He also talks about the inspiration for Feed:
"At a party at one of the New York libraries, David Gale, an editor from Simon and Schuster, asked me if I would contribute a story to a collection benefiting a literacy campaign. The one stipulation was that there had to be a book featured in the story.
"On the way back to Boston on the train, despite the fact that almost everyone in the car was reading, there was a constant clack of inane cellphone conversation as (1) Nancy set up her weekend with Luke, Carrie, and Thayer; (2) Andrea discussed equipment for her home office with her husband; and (3) Lieutenant Jock-O - yes, true! - serially recounted his lively sexcapades to fellow officers from his regiment: “Remember that chick from San Diego? If you run into her, can you like not tell her I’m out here?” By the end of the journey, I had a whole story about irritating future connectivity and illiteracy in place.
"Thinking about it, I realized that there were years of teen resentment waiting to burst out - anger about all the things the media demanded we become - and it was much more than just a short story."
Feed is a fascinating book about what our future might be like. One word for you: dystopia. There are books I read and think "I could write that someday maybe." And there are books I read and think, "Wow! That was great and I could never write that in a million years." [Full disclosure: and there are books I read half of and think -" gak, this is terrible, I wouldn't have written it this way at all."]
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