to find in a large suburban mall. Humans. We're all essentially the same.

The store manager, Chuck, was truly thrilled to have me, and made a point of getting his picture with me. This is because Chuck is awesome, and his store now has many signed copies of Feed (alas, only my evil twin was represented in the store's stock). We hung out for a few hours, and I got to meet a few awesome people I'd been hoping to meet while in Australia, including Tez. Yay Tez!

Before we left, I bought the UK edition of the latest Pratchett, I Shall Wear Midnight, because that's just how I roll. We had lunch at TGI Friday's, and made our way back to the hotel, where our room was still not ready.

We made our way to the Crowne Plaza to collect our badges. The woman who gave me my badge all but wanted a blood sample, which was...fun. (Seriously, I was like the only person in line asked to produce photo ID. Apparently, my life is very steal-worthy. Who knew?) I ran into several friends, and much hugging happened. We returned to the hotel, where our room was still not ready. Grumble.

Eventually, we were able to get into our room, greeting Jennifer and Jeff with great glee in the process, and then we were out, to have dinner with John (my audio book producer), a bunch of his other clients (including Phil and Kaja, and Cat, all of whom would be very central for me over the course of the weekend), and some awesome last-minute additions: Rob and Mundy. Rob and Mundy made my convention infinitely more awesome, and I am so beyond overjoyed to have met them. Seriously, there are not words. Even if our dinner conversation had rather more circumcision than I was expecting.

After dinner, Jeanne ran off to meet some friends, and I went off with Rob, Cat, and Mundy, to crash someone's cocktail birthday party. Cat and I wound up sitting on the cool veranda overlooking downtown Melbourne, sipping rum cocktails made with pomegranate liqueur, and going "Holy shit, this is our real life."

Maybe it's worth stealing after all.