Sometimes I wonder what they mean by "competition" in the public transport system. Their logic about the privatisation and profiting by the transport companies is sound except... what competition?
True there are 2 companies, but they seem to be working hand-in-hand with each other.
Brings to mind the phrase "divide and conquer" because that's exactly what they seem to be doing - monopolizing the market as partners, each with its own portions of the island.
I mean, has anyone seen any conflict between them ever? No, together they work smoother than whipped cream and not even a whiff of trouble has ever existed. Better yet, they apply for fare raises together every time.
They're practically brothers, if they were human.
So you can throw away all that nonsense about how private companies need to make profit and shit now and move away from that point of view because it's invalid. They are as good as nationalised when both are them are mainly owned by the government; the "private company" thing is just an excuse to profit.
Finished Ex-Heroes. Not a thick book but awesome story. This genre blend is so fresh I totally didn't expect the source of the infection. Not revealing any spoilers here.
The plot was simpler than I expected though. Basically it began with the Mount, which seemed to be the final bastion of civilization in Los Angeles, where the last superheroes were protecting the last survivors of the city.
Later, it was revealed that they were constantly harassed not just by the zombie hordes but also by some kind of raider gang whose base of operations was unknown. Eventually, they learnt that these raiders were more than the minor irritation than they first appeared to be.
I think I can reveal one small spoiler here since it was actually quite obvious when I thought about it. In a previous rant I had mentioned that I wondered why a city with superheroes could have a problem with zombies.
Apparently, when superheroes become zombies, they retain their powers. But which superhero would be stupid enough to get close despite their superhuman speed or flying ability or whatever?
Those with "issues", of course. Superheroes are just people with special powers, after all. They could easily be insane just like normal people.
That's why one of them had tried to have sex with a zombified Jessica Alba (hopefully she was still fresh).
But some of the others were just plain unlucky.
Anyway I like how the book alternates between the present and the past. Every alternate chapter presents a back story of an ex-hero and how he/she died. To keep them from getting stale, the writer tried to switch between first and third person for each story.
Of course there were parts of the plot where it didn't make sense. For example, they could have just asked Zzzap to fry the villain(s) and end the story right there. The author could have made him a lesser hero than he was to make this little issue go away, eg remove his flying ability, but somehow he didn't. No idea why.
He wouldn't have been able to fly around to fight everything in the past but that wasn't exactly a problem in fiction. And if he couldn't fly, he wouldn't have been able to reach the antagonist at the end.
Oh well. Fiction.
Anyway it was a good book, albeit somewhat short. Hopefully it will get more popular and he'd write a longer sequel.
As for Dead City which I've also just finished, it's above average. The plot was typical and there wasn't much that made it stand out. But it was interesting enough.
Similarly, Apocalypse of the Dead contains a plot that I feel like I've seen before. Religious leaders who saved many people but later turned out to be evil/insane aren't exactly special in the zombie genre.
But books in this genre are very limited AFAIK so I'll cut them some slack and say they were pretty good books.
And so I finished all three zombie books I bought. I have a feeling I'll be re-reading Ex-Heroes in the near future. It really is that good.
Now I've to look for some place to print my namecard.
Easier said than done.
I need foil stamping aka hot stamping which really jacks up the prices, and I don't need a lot - 300 pieces is my current target.
Currently reading The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Pretty funny so far.
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