Datasets:

claran

/

m2d2-wiki-decon

like 0

1532fd7c-b380-487c-86cb-d8e02a232911

m2d2_wiki

Argyle Street, Norwich Argyle Street was a Victorian terraced street in Norwich, Norfolk. It became a squat lasting from 1979 to 1985. The street was then demolished in 1986. Some of the newbuild houses were subsequently demolished in 2015. History. A Victorian street consisting of small two up two down terraced houses, according to Morant's map, Argyle Street was partly built in 1873. In 1883-4 there were 106 families, mainly manual workers with a significant number of men employed by the railway. The Jarrold & Sons Directory of 1889 lists one shopkeeper. The street was saved from slum clearance in the early 1960s, after the nearby area of Richmond, or the village on the hill was completely demolished. Squatted. The University of East Anglia planned to buy the Victorian terraced housing of Argyle Street from Norwich City Council for student homes in 1979. However, on 6 December 1978 40 squatters moved into 14 empty houses and one of Britain's longest-running and biggest squats had begun. The other 15 empty houses were quickly occupied and eventually the street had 120 squatters. The squatters called their street the Argyle Street Alternative Republic. The lamp posts were painted to look like giraffes and the pavements were embellished with rainbows and peace signs. In 1980 the squatters formed a co-operative which was backed by Norwich City Council, which at the time included Pat Hollis. Together they applied for a grant from the Government-funded Housing Corporation. In 1981 a £1 million grant was agreed for a major renovation scheme, but in 1982 the Department of the Environment blocked Norwich City Council's plan to sell or lease the houses to the co-operative. Redevelopment. In 1984 Norwich City Council decided to demolish the area and develop it for sheltered homes. The final eviction of squatters from Argyle Street occurred in February 1985. Some of the redeveloped houses, built in 1986, were judged to be at risk of subsidence in 2009. The tenants were evacuated and the buildings were finally demolished in 2015 after standing empty for 6 years and becoming an eyesore. The only option left to the Council was to demolish the homes for £230,000 and then to make a park. Film. In 1981, Argyle Street became the setting for scenes of a filmed adaptation of Doris Lessing's dystopian novel "Memoirs of a Survivor". In 1985, Al Stokes made a film about the eviction of the squatters, called "Street of Experience." Stokes and his crew filmed the leaving party on the night of February 19 and the eviction the following day.

64495050-3e3d-4a59-8987-a27ff69e4c87

m2d2_wiki

Atlas Shrugged Atlas Shrugged is a 1957 novel by Ayn Rand. Rand's fourth and final novel, it was also her longest, and the one she considered to be her "magnum opus" in the realm of fiction writing. "Atlas Shrugged" includes elements of science fiction, mystery, and romance, and it contains Rand's most extensive statement of Objectivism in any of her works of fiction. The theme of "Atlas Shrugged", as Rand described it, is "the role of man's mind in existence". The book explores a number of philosophical themes from which Rand would subsequently develop Objectivism. In doing so, it expresses the advocacy of reason, individualism, and capitalism, and depicts what Rand saw to be the failures of governmental coercion. The book depicts a dystopian United States in which private businesses suffer under increasingly burdensome laws and regulations. Railroad executive Dagny Taggart and her lover, steel magnate Hank Rearden, struggle against "looters" who want to exploit their productivity. Dagny and Hank discover that a mysterious figure called John Galt is persuading other business leaders to abandon their companies and disappear as a strike of productive individuals against the looters. The novel ends with the strikers planning to build a new capitalist society based on Galt's philosophy of reason and individualism. "Atlas Shrugged" received largely negative reviews after its 1957 publication, but achieved enduring popularity and ongoing sales in the following decades. After several unsuccessful attempts to adapt the novel for film or television, a film trilogy based on it was released from 2011 to 2014. The book has also achieved currency among libertarian and conservative thinkers and politicians . Synopsis. Setting. "Atlas Shrugged" is set in a dystopian United States at an unspecified time, in which the country has a "National Legislature" instead of Congress and a "Head of State" instead of a President. The United States also appears to be approaching an economic collapse, with widespread shortages, constant business failures, and severely decreased productivity. The government has gradually extended its control over businesses by passing ever more stringent regulations that increasingly favor established and stagnant corporations, especially those that have good connections in Washington. Writer Edward Younkins said, "The story may be simultaneously described as anachronistic and timeless. The pattern of industrial organization appears to be that of the late 1800s—the mood seems to be close to that of the depression-era 1930s. Both the social customs and the level of technology remind one of the 1950s". Many early 20th-century technologies are available, and the steel and railroad industries are especially significant; but later technologies such as jet planes and computers are largely absent. There is very little mention of historical people or events, not even major events such as World War II. Aside from the United States, most countries are referred to as "People's States" that are implied to be either socialist or communist. Plot. Dagny Taggart, the operating vice-president of Taggart Transcontinental railroad, keeps the company going amid a sustained economic depression. As economic conditions worsen and government enforces statist controls on successful businesses, people are heard repeating the cryptic phrase "Who is John Galt?" which means: "Don't ask questions nobody can answer"; or more broadly, "Why bother?". Her brother James, the railroad's president, seems to make irrational decisions, such as buying from Orren Boyle's unreliable Associated Steel. Dagny is also disappointed to discover that the Argentine billionaire Francisco d'Anconia, her childhood friend and first love, is risking his family's copper company by constructing the San Sebastián copper mines, even though Mexico will probably nationalize them. Despite the risk, Jim and Boyle invest heavily in a railway for the region while ignoring the Rio Norte Line in Colorado, where entrepreneur Ellis Wyatt has discovered large oil reserves. Mexico nationalizes the mines and railroad line, but the mines are discovered to be worthless. To recoup the railroad's losses, Jim influences the National Alliance of Railroads to prohibit competition in prosperous areas such as Colorado. Wyatt demands that Dagny supply adequate rails to his wells before the ruling takes effect. In Philadelphia, self-made steel magnate Hank Rearden develops Rearden Metal, an alloy lighter and stronger than conventional steel. Dagny opts to use Rearden Metal in the Rio Norte Line, becoming the first major customer for the product. After Hank refuses to sell the metal to the State Science Institute, a government research foundation run by Dr. Robert Stadler, the Institute publishes a report condemning the metal without identifying problems with it. As a result, many significant organizations boycott the line. Although Stadler agrees with Dagny's complaints about the unscientific tone of the report, he refuses to override it. To protect Taggart Transcontinental from the boycott, Dagny decides to build the Rio Norte Line as an independent company named the John Galt Line. Hank is attracted to Dagny and is unhappy with his manipulative wife Lillian, but feels obliged to stay with her. When he joins Dagny for the successful inauguration of the John Galt Line, they become lovers. On a vacation trip, Hank and Dagny discover an abandoned factory that contains an incomplete but revolutionary motor that runs on atmospheric static electricity. They begin searching for the inventor, and Dagny hires scientist Quentin Daniels to reconstruct the motor. However, a series of economically harmful directives are issued by Wesley Mouch, a former Rearden lobbyist who betrayed Hank in return for a job leading a government agency. In response, Wyatt sets his wells on fire and disappears. Several other important business leaders have disappeared, leaving their industries to failure. From conversations with Francisco, Dagny and Hank realize he is hurting his copper company intentionally, although they do not understand why. When the government imposes a directive that forbids employees from leaving their jobs and nationalizes all patents, Dagny violates the law by resigning in protest. To gain Hank's compliance, the government blackmails him with threats to publicize his affair with Dagny. After a major disaster in one of Taggart Transcontinental's tunnels, Dagny decides to return to work. On her return, she receives notice that Quentin Daniels is also quitting in protest, and she rushes across the country to convince him to stay. On her way to Daniels, Dagny meets a hobo with a story that reveals the secret of the motor: it was invented and abandoned by an engineer named John Galt, who is the inspiration for the common saying. When she chases after Daniels in a private plane, she crashes and discovers the secret behind the disappearances of business leaders: Galt is leading an organized strike of "the men of the mind" against a society that demands that they be sacrificed. She has crashed in their hiding place, an isolated valley known as Galt's Gulch. As she recovers from her injuries, she hears the strikers' explanations for the strike, and learns that the strikers include Francisco and many prominent people, such as her favorite composer, Richard Halley, and infamous pirate Ragnar Danneskjöld. Dagny falls in love with Galt, who asks her to join the strike. Reluctant to abandon her railroad, Dagny leaves Galt's Gulch, but finds the government has devolved into dictatorship. Francisco has finished sabotaging his mines and quits. After he helps stop an armed government takeover of Hank's steel mill, Francisco convinces Hank to join the strike. Galt follows Dagny to New York, where he hacks into a national radio broadcast to deliver a three-hour speech that explains the novel's theme and Rand's Objectivism. The authorities capture Galt, but he is rescued by his partisans. The government collapses and New York City loses its electricity. The novel closes as Galt announces that the way is clear for the strikers to rejoin the world. History. Early novel idea in Russia. Rand biographer Anne Heller traces the ideas which would go into "Atlas Shrugged" all the way back to a novel which the young Rand had in mind when a student at the University of Petrograd, long before she came to America. That novel - of which Rand prepared a detailed outline, though she never wrote it - was set in a future in which the whole of Europe had become communist. A beautiful, spirited American heiress is luring the most talented Europeans to America, thereby weakening the European communist regime. After various complicated plot twists - the heiress seduces a French communist who was sent to America to stop her, and they have a stormy love affair - the novel would have gotten to a happy end, i.e. the collapse of European communism. The main difference from "Atlas Shrugged" as written many years later was that while in Russia, Rand idealized America as a capitalist paradise and did not realize that it might have its own home-grown communists and socialists; therefore, in the book as finally written, talented people could not just cross the Atlantic, but needed to withdraw to an isolated valley. The most clear continuity is the fact that already in that early Russian version, the protagonist heiress would have had an assistant called "Eddie Willers", the name of Dagny Taggart's assistant in "Atlas Shrugged". Context and writing. Rand's stated goal for writing the novel was "to show how desperately the world needs prime movers and how viciously it treats them" and to portray "what happens to the world without them". The core idea for the book came to her after a 1943 telephone conversation with her friend Isabel Paterson, who asserted that Rand owed it to her readers to write fiction about her philosophy. Rand replied, "What if I went on strike? What if all the creative minds of the world went on strike?" Rand then began "Atlas Shrugged" to depict the morality of rational self-interest, by exploring the consequences of a strike by intellectuals refusing to supply their inventions, art, business leadership, scientific research, or new ideas to the rest of the world. Rand began the first draft of the novel on September 2, 1946. She initially thought it would be easy to write and completed quickly, but as she considered the complexity of the philosophical issues she wanted to address, she realized it would take longer. After ending a contract to write screenplays for Hal Wallis and finishing her obligations for the film adaptation of "The Fountainhead", Rand was able to work full-time on the novel that she tentatively titled "The Strike". By the summer of 1950, she had written 18 chapters; by September 1951, she had written 21 chapters and was working on the last of the novel's three sections. As Rand completed new chapters, she read them to a circle of young confidants who had begun gathering at her home to discuss philosophy. This group included Nathaniel Branden, his wife Barbara Branden, Barbara's cousin Leonard Peikoff, and economist Alan Greenspan. Progress on the novel slowed considerably in 1953, when Rand began working on Galt's lengthy radio address. She spent more than two years completing the speech, finishing it on October 13, 1955. The remaining chapters proceeded more quickly, and by November 1956 Rand was ready to submit the almost-completed manuscript to publishers. "Atlas Shrugged" was Rand's last completed work of fiction. It marked a turning point in her life—the end of her career as a novelist and the beginning of her role as a popular philosopher. Influences. To depict the industrial setting of "Atlas Shrugged", Rand conducted research on the American railroad and steel industries. She toured and inspected a number of industrial facilities, such as the Kaiser Steel plant, visited facilities of the New York Central Railroad, and even briefly operated a locomotive on the Twentieth Century Limited. Rand also used previous research she did for a proposed (but never completed) screenplay about the development of the atomic bomb, including her interviews of J. Robert Oppenheimer, which influenced the character Robert Stadler and the novel's depiction of the development of "Project X". Rand's descriptions of Galt's Gulch were based on the town of Ouray, Colorado, which Rand and her husband visited in 1951 when they were relocating from Los Angeles to New York. Other details of the novel were affected by the experiences and comments of her friends. For example, her portrayal of leftist intellectuals (such as the characters Balph Eubank and Simon Pritchett) was influenced by the college experiences of Nathaniel and Barbara Branden, and Alan Greenspan provided information on the economics of the steel industry. Libertarian writer Justin Raimondo described similarities between "Atlas Shrugged" and Garet Garrett's 1922 novel "The Driver", which is about an idealized industrialist named Henry Galt, who is a transcontinental railway owner trying to improve the world and fighting against government and socialism. Raimondo believed the earlier novel influenced Rand's writing in ways she failed to acknowledge, although there was no "word-for-word plagiarism“ and "The Driver" was published four years before Rand emigrated to the United States. Journalist Jeff Walker echoed Raimondo's comparisons in his book "The Ayn Rand Cult" and listed "The Driver" as one of several unacknowledged precursors to "Atlas Shrugged". In contrast, Chris Matthew Sciabarra said he "could not find any evidence to link Rand to Garrett" and considered Raimondo's claims to be "unsupported". "Liberty" magazine editor R. W. Bradford said Raimondo made an unconvincing comparison based on a coincidence of names and common literary devices. Publishing history. Due to the success of Rand's 1943 novel "The Fountainhead", she had no trouble attracting a publisher for "Atlas Shrugged". This was a contrast to her previous novels, which she had struggled to place. Even before she began writing it, she had been approached by publishers interested in her next novel. However, her contract for "The Fountainhead" gave the first option to its publisher, Bobbs-Merrill Company. After reviewing a partial manuscript, they asked her to discuss cuts and other changes. She refused, and Bobbs-Merrill rejected the book. Hiram Hayden, an editor she liked who had left Bobbs-Merrill, asked her to consider his new employer, Random House. In an early discussion about the difficulties of publishing a controversial novel, Random House president Bennett Cerf proposed that Rand should submit the manuscript to multiple publishers simultaneously and ask how they would respond to its ideas, so she could evaluate who might best promote her work. Rand was impressed by the bold suggestion and by her overall conversations with them. After speaking with a few other publishers from about a dozen who were interested, Rand decided multiple submissions were not needed; she offered the manuscript to Random House. Upon reading the portion Rand submitted, Cerf declared it a "great book" and offered Rand a contract. It was the first time Rand had worked with a publisher whose executives seemed enthusiastic about one of her books. Random House published the novel on October 10, 1957. The initial print run was 100,000 copies. The first paperback edition was published by New American Library in July 1959, with an initial run of 150,000. A 35th-anniversary edition was published by E. P. Dutton in 1992, with an introduction by Rand's heir, Leonard Peikoff. The novel has been translated into more than 25 languages. Title and chapters. The working title of the novel was "The Strike", but Rand thought this title would reveal the mystery element of the novel prematurely. She was pleased when her husband suggested "Atlas Shrugged", previously the title of a single chapter, for the book. The title is a reference to Atlas, a Titan in Greek mythology, who is described in the novel as "the giant who holds the world on his shoulders". The significance of this reference appears in a conversation between the characters Francisco d'Anconia and Hank Rearden, in which d'Anconia asks Rearden what advice he would give Atlas upon seeing "the greater [the Titan's] effort, the heavier the world bore down on his shoulders". With Rearden unable to answer, d'Anconia gives his own advice: "To shrug". The novel is divided into three parts consisting of ten chapters each. Each part is named in honor of one of Aristotle's laws of logic: "Non-Contradiction" after the law of noncontradiction; "Either-Or", which is a reference to the law of excluded middle; and "A Is A" in reference to the law of identity. Each chapter also has a title; "Atlas Shrugged" is the only one of Rand's novels to use chapter titles. Themes. Philosophy. The story of "Atlas Shrugged" dramatically expresses Rand's ethical egoism, her advocacy of "rational selfishness", whereby all of the principal virtues and vices are applications of the role of reason as man's basic tool of survival (or a failure to apply it): rationality, honesty, justice, independence, integrity, productiveness, and pride. Rand's characters often personify her view of the archetypes of various schools of philosophy for living and working in the world. Robert James Bidinotto wrote, "Rand rejected the literary convention that depth and plausibility demand characters who are naturalistic replicas of the kinds of people we meet in everyday life, uttering everyday dialogue and pursuing everyday values. But she also rejected the notion that characters should be symbolic rather than realistic." and Rand herself stated, "My characters are never symbols, they are merely men in sharper focus than the audience can see with unaided sight. ... My characters are persons in whom certain human attributes are focused more sharply and consistently than in average human beings". In addition to the plot's more obvious statements about the significance of industrialists to society, and the sharp contrast to Marxism and the labor theory of value, this explicit conflict is used by Rand to draw wider philosophical conclusions, both implicit in the plot and via the characters' own statements. "Atlas Shrugged" caricatures fascism, socialism, communism, and any state intervention in society, as allowing unproductive people to "leech" the hard-earned wealth of the productive, and Rand contends that the outcome of any individual's life is purely a function of their ability, and that any individual could overcome adverse circumstances, given ability and intelligence. Sanction of the victim. The concept "sanction of the victim" is defined by Leonard Peikoff as "the willingness of the good to suffer at the hands of the evil, to accept the role of sacrificial victim for the 'sin' of creating values". Accordingly, throughout "Atlas Shrugged", numerous characters are frustrated by this sanction, as when Hank Rearden appears duty-bound to support his family, despite their hostility toward him; later, the principle is stated by Dan Conway: "I suppose somebody's got to be sacrificed. If it turned out to be me, I have no right to complain". John Galt further explains the principle: "Evil is impotent and has no power but that which we let it extort from us", and, "I saw that evil was impotent ... and the only weapon of its triumph was the willingness of the good to serve it". Government and business. Rand's view of the ideal government is expressed by John Galt: "The political system we will build is contained in a single moral premise: no man may obtain any values from others by resorting to physical force", whereas "no rights can exist without the right to translate one's rights into reality—to think, to work and to keep the results—which means: the right of property". Galt himself lives a life of laissez-faire capitalism. In the world of "Atlas Shrugged," society stagnates when independent productive agencies are socially demonized for their accomplishments. This is in agreement with an excerpt from a 1964 interview with "Playboy" magazine, in which Rand states: "What we have today is not a capitalist society, but a mixed economy—that is, a mixture of freedom and controls, which, by the presently dominant trend, is moving toward dictatorship. The action in "Atlas Shrugged" takes place at a time when society has reached the stage of dictatorship. When and if this happens, that will be the time to go on strike, but not until then". Rand also depicts public choice theory, such that the language of altruism is used to pass legislation nominally in the public interest ("e.g.", the "Anti-Dog-Eat-Dog Rule", and "The Equalization of Opportunity Bill"), but more to the short-term benefit of special interests and government agencies. Property rights and individualism. Rand's heroes continually oppose "parasites", "looters", and "moochers" who demand the benefits of the heroes' labor. Edward Younkins describes "Atlas Shrugged" as "an apocalyptic vision of the last stages of conflict between two classes of humanity—the looters and the non-looters. The looters are proponents of high taxation, big labor, government ownership, government spending, government planning, regulation, and redistribution". "Looters" are Rand's depiction of bureaucrats and government officials, who confiscate others' earnings by the implicit threat of force ("at the point of a gun"). Some officials execute government policy, such as those who confiscate one state's seed grain to feed the starving citizens of another; others exploit those policies, such as the railroad regulator who illegally sells the railroad's supplies for his own profit. Both use force to take property from the people who produced or earned it. "Moochers" are Rand's depiction of those unable to produce value themselves, who demand others' earnings on behalf of the needy, but resent the talented upon whom they depend, and appeal to "moral right" while enabling the "lawful" seizure by governments. The character Francisco d'Anconia indicates the role of "looters" and "moochers" in relation to money: "So you think that money is the root of all evil? ... Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can't exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. ... Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or the looters who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce." Genre. The novel includes elements of mystery, romance, and science fiction. Rand referred to "Atlas Shrugged" as a mystery novel, "not about the murder of man's body, but about the murder—and rebirth—of man's spirit". Nonetheless, when asked by film producer Albert S. Ruddy if a screenplay could focus on the love story, Rand agreed and reportedly said, "That's all it ever was". Technological progress and intellectual breakthroughs in scientific theory appear in "Atlas Shrugged", leading some observers to classify it in the genre of science fiction. Writer Jeff Riggenbach notes: "Galt's motor is one of the three inventions that propel the action of "Atlas Shrugged", the other two being Rearden Metal and the government's sonic weapon, Project X. Other fictional technologies are "refractor rays" (to disguise Galt's Gulch), a sophisticated electrical torture device (the Ferris Persuader), voice-activated door locks (at the Gulch's power station), palm-activated door locks (in Galt's New York laboratory), Galt's means of quietly turning the entire contents of his laboratory into a fine powder when a lock is breached, and a means of taking over all radio stations worldwide. Riggenbach adds, "Rand's overall message with regard to science seems clear: the role of science in human life and human society is to provide the knowledge on the basis of which technological advancement and the related improvements in the quality of human life can be realized. But science can fulfill this role only in a society in which human beings are left free to conduct their business as they see fit." Science fiction historian John J. Pierce describes it as a "romantic suspense novel" that is "at least a borderline case" of science fiction. Reception. Sales. "Atlas Shrugged" debuted at number 13 on "The New York Times" Best Seller list three days after its publication. It peaked at number 3 on December 8, 1957, and was on the list for 22 consecutive weeks. By 1984, its sales had exceeded five million copies. Sales of "Atlas Shrugged" increased following the 2007 financial crisis. "The Economist" reported that the 52-year-old novel ranked 33rd among Amazon.com's top-selling books on January 13, 2009, and that its 30-day sales average showed the novel selling three times faster than during the same period of the previous year. On April 2, 2009, "Atlas Shrugged" ranked first in the "Fiction and Literature" category at Amazon and fifteenth in overall sales. Total sales of the novel in 2009 exceeded 500,000 copies. The book sold 445,000 copies in 2011, the second-strongest sales year in the novel's history. Contemporary reviews. "Atlas Shrugged" was generally disliked by critics. Rand scholar Mimi Reisel Gladstein later wrote that "reviewers seemed to vie with each other in a contest to devise the cleverest put-downs"; one called it "execrable claptrap", while another said it showed "remorseless hectoring and prolixity". In the "Saturday Review", Helen Beal Woodward said that the novel was written with "dazzling virtuosity" but was "shot through with hatred". In "The New York Times Book Review", Granville Hicks similarly said the book was "written out of hate". The reviewer for "Time" magazine asked: "Is it a novel? Is it a nightmare? Is it Superman – in the comic strip or the Nietzschean version?" In the "National Review", Whittaker Chambers called "Atlas Shrugged" "sophomoric" and "remarkably silly", and said it "can be called a novel only by devaluing the term". Chambers argued against the novel's implicit endorsement of atheism and said the implicit message of the novel is akin to "Hitler's National Socialism and Stalin's brand of Communism": "To a gas chamber—go!" There were some positive reviews. Richard McLaughlin, reviewing the novel for "The American Mercury", described it as a "long overdue" polemic against the welfare state with an "exciting, suspenseful plot", although unnecessarily long. He drew a comparison with the antislavery novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin", saying that a "skillful polemicist" did not need a refined literary style to have a political impact. Journalist and book reviewer John Chamberlain, writing in the "New York Herald Tribune", found "Atlas Shrugged" satisfying on many levels: as science fiction, as a "philosophical detective story", and as a "profound political parable". Influence and legacy. "Atlas Shrugged" has attracted an energetic and committed fan base. Each year, the Ayn Rand Institute donates 400,000 copies of works by Rand, including "Atlas Shrugged", to high school students. According to a 1991 survey done for the Library of Congress and the Book of the Month Club, "Atlas Shrugged" was mentioned among the books that made the most difference in the lives of 17 out of 5,000 Book-of-the-Month club members surveyed, which placed the novel between the Bible and M. Scott Peck's "The Road Less Traveled". Modern Library's 1998 nonscientific online poll of the 100 best novels of the 20th century found "Atlas" rated No. 1, although it was not included on the list chosen by the Modern Library board of authors and scholars. The 2018 PBS "Great American Read" television series found "Atlas" rated number 20 out of 100 novels. Rand's impact on contemporary libertarian thought has been considerable. The title of one libertarian magazine, "Reason: Free Minds, Free Markets", is taken directly from John Galt, the hero of "Atlas Shrugged", who argues that "a free mind and a free market are corollaries". In a tribute written on the 20th anniversary of the novel's publication, libertarian philosopher John Hospers praised it as "a supreme achievement, guaranteed of immortality". In 1983, the Libertarian Futurist Society gave the novel one of its first "Hall of Fame" awards. In 1997, the libertarian Cato Institute held a joint conference with The Atlas Society, an Objectivist organization, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the publication of "Atlas Shrugged". At this event, Howard Dickman of "Reader's Digest" stated that the novel had "turned millions of readers on to the ideas of liberty" and said that the book had the important message of the readers' "profound right to be happy". Former Rand business partner and lover Nathaniel Branden has expressed differing views of "Atlas Shrugged". He was initially quite favorable to it, and even after he and Rand ended their relationship, he still referred to it in an interview as "the greatest novel that has ever been written", although he found "a few things one can quarrel with in the book". However, in 1984 he argued that "Atlas Shrugged" "encourages emotional repression and self-disowning" and that Rand's works contained contradictory messages. He criticized the potential psychological impact of the novel, stating that John Galt's recommendation to respond to wrongdoing with "contempt and moral condemnation" clashes with the view of psychologists who say this only causes the wrongdoing to repeat itself. The Austrian School economist Ludwig von Mises admired the unapologetic elitism he saw in Rand's work. In a letter to Rand written a few months after the novel's publication, he said it offered "a cogent analysis of the evils that plague our society, a substantiated rejection of the ideology of our self-styled 'intellectuals' and a pitiless unmasking of the insincerity of the policies adopted by governments and political parties ... You have the courage to tell the masses what no politician told them: you are inferior and all the improvements in your conditions which you simply take for granted you owe to the efforts of men who are better than you." Murray Rothbard, another Austrian School economist, wrote a letter to Rand in 1958 in which he praised the book as "an infinite treasure house" and "not merely the greatest novel ever written, [but] one of the very greatest books ever written, fiction or nonfiction". Rothbard soon distanced himself from Rand due to various disagreements in philosophy, and in the early 1960s he wrote a satirical one act play that spoofed Rand and the novel. In the years immediately following the novel's publication, many American conservatives, such as William F. Buckley, Jr., strongly disapproved of Rand and her Objectivist message. In addition to the strongly critical review by Whittaker Chambers, Buckley solicited a number of critical pieces: Russell Kirk called Objectivism an "inverted religion", Frank Meyer accused Rand of "calculated cruelties" and her message, an "arid subhuman image of man", and Garry Wills regarded Rand a "fanatic". In the late 2000s, however, conservative commentators suggested the book as a warning against a socialistic reaction to the finance crisis. Conservative commentators Neal Boortz, Glenn Beck, and Rush Limbaugh offered praise of the book on their respective radio and television programs. In 2006, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Clarence Thomas cited "Atlas Shrugged" as among his favorite novels. Republican Congressman John Campbell said, for example, "People are starting to feel like we're living through the scenario that happened in [the novel] ... We're living in "Atlas Shrugged", echoing Stephen Moore in an article published in "The Wall Street Journal" on January 9, 2009, titled "Atlas Shrugged" From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years". In 2005, Republican Congressman Paul Ryan said that Rand was "the reason I got into public service", and he later required his staff members to read "Atlas Shrugged". In April 2012, he disavowed such beliefs however, calling them "an urban legend", and rejected Rand's philosophy. Ryan was subsequently mocked by Nobel Prize-winning economist and liberal commentator Paul Krugman for his reportedly getting ideas about monetary policy from the novel. In another commentary, Krugman quoted a quip by writer John Rogers: "There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year-old's life: "The Lord of the Rings" and "Atlas Shrugged". One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs." References to "Atlas Shrugged" have appeared in a variety of other popular entertainments. In the first season of the drama series "Mad Men", Bert Cooper urges Don Draper to read the book, and Don's sales pitch tactic to a client indicates he has been influenced by the strike plot: "If you don't appreciate my hard work, then I will take it away and we'll see how you do." Less positive mentions of the novel occur in the animated comedy "Futurama", where it appears among the library of books flushed down to the sewers to be read only by grotesque mutants, and in "South Park", where a newly literate character gives up on reading after experiencing "Atlas Shrugged". "BioShock", a critically acclaimed 2007 video game, is widely considered to be a response to "Atlas Shrugged". The story depicts a society that has collapsed due to Objectivism, and significant characters in the game owe their naming to Rand's work, which the game's creator Ken Levine found "really fascinating". In 2013, it was announced that Galt's Gulch, a settlement for libertarian devotees named for John Galt's safe haven, would be established near Santiago in Chile, but the project collapsed amid accusations of fraud. Adaptations. A film adaptation of "Atlas Shrugged" was in "development hell" for nearly 40 years. In 1972, Albert S. Ruddy approached Rand to produce a cinematic adaptation. Rand insisted on having final script approval, which Ruddy refused to give her, thus preventing a deal. In 1978, Henry and Michael Jaffe negotiated a deal for an eight-hour "Atlas Shrugged" television miniseries on NBC. Michael Jaffe hired screenwriter Stirling Silliphant to adapt the novel and he obtained approval from Rand on the final script. When Fred Silverman became president of NBC in 1979, the project was scrapped. Rand, a former Hollywood screenwriter herself, began writing her own screenplay, but died in 1982 with only one-third of it finished. She left her estate, including the film rights to "Atlas", to Leonard Peikoff, who sold an option to Michael Jaffe and Ed Snider. Peikoff would not approve the script they wrote, and the deal fell through. In 1992, investor John Aglialoro bought an option to produce the film, paying Peikoff over $1 million for full creative control. Two new scripts – one by screenwriter Benedict Fitzgerald and another by Peikoff's wife, Cynthia Peikoff – were deemed inadequate, and Aglialoro refunded early investors in the project. In 1999, under Aglialoro's sponsorship, Ruddy negotiated a deal with Turner Network Television (TNT) for a four-hour miniseries, but the project was killed after TNT merged with AOL Time Warner. After the TNT deal fell through, Howard and Karen Baldwin obtained the rights while running Philip Anschutz's Crusader Entertainment. The Baldwins left Crusader to form Baldwin Entertainment Group in 2004 and took the rights to "Atlas Shrugged" with them. Michael Burns of Lions Gate Entertainment approached the Baldwins to fund and distribute "Atlas Shrugged". A draft screenplay was written by James V. Hart and rewritten by Randall Wallace, but was never produced. "Atlas Shrugged: Part I". In May 2010, Brian Patrick O'Toole and Aglialoro wrote a screenplay, intent on filming in June 2010. Stephen Polk was set to direct. However, Polk was fired and principal photography began on June 13, 2010, under the direction of Paul Johansson and produced by Harmon Kaslow and Aglialoro. This resulted in Aglialoro's retention of his rights to the property, which were set to expire on June 15, 2010. Filming was completed on July 20, 2010, and the movie was released on April 15, 2011. Taylor Schilling played Dagny Taggart and Grant Bowler played Hank Rearden. The film was met with a generally negative reception from professional critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 12% based on 51 reviews, with an average score of 3.6 out of 10. The film had under $5 million in total box office receipts, considerably less than the estimated $20 million invested by Aglialoro and others. The poor box office and critical reception made Aglialoro reconsider his plans for the rest of the trilogy, but other investors convinced him to continue. "Atlas Shrugged: Part II". On February 2, 2012, Kaslow and Aglialoro announced they had raised $16 million to fund "". Principal photography began on April 2, 2012; the producers hoped to release the film before the US presidential election in November. Because the cast for the first film had not been contracted for the entire trilogy, different actors were cast for all the roles. Samantha Mathis played Dagny Taggart, with Jason Beghe as Henry Rearden and Esai Morales as Francisco d'Anconia. The film was released on October 12, 2012, without a special screening for critics. It earned $1.7 million on 1012 screens for the opening weekend, which at that time ranked as the 109th worst opening for a film in wide release. Critical response was highly negative; Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 4% rating based on 23 reviews, with an average score of 3 out of 10. The film's final box office total was $3.3 million. "Atlas Shrugged: Part III: Who Is John Galt?". The third part in the series, "", was released on September 12, 2014. The movie opened on 242 screens and grossed $461,197 its opening weekend. It was reviewed unfavorably by critics, holding a 0% at Rotten Tomatoes, based on ten reviews. Dagny Taggart was played by Laura Regan, Henry Rearden by Rob Morrow, John Galt by Kristoffer Polaha, and Francisco d'Anconia by Joaquim de Almeida.

142ecba8-8871-46d2-8847-3c793709fc81

m2d2_wiki

Neverland Neverland is a fictional island featured in the works of J. M. Barrie and those based on them. It is an imaginary faraway place where Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, Captain Hook, the Lost Boys, and some other mythical beings and creatures live. Although not all people who come to Neverland cease to age, its best-known resident famously refused to grow up. Thus, the term is often used as a metaphor for eternal childhood (and childishness), as well as immortality and escapism. The concept was first introduced as "the Never Never Land" in Barrie's theatre play "Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up", first staged in 1904. In the earliest drafts of the play, the island was called "Peter's Never Never Never Land,", a name possibly influenced by the 'Never Never', a contemporary term for outback Australia. In the 1928 published version of the play's script, the name was shortened to "the Never Land". Although the caption to one of F. D. Bedford's illustrations also calls it "The Never Never Land," Barrie's 1911 novelisation "Peter and Wendy" simply refers to it as "the Neverland," and its many variations "the Neverlands." Neverland has been featured prominently in subsequent works that either adapted Barrie's works or expanded upon them. These Neverlands sometimes vary in nature from the original. Description. Location. The novel says that the Neverlands are compact enough that adventures are never far between, and that a map of a child's mind would resemble a map of Neverland, with no boundaries at all. Accordingly, Barrie explains that the Neverlands are found in the minds of children; although each is "always more or less an island" as well as having a family resemblance, they are not the same from one child to the next. For example, John Darling's Neverland had "a lagoon with flamingos flying over it," while his little brother Michael's had "a flamingo with lagoons flying over it." The exact situation of Neverland is ambiguous and vague. In Barrie's original tale, the name for the real world is the Mainland, which suggests Neverland is a small island, reached by flight. Peter—who is described as saying "anything that came into his head"—tells Wendy the way to Neverland is "second to the right, and straight on till morning." In the novel, the children are said to have found the island only because it was "out looking for them." Barrie additionally writes that Neverland is near the "stars of the milky way" and it is reached "always at the time of sunrise." In Barrie's "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens" (1906), a proto-version of Neverland, located in the Serpentine in Kensington Gardens, is called the Birds' Island, where baby Peter reaches by flight, or by sailing in a paper boat or thrush's nest. Walt Disney's 1953 "Peter Pan" suggests Neverland is located in outer space, adding a "star" to Peter's directions: "second star to the right, and straight on till morning." From afar, these stars depict Neverland in the distance. The 2003 live-action film (produced by Universal Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Revolution Studios, Red Wagon Entertainment and Allied Stars Ltd) repeats this representation, as the Darling children are flown through the solar system to reach Neverland. In the 1991 film "Hook" (produced by TriStar Pictures and Amblin Entertainment), Neverland is shown to be located in the same way as the 1953 Disney film. While flying is the only way to reach it, the film does not show exactly how Captain Hook manages to get from Neverland to London in order to kidnap Peter's children, Jack and Maggie. In "Peter Pan in Scarlet" (2006), by Geraldine McCaughrean, Neverland is located in waters known as the 'Sea of One Thousand Islands'. The children get to the island by flying on a road called the High Way. In Peter David's 2009 novel "Tigerheart", Neverland is renamed the Anyplace and is described as being both a physical place and a dream land where human adults and children go when they dream. Additionally, there is a location called the Noplace which is cold and devoid of colour where people in a coma and those who are "lost" live. In the 2011 miniseries "Neverland", inspired by Barrie's works, the titular place is said to be another planet existing at the centre of the universe. It is accessible only via a magic portal generated by a strange sphere. In the 2015 American film "Pan", Neverland is a floating island in a sky-like dimension. Time. The passage of time in Neverland is similarly ambiguous. The novel "Peter and Wendy" mentions that in Neverland there are many more suns and moons than on the Mainland, making time difficult to track. One way to tell the time is to find the crocodile, and wait until the clock inside it strikes the hour. Although Neverland is widely thought of as a place where children don't grow up, Barrie wrote that the Lost Boys eventually do grow up, having to leave, and fairies there lived typically short lifespans. In "Peter Pan in Scarlet" (2006), by Geraldine McCaughrean, time freezes as soon as the children arrived in Neverland. In the 2011 miniseries "Neverland", in which Neverland is said to be another planet entirely, time has frozen due to external cosmic forces converging on the planet, preventing anyone living there from ageing. Locations within Neverland. Canon. In J. M. Barrie's play and novel, most of the adventures in the stories take place in the Neverwood, where the Lost Boys hunt and fight the pirates and Native Americans. Peter and the Lost Boys live in the Home Under The Ground, which also contains Tinker Bell's "private apartment." The Home is accessed by sliding down hollowed tree trunks, one for each boy. It consisted of one large room, ... with a floor in which you could dig if you wanted to go fishing, and in this floor grew stout mushrooms of a charming colour, which were used as stools. A Never tree tried hard to grow in the centre of the room, but every morning they sawed the trunk through, level with the floor." The Little House is built from branches by the Lost Boys for Wendy after she is hit by Tootles' arrow. At the end of the play, one year after the main events in the story, the house appears in different spots every night, but always on some tree-tops. The Little House is the original "Wendy house," now the name of a children's playhouse. The Jolly Roger is the pirates' brig, described by Barrie as "a rakish-looking craft foul to the hull." The mermaids live in the Mermaids' Lagoon, which is also the location of Marooners' Rock, the most dangerous place in Neverland. Trapped on Marooners' Rock in the lagoon just offshore, Peter faced impending death by drowning, as he could not swim or fly from it to safety. The mermaids made no attempt to rescue him, but he was saved by the Never bird. Non-canon. In the many film, television, and video game adaptations of "Peter Pan", adventures that originally take place in either the Mermaids' Lagoon, the Neverwood forest, or on the pirates' ship are played out in a greater number of more elaborate locations. Disney. In the Disney-franchise version of Neverland, many non-canon locales are added which appear variously throughout different instalments, as well as adding or giving names to implied locations within Barrie's original Neverland. These locales include: "Hook" (1991). In Steven Spielberg's 1991 film "Hook", the pirates occupy a small port town peppered with merchant shopfronts, warehouses, hotels, pubs and an improvised baseball field, and many ships and boats of varying sizes and kinds fill the harbour, as the pirates, since Peter's disappearance, have been able to expand their territory. The Home Underground has also been replaced by an intricate tree house structure which is prominent on the landscape rather than concealed, as the Lost Boys have successfully taken over their part of Neverland. In certain areas, the territory surrounding the tree house of the Lost Boys has its own unique weather (i.e; spring, summer, autumn, winter). This structure is possibly a continued development of Peter's "house atop the trees" which he occupies following Hook's defeat and the Lost Boys' return to the Mainland, presumably because he no longer has to hide nor house a large community. The number of lost boys have also increased and they navigate their home via hybrid wind-surfer/skateboard tracks, as the power of flight was lost with Peter. The Mermaids' Lagoon is directly connected to the Lost Boys' tree house structure by a giant clam-shell pulley system, possibly because they have become allies to the Lost Boys in Peter's absence. The Home Underground is discovered buried and forgotten by an adult Peter in the film, underneath the new home of the Lost Boys. Thus, while more elaborate, the locations of the Home Underground and the Pirates are unchanged. Neither the redskins nor their territory appear in the film, though they are mentioned by Hook during a conversation with Smee. Other. The Black Castle, which is referred to in the 2003 film, is an old ruined and abandoned castle, decorated with stone dragons and gargoyles. It is one of the places where Tiger Lily is taken by Captain James Hook. This sequence is based on the Marooner's Rock sequence in the original play and book: like Disney's non-canon 'Skull Rock', Black Castle replaces Marooners's Rock in this film. Neverpeak Mountain is the huge mountain that is right in the middle of Neverland. According to "Peter Pan in Scarlet", when a child is on top of Neverpeak Mountain, he or she can see over anyone and anything and can see beyond belief. The Maze of Regrets is a maze in "Peter Pan in Scarlet" where all the mothers of the Lost Boys go to find their boys. Inhabitants. Fairies. Fairies are arguably the most important magical inhabitants of the Neverland, and its primary magic users. A property of their nature is the production and possession of fairy dust, the magic material which enables flying for all characters except Peter, who was taught to fly by the birds, and later by the fairies in Kensington Gardens. The only-named fairy is Tinker Bell, Peter Pan's companion, whose name alludes to her profession as a 'tinker', or fixer of pots and pans. Tinker Bell is essentially a household fairy, but far from benign. Her exotic, fiery nature, and capacity for evil and mischief, due to fairies being too small to feel more than one type of emotion at any one time, is reminiscent of the more hostile fairies encountered by Peter in Kensington Gardens. In Barrie's play and novel, the roles of fairies are brief: they are allies to the Lost Boys against the pirates, the source of fairy dust and where they act as "guides" for parties travelling to and from Neverland. They are also responsible for the collection of abandoned or lost babies from the Mainland to the Neverland. The roles and activities of the fairies are more elaborate in "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens" (1906): they occupy kingdoms in the Gardens and at night "mischief children who are locked in after dark" to their deaths or entertain them before they return to their parents the following day; and they guard the paths to a "Proto-Neverland" called the birds' island. These fairies are more regal and engage in a variety of human activities in a magical fashion. They have courts; can grant wishes to children; and have a practical relationship with the birds, which is however "strained by differences." They are portrayed as dangerous, whimsical and extremely clever but quite hedonistic. After forgetting how to fly, unable to be taught by the birds, Peter is given the power to fly again by the fairies. Barrie writes that "when the first baby laughed for the first time, its laugh broke into a thousand pieces, ... and that was the beginning of fairies." Neverland's fairies can be killed whenever someone says they don't believe in fairies, suggesting that the race of fairies is finite and exhaustible. When dying from Hook's poison, Tinker Bell is saved when Peter and other children and adults across the Neverlands and Mainland call out "I do believe in fairies, I do, I do," so their deaths are not necessarily permanent. At the end of Barrie's novel Wendy asks Peter about Tinker Bell, whom he has forgotten and he answers, "I expect she is no more." The "Disney Fairies"–"Peter Pan" franchise has elaborated on aspects of Barrie's fairy mythology. The Never Fairies (and associated sparrow men) live in Pixie Hollow, located in the heart of Neverland. As stated in the "Tinker Bell" film, after the baby's first laugh enters a flower, it breaks the flower into numerous pieces (the seeds), any piece that can blow with the wind and survive the trip to Pixie Hollow becomes a fairy, who then learns his/her specific talent. Birds. In the novel and the play, between the flight from the Mainland (reality) and the Neverland, they are relatively simple animals which provide entertainment, instruction and some limited guidance to flyers. These birds are described as unable to sight its shores, "even, carrying maps and consulting them at windy corners." The Never Bird saves Peter from drowning when he is stranded on Marooners' Rock, by giving him her nest which he uses as a sailing vessel. In Barrie's "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens", birds have a far more prominent role on a proto-Neverland called the Birds' Island. On the island, the various birds speak bird-language, described as being related to fairy language which can be understood by young humans, who used to be birds. The birds are responsible for bringing human babies into the Mainland, whose human parents send folded paper boats along the serpentine "with 'boy' or 'girl' and 'thin' or 'fat' (and so on) written", indicating to the official birds which species to send back to transform into human children, who are described as having an "itch on their backs where their wings used to be" and that their warbles are fairy/bird talk. Lost Boys. The Lost Boys are a tribe of "children who fall out of their prams when the nurse is not looking;" having not been claimed by humans in seven days, they were collected by the fairies and flown to the Neverland. There are no 'lost girls' because, as Peter explains, girls are much too clever to fall out of their prams and be lost in this manner. There are six Lost Boys: Tootles, Nibs, Slightly, Curly and the Twins. They are not permitted to fly by Peter, as it is a sign of his authority and uniqueness. They live in tree houses and caves, wear animal skins, have spears and bows and arrows, and live for adventure. They are a formidable fighting force despite their youth and they make war with the pirates, although they seem to enjoy a harmonious existence with the other inhabitants of Neverland. Pirates. The crew of the Pirate ship "Jolly Roger" have taken up residence off-shore, and are widely feared throughout Neverland. How they came to be in Neverland is unclear. Their captain is the ruthless James Hook, named after the hook in place of his right hand. "Redskins". There is a tribe of wigwam-dwelling Native Americans who live on the island, referred to by Barrie as "Redskins" or as the Piccaninny tribe. Their chief is Great Big Little Panther, whose daughter Tiger Lily has a crush on Peter Pan. The Piccaninny tribe are known to make ferocious and deadly war against Captain Hook and his pirates, but their connection with the Lost Boys is more lighthearted. For "many moons" the two groups have captured each other, only to promptly release the captives, as though it were a game. Mermaids. Mermaids live in the lagoon. They enjoy the company of Peter Pan but keep their distance from everyone else on the island, including the fairies. They are not sociable creatures and do not speak nor interact with outsiders. They are malevolent, hedonistic and frivolous; yet they sing and play "mermaid games" in which they "rise to the surface in extraordinary numbers to play with their bubbles," "made in rainbow water." They also "love to bask out on Marooners' Rock, combing their hair in a lazy way." At first glance, Wendy is enchanted by their beauty, but finds them vain and irritating, as they would "splash her with their tails, not accidentally, but intentionally" when she attempted to steal a closer look. Their homes are "coral caves underneath the waves" to which they retire at sunset and rising tide, as well as in anticipation of storms. When one mermaid tries to pull Wendy into the water and drown her, Peter intervenes and hissesrather than crowsat them and they quickly dive into the water and disappear. Barrie describes the mermaids' "haunting" transformation at the "turn of the moon" while "uttering strange wailing cries" at night as the lagoon becomes a very "dangerous place for mortals". The Mermaids' Lagoon is a favourite "adventure" for the children, and where they take their "midday meal". Peter gives Wendy one of the mermaids' combs as a gift. The 2003 "Peter Pan" film briefly describes mermaids as different from those in traditional story books, but as "dark creatures in touch with all things mysterious," and who will drown humans who get too close, but do not harm Peter who seems to be the only one who can speak the mermaids' language. They always seem to know Hook's whereabouts on the island at any given time and tell Peter. Animals. Animals (referred to as beasts) live throughout Neverland, such as bears, tigers, lions, wolves, flamingoes and crocodiles. In Barrie's original novel, these "beasts" hunt the Piccaninny tribe, who hunt the Pirates, who are themselves hunting the Lost Boys, who in turn hunt the beasts, creating a chain of prey and murder in the Neverland that only ends when one party stops or slows down, or when Peter redirects the Lost Boys to other tasks and activities. Like all the agencies of the Neverland, the animals do not need to eat, nor are they eaten when killed, nor do they reproduce (as they enjoy the same immortality as all other inhabitants), so their presence is a paradox. There are also a variety of birds, whose societies are present in the proto-Neverland described in Barrie's "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens". Other residents. Other inhabitants of Neverland are suggested by Barrie in his original novel, such as a "small old lady with a hooked nose,","gnomes who are mostly tailors," and princes "with six elder brothers"reminiscent of European fairy tales. There are also some briefly described locations without inhabitants, but the narrator hints at their former presence, such as a "hut fast going to decay." In the 1989 Japanese anime series, "The Adventures of Peter Pan", the individual characters of the pirates, "redskins," and mermaids are expanded, and new characters such as the schizophrenic spellcaster princess Luna and the witch Sinistra are added. In popular culture. In the many versions and derivations of "Peter Pan", Neverland and its inhabitants have been omitted, added, or elaborated upon.

590a8f8f-a5aa-46ee-b0e5-afec08304486

m2d2_wiki

Locus amoenus Locus amoenus (Latin for "pleasant place") is a literary topos involving an idealized place of safety or comfort. A "locus amoenus" is usually a beautiful, shady lawn or open woodland, or a group of idyllic islands, sometimes with connotations of Eden or Elysium. Ernst Robert Curtius wrote the concept's definitive formulation in his "European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages" (1953). Characteristics. A "locus amoenus" will have three basic elements: trees, grass, and water. Often, the garden will be in a remote place and function as a landscape of the mind. It can also be used to highlight the differences between urban and rural life or be a place of refuge from the processes of time and mortality. In some works, such gardens also have overtones of the regenerative powers of human sexuality marked out by flowers, springtime, and goddesses of love and fertility. History. Classical. The literary use of this type of setting goes back, in Western literature at least, to Homer, and it became a staple of the pastoral works of poets such as Theocritus and Virgil. Horace ("Ars Poetica", 17) and the commentators on Virgil, such as Servius, recognize that descriptions of "loci amoeni" have become a rhetorical commonplace. In Ovid's "Metamorphoses", the function of the "locus amoenus" is inverted, to form the "locus terribilis". Instead of offering a respite from dangers, it is itself usually the scene of violent encounters. Medieval. The Middle Ages merged the classical "locus amoenus" with biblical imagery, as from the Song of Songs. Matthew of Vendôme provided multiple accounts of how to describe the "locus amoenus", while Dante drew on the commonplace for his description of the Earthly Paradise: "Here spring is endless, here all fruits are." Renaissance. The "locus amoenus" was a popular theme in the works of such Renaissance figures as Ariosto and Tasso. Shakespeare made good use of the "locus amoenus" in his long poem "Venus and Adonis". The trope also fed into his construction, in many plays, of what Northrop Frye has called the Shakespearean "green world" – a space that lies outside of city limits, a liminal space where erotic passions can be freely explored, away from civilization and the social order – such as the Forest of Arden in "As You Like It". A mysterious and dark, feminine place, as opposed to the rigid masculine civil structure, the green world can also be found featured in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Titus Andronicus". Modern. In the 20th century the "locus amoenus" appears in the work of T. S. Eliot, as in the Rose Garden of "Burnt Norton" and in J. R. R. Tolkien's Shire and Lothlórien. Sinister doubles. The split-off obverse of the "locus amoenus" is the apparently delectable but in fact treacherous garden, often linked to a malign sexuality, as in Circe's palace or the Bower of Bliss in Edmund Spenser's "Faerie Queene".

86e2e894-59ee-4126-95fb-2ac0baf551d2

m2d2_wiki

The Culture The Culture is a fictional interstellar post-scarcity civilisation or society created by the Scottish writer Iain M. Banks and features in a number of his space opera novels and works of short fiction, collectively called the Culture series. In the series, the Culture is composed primarily of sentient beings of the humanoid alien variety, artificially intelligent sentient machines, and a small number of other sentient "alien" life forms. Machine intelligences range from human-equivalent drones to hyper-intelligent Minds. Artificial intelligences with capabilities measured as a fraction of human intelligence also perform a variety of tasks, e.g. controlling spacesuits. Without scarcity, the Culture has no need for money, instead minds voluntarily indulge humanoid and drone citizens' pleasures, leading to a largely hedonistic society. Many of the series' protagonists are humanoids who choose to work for the Culture's elite diplomatic or espionage organisations, and interact with other civilisations whose citizens hold wildly different ideologies, morals, and technologies. The Culture has a grasp of technology that is advanced relative to most other civilisations that share the galaxy. Most of the Culture's citizens do not live on planets but in artificial habitats such as orbitals and ships, the largest of which are home to billions of individuals. The Culture's citizens have been genetically enhanced to live for centuries and have modified mental control over their physiology, including the ability to introduce a variety of psychoactive drugs into their systems, change biological sex, or switch off pain at will. Culture technology can transform individuals into vastly different body forms, although the Culture standard form remains fairly close to human. The Culture holds peace and individual freedom as core values, and a central theme of the series is ethical struggle it faces when interacting with other societies - some of which brutalise their own members, pose threats to other civilisations, or threaten the Culture itself. It tends to make major decisions based on the consensus formed by its Minds and, if appropriate, its citizens. In one instance, a direct democratic vote of trillions – the entire population – decided The Culture would go to war with a rival civilisation. Those who objected to the Culture's subsequent militarisation broke off from the meta-civilisation, forming their own separate civilisation; a hallmark of the Culture is its ambiguity. In contrast to the many interstellar societies and empires which share its fictional universe, the Culture is difficult to define, geographically or sociologically, and "fades out at the edges". Overview. The Culture is characterized as being a post-scarcity society, having overcome most physical constraints on life and being an egalitarian, stable society without the use of any form of force or compulsion, except where necessary to protect others. That being said, some citizens and especially crafty minds tend to enjoy manipulating others, in particular by controlling the course of alien societies, through the group known as contact. Minds, extremely powerful artificial intelligences, have an important role. They administer this abundance for the benefit of all. As one commentator has said: The novels of the Culture cycle, therefore, mostly deal with people at the fringes of the Culture: diplomats, spies, or mercenaries; those who interact with other civilisations, and who do the Culture's dirty work in moving those societies closer to the Culture ideal, sometimes by force. Fictional history. In this fictional universe, the Culture exists concurrently with human society on Earth. The time frame for the published Culture stories is from 1267 to roughly 2970, with Earth being contacted around 2100, though the Culture had covertly visited the planet in the 1970s in "The State of the Art". The Culture itself is described as having been created when several humanoid species and machine sentiences reached a certain social level, and took not only their physical, but also their civilisational evolution into their own hands. In "The Player of Games", the Culture is described as having existed as a space-faring society for eleven thousand years. In "The Hydrogen Sonata", one of these founding civilisations was named as the Buhdren Federality. Society and culture. Economy. The Culture is a symbiotic society of artificial intelligences (AIs) (Minds and drones), humanoids and other alien species who all share equal status. All essential work is performed (as far as possible) by non-sentient devices, freeing sentients to do only things that they enjoy (administrative work requiring sentience is undertaken by the AIs using a bare fraction of their mental power, or by people who take on the work out of free choice). As such, the Culture is a post-scarcity society, where technological advances ensure that no one lacks any material goods or services. Energy is farmed from a fictitious "energy grid", and matter to build orbitals is collected mostly from asteroids. As a consequence, the Culture has no need of economic constructs such as money (as is apparent when it deals with civilisations in which money is still important). The Culture rejects all forms of economics based on anything other than voluntary activity. "Money implies poverty" is a common saying in the Culture. Language. Marain is the Culture's shared constructed language. The Culture believes the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis that language influences thought, and Marain was designed by early Minds to exploit this effect, while also "appealing to poets, pedants, engineers and programmers". Designed to be represented either in binary or symbol-written form, Marain is also regarded as an aesthetically pleasing language by the Culture. The symbols of the Marain alphabet can be displayed in three-by-three grids of binary (yes/no, black/white) dots and thus correspond to nine-bit wide binary numbers. Related comments are made by the narrator in "The Player of Games" regarding gender-specific pronouns, which Marain speakers do not use in typical conversation unless specifying one's gender is necessary, and by general reflection on the fact that Marain places much less structural emphasis on (or even lacks) concepts like possession and ownership, dominance and submission, and especially aggression. Many of these concepts would in fact be somewhat theoretical to the average Culture citizen. Indeed, the presence of these concepts in other civilisations signify the brutality and hierarchy associated with forms of empire that the Culture strives to avoid. Marain itself is also open to encryption and dialect-specific implementations for different parts of the Culture. M1 is basic Nonary Marain, the three-by-three grid. All Culture citizens can communicate in this variant. Other variants include M8 through M16, which are encrypted by various degrees, and are typically used by the Contact Section. Higher level encryptions exist, the highest of these being M32. M32 and lower level encrypted signals are the province of Special Circumstances (SC). Use of M32 is reserved for extremely secret and reserved information and communication within Special Circumstances. That said, M32 has an air of notoriety in the Culture, and in the thoughts of most may best be articulated as "the Unbreakable, Inviolable, Holy of Holies Special Circumstances M32" as described by prospective SC agent Ulver Seich. Ships and Minds also have a slightly distasteful view of SC procedure associated with M32, one Ship Mind going so far as to object to the standard SC attitude of "Full scale, stark raving M32 don't-talk-about-this-or-we'll-pull-your-plugs-out-baby paranoia" on the use of the encryption. Laws. There are no laws as such in the Culture. Social norms are enforced by convention (personal reputation, "good manners", and by, as described in "The Player of Games", possible ostracism and involuntary supervision for more serious crimes). Minds generally refrain from using their all-seeing capabilities to influence people's reputations, though they are not necessarily themselves above judging people based on such observations, as described in "Excession". Minds also judge each other, with one of the more relevant criteria being the quality of their treatment of sentients in their care. Hub Minds for example are generally nominated from well-regarded GSV (the largest class of ships) Minds, and then upgraded to care for the billions living on the artificial habitats. The only serious prohibitions that seem to exist are against harming sentient beings, or forcing them into undertaking any act (another concept that seems unnatural to and is, in fact, almost unheard of by almost all Culture citizens). As mentioned in "The Player of Games", the Culture does have the occasional "crime of passion" (as described by an Azadian) and the punishment was to be "slap-droned", or to have a drone assigned to follow the offender and "make sure [they] don't do it again". While the enforcement in theory could lead to a Big Brother-style surveillance society, in practice social convention among the Minds prohibits them from watching, or interfering in, citizens' lives unless requested, or unless they perceive severe risk. The practice of reading a sentient's mind without permission (something the Culture is technologically easily capable of) is also strictly taboo. The whole plot of "Look to Windward" relies on a Hub Mind not reading an agent's mind (with certain precautions in case this rule gets violated). Minds that do so anyway are considered deviant and shunned by other Minds (see GCU "Grey Area"). At one point it is said that if the Culture actually had written laws, the sanctity of one's own thoughts against the intrusion of others would be the first on the books. This gives some measure of privacy and protection; though the very nature of Culture society would, strictly speaking, make keeping secrets irrelevant: most of them would be considered neither shameful nor criminal. It does allow the Minds in particular to scheme amongst themselves in a very efficient manner, and occasionally withhold information. Symbols. The Culture has no flag, symbol or logo. According to "Consider Phlebas", people can recognize items made by the Culture implicitly, by the way they are simple, efficient and aesthetic. The main outright symbol of the Culture, the one by which it is most explicitly and proudly recognized, is not a visual symbol, but its language, Marain, which is used far beyond the Culture itself. It is often employed in the galaxy as a de facto lingua franca among people who don't share a language. Even the main character of "Consider Phlebas", an enemy of the Culture, ready to die to help in its downfall, is fluent in Marain and uses it with other non-Culture characters out of sheer convenience. It would have helped if the Culture had used some sort of emblem or logo; but, pointlessly unhelpful and unrealistic to the last, the Culture refused to place its trust in symbols. It maintained that it was what it was and had no need for such outward representation. The Culture was every single individual human and machine in it, not one thing. Just as it could not imprison itself with laws, impoverish itself with money or misguide itself with leaders, so it would not misrepresent itself with signs. Citizens. Biological. The Culture is a posthuman society, which originally arose when seven or eight roughly humanoid space-faring species coalesced into a quasi-collective (a group-civilisation) ultimately consisting of approximately thirty trillion (short scale) sentient (more properly, sapient) beings (this includes artificial intelligences). In Banks's universe, a good part (but by no means an overwhelming percentage) of all sentient species is of the "pan-human" type, as noted in "Matter". Although the Culture was originated by humanoid species, subsequent interactions with other civilisations have introduced many non-humanoid species into the Culture (including some former enemy civilisations), though the majority of the biological Culture is still pan-human. Little uniformity exists in the Culture, and its citizens are such by choice, free to change physical form and even species (though some stranger biological conversions are irreversible, and conversion from biological to artificial sentience is considered to be what is known as an Unusual Life Choice). All members are also free to join, leave, and rejoin, or indeed declare themselves to be, say, 80% Culture. Within the novels, opponents of the Culture have argued that the role of humans in the Culture is nothing more than that of pets, or parasites on Culture Minds, and that they can have nothing genuinely useful to contribute to a society where science is close to omniscient about the physical universe, where every ailment has been cured, and where every thought can be read. Many of the Culture novels in fact contain characters (from within or without the Culture) wondering how far-reaching the Minds' dominance of the Culture is, and how much of the democratic process within it might in fact be a sham: subtly but very powerfully influenced by the Minds in much the same ways Contact and Special Circumstances influence other societies. Also, except for some mentions about a vote over the Idiran-Culture War, and the existence of a very small number of "Referrers" (humans of especially acute reasoning), few biological entities are ever described as being involved in any high-level decisions. On the other hand, the Culture can be seen as fundamentally hedonistic (one of the main objectives for any being, including Minds, is to have fun rather than to be "useful"). Also, Minds are constructed, by convention, to care for and value human beings. While a General Contact Unit (GCU) does not strictly need a crew (and could construct artificial avatars when it did), a real human crew adds richness to its existence, and offers distraction during otherwise dull periods. In "Consider Phlebas" it is noted that Minds still find humans fascinating, especially their odd ability to sometimes achieve similarly advanced reasoning as their much more complex machine brains. To a large degree, the freedoms enjoyed by humans in the Culture are only available because Minds choose to provide them. The freedoms include the ability to leave the Culture when desired, often forming new associated but separate societies with Culture ships and Minds, most notably the Zetetic Elench and the ultra-pacifist and non-interventionist Peace Faction. Physiology. Techniques in genetics have advanced in the Culture to the point where bodies can be freed from built-in limitations. Citizens of the Culture refer to a normal human as "human-basic" and the vast majority opt for significant enhancements: severed limbs grow back, sexual physiology can be voluntarily changed from male to female and back (though the process takes time), sexual stimulation and endurance are strongly heightened in both sexes (something that is often the subject of envious debate among other species), pain can be switched off, toxins can be bypassed away from the digestive system, autonomic functions such as heart rate can be switched to conscious control, reflexes like blinking can be switched off, and bones and muscles adapt quickly to changes in gravity without the need to exercise. The degree of enhancement found in Culture individuals varies to taste, with certain of the more exotic enhancements limited to Special Circumstances personnel (for example, weapons systems embedded in various parts of the body). Most Culture individuals opt to have drug glands that allow for hormonal levels and other chemical secretions to be consciously monitored, released and controlled. These allow owners to secrete on command any of a wide selection of synthetic drugs, from the merely relaxing to the mind-altering: "Snap" is described in "Use of Weapons" and "The Player of Games" as "The Culture's favourite breakfast drug". "Sharp Blue" is described as a utility drug, as opposed to a sensory enhancer or a sexual stimulant, that helps in problem solving. "Quicken", mentioned in "Excession", speeds up the user's neural processes so that time seems to slow down, allowing them to think and have mental conversation (for example with artificial intelligences) in far less time than it appears to take to the outside observer. "Sperk", as described in "Matter", is a mood- and energy-enhancing drug, while other such self-produced drugs include "Calm", "Gain", "Charge", "Recall", "Diffuse", "Somnabsolute", "Softnow", "Focal", "Edge", "Drill", "Gung", "Winnow" and "Crystal Fugue State". The glanded substances have no permanent side-effects and are non-habit-forming. Phenotypes. For all their genetic improvements, the Culture is by no means eugenically uniform. Human members in the Culture setting vary in size, colour and shape as in reality, and with possibly even further natural differences: in the novella "The State of the Art", it is mentioned that a character "looks like a Yeti", and that there is variance among the Culture in minor details such as the number of toes or of joints on each finger. It is mentioned in "Excession" that: Some Culture citizens opt to leave the constraints of a human or even humanoid body altogether, opting to take on the appearance of one of the myriad other galactic sentients (perhaps in order to live with them) or even non-sentient objects as commented upon in "Matter" (though this process can be irreversible if the desired form is too removed from the structure of the human brain). Certain eccentrics have chosen to become drones or even Minds themselves, though this is considered rude and possibly even insulting by most humans and AIs alike. While the Culture is generally pan-humanoid (and tends to call itself "human"), various other species and individuals of other species have become part of the Culture. As all Culture citizens are of perfect genetic health, the very rare cases of a Culture citizen showing any physical deformity are almost certain to be a sort of fashion statement of somewhat dubious taste. Personality. Almost all Culture citizens are very sociable, of great intellectual capability and learning, and possess very well-balanced psyches. Their biological make-up and their growing up in an enlightened society make neuroses and lesser emotions like greed or (strong) jealousy practically unknown, and produce persons that, in any lesser society, appear very self-composed and charismatic. Character traits like strong shyness, while very rare, are not fully unknown, as shown in "Excession". As described there and in "Player of Games", a Culture citizen who becomes dysfunctional enough to pose a serious nuisance or threat to others would be offered (voluntary) psychological adjustment therapy and might potentially find himself under constant (non-voluntary) oversight by representatives of the local Mind. In extreme cases, as described in "Use of Weapons" and "Surface Detail", dangerous individuals have been known to be assigned a "slap-drone", a robotic follower who ensures that the person in question doesn't continue to endanger the safety of others. Artificial. As well as humans and other biological species, sentient artificial intelligences are also members of the Culture. These can be broadly categorised into drones and Minds. Also, by custom, as described in "Excession", any artefact (be it a tool or vessel) above a certain capability level has to be given sentience. Drones. Drones are roughly comparable in intelligence and social status to that of the Culture's biological members. Their intelligence is measured against that of an average biological member of the Culture; a so-called "1.0 value" drone would be considered the mental equal of a biological citizen, whereas lesser drones such as the menial service units of Orbitals are merely proto-sentient (capable of limited reaction to unprogrammed events, but possessing no consciousness, and thus not considered citizens; these take care of much of the menial work in the Culture). The sentience of advanced drones has various levels of redundancy, from systems similar to that of Minds (though much reduced in capability) down to electronic, to mechanical and finally biochemical back-up brains. Although drones are artificial, the parameters that prescribe their minds are not rigidly constrained, and sentient drones are full individuals, with their own personalities, opinions and quirks. Like biological citizens, Culture drones generally have lengthy names. They also have a form of sexual intercourse for pleasure, called being "in thrall", though this is an intellect-only interfacing with another sympathetic drone. While civilian drones do generally match humans in intelligence, drones built especially as Contact or Special Circumstances agents are often several times more intelligent, and imbued with extremely powerful senses, powers and armaments (usually forcefield and effector-based, though occasionally more destructive weaponry such as lasers or, exceptionally, "knife-missiles" are referred to) all powered by antimatter reactors. Despite being purpose-built, these drones are still allowed individual personalities and given a choice in lifestyle. Indeed, some are eventually deemed psychologically unsuitable as agents (for example as Mawhrin-Skel notes about itself in "The Player of Games") and must choose (or choose to choose) either mental reprofiling or demilitarisation and discharge from Special Circumstances. Physically, drones are floating units of various sizes and shapes, usually with no visible moving parts. Drones get around the limitations of this inanimation with the ability to project "fields": both those capable of physical force, which allow them to manipulate objects, as well as visible, coloured fields called "auras", which are used to enable the drone to express emotion. There is a complex drone code based on aura colours and patterns (which is fully understood by biological Culture citizens as well). Drones have full control of their auras and can display emotions they're not feeling or can switch their aura off. The drone, Jase, in "Consider Phlebas", is described as being constructed before the use of auras, and refuses to be retrofitted with them, preferring to remain inscrutable. In size drones vary substantially: the oldest still alive (eight or nine thousand years old) tend to be around the size of humans, whereas later technology allows drones to be small enough to lie in a human's cupped palm; modern drones may be any size between these extremes according to fashion and personal preference. Some drones are also designed as utility equipment with its own sentience, such as the gelfield protective suit described in "Excession". Minds. By contrast to drones, Minds are orders of magnitude more powerful and intelligent than the Culture's other biological and artificial citizens. Typically they inhabit and act as the controllers of large-scale Culture hardware such as ships or space-based habitats. Unsurprisingly, given their duties, Minds are tremendously powerful: capable of running all of the functions of a ship or habitat, while holding potentially billions of simultaneous conversations with the citizens that live aboard them. To allow them to perform at such a high degree, they exist partially in hyperspace to get around hindrances to computing power such as the speed of light. In Iain M. Banks's Culture series, most larger starships, some inhabited planets and all orbitals have their own Minds: sapient, hyperintelligent machines originally built by biological species, which have evolved, redesigned themselves, and become many times more intelligent than their original creators. According to "Consider Phlebas", a Mind is an ellipsoid object roughly the size of a bus and weighing around tons. A Mind is in fact a entity, meaning that the ellipsoid is only the protrusion of the larger four dimensional device into our 'real space'. In the Culture universe, Minds have become an indispensable part of the prevailing society, enabling much of its post-scarcity amenities by planning and automating societal functions, and by handling day-to-day administration with mere fractions of their mental power. The main difference between Minds and other extremely powerful artificial intelligences in fiction is that they are highly humanistic and benevolent. They are so both by design, and by their shared culture. They are often even rather eccentric. Yet, by and large, they show no wish to supplant or dominate their erstwhile creators. On the other hand, it can also be argued that to the Minds, the human-like members of the Culture amount to little more than pets, whose wants are followed on a Mind's whim. Within the Series, this dynamic is played on more than once. In 'Excession', it is also played on to put a Mind in its place—in the mythology, a Mind is not thought to be a god, still, but an artificial intelligence capable of surprise, and even fear. Although the Culture is a type of utopian anarchy, Minds most closely approach the status of leaders, and would likely be considered godlike in less rational societies. As independent, thinking beings, each has its own character, and indeed, legally (insofar as the Culture has a 'legal system'), each is a Culture citizen. Some Minds are more aggressive, some more calm; some don't mind mischief, others simply demonstrate intellectual curiosity. But above all they tend to behave rationally and benevolently in their decisions. As mentioned before, Minds can serve several different purposes, but Culture ships and habitats have one special attribute: the Mind and the ship or habitat are perceived as one entity; in some ways the Mind "is" the ship, certainly from its passengers' point of view. It seems normal practice to address the ship's Mind as "Ship" (and an Orbital hub as "Hub"). However, a Mind can transfer its 'mind state' into and out of its ship 'body', and even switch roles entirely, becoming (for example) an Orbital Hub from a warship. More often than not, the Mind's character defines the ship's purpose. Minds do not end up in roles unsuited to them; an antisocial Mind simply would not volunteer to organise the care of thousands of humans, for example. On occasion groupings of two or three Minds may run a ship. This seems normal practice for larger vehicles such as s, though smaller ships only ever seem to have one Mind. Banks also hints at a Mind's personality becoming defined at least partially before its creation or 'birth'. Warships, as an example, are designed to revel in controlled destruction; seeing a certain glory in achieving a 'worthwhile' death also seems characteristic. The presence of human crews on board warships may discourage such recklessness, since in the normal course of things, a Mind would not risk beings other than itself. With their almost godlike powers of reasoning and action comes a temptation to bend (or break) Cultural norms of ethical behaviour, if deemed necessary for some greater good. In "The Player of Games", a Culture citizen is blackmailed, apparently by Special Circumstances Minds, into assisting the overthrow of a barbaric empire, while in "Excession", a conspiracy by some Minds to start a war against an oppressive alien race nearly comes to fruition. Yet even in these rare cases, the essentially benevolent intentions of Minds towards other Culture citizens is never in question. More than any other beings in the Culture, Minds are the ones faced with interesting ethical dilemmas. While Minds would likely have different capabilities, especially seeing their widely differing ages (and thus technological sophistication), this is not a theme of the books. It might be speculated that the older Minds are upgraded to keep in step with the advances in technology, thus making this point moot. It is also noted in "Matter" that every Culture Mind writes its own , thus continually improving itself and, as a side benefit, becoming much less vulnerable to outside takeover by electronic means and viruses, as every Mind's processing functions work differently. The high computing power of the Mind is apparently enabled by thought processes (and electronics) being constantly in hyperspace (thus circumventing the light speed limit in computation). Minds do have back-up capabilities functioning with light-speed if the hyperspace capabilities fail - however, this reduces their computational powers by several orders of magnitude (though they remain sentient). The storage capability of a GSV Mind is described in "Consider Phlebas" as 1030 bytes (1 million yottabytes). The Culture is a society undergoing slow (by present-day Earth standards) but constant technological change, so the stated capacity of Minds is open to change. In the last 3000 years the capacity of Minds has increased considerably. By the time of the events of the novel "Excession" in the mid 19th century, Minds from the first millennium are referred to jocularly as minds, with a small 'm'. Their capacities only allows them to be considered equivalent to what are now known as Cores, small (in the literal physical sense) Artificial intelligences used in shuttles, trans-light modules, Drones, and other machines not large enough for a full scale Mind. While still considered sentient, a mind's power at this point is considered greatly inferior to a contemporary Mind. That said, It is possible for Minds to have upgrades, improvements and enhancements given to them since construction, to allow them to remain up to date. Using the sensory equipment available to the Culture, Minds can see inside solid objects; in principle they can also read minds by examining the cellular processes inside a living brain, but Culture Minds regard such mindreading as taboo. The only known Mind to break this Taboo, the "Grey Area" seen in "Excession", is largely ostracized and shunned by other Minds as a result. In "Look to Windward" an example is cited of an attempt to destroy a Culture Mind by smuggling a minuscule antimatter bomb onto a Culture orbital inside the head of a Chelgrian agent. However the bomb ends up being spotted without the taboo being broken. In "Consider Phlebas", a typical Mind is described as a mirror-like ellipsoid of several dozen cubic metres, but weighing many thousands of tons, due to the fact that it is made up of hyper-dense matter. It is noted that most of its 'body' only exists in the real world at the outer shell, the inner workings staying constantly within hyperspace. The Mind in "Consider Phlebas" is also described as having internal power sources which function as back-up shield generators and space propulsion, and seeing the rational, safety-conscious thinking of Minds, it would be reasonable to assume that all Minds have such features, as well as a complement of drones and other remote sensors as also described. Other equipment available to them spans the whole range of the Culture's technological capabilities and its practically limitless resources. However, this equipment would more correctly be considered emplaced in the ship or orbital that the Mind is controlling, rather than being part of the Mind itself. Minds are constructed entities, which have general parameters fixed by their constructors (other Minds) before 'birth', not unlike biological beings. A wide variety of characteristics can be and are manipulated, such as introversion-extroversion, aggressiveness (for warships) or general disposition. However, the character of a Mind evolves as well, and Minds often change over the course of centuries, sometimes changing personality entirely. This is often followed by them becoming eccentric or at least somewhat odd. Others drift from the Culture-accepted ethical norms, and may even start influencing their own society in subtle ways, selfishly furthering their own views of how the Culture should act. Minds have also been known to commit suicide to escape punishment, or because of grief. Minds are constructed with a personality typical of the Culture's interests, i.e. full of curiosity, general benevolence (expressed in the 'good works' actions of the Culture, or in the protectiveness regarding sentient beings) and respect for the Culture's customs. Nonetheless, Minds have their own interests in addition to what their peers expect them to do for the Culture, and may develop fascinations or hobbies like other sentient beings do. The mental capabilities of Minds are described in "Excession" to be vast enough to run entire universe-simulations inside their own imaginations, exploring metamathical (a fictional branch of metamathematics) scenarios, an activity addictive enough to cause some Minds to totally withdraw from caring about our own physical reality into "Infinite Fun Space", their own, ironic and understated term for this sort of activity. One of the main activities of Ship Minds is the guidance of spaceships from a certain minimum size upwards. A culture spaceship "is" the Mind and vice versa; there are no different names for the two, and a spaceship without a Mind would be considered damaged or incomplete to the Culture. Ship Mind classes include General Systems Vehicle (GSV), Medium Systems Vehicle (), Limited Systems Vehicle (), General Contact Vehicle (), General Contact Unit (GCU), Limited Contact Unit (), Rapid Offensive Unit (), General Offensive Unit (), Limited Offensive Unit (), Demilitarised ROU (), Demilitarised GOU (), Demilitarised LOU (), Very Fast Picket (–synonym for dROU), Fast Picket (–synonym for dGOU or dLOU), and Superlifter. These ships provide a convenient 'body' for a Mind, which is too large and too important to be contained within smaller, more fragile shells. Following the 'body' analogy, it also provides the Mind with the capability of physical movement. As Minds are living beings with curiosity, emotion and wishes of their own, such mobility is likely very important to most. Culture Minds (mostly also being ships) usually give themselves whimsical names, though these often hint at their function as well. Even the names of warships retain this humorous approach, though the implications are much darker. Some Minds also take on functions which either preclude or discourage movement. These usually administer various types of Culture facilities: Minds (and, as a consequence, Culture starships) usually bear names that do a little more than just identify them. The Minds themselves choose their own names, and thus they usually express something about a particular Mind's attitude, character or aims in their personal life. They range from funny to just plain cryptic. Some examples are: Names. Some humanoid or drone Culture citizens have long names, often with seven or more words. Some of these words specify the citizen's origin (place of birth or manufacture), some an occupation, and some may denote specific philosophical or political alignments (chosen later in life by the citizen themselves), or make other similarly personal statements. An example would be Diziet Sma, whose full name is Rasd-Coduresa Diziet Embless Sma da' Marenhide: Iain Banks gave his own Culture name as "Sun-Earther Iain El-Bonko Banks of North Queensferry". Death. The Culture has a relatively relaxed attitude towards death. Genetic manipulation and the continual benevolent surveillance of the Minds make natural or accidental death almost unknown. Advanced technology allows citizens to make backup copies of their personalities, allowing them to be resurrected in case of death. The form of that resurrection can be specified by the citizen, with personalities returning either in the same biological form, in an artificial form (see below), or even just within virtual reality. Some citizens choose to go into "storage" (a form of suspended animation) for long periods of time, out of boredom or curiosity about the future. Attitudes individual citizens have towards death are varied (and have varied throughout the Culture's history). While many, if not most, citizens make some use of backup technology, many others do not, preferring instead to risk death without the possibility of recovery (for example when engaging in extreme sports). These citizens are sometimes called "disposables", and are described in "Look to Windward". Taking into account such accidents, voluntary euthanasia for emotional reasons, or choices like sublimation, the average lifespan of humans is described in "Excession" as being around 350 to 400 years. Some citizens choose to forgo death altogether, although this is rarely done and is viewed as an eccentricity. Other options instead of death include conversion of an individual's consciousness into an AI, joining of a group mind (which can include biological and non-biological consciousnesses), or subliming (usually in association with a group mind). Concerning the lifespan of drones and Minds, given the durability of Culture technology and the options of mindstate backups, it is reasonable to assume that they live as long as they choose. Even Minds, with their utmost complexity, are known to be backed up (and reactivated if they for example die in a risky mission, see "GSV Lasting Damage"). It is noted that even Minds themselves do not necessarily live forever either, often choosing to eventually sublime or even killing themselves (as does the double-Mind "GSV Lasting Damage" due to its choices in the Culture-Idiran war). Science and technology. Anti-gravity and forcefields. The Culture (and other societies) have developed powerful anti-gravity abilities, closely related to their ability to manipulate forces themselves. In this ability they can create action-at-a-distance – including forces capable of pushing, pulling, cutting, and even fine manipulation, and forcefields for protection, visual display or plain destructive ability. Such applications still retain restrictions on range and power: while forcefields of many cubic kilometres are possible (and in fact, orbitals are held together by forcefields), even in the chronologically later novels, such as "Look to Windward", spaceships are still used for long-distance travel and drones for many remote activities. With the control of a Mind, fields can be manipulated over vast distances. In "Use of Weapons", a Culture warship uses its electromagnetic effectors to hack into a computer light years away. Artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligences (and to a lesser degree, the non-sentient computers omnipresent in all material goods), form the backbone of the technological advances of the Culture. Not only are they the most advanced scientists and designers the Culture has, their lesser functions also oversee the vast (but usually hidden) production and maintenance capabilities of the society. The Culture has achieved artificial intelligences where each Mind has thought processing capabilities many orders of magnitude beyond that of human beings, and data storage drives which, if written out on paper and stored in filing cabinets, would cover thousands of planets skyscraper high (as described by one Mind in "Consider Phlebas"). Yet it has managed to condense these entities to a volume of several dozen cubic metres (though much of the contents and the operating structure are continually in hyperspace). Minds also demonstrate reaction times and multitasking abilities orders of magnitude greater than any sentient being; armed engagements between Culture and equivalent technological civilisations sometimes occur in timeframes as short as microseconds, and standard Orbital Minds are capable of running all of the vital systems on the Orbital while simultaneously conversing with millions of the inhabitants and observing phenomena in the surrounding regions of space. At the same time, it has achieved drone sentiences and capability of Special Circumstance proportions in forms that could fit easily within a human hand, and built extremely powerful (though not sentient) computers capable of fitting into tiny insect-like drones. Some utilitarian devices (such as spacesuits) are also provided with artificial sentience. These specific types of drones, like all other Culture AI, would also be considered citizens - though as described in the short story "Descendant", they may spend most of the time when their "body" is not in use in a form of remote-linked existence outside of it, or in a form of AI-level virtual reality. Energy manipulation. A major feature of its post-scarcity society, the Culture is obviously able to gather, manipulate, transfer and store vast amounts of energy. While not explained in detail in the novels, this involves antimatter and the "energy grid", a postulated energy field dividing the universe from neighboring anti-matter universes, and providing practically limitless energy. Transmission or storage of such energy is not explained, though these capabilities must be powerful as well, with tiny drones capable of very powerful manipulatory fields and forces. The Culture also uses various forms of energy manipulation as weapons, with "gridfire", a method of creating a dimensional rift to the energy grid, releasing astronomical amounts of energy into a region of non-hyperspace, being described as a sort of ultimate weapon more destructive than collapsed antimatter bombardment. One character in "Consider Phlebas" refers to gridfire as "the weaponry of the end of the universe". Gridfire resembles the zero-point energy used within many popular science fiction stories. Matter displacement. The Culture (at least by the time of "The Player of Games") has developed a form of teleportation capable of transporting both living and unliving matter instantaneously via wormholes. This technology has not rendered spacecraft obsolete – in "Excession" a barely apple-sized drone was displaced no further than a light-second at maximum range (mass being a limiting factor determining range), a tiny distance in galactic terms. The process also still has a very small chance of failing and killing living beings, but the chance is described as being so small (1 in 61 million) that it normally only becomes an issue when transporting a large number of people and is only regularly brought up due to the Culture's safety conscious nature. Displacement is an integral part of Culture technology, being widely used for a range of applications from peaceful to belligerent. Displacing warheads into or around targets is one of the main forms of attack in space warfare in the Culture universe. "The Player of Games" mentions that drones can be displaced to catch a person falling from a cliff before they impact the ground, as well. Brain–computer interfaces. Through "neural lace", a form of brain–computer interface that is implanted into the brains of young people and grows with them, the Culture has the capability to read and store the full sentience of any being, biological or artificial, and thus reactivate a stored being after its death. The neural lace also allows wireless communication with the Minds and databases. This also necessitates the capability to read thoughts, but as described in "Look to Windward", doing this without permission is considered taboo. Starships and warp drives. Starships are living spaces, vehicles and ambassadors of the Culture. A proper Culture starship (as defined by hyperspace capability and the presence of a Mind to inhabit it) may range from several hundreds of metres to hundreds of kilometres. The latter may be inhabited by billions of beings and are artificial worlds in their own right, including whole ecosystems, and are considered to be self-contained representations of all aspects of Culture life and capability. The Culture (and most other space-faring species in its universe) use a form of Hyperspace-drive to achieve faster-than-light speeds. Banks has evolved a (self-confessedly) technobabble system of theoretical physics to describe the ships' acceleration and travel, using such concepts as "infraspace" and "ultraspace" and an "energy grid" between universes (from which the warp engines "push off" to achieve momentum). An "induced singularity" is used to access infra or ultra space from real space; once there, "engine fields" reach down to the Grid and gain power and traction from it as they travel at high speeds. These hyperspace engines do not use reaction mass and hence do not need to be mounted on the surface of the ship. They are described as being very dense exotic matter, which only reveals its complexity under a powerful microscope. Acceleration and maximum speed depend on the ratio of the mass of the ship to its engine mass. As with any other matter aboard, ships can gradually manufacture extra engine volume or break it down as needed. In "Excession" one of the largest ships of the Culture redesigns itself to be mostly engine and reaches a speed of 233,000 times lightspeed. Within the range of the Culture's influence in the galaxy, most ships would still take years of travelling to reach the more remote spots. Other than the engines used by larger Culture ships, there are a number of other propulsion methods such as gravitic drive at sublight speeds, with antimatter, fusion and other reaction engines occasionally seen with less advanced civilisations, or on Culture hobby craft. Warp engines can be very small, with Culture drones barely larger than fist-size described as being thus equipped. There is also at least one (apparently non-sentient) species (the "Chuy-Hirtsi" animal), that possesses the innate capability of warp travel. In "Consider Phlebas", it is being used as a military transport by the Idirans, but no further details are given. Nanotechnology. The Culture has highly advanced nanotechnology, though descriptions of such technology in the books is limited. Many of the described uses are by or for Special Circumstances, but there are no indications that the use of nanotechnology is limited in any way. (In a passage in one of the books, there is a brief reference to the question of sentience when comparing the human brain or a "pico-level substrate".) One of the primary clandestine uses of nanotechnology is information gathering. The Culture likes to be in the know, and as described in "Matter" "they tend to know everything." Aside from its vast network of sympathetic allies and wandering Culture citizens one of the primary ways that the Culture keeps track of important events is by the use of practically invisible nanobots capable of recording and transmitting their observations. This technique is described as being especially useful to track potentially dangerous people (such as ex-Special Circumstance agents). Via such nanotechnology, it is potentially possible for the Culture (or similarly advanced societies) to see everything happening on a given planet, orbital or any other habitat. The usage of such devices is limited by various treaties and agreements among the Involved. In addition, EDust assassins are potent Culture terror weapons, composed entirely of nano machines called EDust, or "Everything Dust." They are capable of taking almost any shape or form, including swarms of insects or entire humans or aliens, and possess powerful weaponry capable of levelling entire buildings. Living space. Much of the Culture's population lives on orbitals, vast artificial worlds that can accommodate billions of people. Others travel the galaxy in huge space ships such as General Systems Vehicles (GSVs) that can accommodate hundreds of millions of people. Almost no Culture citizens are described as living on planets, except when visiting other civilisations. The reason for this is partly because the Culture believes in containing its own expansion to self-constructed habitats, instead of colonising or conquering new planets. With the resources of the universe allowing permanent expansion (at least assuming non-exponential growth), this frees them from having to compete for living space. The Culture, and other civilisations in Banks' universe, are described as living in these various, often constructed habitats: Airspheres. These are vast, brown dwarf-sized bubbles of atmosphere enclosed by force fields, and (presumably) set up by an ancient advanced race at least one and a half billion years ago (see: Look to Windward). There is only minimal gravity within an airsphere. They are illuminated by moon-sized orbiting planetoids that emit enormous light beams. Citizens of the Culture live there only very occasionally as guests, usually to study the complex ecosystem of the airspheres and the dominant life-forms: the "dirigible behemothaurs" and "gigalithine lenticular entities", which may be described as inscrutable, ancient intelligences looking similar to a cross between gigantic blimps and whales. The airspheres slowly migrate around the galaxy, taking anywhere from 50 to 100 million years to complete one circuit. In the novels no one knows who created the airspheres or why, but it is presumed that whoever did has long since sublimed but may maintain some obscure link with the behemothaurs and lenticular entities. Guests in the airspheres are not allowed to use any force-field technology, though no reason has been offered for this prohibition. The airspheres resemble in some respects the orbit-sized ring of breathable atmosphere created by Larry Niven in "The Integral Trees", but spherical not toroidal, require a force field to retain their integrity, and arose by artificial rather than natural processes. Orbitals. One of the main types of habitats of the Culture, an orbital is a ring structure orbiting a star as would a megastructure akin to a bigger Bishop ring. Unlike a Ringworld or a Dyson Sphere, an orbital does not enclose the star (being much too small). Like a ringworld, the orbital rotates to provide an analog of gravity on the inner surface. A Culture orbital rotates about once every 24 hours and has gravity-like effect about the same as the gravity of Earth, making the diameter of the ring about , and ensuring that the inhabitants experience night and day. Orbitals feature prominently in many Culture stories. Planets. Though many other civilisations in the Culture books live on planets, the Culture as currently developed has little direct connection to on-planet existence. Banks has written that he presumes this to be an inherent consequence of space colonisation, and a foundation of the liberal nature of the Culture. A small number of home worlds of the founding member-species of the Culture receive a mention in passing, and a few hundred human-habitable worlds were colonised (some of them terraformed) before the Culture elected to turn towards artificial habitats, preferring to keep the planets it encounters wild. Since then, the Culture has come to look down on terraforming as inelegant, ecologically problematic and possibly even immoral. Less than one percent of the population of the Culture lives on planets, and many find the very concept somewhat bizarre. This attitude is not absolute though; in "Consider Phlebas", some Minds suggest testing a new technology on a "spare planet" (knowing that it could be destroyed in an antimatter explosion if unsuccessful). One could assume - from Minds' normal ethics - that such a planet would have been lifeless to start with. It is also quite possible, even probable, that the suggestion was not made in complete seriousness. Rings. Ringworld-like megastructures exist in the Culture universe; the texts refer to them simply as "Rings" (with a capital "R"). As opposed to the smaller orbitals which revolve around a star, these structures are massive and completely encircle a star. Banks does not describe these habitats in detail, but records one as having been destroyed (along with three Spheres) in the Idiran-Culture war. In "Matter", the Morthanveld people possesses ringworld-like structures made of innumerable various-sized tubes. Those structures, like Niven's Ringworld, encircle a star and are about the same size. Rocks. These are asteroids and other non-planetary bodies hollowed out for habitation and usually spun for centrifugal artificial gravity. Rocks (with the exception of those used for secretive purposes) are described as having faster-than-light space drives, and thus can be considered a special form of spaceship. Like Orbitals, they are usually administered by one or more Minds. Rocks do not play a large part in most of the Culture stories, though their use as storage for mothballed military ships ("Pittance") and habitats ("Phage Rock", one of the founding communities of the Culture) are both key plot points in "Excession". Shellworlds. Shellworlds are introduced in "Matter", and consist of multilayered levels of concentric spheres in four dimensions held up by countless titanic interior towers. Their extra dimensional characteristics render some products of Culture technology too dangerous to use and yet others ineffective, notably access to hyperspace. About 4000 were built millions of years ago as vast machines intended to cast a forcefield around the whole of the galaxy for unknown purposes; less than half of those remain at the time of "Matter", many having been destroyed by a departed species known as the Iln. The species that developed this technology, known as the Veil or the Involucra, are now lost, and many of the remaining shellworlds have become inhabited, often by many different species throughout their varying levels. Many still hold deadly secret defence mechanisms, often leading to great danger for their new inhabitants, giving them one of their other nicknames: Slaughter Worlds. Ships. Ships in the Culture are intelligent individuals, often of very large size, controlled by one or more Minds. The ship is considered by the Culture generally and the Mind itself to be the Mind's body (compare avatars). Some ships (GSVs, for example) are tens or even hundreds of kilometres in length and may have millions or even billions of residents who live on them full-time; together with Orbitals, such ships represent the main form of habitat for the Culture. Such large ships may temporarily contain smaller ships with their own populations, and/or manufacture such ships themselves. In "Use of Weapons", the protagonist Zakalwe is allowed to acclimatise himself to the Culture by wandering for days through the habitable levels of a ship (the GSV "Size Isn't Everything", which is described as over long), eating and sleeping at the many locations which provide food and accommodation throughout the structure and enjoying the various forms of contact possible with the friendly and accommodating inhabitants. Spheres. Dyson spheres also exist in the Culture universe but receive only passing mention as "Spheres". Three spheres are recorded as having been destroyed in the Idiran-Culture war. Interaction with other civilisations. The Culture, living mostly on massive spaceships and in artificial habitats, and also feeling no need for conquest in the typical sense of the word, possesses no borders. Its sphere of influence is better defined by the (current) concentration of Culture ships and habitats as well as the measure of effect its example and its interventions have already had on the "local" population of any galactic sector. As the Culture is also a very graduated and constantly evolving society, its societal boundaries are also constantly in flux (though they tend to be continually expanding during the novels), peacefully "absorbing" societies and individuals. While the Culture is one of the most advanced and most powerful of all galactic civilisations, it is but one of the "high-level Involved" (called "Optimae" by some less advanced civilisations), the most powerful non-sublimed civilisations which mentor or control the others. An Involved society is a highly advanced group that has achieved galaxy-wide involvement with other cultures or societies. There are a few dozen Involved societies and hundreds or thousands of well-developed (interstellar) but insufficiently influential societies or cultures; there are also well-developed societies known as "galactically mature" which do not take a dynamic role in the galaxy as a whole. In the novels, the Culture might be considered the premier Involved society, or at least the most dynamic and energetic, especially given that the Culture itself is a growing multicultural fusion of Involved societies. The Involved are contrasted with the Sublimed, groups that have reached a high level of technical development and galactic influence but subsequently abandoned physical reality, ceasing to take serious interventionist interest in galactic civilisation. They are also contrasted with what some Culture people loosely refer to as "barbarians", societies of intelligent beings which lack the technical capacity to know about or take a serious role in their interstellar neighbourhood. There are also the elder civilisations, which are civilisations that reached the required level of technology for sublimation, but chose not to, and have retreated from the larger galactic meta-civilisation. The Involved are also contrasted with hegemonising swarms (a term used in several of Banks' Culture novels). These are entities that exist to convert as much of the universe as possible into more of themselves; most typically these are technological in nature, resembling more sophisticated forms of grey goo, but the term can be applied to cultures that are sufficiently single-minded in their devotion to mass conquest, control, and colonisation. Both the Culture and the author (in his "Notes on the Culture") find this behaviour quixotic and ridiculous. Most often, societies categorised as hegemonising swarms consist of species or groups newly arrived in the galactic community with highly expansionary and exploitative goals. The usage of the term "hegemonising swarm" in this context is considered derisive in the Culture and among other Involved and is used to indicate their low regard for those with these ambitions by comparing their behaviour to that of mindless self-replicating technology. The Culture's central moral dilemma regarding intervention in other societies can be construed as a conflict between the desire to help others and the desire to avoid becoming a hegemonising swarm themselves. Foreign policy. Although they lead a comfortable life within the Culture, many of its citizens feel a need to be useful and to belong to a society that does not merely exist for their own sake but that also helps improve the lot of sentient beings throughout the galaxy. For that reason the Culture carries out "good works", covertly or overtly interfering in the development of lesser civilisations, with the main aim to gradually guide them towards less damaging paths. As Culture citizens see it these good works provide the Culture with a "moral right to exist". A group within the Culture, known as Contact, is responsible for its interactions (diplomatic or otherwise) with other civilisations (though non-Contact citizens are apparently not prevented from travelling or interacting with other civilisations). Further within Contact, an intelligence organisation named Special Circumstances exists to deal with interventions which require more covert behaviour; the interventionist approach that the Culture takes to advancing other societies may often create resentment in the affected civilisations and thus requires a rather delicate touch (see: "Look to Windward"). In "Matter", it is described that there are a number of other galactic civilisations that come close to or potentially even surpass the Culture in power and sophistication. The Culture is very careful and considerate of these groupings, and while still trying to convince them of the Culture ideal, will be much less likely to openly interfere in their activities. In "Surface Detail", three more branches of Contact are described: Quietus, the Quietudinal Service, whose purview is dealing with those entities who have retired from biological existence into digital form and/or those who have died and been resurrected; Numina, which is described as having the charge of contact with races that have sublimed; and Restoria, a subset of Contact which focuses on containing and negating the threat of swarms of self-replicating creatures ("hegswarms"). Behaviour in war. While the Culture is normally pacifist, Contact historically acts as its military arm in times of war and Special Circumstances can be considered its secret service and its military intelligence. During war, most of the strategic and tactical decisions are taken by the Minds, with apparently only a small number of especially gifted humans, the "Referrers", being involved in the top-level decisions, though they are not shown outside "Consider Phlebas". It is shown in "Consider Phlebas" that actual decisions to go to war (as opposed to purely defensive actions) are based on a vote of all Culture citizens, presumably after vigorous discussion within the whole society. It is described in various novels that the Culture is extremely reluctant to go to war, though it may start to prepare for it long before its actual commencement. In the Idiran-Culture War (possibly one of the most hard-fought wars for the normally extremely superior Culture forces), various star systems, stellar regions and many orbital habitats were overrun by the Idirans before the Culture had converted enough of its forces to military footing. The Culture Minds had had enough foresight to evacuate almost all its affected citizens (apparently numbering in the many billions) in time before actual hostilities reached them. As shown in "Player of Games", this is a standard Culture tactic, with its strong emphasis on protecting its citizens rather than sacrificing some of them for short-term goals. War within the Culture is mostly fought by the Culture's sentient warships, the most powerful of these being war-converted GSVs, which are described as powerful enough to oppose whole enemy fleets. The Culture has little use for conventional ground forces (as it rarely occupies enemy territory); combat drones equipped with knife missiles do appear in "Descendant" and "terror weapons" (basically intelligent, nano-form assassins) are mentioned in "Look to Windward", while infantry combat suits of great power (also usable as capable combat drones when without living occupants) are used in "Matter". Relevance to real-world politics. The inner workings of The Culture are not especially described in detail though it is shown that the society is populated by an empowered, educated and augmented citizenry in a direct democracy or highly democratic and transparent system of self-governance. In comparisons to the real world, intended or not, the Culture could resemble various posited egalitarian societies including in the writings of Karl Marx, the end condition of communism after a withering away of the state, the anarchism of Bakunin and Fourier et al., libertarian socialism, council communism and anarcho-communism. Other characteristics of The Culture that are recognisable in real world politics include pacifism, post-capitalism, and transhumanism. Banks deliberately portrayed an imperfect utopia whose imperfection or weakness is related to its interaction with the 'other', that is, exterior civilisations and species that are sometimes variously warred with or mishandled through the Culture's Contact section which cannot always control its intrigues and the individuals it either 'employs' or interacts with. This 'dark side' of The Culture also alludes to or echoes mistakes and tragedies in 20th century Marxist–Leninist countries, although the Culture is generally portrayed as far more 'humane' and just. Utopia. Comparisons are often made between the Culture and twentieth and twenty first century Western civilisation and nation-states, particularly their interventions in less-developed societies. These are often confused with regard to the author's assumed politics. Ben Collier has said that the Culture is a utopia carrying significantly greater moral legitimacy than the West's, by comparison, proto-democracies. While Culture interventions can seem similar at first to Western interventions, especially when considered with their democratising rhetoric, the argument is that the Culture operates completely without material need, and therefore without the possibility of baser motives. This is not to say that the Culture's motives are purely altruistic; a peaceful, enlightened universe full of good neighbours lacking ethnic, religious, and sexual chauvinisms is in the Culture's interest as well. Furthermore, the Culture's ideals, in many ways similar to those of the liberal perspective today, are to a much larger extent realised internally in comparison to the West. Criticism. Examples are the use of mercenaries to perform the work that the Culture does not want to get their hands dirty with, and even outright threats of invasion (the Culture has issued ultimatums to other civilisations before). Some commentators have also argued that those Special Circumstances agents tasked with civilising foreign cultures (and thus potentially also changing them into a blander, more Culture-like state) are also those most likely to regret these changes, with parallels drawn to real-world special forces trained to operate within the cultural mindsets of foreign nations. The events of "Use of Weapons" are an example of just how dirty Special Circumstances will play in order to get their way and the conspiracy at the heart of the plot of "Excession" demonstrates how at least some Minds are prepared to risk killing sentient beings when they conclude that these actions are beneficial for the long term good. Special Circumstances represents a very small fraction of Contact, which itself is only a small fraction of the entire Culture, making it comparable again to size and influence of modern intelligence agencies. Issues raised. The Culture stories are largely about problems and paradoxes that confront liberal societies. The Culture itself is an "ideal-typical" liberal society; that is, as pure an example as one can reasonably imagine. It is highly egalitarian; the liberty of the individual is its most important value; and all actions and decisions are expected to be determined according to a standard of reasonability and sociability inculcated into all people through a progressive system of education. It is a society so beyond material scarcity that for almost all practical purposes its people can have and do what they want. If they do not like the behaviour or opinions of others, they can easily move to a more congenial Culture population centre (or Culture subgroup), and hence there is little need to enforce codes of behaviour. Even the Culture has to compromise its ideals where diplomacy and its own security are concerned. Contact, the group that handles these issues, and Special Circumstances, its secret service division, can employ only those on whose talents and emotional stability it can rely, and may even reject self-aware drones built for its purposes that fail to meet its requirements. Hence these divisions are regarded as the Culture's elite and membership is widely regarded as a prize; yet also something that can be shameful as it contradicts many of the Culture's moral codes. Within Contact and Special Circumstances, there are also inner circles that can take control in crises, somewhat contradictory to the ideal notions of democratic and open process the Culture espouses. Contact and Special Circumstances may suppress or delay the release of information, for example to avoid creating public pressure for actions they consider imprudent or to prevent other civilisations from exploiting certain situations. In dealing with less powerful regressive civilisations, the Culture usually intervenes discreetly, for example by protecting and discreetly supporting the more liberal elements, or subverting illiberal institutions. For instance, in "Use of Weapons", the Culture operates within a less advanced illiberal society through control of a business cartel which is known for its humanitarian and social development investments, as well as generic good Samaritanism. In "Excession", a sub-group of Minds conspires to provoke a war with the extremely sadistic Affront, although the conspiracy is foiled by a GSV that is a deep cover Special Circumstances agent. Only one story, "Consider Phlebas", pits the Culture against a highly illiberal society of approximately equal power: the aggressive, theocratic Idirans. Though they posed no immediate, direct threat to the Culture, the Culture declared war because it would have felt useless if it allowed the Idirans' ruthless expansion to continue. The Culture's decision was a value-judgement rather than a utilitarian calculation, and the "Peace Faction" within the Culture seceded. Later in the timeline of the Culture's universe, the Culture has reached a technological level at which most past civilisations have Sublimed, in other words disengaged from Galactic politics and from most physical interaction with other civilisations. The Culture continues to behave "like an idealistic adolescent". As of 2008, three stories force the Culture to consider its approach to more powerful civilisations. In one incident during the Culture-Idiran War, they strive to avoid offending a civilisation so advanced that it has disengaged from Galactic politics, and note that this hyper-advanced society is not a threat to either the welfare or the values of the Culture. In "Excession", an overwhelmingly more powerful individual from an extremely advanced civilisation is simply passing through on its way from one plane of the physical Reality to another, and there is no real interaction. In the third case it sets up teams to study a civilisation that is not threatening but is thought to have eliminated aggressors in the past. Banks on the Culture. When asked in "Wired" magazine (June 1996) whether mankind's fate depends on having intelligent machines running things, as in the Culture, Banks replied: In a 2002 interview with "Science Fiction Weekly" magazine, when asked: Banks replied:

8dc33f34-a480-40f1-9cc9-a171f2106fb5

m2d2_wiki

The Peach Blossom Spring The Peach Blossom Spring (, also translated as “(The Record of) the Peach Blossom”), or Peach Blossom Spring Story or The Peach Blossom Land, was a fable written by Tao Yuanming in 421 CE about a chance discovery of an ethereal utopia where the people lead an ideal existence in harmony with nature, unaware of the outside world for centuries. Plot. "The Peach Blossom Spring" was written during a time of political instability and national disunity; and, according to the story, set in the same (the Taiyuan era of the Jin dynasty (266–420). "Peach Blossom Spring" describes how a fisherman haphazardly sailed into a river in a forest made up entirely of blossoming peach trees, where even the ground was covered by peach petals. When he reached the end of the river (or spring in some translations), the source turned out to be a grotto. Though narrow at first, he was able to squeeze through and the passage eventually reached a village with animals and people of all ages. The villagers were surprised to see him, but were kind and friendly. They explained that their ancestors escaped to this place during the civil unrest of the Qin dynasty and they themselves had not left since or had contact with anyone from the outside. As a result, they had heard nothing of subsequent changes in political regimes. The fisherman was warmly received by the hospitable villagers and stayed for over a week. Upon leaving, he was informed that it was worthless to reveal this experience to the world. However, he marked his route on his way out with signs and later divulged the existence of this idyllic haven to others. They tried to find it repeatedly but in vain. Influences. Li Bai referenced Peach Blossom Spring in his poem "A Gift to Wang Lun" (赠汪伦, Zeng Wanglun, circa 750 AD). The expression "shìwaì taóyuán" ( "the Peach Spring beyond this world") has become a popular four-character idiom ("chengyu"), meaning an unexpectedly fantastic place off the beaten path, usually an unspoiled wilderness of great beauty. The text inspired many later poems, some music compositions, art and a modern Taiwanese play-turned-movie, "Secret Love for the Peach Blossom Spring". In some of the poems, the inhabitants of the villages were xian (immortals). Taohuayuan Scenic Area is a national park based on "The Peach Blossom Spring" located in Taoyuan County, Hunan, China. The Mu Lung Gardens in "MapleStory" are named after the land in the text (). Mu Lung Garden is one of the Asian-themed areas in the game, even with several pandas training to become monks. The modern sculpture by Yuanxing Liang called "Chunmang Peach Blossom Island" was inspired by the tale, it presents a woman with her hair forming into nature imitating the utopian world which is presented in the fable.

cdeddd0d-aa82-432e-a9ea-67875cc8e0b7

m2d2_wiki

Nikita Lalwani Nikita Lalwani is a novelist born in Kota, Rajasthan and raised in Cardiff, Wales. Her work has been translated into sixteen languages. She studied English at Bristol University. Her first book, "Gifted" (2007), was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award. Lalwani was also nominated as "Sunday Times" Young Writer of the Year. In June 2008, Lalwani won the inaugural Desmond Elliott Prize for Fiction. She donated the £10,000 prize to human rights campaigners, Liberty. Lalwani's second book, "The Village", was published in 2012 and selected as one of eight titles for the Fiction Uncovered campaign for the best of British fiction in 2013. Lalwani has contributed to "The Guardian", the "New Statesman" and "The Observer" and also written for "AIDS Sutra", an anthology exploring the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS in India. She lives in North London. In 2013, Lalwani was a book judge for the Orwell Prize. In 2018, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She was later a judge for the Royal Society of Literature Encore Prize in 2019. In the same year, she contributed to the anthology "Resist: Stories of Uprising]". Her novel "You People", set in a West London pizzeria where most of the staff are illegal immigrants, was published in 2020.

ec52d5a4-af8c-475a-a571-fca9e11c3080

m2d2_wiki

Cyberprep

a49b75f6-7b8e-4372-a6e4-1501f72651ed

m2d2_wiki

The Isle of Ladies The Isle of Ladies is an anonymous fifteenth-century dream vision poem about an island governed by women which is invaded by men, after which there ensues a series of courtly romantic exploits. It is thought to draw on Chaucerian conventions, and some believe it to be written on the occasion of an aristocratic betrothal. Others argue that it is a "mock courtly romance." It survives in only two manuscripts (Longleat House MS 256 and British Library MS Additional 10303), and extends to 2235 lines.

015838ae-86e1-4ff3-9bc1-0accc693b907

m2d2_wiki

History of the Sevarambians The History of Sevarambians is a utopian novel by Denis Vairasse published in 1675 as "The History of the Sevarites or Sevarambi". Originally published in English, it was quickly translated into French and expanded, with parts two and three appearing in 1677 as "L’Histoire des Sévarambes". Two further instalments were published in French in 1679. The novel did not appear in its completed form in English until 1738. The first part of the novel tells the story of a shipwreck that occurs during a voyage to Batavia. The ship "The Golden Dragon", under Captain Siden, goes ashore in "Terra Australis". The castaways make lives for themselves, sustaining themselves with agriculture, hunting and fishing. Due to the paucity of females present, most of the men shared one to a group of five men, except for the officers, who each were allowed their own wife. Influence. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, in his "Théodicée", referenced the title of this work, using "Sevarambian" as a synonym for Utopian.

57966c56-588f-412c-bc20-f897499a8339

m2d2_wiki

Islands of the Sun Islands of the Sun or The Adventures of Iambulus in the Southern Ocean is a utopian novel by Iambulus which was written in Greek between 165 and 50 B.C.E. It chronicles the journey of the eponymous character Iambulus who discovers a seemingly perfect island nation. This book comprises eight chapters which describe the island’s geography and its inhabitants’ culture. The character Iambulus was captured on his way through Arabia. Heeding orders from his Ethiopian captors, he journeys to a distant island where he meets the natives who would share their prosperity with the Ethiopians for six hundred years. The islands are part of an archipelago where the days and nights are equal length and the weather is temperate. The natives eat animals and plants; all of which are plentiful. They live in a society with communistic features and value restraint, beauty, and knowledge. Iambulus stays for seven years then returns to Greece. Background. This presented first-person narrative describing a voyage to the Islands of the Sun, which forms part of an archipelago of seven islands equidistant to one another, all observed to be run under the same set of rules and laws, is a story which is said to have been originally authored by an ancient Greek merchant named Iambulus. This story has been estimated to have been written in the Second or Third century B.C. The aim of Iambulus’ work, and in other words, the interest of his works was seen to heavily focus upon the evaluation and analysis of ethical, financial, and social structures of society. In his writing process, it has even been noted that Iambulus utilized geographical astronomical, botanical, zoological, and even anthropologic data available to him at the time of the writing of his works in order to substantiate the validity of his pieces. Additionally, Iambulus’ literary approach has been demonstrated to reflect previous scientific-narration type pieces, such as the voyage narrative, “The Voyage of Nearchus; and The Periplus of the Erythrean Sea” which at the time exemplified the style of work which Iambulus would go on to emulate in his writings, which namely was that of more defined literature with significant incorporation of scientific information in the storyline. Furthermore, Iambulus’ narrative specifically within ‘Islands of the Sun’ is observed to still fall within parameters classic of Greek literary utopia. Typically, the literary genre of Greek storytelling is presented in a pointed, sharply defined manner (especially with respect to futuristic/utopian thematics). Most prominently, Iambulus is seen to conduct his writings within this genre via his implementation of utopian aesthetics (physical, architectural), human perfectionism (diseaseless, long-living societies), and style of travel-narrative within the story presented in/by ‘Islands of the Sun'. Summary. The following are the eight chapters in Iambulus's narrative "Island of the sun": Birth and Education of Iambulus, Incidents Leading to his Discovery of the Islands of the sun, Geographical and Astronomical Description of the Islands, Constitution and Customs of the Islanders, Religion of the Islanders, Language and Learning of the Islanders, The animals of the Islands, Sojourn of Iambulus as Palibotha and his Return to Greece or Asia Minor. The first and second chapters talked about Iambulus's journey to the Ethiopian coast where he had to do a ritual for the purification of that land. He and some of the folk there were forced to be on the sea and reach an island in order to secure peace and prosperity. After sailing for about four months, they reached an island and received a warm welcome from the natives there. The third chapter continued on describing the island and the native on the Island of the Sun. The island was described as a circular form with a circumference of a thousand kilometers near the equator. The islander enjoyed the climate and the ripened fruits as it's warm all year round. They have mastered techniques to grow more fruits and create clothes from oyster shells and certain reed. They also became skillful to catch animals such as fish and birds to the point where food was overproduced. The fourth chapter gave descriptions of the native appearance and their custom. The native is over six feet tall with soft skins but still strong. Their body is well proportioned with a wider nose and ears. They are very diverse because of their fork tongue that has the ability to multitask conversation with people. They live in a group of a clan with the oldest member ruling each one. The islander does not care much for marriage as they like to raise children and love each other equally. In order to cast out which child is strong and weak, they tested them for a fight against the large bird. Since they are very knowledgeable about hunting, they can prepare meats and roasted food however, they do not know much about condiments and sauces. Even though they are extremely healthy and free from disease, those who reached the age of one hundred and fifty have to kill themselves with a strange plant. Then they are buried under the sand near the low tide. The fifth chapter provides information about the religion of the islander. They believed in God as the heavens, the sun, and celestial bodies. They celebrate god by throwing feasts and festivals praising to the god with music and songs. The sixth chapter talked about how the islander does not write its line horizontally but vertically downward. They have twenty-eight different phonetic values but only seven-character unlike how we do. They are mostly concerned with astrology. The seventh chapter described the type of animals located on the island. There are many kinds and sorts of small animals that are similar to a tortoise. Its skin has yellow lines with four eyes and four mouths. It can walk any directions and when it is being cut up, it glues itself back together. The eighth chapter talked about how Iambulus was taken to the king of Palibothra by the native villagers. The king allowed Iambulus to travel back to Persia and then later to Greece. Publication. The original writings of Iambulus' "Islands of the Sun" do not exist today. The only portions of this story that can be read are located in Diodorus Siculus' "Bibliotheca historica", and these are in the form of excerpts. The title of the story may also have been, "The Adventures of Iambulus in the Southern Ocean", but this is unknown as no original manuscript exists. The publication date, or writing of this tale has been dated back to around 3rd or 2nd century B.C.E. The only other references to "The Islands of the Sun" other than Diodorus Siculus' work, can be found in Lucians' book, "True History", and Ioannes Tzetzes' writings in "Chiliades". Historical Context. Iambulus' "Island of the Sun" demonstrates many ideas other Hellenistic writers were seen to share. The Hellenistic period was enveloped with geographical and travel literature. Iambulus uses astronomical, geographical, botanical, zoological and anthropological data to authenticate his narrative. Moreover, the description of Iambulus’ adventures alludes to events of the Hellenistic period, hence illustrating another aspect that contributes to the authenticity of the story. This idea of using scientific terminology is a theme seen throughout many pieces of Greek literature in this time period. Reception. This story has been cited by different scholars listing utopian tales of the Hellenistic age. "Islands of the Sun" is described in the introduction of Lucians' novel "True History", and inspired Ionnes Tzetzes to mention its tale in his "Chiliades" also

d8b957ad-a0c9-40d4-a0d5-9d53b11f8f39

m2d2_wiki

List of utopian literature This is a list of utopian literature. A utopia is a community or society possessing highly desirable or perfect qualities. It is a common literary theme, especially in speculative fiction and science fiction. Pre-16th century. The word "utopia" was coined in Greek language by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book "Utopia", but the genre has roots dating back to antiquity.

ed5e43bf-91a9-4930-8be4-a28713715ce3

m2d2_wiki

Kaethe Katrin Wenzel Kaethe Katrin Wenzel (born 1 November 1972 in Aachen) is a German artist. She works are about Utopian ideas, the future, and alternative concepts for society. Her main instruments are drawing, interviews, the Internet, mechanics/electronics, and street art. She uses techniques from surveys to speculative fiction to explore "the collective production of culture, the interface of art and science, and the production and negotiation of public space". Her projects provide skeptical footnotes to global history. She modifies or mimics urban signs, advertisements, or services, jolting viewers out of their habitual ruts, upsetting conventional ways of seeing and of representing the world. Her interview-based drawing projects connect the streets and the Internet. Her aim is to create space for unusual thoughts and empowered communication: "The point is to rewrite existing structures as alterable, to change and rethink them (...) Through a collective work process (Wenzel) opens up new perspectives and visions of specific themes." Wenzel often actively involves passersby in surveys or service interventions, testing machines of her own invention, or she interviews citizens as local specialists – experimenting with forms of collective authorship and working against traditional notions of artists as "visionaries" who are supposed to possess special insights denied to the "average person". According to Wenzel, new ways of seeing, which are developing as part of the digital revolution, and of changing concepts of the urban realm are especially suitable for artistic infiltration to reflect the underlying structures of daily life. Life and works. In 2016, Wenzel became professor for Aesthetic Practice and Contexts at European University Flensburg. She studied in Marburg, Florence, and Berlin. In 2003 she received a PhD for her work "Meat as a Material in Art. Objects on the Interface of Art and Medicine" about oppositional artistic structures in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). She was an exchange scholar with the Fulbright Program at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, 2009–10. In a direct reaction to New York City she developed the Cartoonorama project, which combines drawing, interview, and cartography. Her art can be found in numerous museums and collections: the German Museum of Technology Berlin; the Szént István Király Múzeum, Székesfehérvár, Hungary; the Koblenz Middlerhine Museum, and the Roemer-Pelizaeus-Museum in Hildesheim.

efb29efa-29c0-4a65-9f41-72d381b4ab9e

m2d2_wiki

Spore Hero Spore Hero is the Nintendo Wii spin-off of "Spore", developed by Maxis, in which the players focus on creativity and evolution using the unique controls of the Wii. The game was released on October 6, 2009. Development. A Wii spinoff of the game had been mentioned by Will Wright several times, such as in his October 26, 2007 interview with "The Guardian". Eventually, a spin-off under the title "Spore Hero", an adventure game built ground up for the Wii with a heavier focus on evolution, was announced as part of the 2009 lineup along with "Spore Hero Arena" and "Spore Galactic Adventures"" The first details of Spore Hero began to emerge when MTV's Totilo had an interview with designer Lucy Bradshaw. In it she said that the team was taking a look at Wii Motion Plus for better motion sensitivity. On May 12, EA sent out their official press release for Spore Hero and Spore Hero Arena. Several previews began to emerge later. At an event in Los Angeles, GameSpot got another look at Spore Hero. IGN and Gamezone also posted previews as part of their pre-E3 lineup. Spore Hero was on show at E3 2009 and at Comic-Con. In late July, Maxis conducted an interview with several of the major fansites. During it they revealed that one of the choices they made during development was to focus on the story-line of the game. This focus meant that they had to detract from the game's online capabilities. Gameplay. There are two types of meteors: the blue one whose rocks give the player more DNA, and the red one whose rocks make most creatures go crazy. The creature, a Sporeling, starts as a small, blue, bipedal creature hatched from its egg in the blue meteor. Meejee the Striped Bird offers the creature a fruit, but it doesn't have a mouth. Littly shows the creature a nest, one of several scattered across the planet, where it hatched that resembles the sun, and where the creature can evolve itself. The evil Zarkhator, hatched from his egg in the red meteor, has used red rocks to corrupt almost every creature on the planet. The Sporeling must destroy every red rock. At the Creature Beach, they must have the final battle, so that Zarkhator can be evolved into a weaker creature. He gets laughed at by everyone, and doesn't cause any more harm to the planet. The Ancient Guardian needs 5 parts from each world. The Sage is the one who looks after the Guardian. He is an elderly Striped Bird who is good friends with the Yeti. Reception. "IGN" rated "Spore Hero" 6.1 out of 10 in its review. "Game Informer" rated the game a 7/10.

d8cd1e33-7282-4b97-bebb-bd9f1d9a9ece

m2d2_wiki

Pirate utopia Pirate utopias were defined by anarchist writer Peter Lamborn Wilson, who coined the term in his 1995 book "Pirate Utopias: Moorish Corsairs & European Renegadoes" as secret islands once used for supply purposes by pirates. Wilson's concept is largely based on speculation, although he admits to adding a bit of fantasy to the idea. In Wilson's view, these pirate enclaves were early forms of autonomous proto-anarchist societies in that they operated beyond the reach of governments and embraced unrestricted freedom. On the Barbary Coast. Located on the Barbary Coast (Salé, Algiers and Tunis), these bases were havens for renegade Muslim pirates from the 16th to the 18th century. The pirates, dubbed "Barbary Corsairs", ravaged European shipping operations and enslaved many thousands of captives. Wilson focuses on the Pirate Republic of Salé, in 17th century Morocco, which may have had its own lingua franca. Like some other pirate states, it even used to pass treaties from time to time with some European countries, agreeing not to attack their fleets. Wilson/Bey's idea of Temporary Autonomous Zones developed from his historical review of pirate utopias. In describing them, Wilson has said: Connection to Islam. Wilson writes about the large influx of Europeans converting to Islam, forming the "Renegados" and joining the pirate holy war. He then takes an interesting approach regarding 17th century Europeans and their opposition to Islam. He asks if Europeans were opposed to Islam or if Islam had a "positive shadow" that made it so attractive for pirates? Was there something that was intriguing to a pirate about Islam, or was there a change in belief that many Europeans experienced? Wilson goes on to write that these men and women were not only apostates and traitors, as they were considered in their homelands, but their voluntary betrayal of Christendom can also be thought of as a praxis of social resistance. Libertatia. Libertatia (also known as Libertalia) was a possibly fictional anarchist colony founded in the late 17th century in Madagascar by pirates under the leadership of Captain James Misson. Whether or not Libertatia actually existed is disputed. It is described in the book "A General History of the Pyrates" by Captain Charles Johnson, an otherwise unknown individual who may have been a pseudonym of Daniel Defoe. Much of the book is a mixture of fact and fiction, and it is possible the account of Libertatia is entirely fabricated. According to Johnson's description, Libertatia lasted for about 25 years. The precise location is not known, however, most sources say it stretched from the Bay of Antongil to Mananjary, including Île Sainte Marie and Foulpointe. Thomas Tew, Misson, and an Italian Dominican priest named Caraccioli were involved in founding it. In literature and popular culture. "Cities of the Red Night", a novel by American author William S. Burroughs, revolves around a group of radical pirates who seek the freedom to live under the articles set out by Captain James Misson. The attempted establishment of a Republic of Pirates utopia (free from either British or Spanish rule) is a significant plot element in the Ubisoft video game ". In the movie " the main characters gather at "Shipwreck Cove", a city built out of wrecked ships and constructed platforms. Libertalia is also a central plot element and setting in the video game "". However, in this interpretation, Libertalia was founded by the pirate Henry Avery and others including Tew, Anne Bonny and Edward England. The 2015 video game "Fallout 4" features an area in the game called Libertalia. The area is a series of off-shore platforms (made of various debris) that has become home to a large gang of raiders. British Author Warren Ellis writes in Bruce Sterling's book "Pirate Utopia" about Libertalia and the objections against its existence.

ee25b7b4-2284-48d0-895e-62cb364bb348

m2d2_wiki

Utopian and dystopian fiction Utopian and dystopian fiction are genres of speculative fiction that explore social and political structures. Utopian fiction portrays a setting that agrees with the author's ethos, having various attributes of another reality intended to appeal to readers. Dystopian fiction offers the opposite: the portrayal of a setting that completely disagrees with the author's ethos. Some novels combine both genres, often as a metaphor for the different directions humanity can take depending on its choices, ending up with one of two possible futures. Both utopias and dystopias are commonly found in science fiction and other types of speculative fiction. More than 400 utopian works in the English language were published prior to the year 1900, with more than a thousand others appearing during the 20th century. This increase is partially associated with the rise in popularity of genre fiction, science fiction and young adult fiction more generally, but also larger scale social change that brought awareness of larger societal or global issues, such as technology, climate change, and growing human population. Some of these trends have created distinct subgenres such as ecotopian fiction, climate fiction, young adult dystopian novels, and feminist dystopian novels. Subgenres. Utopian fiction. The word "utopia" was first used in direct context by Sir Thomas More in his 1516 work "Utopia". The word "utopia" resembles both the Greek words "no place", "outopos", and "good place", "eutopos". In his book, which was written in Latin, More sets out a vision of an ideal society. As the title suggests, the work presents an ambiguous and ironic projection of the ideal state. The whimsical nature of the text can be confirmed by the narrator of Utopia's second book, Raphael Hythloday. The Greek root of Hythloday suggests an 'expert in nonsense'. An earlier example of a Utopian work from classical antiquity is Plato's "The Republic", in which he outlines what he sees as the ideal society and its political system. Later examples can be seen in Samuel Johnson's "The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia" and Samuel Butler's "Erewhon", which uses an anagram of "nowhere" as its title. This, like much of the utopian literature, can be seen as satire; Butler inverts illness and crime, with punishment for the former and treatment for the latter. Dystopian fiction. A dystopia is a society characterized by a focus on that which is contrary to the author's ethos, such as mass poverty, public mistrust and suspicion, a police state or oppression. Most authors of dystopian fiction explore at least one reason why things are that way, often as an analogy for similar issues in the real world. Dystopian literature is used to "provide fresh perspectives on problematic social and political practices that might otherwise be taken for granted or considered natural and inevitable". Some dystopias claim to be utopias. Samuel Butler's "Erewhon" can be seen as a dystopia because of the way sick people are punished as criminals while thieves are "cured" in hospitals, which the inhabitants of Erewhon see as natural and right, i.e., utopian (as mocked in Voltaire's "Candide"). Dystopias usually extrapolate elements of contemporary society, and this can be read as political warnings. The 1921 novel "We" by Yevgeny Zamyatin predicts a post-apocalyptic future in which society is entirely based on logic and modeled after mechanical systems. George Orwell was influenced by "We" when he wrote "Nineteen Eighty-Four", a novel about Oceania, a state at perpetual war, its population controlled through propaganda. Big Brother and the daily Two Minutes Hate set the tone for an all-pervasive self-censorship. Aldous Huxley's novel "Brave New World" started as a parody of utopian fiction, and projected into the year 2540 industrial and social changes he perceived in 1931, leading to industrial success by a coercively persuaded population divided into five castes; the World State kills everyone 60 years old or older. Anthony Burgess' 1962 novel "A Clockwork Orange" is set in a future England that has a subculture of extreme youth violence, and details the protagonist's experiences with the state intent on changing his character at their whim. Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" describes a future United States governed by a totalitarian theocracy, where women have no rights, and Stephen King's "The Long Walk" describing similar totalitarian scenario, but depicting the participation of teenage boys in a deadly contest. Examples of young adult dystopian fiction include (notably all published after 2000) "The Hunger Games" series by Suzanne Collins, the "Divergent" series by Veronica Roth, "The Maze Runner" series by James Dashner, and the "Uglies" series by Scott Westerfeld. Video games often include dystopias as well; notable examples include the "Fallout" series, "BioShock", and the later games of the "Half-Life" series. History of dystopian fiction. The history of dystopian literature can be traced back to the reaction to the French Revolution of 1789 and the prospect that mob rule would produce dictatorship. Until the late 20th century, it was usually anti-collectivist. Dystopian fiction emerged as a response to the utopian. Its early history is traced to Gregory Claeys. "Dystopia: A Natural History" (Oxford University Press, 2017). The beginning of technological dystopian fiction can be traced back to E.M. Forster's (1879-1970) "The Machine Stops." Forster is widely accepted as a 'pioneer of dystopian literature.' M Keith Booker states that "The Machine Stops," "We" and "Brave New World" are "the great defining texts of the genre of dystopian fiction, both in [the] vividness of their engagement with real-world social and political issues and in the scope of their critique of the societies on which they focus." Another important figure in dystopian literature is H.G. Wells, whose work "The Time Machine" (1895) is also widely seen as a prototype of dystopian literature. Post World War II, even more dystopian fiction was produced. These works of fiction were interwoven with political commentary: the end of World War II brought about fears of an impending Third World War and a consequent apocalypse. Modern dystopian fiction draws not only on topics such as totalitarian governments and anarchism, but also pollution, global warming, climate change, health, the economy and technology. Modern dystopian themes are common in the young adult (YA) genre of literature. Combinations. Many works combine elements of both utopias and dystopias. Typically, an observer from our world will journey to another place or time and see one society the author considers ideal and another representing the worst possible outcome. The point is usually that our choices may lead to a better or worse potential future world. Ursula K. Le Guin's "Always Coming Home" fulfills this model, as does Marge Piercy's "Woman on the Edge of Time". In Starhawk's "The Fifth Sacred Thing" there is no time-travelling observer. However, her ideal society is invaded by a neighbouring power embodying evil repression. In Aldous Huxley's "Island", in many ways a counterpoint to his better-known "Brave New World", the fusion of the best parts of Buddhist philosophy and Western technology is threatened by the "invasion" of oil companies. As another example, in the "Unwanteds" series by Lisa McMann, a paradox occurs where the outcasts from a complete dystopia are treated to absolute utopia. They believe that those who were privileged in said dystopia were the unlucky ones. In another literary model, the imagined society journeys between elements of utopia and dystopia over the course of the novel or film. At the beginning of "The Giver" by Lois Lowry, the world is described as a utopia. However, as the book progresses, the world's dystopian aspects are revealed. Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" is also sometimes linked with both utopian and dystopian literatures, because it shares the general preoccupation with ideas of good and bad societies. Of the countries Lemuel Gulliver visits, Brobdingnag and Country of the Houyhnhnms approach a utopia; the others have significant dystopian aspects. Ecotopian fiction. In "ecotopian fiction", the author posits either a utopian or dystopian world revolving around environmental conservation or destruction. Danny Bloom coined the term "cli fi" in 2006, with a Twitter boost from Margaret Atwood in 2011, to cover climate change-related fiction, but the theme has existed for decades. Novels dealing with overpopulation, such as Harry Harrison's "Make Room! Make Room!" (made into movie "Soylent Green"), were popular in the 1970s, reflecting the widespread concern with the effects of overpopulation on the environment. The novel "Nature's End" by Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka (1986) posits a future in which overpopulation, pollution, climate change, and resulting superstorms, have led to a popular mass-suicide political movement. Some other examples of ecological dystopias are depictions of Earth in the films "Wall-E" and "Avatar". While eco-dystopias are more common, a small number of works depicting what might be called eco-utopia, or eco-utopian trends, have also been influential. These include Ernest Callenbach's "Ecotopia", an important 20th century example of this genre. Kim Stanley Robinson has written several books dealing with environmental themes, including the Mars trilogy. Most notably, however, his "Three Californias Trilogy" contrasted an eco-dystopia with an eco-utopia and a sort of middling-future. Robinson has also edited an anthology of short ecotopian fiction, called "". There are a few dystopias that have an "anti-ecological" theme. These are often characterized by a government that is overprotective of nature or a society that has lost most modern technology and struggles for survival. A fine example of this is the novel "Riddley Walker". Feminist utopias. Another subgenre is "feminist utopias" and the overlapping category of feminist science fiction. According to the author Sally Miller Gearhart, “A feminist utopian novel is one which "a." contrasts the present with an envisioned idealized society (separated from the present by time or space), "b." offers a comprehensive critique of present values/conditions, "c." sees men or male institutions as a major cause of present social ills, "d." presents women as not only at least the equals of men but also as the sole arbiters of their reproductive functions.” Utopias have explored the ramification of gender being either a societal construct or a hard-wired imperative. In Mary Gentle's "Golden Witchbreed", gender is not chosen until maturity, and gender has no bearing on social roles. In contrast, Doris Lessing's "The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five" (1980) suggests that men's and women's values are inherent to the sexes and cannot be changed, making a compromise between them essential. In "My Own Utopia" (1961) by Elisabeth Mann Borgese, gender exists but is dependent upon age rather than sex — genderless children mature into women, some of whom eventually become men. Marge Piercy's novel "Woman on the Edge of Time" keeps human biology, but removes pregnancy and childbirth from the gender equation by resorting to assisted reproductive technology while allowing both women and men the nurturing experience of breastfeeding. Utopic single-gender worlds or single-sex societies have long been one of the primary ways to explore implications of gender and gender-differences. One solution to gender oppression or social issues in feminist utopian fiction is to remove men, either showing isolated all-female societies as in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "Herland", or societies where men have died out or been replaced, as in Joanna Russ's "A Few Things I Know About Whileaway", where "the poisonous binary gender" has died off. In speculative fiction, female-only worlds have been imagined to come about by the action of disease that wipes out men, along with the development of a technological or mystical method that allows female parthenogenetic reproduction. The resulting society is often shown to be utopian by feminist writers. Many influential feminist utopias of this sort were written in the 1970s; the most often studied examples include Joanna Russ's "The Female Man", Suzy McKee Charnas's "The Holdfast Chronicles". Such worlds have been portrayed most often by lesbian or feminist authors; their use of female-only worlds allows the exploration of female independence and freedom from patriarchy. The societies may not necessarily be lesbian, or sexual at all — "Herland" (1915) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a famous early example of a sexless society. Charlene Ball writes in "Women's Studies Encyclopedia" that use of speculative fiction to explore gender roles has been more common in the United States than in Europe and elsewhere. Utopias imagined by male authors have generally included equality between sexes rather than separation. Feminist dystopias have become prevalent in young adult fiction, or YA, in recent years, focusing on the relationship between gender identity and the teenager. For instance, the "Birthmarked" trilogy by Caragh M. O'Brien focuses on a teenage midwife in a future post-apocalyptic world while the second novel in the series places the teenage heroine Gaia in a matriarchy. Cultural impact. Étienne Cabet's work "Travels in Icaria" caused a group of followers to leave France in 1848 and travel to the United States to start a series of utopian settlements in Texas, Illinois, Iowa, California, and elsewhere. These groups lived in communal settings and lasted until 1898.

1f503d28-b3d6-4326-a984-246bd201ede9

m2d2_wiki

All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace "All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace" is a poem by Richard Brautigan first published in his 1967 collection of the same name, his fifth book of poetry. It presents an enthusiastic description of a technological utopia in which machines improve and protect the lives of humans. It has been read as both a counterculture adoption of Cold War-era technological visions as well as an ironic critique of the utopia it describes. It is Brautigan's most frequently reprinted poem. Synopsis and analysis. Brautigan wrote the poem and eponymous collection between January 17–26, 1967, while a poet-in-residence at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California. The poem describes a technological utopia in which humans and technology work together for the greater good. Brautigan writes about "mammals and computers liv[ing] together in mutually programming harmony", with technology acting as caretakers while "we are free of our labors and joined back to nature." Reviewers disagree whether it should be taken earnestly or ironically. Most critics take the poem as a counterculture, communitarian adoption of Cold War-era technological visions. Brautigan's publisher, Claude Hayward, said it "caught me with its magical references to benign machines keeping order ... [which] fit right in with our optimism over the promise of the computer". In Vijay Nambisan's review for "The Hindu" in 2000, he said: "You cannot write a poem like this today. It is too childlike, too innocent. Indeed, college friends who were moved by Brautigan's work twenty years ago would now laugh at me for choosing it. That's more or less what happened to Brautigan." Others have interpreted it as an ironic, mocking critique of the technologically enabled utopia it purports to long for. According to Stanford's Carlos Seligo, there is an irony in the poem that "is as subtle and complex as his mixed metaphors", which Seligo says are "always doing at least three—and often four, five, or six things at once." Robert J. Grangeware noted how unusual it is for American poets to take a positive view of our relationship with technology, but if viewed as ironic it "joins the mainstream of antitechnological American verse." Publication history. The poem was first published by the Communication Company in 1967, type-written on an mimeographed broadside with both the title and imprint hand-written. It was the title poem in the April 1967 collection of the same name, published in April 1967. 1,500 copies of the 36-page work were printed at the Communication Company, and all were given away for free. It was included with the rest of the contents of the 1967 collection, along with other previously published collections and new material, in "The Pill versus the Springhill Mine Disaster" (1968). Brautigan gave the poem to The Diggers to include in their August 1968 pamphlet, "The Digger Papers". The 24-page pamphlet was published in "The Realist" issue 81, and another 40,000 copies were printed by the Diggers and given away for free. "All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace" is Brautigan's most frequently reprinted poem. In the original 1967 publication, Brautigan included a copyleft statement which retains copyright but grants permission to reprint any poem in "All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace" so long as it is given away for free. Legacy. The documentary series "All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace" was named after the poem, which is a favorite of director Adam Curtis. Its second part includes a recording of Brautigan doing a reading. According to the "Chicago Reader", "For all the frenzy of the images, what dominates the sequence are Brautigan's voice and the languid piece of symphonic music on the soundtrack." At the Palais de Tokyo, the poem inspired a show of the same name in 2017, curated by Yoann Gourmel. It began with a poster for the poem, and included works which "Art in America"s Federico Florian said superficially fulfill Brautigan's dreams, "[evoking] a present tense where technology has imbued every aspect of human life, and therefore reshaped the mechanisms of our affections."

6dd5b635-5310-4dda-bed2-2b6cd9fc2170

m2d2_wiki

The Book of the City of Ladies The Book of the City of Ladies or Le Livre de la Cité des Dames (finished by 1405), is perhaps Christine de Pizan's most famous literary work, and it is her second work of lengthy prose. Pizan uses the vernacular French language to compose the book, but she often uses Latin-style syntax and conventions within her French prose. The book serves as her formal response to Jean de Meun's popular "Roman de la Rose". Pizan combats Meun's statements about women by creating an allegorical city of ladies. She defends women by collecting a wide array of famous women throughout history. These women are "housed" in the City of Ladies, which is actually the book. As Pizan builds her city, she uses each famous woman as a building block for not only the walls and houses of the city, but also as building blocks for her thesis. Each woman added to the city adds to Pizan's argument towards women as valued participants in society. She also advocates in favour of education for women. Christine de Pizan also finished by 1405 "The Treasure of the City of Ladies" ("Le tresor de la cité des dames de degré en degré", also known "The Book of the Three Virtues"), a manual of education, dedicated to Princess Margaret of Burgundy. This aims to educate women of all estates, the latter telling women who have husbands: "If she wants to act prudently and have the praise of both the world and her husband, she will be cheerful to him all the time". Her "Book" and "Treasure" are her two best-known works, along with the "Ditie de Jehanne D'Arc". Summary. Part I. Part I opens with Christine reading from Matheolus's "Lamentations", a work from the thirteenth century that addresses marriage wherein the author writes that women make men's lives miserable. Upon reading these words, Christine becomes upset and feels ashamed to be a woman: "This thought inspired such a great sense of disgust and sadness in me that I began to despise myself and the whole of my sex as an aberration in nature". The three Virtues then appear to Christine, and each lady tells Christine what her role will be in helping her build the City of Ladies. Lady Reason, a virtue developed by Christine for the purpose of her book, is the first to join Christine and helps her build the external walls of the city. She answers Christine's questions about why some men slander women, helping Christine to prepare the ground on which the city will be built. She tells Christine to "take the spade of [her] intelligence and dig deep to make a trench all around [the city] … [and Reason will] help to carry away the hods of earth on [her] shoulders." These "hods of earth" are the past beliefs Christine has held. Christine, in the beginning of the text, believed that women must truly be bad because she "could scarcely find a moral work by any author which didn't devote some chapter or paragraph to attacking the female sex. [Therefore she] had to accept [these authors] unfavourable opinion[s] of women since it was unlikely that so many learned men, who seemed to be endowed with such great intelligence and insight into all things, could possibly have lied on so many different occasions." Christine is not using reason to discover the merits of women. She believes all that she reads instead of putting her mind to listing all the great deeds women have accomplished. To help Christine see reason, Lady Reason comes and teaches Christine. She helps Christine dispel her own self-consciousness and the negative thoughts of past writers. By creating Lady Reason, Christine not only teaches her own allegorical self, but also her readers. She gives not only herself reason, but also gives readers, and women, reason to believe that women are not evil or useless creatures but instead have a significant place within society. Women discussed. The following 36 women are discussed in Part I of the "Book of the City of Ladies". Part II. In Part II, Lady Rectitude says she will help Christine "construct the houses and buildings inside the walls of the City of Ladies" and fill it with inhabitants who are "valiant ladies of great renown". As they build, Lady Rectitude informs Christine with examples and "stories of pagan, Hebrew, and Christian ladies" who possessed the gift of prophecy, chastity, or devotion to their families and others. Christine and Lady Rectitude also discuss the institution of marriage, addressing Christine's questions regarding men's claims about the ill qualities women bring to marriage. Lady Rectitude corrects these misconceptions with examples of women who loved their husbands and acted virtuously, noting that those women who are evil toward their husbands are "like creatures who go totally against their nature". Lady Rectitude also refutes allegations that women are unchaste, inconstant, unfaithful, and mean by nature through her stories. This part closes with Christine addressing women and asking them to pray for her as she continues her work with Lady Justice to complete the city. Women discussed. The following 92 women are discussed in Part II of the "Book of the City of Ladies". Part III. In Part III, Lady Justice joins with Christine to "add the finishing touches" to the city, including bringing a queen to rule the city. Lady Justice tells Christine of female saints who were praised for their martyrdom. At the close of this part, Christine makes another address to all women announcing the completion of the City of Ladies. She beseeches them to defend and protect the city and to follow their queen (the Virgin Mary). She also warns the women against the lies of slanderers, saying, "Drive back these treacherous liars who use nothing but tricks and honeyed words to steal from you that which you should keep safe above all else: your chastity and your glorious good name". Women discussed. The following 37 women are discussed in Part III of the "Book of the City of Ladies". Boccaccio's influence. Christine's main source for information was Giovanni Boccaccio's "De mulieribus claris" (On Famous Women), possibly in the French version, "Des Cleres et Nobles Femmes". This text was a biographical treatise on ancient famous women. Christine also cited from Boccaccio's "Decameron" in the latter stages of "The City of Ladies". The tales of Ghismonda and Lisabetta, for example, are quoted as coming from Boccaccio's "Decameron". Boccaccio's influence can be seen in Christine's stance on female education. In the tale of Rhea Ilia, Boccaccio advocates for young women's right to choose a secular or religious life. He states that it is harmful to place young girls into convents while they are “ignorant, or young, or under coercion.” Boccaccio states that girls should be “well brought up from childhood in the parental home, taught honesty and praiseworthy behavior, and then, when they are grown and with their entire mind know what of their own free will” choose the life of monasticism. Boccaccio believes that young girls need to be taught about life and virtues before they are consecrated to God. While he does not say women should have a formal education, he is still advocating for women to have a say in their lives and the right to be well informed about their possible futures. Therefore, Boccaccio's belief in educating young girls about secular and religious life could have acted as a stepping stone for Christine's belief in female education. Boccaccio's outlook was however, according to Margaret King and Albert Rabil, "sexist in that he praised the traditional values of chastity, silence, and obedience in women, and furthermore depicting women in the public sphere as suffering as in form of punishment for transcending boundaries." Boccaccio's text is mainly used for Parts I and II of the book, while Part III is more reliant upon Jean de Vignay's "Miroir historical" (1333). This text is the French translation of the historical portions of "Speculum Maius", an encyclopedia by Vincent of Beauvais that was begun after 1240. Themes. "The Book of the City of Ladies" is an allegorical society in which the word "lady" is defined as a woman of noble spirit, instead of noble birth. The book, and therefore the city, contains women of past eras, ranging from pagans to ancient Jews to medieval Christian saints. The book includes discussion between Christine de Pizan and the three female Virtues which are sent to aid Christine build the city. These Virtues – Reason, Rectitude, and Justice – help Christine build the foundations and houses of the city, as well as pick the women who will reside in the city of ladies. Each woman chosen by the Virtues to live in the city acts as a positive example for other women to follow. These women are also examples of the positive influences women have had on society. Christine asks the virtues if women should be taught as men are and why some men think women should not be educated. Other questions that are explored are: the criminality of rape, the natural affinity in women to learn, and their talent for government.

77da7d2f-298c-416c-b390-4ab6668e114b

m2d2_wiki

World government in fiction In both science fiction and utopia/dystopian fiction, authors have made frequent use of the age-old idea of a global state and, accordingly, of world government. Overview. In tune with Immanuel Kant's vision of a world state based on the voluntary political union of all countries of this planet in order to avoid colonialism and in particular any future war ("Idee zu einer allgemeinen Geschichte in weltbürgerlicher Absicht", 1784; "Zum ewigen Frieden", 1795), some of these scenarios depict an egalitarian and utopian world supervised (rather than controlled) by a benevolent (and usually democratic) world government. Others, however, describe the effects of a totalitarian regime which, after having seized power in one country, annexes the rest of the world in order to dominate and oppress all mankind. One major influence was Edward Bellamy's "Looking Backward". The best-known advocate of world government was H. G. Wells. He describes such a system in "The Shape of Things to Come", "Men Like Gods" and "The World Set Free". Some writers have also parodied the idea: E. M. Forster's "The Machine Stops" (1909) and Aldous Huxley's 1932 novel "Brave New World". Wells himself wrote "The Sleeper Awakes", an early vision of a dystopian world. World government themes in science fiction are particularly prominent in the years following World War II, coincident with the involvement of many scientists in the actual political movement for world government in response to the perceived dangers of nuclear holocaust. Prominent examples from the Cold War era include "Childhood's End" (1953), "Starship Troopers" (1959), "" (from 1966), the "Doctor Who" story "The Enemy of the World" (1968) and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (1968) Later references to a unified world government also appear however in post-Cold War science fiction television series such as "Babylon 5". The concept also appears frequently in science fiction anime, whether in the form of a strengthened United Nations or an entirely new organizations with world presidential election. Examples of anime with this premise are "Macross" (adapted in America as the first part of Robotech) and "Gundam". President of Earth. President of Earth (also known as President of the World) is a fictional concept or character who is the leader of Planet Earth. Examples include the following:

e90f265e-88b5-4001-8ec3-681a3cde0274

m2d2_wiki

Dawn of X Dawn of X is a 2019 relaunch initiative presented by Marvel Comics of various comics related to the "X-Men" franchise. Publication history. The initiative was announced at "The Next Big Thing" panel as San Diego Comic-Con 2019, intended to tell the story of the X-Men in a new status quo established by Jonathan Hickman after the "House of X"/"Powers of X" ("HOX"/"POX") event concluded, redefining "X-Men" as a brand and its place in the Marvel Universe, with all creative teams working closely under Hickman's supervision. The line concluded with of the crossover event "X of Swords", which initiated a sequel relaunch named "Reign of X" in December 2020. Premise. "Dawn of X" narrates a new era for both the X-Men and the mutants around the Marvel Universe. Mutants are offered asylum on the island of Krakoa, ruled under a council formed by Professor X, Magneto and Apocalypse, among others. While several factions deal with their own issues, Moira MacTaggert warns them all about an incoming threat that may doom mutantkind, and probably the whole world. Reading order. "Issues marked in bold are marked as red/important in the issue list found in the back of each comic."

fe8e4248-2eae-42d5-9889-7c9e27f34d46

m2d2_wiki

Perri (novel) Perri: The Youth of a Squirrel (German: "Die Jugend des Eichhörnchens Perri") is a 1938 novel by Felix Salten, author of the 1923 novel "Bambi, a Life in the Woods", and is a followup to that book. Its title character is a Eurasian red squirrel. Bambi makes a brief appearance in "Perri". The novel was first published in English translation in 1938 because the German-language edition printed in Vienna was confiscated and destroyed by the Nazis in 1938. Only in 1942 the book appeared in German language, published by Albert Müller in Zürich, illustrated by Hans Bertle. Before a successful German-language release, the book was translated also into Hungarian in 1938, into Danish in 1939 and into Swedish in 1940; a French translation followed in 1943, a Slovak one in 1947 and a Dutch one in 1952. In 1957, Walt Disney adapted it into a "True Life Fantasy" of the same name. Plot. The story begins with a human child named Annerle saving Perri's mother from a marten. Afterwards Perri goes off searching for her mother, when she is then attacked by a crow, but is later saved by her mother. Later on, Perri's mother takes her to another part of the forest, where she meets the black squirrel, Mirro, and her playmate, Porro. Through the course of the novel, Porro begins to wonder about love. Later on, he and Perri witness Bambi trying to keep a buck from being lured by He (the animals term for man). Later on, a red squirrel named Flame-Red comes to the forest, telling everyone his story about how he was captured by He, but later escaped. Everyone but Mirro and Porro believes him. Porro even tries to prove that his story is a lie, even going to see Annerle to ask her if it were true. Around that time, Perri begins to miss her mother, so she ask Annerle if she has seen her, but to no avail. It is then revealed to the reader that her mother was killed by an unknown predator. Later on, Perri's oak tree is chopped down by He, so she and Porro search for new homes. Perri grows up and starts developing feelings for Porro. While she searches for him, Mirro tries to make her his mate, but is rebuffed. When she finds Porro, he confesses his love for her. But Mirro brutally attacks Porro, and right when he is about to claim Perri, Flame-Red attacks Mirro for Perri, as well. While they are fighting, Porro and Perri run away together to another forest. After years of never seeing Annerle, Porro and Perri decide to revisit the forest. When they arrive, they noticed that Annerle has grown up and no longer understands what they're saying. When she tries to pet one of them, Porro and Perri run back to the forest, vowing never to return.

fd6fc294-2e3c-40be-880e-49b2f9725b7a

m2d2_wiki

TerraTopia TerraTopia was a series of children's books produced by The Nature Company in the early 1990s and eventually spun off into other products, most notably an adventure game for computers. TerraTopia books. Several TerraTopia books were released in the early 1990s, as well as a collection of the four stories together as one hardcover volume that was recognized by Parents' Choice Awards. The books took the format of short graphic novels, with comic-book-style panels and word balloons. The stories are about the wonders of nature and caring for the environment. The Elders of TerraTopia bestow upon five ordinary children an animal totem, giving them the ability to assume that animal's form. TerraTopia computer game. TerraTopia, a computer game designed for boys and girls age 8 and up, was published by Virgin Sound and Vision in 1995 as a part of its Virgin Adventure Series. It was quite often a standard issue game on most computers that came equipped with Windows 95 in the mid to late 1990s. Voiceover Cast. The cast of TerraTopia, in order of on-screen appearance: Other TerraTopia products. In 1993 TerraTopia was made into a board game, designed by Peter Olotka of Cosmic Encounter fame and his son, Greg Olotka. In the spirit of the books, the game was cooperative rather than competitive, with all players attempting to overcome various challenges using their Terratrooper abilities and ultimately recover their stones. Cancelled and unreleased. A Canal+ TerraTopia television show was announced in 1995, planned for release in 1996 as a 52-episode series. Planned to coincide with the television show was a Minolta TerraTopia camera, which would have been Minolta's first camera marketed primarily to kids and would have featured the character Sketch to get children interested in nature photography. In 1998, The Discovery Channel purchased The Nature Company and converted all remaining Nature Company stores to the Discovery Channel brand. As of 2006, there have been no attempts to revive TerraTopia as a Discovery Channel property.

24c2d472-22c3-497f-9704-9ab52a767295

m2d2_wiki

Beauty (Tepper novel) Beauty is a fantasy novel by Sheri S. Tepper published in 1991 that won the 1992 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel. Summary. Beauty, the daughter of the Duke of Westfaire, finds a letter from her mother, who mysteriously disappeared when Beauty was an infant, and learns of a curse that will occur on her upcoming sixteenth birthday. Using magical items that she constructs with thread left to her by her mother, Beauty evades the curse, which instead falls on her half-sister. Beauty is abducted by a time-traveling crew that came to film the curse falling on the castle, and they take her to a dystopian future. The film crew and Beauty steal a time-machine and travel back to 1991. The camera operator, Jaybee, kills Bill, the scriptwriter, when Bill tries to protect Beauty, then Jaybee rapes Beauty. Beauty uses the magic boots she had made to work her way back to her own time, only to find the Black Death has struck the area in her absence. Disguised as a boy, she is taken in at Wellingford House as a stableboy. Beauty soon realizes that she is pregnant. She returns to Westfaire to alter her appearance, then returns to Wellingford House to lure one of the sons to marry her. She marries Ned and gives birth to a girl, but Beauty sees Jaybee in the infant Elly's eyes and feels revulsion toward the baby. Out riding one day, Beauty encounters Giles, who had been one of her father's men-at-arms and had been sent away by the family priest when he observed the growing affection between Beauty and Giles. Their romantic reunion goes awry when Beauty explains that she is married now. Distraught at losing Giles again and unhappy in her marriage, Beauty puts on her magic boots and tells the boots to take her to her mother. The boots take her to a land that she learns is called Chinanga. Traveling on the boat that rescues her, Beauty encounters Carabosse, the fairy who had laid the curse. Carabosse explains that she is trying to protect Beauty from the Dark Lord, the evil power. They encounter Beauty's mother, Elladine, who had been trapped in Chinanga. When a ceremony dissolves the imaginary land of Chinanga, Beauty, Elladine, and Carabosse travel to Ylles, the fairy land, where Beauty learns how to use her fairy powers. While there, Beauty helps Thomas the Rhymer escape. Carabosse tells Beauty that she has seen in the future that magic disappears, and that to preserve it, a seed was planted in Beauty for safekeeping. Beauty moves back and forth between her time, the future, Ylles, and the realm of the Dark Lord. She rediscovers Giles, meets her now-grown daughter, rescues her adolescent granddaughter, encounters her enchanted great-grandson, and takes vengeance on Jaybee. Horrified at how the future has destroyed magic and beauty and nature, she uses her fairy magic to save some of every type of bird and animal and fish and insect, every tree and flower and herb. Themes. "Beauty" presents a narrative in which the world is doomed and Beauty's goal is preserving the world for the future. Tepper uses the Sleeping Beauty framework to explore issues of sexuality and ecology for Beauty herself and the impact of those issues on a global scale. Her dystopian future shows a world with no quality of life; global biodiversity has been sacrificed to feed an overpopulated world. Magic and beauty are lost as time and technology progress. Robert Collins, writing in the "Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts", characterizes the novel as ecofeminism, with Beauty as an icon of the green movement. Through the eyes of Beauty, the medieval past is positioned as a vision of natural beauty and contrasted to an "apocalyptic ugliness" of a world degraded and destroyed by "rampant humanity". Tepper's ecological theme is expressed through "Beauty"'s description of the conceptual "gobble-god": Tepper weaves multiple fairy tale narratives into the plot: Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White, The Frog Prince and Tam Lin. Starting out as the heroine, Beauty transitions into the roles of fairy godmother and then to ancient grandmother, and recognizes the roles of her descendents as parts of fairy tales from her time in the future. The idealistic nature of fairy tales is contrasted with the realistic form of love that Beauty and Giles find in their old age. Reception. "Beauty" won the 1992 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel, and was nominated for the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature. It was a preliminary nominee for the 1992 Hugo Award for Best Novel. Lauren Lacey says of Tepper's "Beauty": "her focus on bringing the tales together rather than on encouraging the proliferation of their possibilities leads to a damaging sense of narrative closure." A review in The Kingston Whig-Standard says Tepper "takes the two-dimensional, symbolic characters of a fairy tale and makes them real by giving both them and their stories depth and historical detail." "Kirkus Reviews" is generally negative, saying "Tepper can't decide whether to warn against a gathering spiritual darkness, lament the collapse of an aesthetic ideal, or thunder against global eco-disaster."

706dcf5d-22ea-4fae-919f-84a171f08856

m2d2_wiki

Please Save My Earth , sometimes abbreviated "Bokutama", is a "shōjo" manga by Saki Hiwatari. It was published by Hakusensha from 1986 to 1994 in the magazine "Hana to Yume" and collected in 21 volumes ("tankōbon"). The series was adapted as a six-part original video animation (OVA) in 1993. It is about six teenagers and a seven-year-old boy who share common dreams about their past lives as alien scientists who observed the Earth from the Moon. Both the anime OVA and manga are licensed for distribution in North America by Viz Media. A sequel manga, "Embraced by the Moonlight", was serialized in the bimonthly "Hana to Yume" as well as the special edition magazine, "Hana to Yume Plus". It has since been followed by "I Sing with the Earth". Plot. The story centers around high-school student Alice Sakaguchi, her seven-year-old next door neighbor, Rin Kobayashi who attends elementary school, and five other teenage students who have recurring collective dreams about a group of alien scientists stationed on the moon observing and collecting data about the Earth. Initially, when Alice learns that her classmates Jinpachi and Issei have been having common recurring dreams since middle school, she thinks nothing of it until one day she has one of these "moon dreams" herself. Because of the nature of these dreams, the way Issei always dreams as the same person, and Jinpachi as well, now that Alice has provided a third perspective, they start to believe that people who dream as the other four scientists in their "moon dreams" can each be found. Almost like playing a simple game, the three make plans to seek these other people out in the hopes of making sense of these dreams. After a suggestion from Issei, and a little bit of time and luck, they are finally able to make contact with the other four people. But as the six teenagers and one child start to piece together the chronology and content of their dreams, they began to realize that their "dreams" are not simply dreams, but rather suppressed memories of their past incarnations that ended tragically. And now, as their "game" begins to unravel, the kids must strive to come to terms with what happened in their past lives, as they struggle to prevent their past incarnations' rivalries, jealousies, and dubious actions from taking over their new ones. Development. "Please Save My Earth", like early manga series that suddenly become popular for many different manga artists careers', is an illustration of the development and transition of Hiwatari Saki from a novice to an experienced manga artist. The difference in art style between the volume 1 and volume 21 of the manga is quite drastic, as illustrated in the adjacent image. The series features a number of homages to anime and manga throughout the manga. Issei's sister Kyoko's character design is noted here as being influenced by Osamu Tezuka and is a homage to classic style "shōjo" manga artists such as Miyako Maki, Makoto Takahashi, Hideko Mizuno, and Shotaro Ishinomori. From volume 16 and on, the "Editor's Comments" section was omitted from the English-language adaptation by Viz Media, as P. Duffield, the editor and one responsible for them, was no longer working on the project, as mentioned in the final segment of the "Editor's Comments" in volume 15. Media. Manga. "Please Save My Earth" was written and drawn by Saki Hiwatari. The series was serialized by Hakusensha in the monthly "shōjo" (aimed at teenage girls) manga magazine "Hana to Yume" from 1987 to 1994. The serial installments were collected, without chapter divisions, in 21 "tankōbon" volumes. The series was later reissued in 12 "bunkoban" volumes in 1998. It is licensed in English in North America by Viz Media, with all volumes translated. OVA. "Please Save My Earth" was adapted as an original video animation (OVA) directed by Kazuo Yamazaki and produced by Production I.G. The six-episode OVA anime covers roughly the first half of the manga storyline. It is licensed in English by Viz Media. As of September 2007, it is out of print. is a 99-minute compilation OVA narrated by Alice, reminiscing on the events of the main OVA as she is on her way to meet with Rin in a park. contains six music videos with footage not seen in the main OVA and scenes taken from the manga, as well as a slightly different version of the OVA ending sequence, and the ending credits for the image videos. Reception. As of 2006, over 15 million copies of "Please Save My Earth" volumes had sold in Japan, making it one of the best-selling "shōjo" manga ever. Starting in volume 8 of the manga, a disclaimer appeared at the bottom of the first page of every compilation volume, stating that the story was entirely fictional. This was due to disturbing letters to Hiwatari received from people who were convinced that they had been part of the moon scientist's society (or even one of the moon scientists themselves) and had been reborn on Earth. These disclaimers have since appeared in her others works, most notably on the first pages of each volume of "Global Garden". Several manga artists have cited "Please Save My Earth" as an influence on them, including Naoko Takeuchi and Bisco Hatori.

10aab8ce-bb38-4354-b580-2c0edb7a9d15

m2d2_wiki

Flush (novel) Flush is a young adult novel by Carl Hiaasen first published in 2005, and set in Hiaasen's native Florida. It is his second young adult novel, after "Hoot" and has a similar plot to "Hoot" but a different cast and is not a continuation or sequel. The plot centers around Noah Underwood, a boy whose father enlists his help to catch a repeat environmental offender in the act. Plot. The narrator of the story is a teenage boy name Noah Underwood. Noah's father, Paine, a passionate environmentalist, has been arrested for sinking the "Coral Queen", a casino boat operated by "Dusty" Muleman, whom Paine believes has been illegally dumping sewage from the boat's holding tank into the ocean at night. However, Noah and his younger sister Abbey see that the "Coral Queen" will be repaired and back in business by the end of the week. While Paine is publicizing his actions to the media, Noah and Abbey are worried when Abbey hears their mother, Donna, talking about filing for divorce and tells Noah. Paine asks for Noah's help in getting a witness statement from Charles "Lice" Peeking, a former mate on the "Coral Queen". Lice is noncommittal, but he later disappears, and his girlfriend Shelly (Dusty's ex-fiancée) offers to help, believing that Dusty may have had Lice killed. Abbey tries to take matters into her own hands and sneaks out of the house at night with the family's video camera to try to record Dusty Muleman dumping the boat's sewage into the marina. However, the footage is too dark and blurry to prove anything. Realizing the problem is that no one has ever been able to trace the sewage spills directly to the "Coral Queen", Noah, Abbey, and Shelly come up with a plan, code-named "Operation Royal Flush": Shelly, who works on the "Coral Queen" as a bartender, will flush food coloring down the Coral Queen's toilets, dyeing the sewage and marking a trail in the water when it gets dumped. When Shelly points out that there is too much dye for one person to squeeze out, Noah decides to sneak on board with half the dye and flush it from a different toilet. The plan goes off nearly perfectly, with Abbey manning a getaway boat. But just as they are escaping the marina, their engine stalls, and they are found by Dusty's security guards. One of them points a gun at the kids, but they are saved by the appearance of a strange old man. Noah and Abbey's elation fades when their outboard motor breaks down completely, and the current carries them away from shore. They are rescued in the morning by Paine, accompanied by the old man, whom Paine introduces as their long-lost Grandpa Bobby. Grandpa Bobby says he has been down in South America, trying to track down the men who attempted to kill him and stole his fishing boat. While drinking at a bar in Colombia, he saw a news report about Paine's arrest and made his way back to Florida. Thanks to the dye marking, the Coast Guard shuts down the "Coral Queen" immediately. When Noah and Abbey go to thank Shelly, they are surprised to find that Lice Peeking wasn't killed or kidnapped, just scared into running away. About a month later, Paine gives Noah bad news: Dusty settled his pollution case for a measly fine and is re-opening the "Coral Queen" that night with a big party. After the party, the "Coral Queen" is burned down, and Paine is immediately suspected of arson. Paine, however, has an alibi: he broke both his hands punching walls in rage over the paltry fine, his hands are encased in large plaster casts that make it impossible for him to hold a match, and a hospital receipt shows that he was treated for fractures, not burns, and the casts were applied before the ship was burned. Subsequent investigation reveals that Dusty's delinquent son, Jasper Jr., and his friend Bull were the culprits, having tried smoking some of Dusty's prized Cuban cigars in the hold near several boxes of fireworks. Even worse for Dusty, investigators find evidence in the wreckage that Dusty had been skimming from the gambling boat's profits. Furious, his partners sue him for embezzlement while he is also audited by the IRS. The rest of the family go on a cruise and finally see the green flash, ending the story.

9c0fb787-2df5-4936-a7b3-319f236eb6ae

m2d2_wiki

This Other Eden (novel) This Other Eden is a satirical novel written by Ben Elton. Plot introduction. The novel is set in the reasonably near future. Earth is being devastated by mankind's continued exploitation, and it seems obvious that the environment will collapse sometime in the near future. Rather than adopt a more eco-friendly approach to life, most people have instead invested in a "claustrosphere", a dome-shaped habitat in which all water, food and air is endlessly recycled in a completely closed environment. A person can therefore survive indefinitely within a claustrosphere no matter what ecological horrors may happen outside. Plot summary. The bulk of the book focuses on a British writer, Nathan, who is attempting to sell an idea for a claustrosphere commercial to Plastic Tolstoy, owner and chief marketer of the company which builds them. The commercial represents a change in emphasis for the advertising campaign; up to now claustropheres have been sold as a kind of fall-back insurance, just in case the environment collapses. However, now that virtually everybody owns at least a basic model, sales are falling and the company is having to try and sell upgrade and improvement packages instead. The new advertising, therefore, attempts to convince people for the first time that the environment truly is doomed and they are inevitably going to have to live in their claustrospheres. Tolstoy accepts Nathan's idea and assigns him to work with Max, a shallow and pretentious young actor. During a subsequent meeting with Tolstoy, Nathan makes a joking suggestion that it would be ironic if his company actually covertly sponsored the eco-terrorism movement led by Jurgen Thor, which despises the claustrosphere company since it represents, in their eyes, an abrogation of mankind's responsibility to care for the environment. Nathan is subsequently murdered as he plays a virtual reality game with Max. Max sets out to investigate the murder, falling in with Rosalie Connolly, an eco-terrorist working for Thor's organization. Max ultimately discovers that Thor and Tolstoy are in fact partners. The eco-terrorists raids, whilst highly successful, never present more than a minor problem to the vast claustrosphere company, but do grab headlines and bring awareness of the looming eco-disaster into the public mind - prompting them to buy more claustrospheres. Tolstoy confesses that he has even geared his advertising campaign to work in perfect sync with the terrorists, with new commercials ready to roll out instantly after each attack. After a confrontation between Max, Rosalie and Jurgen in which Jurgen is killed, Tolstoy decides to evade justice by leaking news indicating that the ecology is finally collapsing. The news is suddenly full of stories of environmental catastrophe, and people are told that they need to lock themselves in their claustrospheres for several decades. The "rat run", as it is termed, removes the large bulk of humanity from the world, effectively ending the current civilization. Allusions/references to actual history, geography and current science. In one of the novel's great ironies, one of the by-products of the vanishing of global society is that all industry ceases, ending further pollution of the environment. Freed of this burden, Earth begins to gradually recover from the damage inflicted so far. As with Elton's other early novels, "This Other Eden" is a satire advocating greater environmentalism.

cd4d43b5-9589-439a-a83a-0993cdf9fcb6

m2d2_wiki

Children of the Thunder Children of the Thunder is a 1988 science fiction novel by John Brunner.

d10c5160-a178-41a8-918d-c94f6bd98c07

m2d2_wiki

The Lorax The Lorax is a children's book written by Dr. Seuss and published in 1971. It chronicles the plight of the environment and the Lorax, who "speaks for the trees" and confronts the Once-ler, who causes environmental destruction. As in most Dr. Seuss works, most of the creatures mentioned are original to the book. The story is commonly recognized as a fable concerning the danger of human destruction of the natural environment, using the literary element of personification to create relatable characters for industry (as the Once-ler), the environment (the Truffula trees) and activism (as the Lorax). The story encourages personal care and involvement in making the situation better: "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." It was Dr. Seuss's personal favorite of his books. He was able to create a story addressing industrial/economic and environmental issues without it being dull: ""The Lorax" came out of me being angry. In "The Lorax" I was out to attack what I think are evil things and let the chips fall where they might." Plot. A young unnamed boy living in a polluted area visits a strange isolated man called the Once-ler on the Street of the Lifted Lorax. The boy pays the Once-ler fifteen cents, a nail, and the shell of a great-great-great grandfather snail to hear the legend of how the Lorax was lifted and taken away. The Once-ler tells the boy of his arrival in a beautiful valley containing a forest of Truffula trees and a range of animals. The Once-ler, having long searched for such a tree as the Truffula, cut one down and used its silk-like foliage to knit a Thneed, an impossibly versatile garment. The Lorax, who speaks for the trees, emerged from the stump of the Truffula and voiced his disapproval both of the sacrifice of the tree and of the Thneed itself. However, the first other person to pass by purchased the Thneed for $3.98 (), so the Once-ler was encouraged and started a business making and selling Thneeds. Meanwhile, the Once-ler's small shop soon grew into a big factory. The Once-ler's relatives all came to work for him and new vehicles and equipment were brought in to log the Truffula forest and ship out Thneeds. The Lorax appeared again to report that the small bear-like Bar-ba-loots, who eat Truffula fruits, were short of food and had been sent away to find more. The Lorax later returned to complain that the factory had polluted the air and the water, forcing the Swomee-Swans and Humming-Fish to migrate as well. The Once-ler was unrepentant and defiantly told the Lorax that he would keep on "biggering" his business, but at that very moment, one of his machines chopped down the very last Truffula tree of them all. Without any raw materials, the factory shut down and the Once-ler's relatives promptly abandoned him in the now-decimated environment. The Lorax said nothing but with one sad backward glance lifted himself into the air "by the seat of his pants" and disappeared behind the smoggy clouds. Where he last stood is a small pile of rocks with a single word: "UNLESS". Distraught by the destruction of the forest, The Once-ler punishes himself for his actions with self-imposed exile, pondering the message for years. In the present, as his buildings fall apart around him, the Once-ler at last realizes out loud what the Lorax meant: "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." He then gives the boy the last Truffula seed and urges him to grow a forest from it, saying that, if the trees can be protected from logging, then the Lorax and all of his friends may come back. Inspiration. It is believed that a Monterey cypress in La Jolla, California was the inspiration for "The Lorax". On June 16, 2019, the tree was reported to have fallen. Reception. Based on a 2007 online poll, the National Education Association listed "The Lorax" as one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children". In 2012 it was ranked number 33 among the "Top 100 Picture Books" in a survey published by "School Library Journal" – the second of five Dr. Seuss books on the list. In a retrospective critique written in the journal "Nature" in 2011 upon the 40th anniversary of the book's publication, Emma Marris described the Lorax character as a "parody of a misanthropic ecologist". She called the book "gloomy" and expressed skepticism that its message would resonate with small children in the manner intended. Nevertheless, she praised the book as effective in conveying the consequences of ecological destruction in a way that young children will understand. Controversy. In 1988, a small school district in California kept the book on a reading list for second graders, though some in the town claimed the book was unfair to the logging industry. Terri Birkett, a member of a family-owned hardwood flooring factory, authored "The Truax", offering a logging-friendly perspective to an anthropomorphic tree known as the "Guardbark". This book was published by the National Oak Flooring Manufacturers' Association (NOFMA). Just as in "The Lorax", the book consists of a disagreement between two people. The logging industry representative states that they have efficiency and re-seeding efforts. The Guardbark, a personification of the environmentalist movement much as the Once-ler is for big business, refuses to listen and lashes out. But in the end, he is convinced by the logger's arguments. However, this story was criticized for what were viewed as skewed arguments and clear self-interest, particularly a "casual attitude toward endangered species" that answered the Guardbark's concern for them. In addition, the book's approach as a more blatant argument, rather than one worked into a storyline, was also noted. The line "I hear things are just as bad up in Lake Erie" was removed more than fourteen years after the story was published, after two research associates from the Ohio Sea Grant Program wrote to Seuss about the clean-up of Lake Erie. The line remains in the home video releases of the television special, in the audiobook read by Rik Mayall, and in the UK edition published by HarperCollins Children's Books. Adaptations. 1972 television special. The book was adapted as an animated musical television special produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, directed by Hawley Pratt and starring the voices of Eddie Albert and Bob Holt. It was first aired by CBS on February 14, 1972. A reference to pollution of Lake Erie was spoken by one of the Humming-Fish as they depart; it remains in DVD releases of the show, although later removed from the book. The special also shows the Once-ler arguing with himself, and asking the Lorax whether shutting down his factory (thus putting hundreds of people out of work) is practical. An abridged version of the special is used in the 1994 TV movie "In Search of Dr. Seuss", with Kathy Najimy's reporter character hearing the Once-ler's story. 2012 feature film. On March 2, 2012, Universal Studios and Illumination Entertainment released a 3D CGI film based upon the book. The release coincided with the 108th birthday of Seuss, who died at 87 in 1991. The cast includes Danny DeVito as the Lorax, Zac Efron as Ted (the boy in the book), and Ed Helms as the Once-ler. The film includes several new characters: Rob Riggle as villain Aloysius O'Hare, Betty White as Ted's Grammy Norma, Jenny Slate as Ted's neurotic mother Mrs. Wiggins, and Taylor Swift as Audrey, Ted's romantic interest. The film debuted in the No. 1 spot at the box office, making $70 million, though it received mixed reviews. The film eventually grossed a domestic total of $214,030,500. Audiobooks. Two audio readings have been released on CD, one narrated by Ted Danson in the United States (Listening Library, ) and one narrated by Rik Mayall in the United Kingdom (HarperCollins, ). Musical. A musical adaptation of "The Lorax" was originally included in the script for the Broadway musical "Seussical", but was cut before the show opened. From December 2, 2015, to January 16, 2016, a musical version of the book ran at the Old Vic theatre in London, with former Noah and the Whale frontman Charlie Fink, who also wrote the music for the production.

61105da9-9f39-4b04-974a-3d93840bcf33

m2d2_wiki

Stormy Weather (novel) Stormy Weather is a 1995 novel by Carl Hiaasen. It takes place in the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in South Florida and concerns the tragic (though sometimes comic) effects of the disaster, including insurance scams, street fights, hunt for food and shelter, corrupt bureaucracy, a ravaged environment and disaster tourists. Plot. Young newlyweds Max and Bonnie Lamb, on their honeymoon at Walt Disney World in Orlando, are taken aback by news of a hurricane making landfall in South Florida. To Bonnie's surprise, Max is possessed by a fervent desire to visit the disaster scene after it has passed through. Once they arrive, Bonnie is appalled to see Max hopping through hurricane debris and gutted houses with his video camera, treating the devastation as a tourist attraction. She stalks away from him to regain her temper, and is not present when Max is snatched up by "Skink," an ex-governor of Florida now living wild on Key Largo, who attempts to teach him some manners and respect for nature. At the same time, con artist Edie Marsh and her sometime partner, an ex-convict nicknamed "Snapper," travel to the hurricane zone to work a personal injury scam. However, the house they pick belongs to mobile home salesman Tony Torres. A bit sharper than the average hurricane victim, Tony quickly sees through them and takes them hostage with a shotgun. Instead of killing them, he invites them in on his own scam: he's expecting a large settlement from his insurance company, but needs his estranged wife Neria's signature to collect. If Edie poses as the wife, Tony can cut out his real wife, and Edie gets a slice of the take. Meanwhile, after searching fruitlessly for Max, Bonnie is befriended by Augustine Herrera, an independent young man who is searching for exotic animals loosed from his deceased uncle's wildlife farm by the hurricane. Edie and Snapper's scam falls apart when Tony is murdered by Ira Jackson, a mob enforcer whose mother was killed in one of Tony's sub-standard trailer homes during the hurricane. After parting ways, each of them discovers a new angle to work: Edie seduces Fred Dove, the insurance adjuster sent to Tony's home, and convinces him to help her pose as Neria for the insurance payoff. Snapper partners with Avila, a corrupt building inspector, to run a phony roofing company and con desperate homeowners. Snapper scores a $7,000 cash "deposit" from the wife of construction mogul Gar Whitmark. Later, during a traffic stop, he ambushes and beats Trooper Brenda Rourke, the girlfriend of Skink's best friend Jim Tile, and steals her .357 revolver. Growing bored with the roofing scam, Snapper blackmails Edie and Fred into letting him in on their insurance scam by posing as the now-deceased Tony. Ira next targets Avila, but is killed and eaten at the last second by an escaped African lion. Gar Whitmark traces the roofing scam back to Avila, and threatens to expose him unless Avila pays him back the money Snapper stole, plus the cost of replacing Gar's roof. Meanwhile, Skink hands Max over to Bonnie, who by this time has become attracted to Augustine while falling out of love with Max. When Augustine volunteers to help Skink in his new mission of tracking down Snapper, Bonnie impulsively decides to stay in Florida and go along. Max, preoccupied with a new crisis at his job, flies back to New York City without her. The three track Snapper's car to Tony's house, where they find that another of Tony's disgruntled customers, Levon Stichler, has shown up looking to get even. Snapper, thinking Levon is an insurance agent, identifies himself as Tony, only to be attacked with a metal spike in return. The two quickly realize that both have made a mistake. Fearful that the scam will be exposed, Snapper quickly concocts a plan to drive Levon south and dump him at a hotel in the Florida Keys. As he and Edie are loading Levon into a stolen Jeep Cherokee, Skink intervenes, only to be taken hostage along with Bonnie. Augustine misses the abduction, but quickly deduces what happened. By hitting the redial button on the house phone, he learns of their hotel destination in the Keys and notifies Jim. Jim catches up to the Jeep and begins to shadow it, but loses the tail when he gets cut off by an opening drawbridge. The sudden involvement of three more unwanted people into the scam has puts Snapper on edge. He and Edie argue during the drive, causing Snapper shooting a hole in the roof of the Jeep. Snapper forces them to stop at a liquor store, making the situation even worse. However, it delays him long enough for Augustine to reach the hotel ahead of him. Upon reaching the hotel, Snapper checks Levon into a room and hires a pair of prostitutes to keep him "entertained." Unknown to Snapper, the two women blabbed their part in the plan to Avila earlier in the day, and he has also come to the hotel to demanding Snapper fix the fallout from the roofing scam. Snapper chases Avila away, forcing him to jump off a bridge into the ocean. Augustine uses this opportunity to conceal himself inside the Jeep with the rifle. When Snapper and the rest of the hostages attempt to leave, Jim arrives and is immediately shot by Snapper. Because he has a bulletproof vest, Jim survives. Convinced he has killed Jim, Snapper transfers everyone into a carjacked Cadillac. Following them in the dumped Jeep, Augustine manages to steer alongside and shoot Snapper through the window with a tranquilizer dart, rendering him unconscious. Knowing that Jim's shooting will bring the police out in full force, the party abandons the vehicles and retreats into the Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge. Around a campfire that night, Skink enacts revenge on Snapper before knocking him out with another tranquilizer dart. Edie, Bonnie and Augustine are led back to civilization by Skink while Snapper is left to fend for himself in the wild. Characters. Minor Characters. "(many of these characters are one-off characters, appearing only in brief vignettes, illustrating Hiaasen's overriding theme of the chaos unleashed by the Hurricane)" Other media. Audiobook. An audiobook version of "Stormy Weather" was released in 1997 by Recorded Books. The audiobook, read by George Wilson, is unabridged and runs 14 hours 8 minutes over 12 CDs.

bb2da263-1070-4155-9278-70abbfe24057

m2d2_wiki

Road Rage (novel) Road Rage is a 1997 novel by British crime-writer Ruth Rendell. Its protagonist is Inspector Wexford, and is the 17th entry in the series. The novel's main themes are the environment and environmental activism.

19e7e24d-6e10-4836-83ee-2c7c5f80a444

m2d2_wiki

The Punishment of Luxury "The Punishment of Luxury" is a short story written by Michael Carson. It was published within the book "" (a collection of 26 short stories) in 1993. This utopian, or rather dystopian story deals with the consequences of the inauguration of a "Dark Green" government which has introduced "the Punishment of Luxury" according to their radical beliefs about how the world should look like. Plot summary. In the story a man is executed for driving a car in a futuristic London where environmental correctness has run rampant. The citizens suffer under the Dark Green totalitarian regime where the party prohibits alcohol, cars, tobacco and all other luxury goods that contribute to the pollution of the planet. People who do not follow the rules of the government are executed or brought to the "Dark Green Re-education Centre" in Mid-Wales where they perform various duties such as dusting off leaves day after day, cleaning out badger setts and nursing cattle. The main character of the story, Arnold Watney, intrigues against the Dark Green government and puts up secret resistance against it by owning a car (which is called "Mabel the Morris Minor" and hidden under a sheet in his lounge at home), smoking cigarettes and drinking his home-brew beer. While watching the execution of a car driver (Dr Stone), Watney realises how dangerous his violations of the Dark Green laws are. Therefore, he secretly dumps his beloved Morris Minor into a pond and confesses his drinking and smoking habits to the Dark Green Cell, who sends him to the Re-education Centre. After three weeks of re-educational treatment, the Dark Greens are overthrown. Besides Watney, many other people have hidden their cars. However, it turns out that the news of the overthrow has only been a clever strategy of the Dark Green government to rouse cars from their hiding places. The owners of the cars have to bear the consequences of their disobedience and "up and down the country" people are killed by the government. Analysis. The attitude which is presented by the short story is clearly anti-utopian: although there might have been a formerly honest and upright intention, namely to create a better world by avoiding everything which is unnatural and thus harmful to the environment, it is shown that everything which is driven into an extreme is negative. Another issue actualised in the short story is the appearance of the hidden side of the human nature when the controlling power vanishes. Every political or social group which forces other people to suppress their own human needs, even if they are luxuries, destroys an important part of humankind. And since human beings are a part of this nature, which shall be preserved in the story, a restriction of human behaviour can also be interpreted as a violation of nature. A reduction to a more thoughtful and ecological behaviour towards this world would be an agreeable aim, but in a moderate and respectful way, which grants nature and human beings the possibility to bloom. The origin of the title is probably the 1891 painting by Giovanni Segantini in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.

c4ed5ace-b44f-4da9-89ad-e283e80a3d88

m2d2_wiki

Sea Change (Powlik novel) Sea Change is a novel by oceanographer James Powlik published in 1999. It is an environmental thriller about a harmful algal bloom.

1ed7d0e8-e754-4a53-b741-51b39a15c198

m2d2_wiki

Storm (Stewart novel) Storm is a novel written by George Rippey Stewart and published in 1941. The book became a best-seller and helped lead to the naming of tropical cyclones worldwide, even though the titular storm is extratropical. The book is divided into twelve chapters: one chapter for each day of the storm's existence. Plot summary. In January 1935, a cyclone develops in the Pacific Ocean near Japan, and becomes a significant storm as it moves toward California. The storm, named "Maria" by the (unnamed) Junior Meteorologist at the San Francisco Weather Bureau Office, becomes a blizzard that threatens the Sierra Nevada range with snowfall amounts of 20 feet (6.1 m). The storm's beneficial effects include averting a locust plague and ending a drought. Its harmful effects include flooding a valley near Sacramento, endangering a plane, stalling a train, and leading to the deaths of 16 people. It spawns a new cyclone, which significantly affects New York. Pronunciation of "Maria". In 1947, Stewart wrote a new introduction for a reprint of the book, and discussed the pronunciation of "Maria": "The soft Spanish pronunciation is fine for some heroines, but our Maria here is too big for any man to embrace and much too boisterous." He went on to say, "So put the accent on the second syllable, and pronounce it 'rye'". Legacy. This book was the inspiration for the Lerner and Loewe song "They Call the Wind Maria", performed in the musical "Paint Your Wagon", which followed Stewart's preferred pronunciation. It also prompted the National Weather Service to use personal names to designate storms. "Storm" was dramatized as "A Storm Called Maria" on the November 2, 1959 episode of ABC's "Walt Disney Presents". Co-produced by Ken Nelson Productions, it blended newsreel footage of several different storms to represent the mega-storm in the novel and traced the storm from its origins in Japan to the coast of California. The cast included non-actors, among them the dam superintendent George Kritsky, the telephone lineman Walt Bowen, and the highway superintendent Leo Quinn. The name Maria would later be put into the name cycle of cyclones, presumably as a tribute. It was retired from the Atlantic hurricane naming list after Hurricane Maria killed 3,057 people in 2017. Sequel. Stewart's novel "Fire" (1948) was a sequel to "Storm," again featuring the life of the (former) Junior Meteorologist, who was now a World War II veteran and had been promoted. Dealing with a California wildfire, it also used the backdrop of an environmental catastrophe to disclose the personal struggles and triumphs of individual human beings.

b194fa89-dff5-4b48-835c-33fa175c8b7f

m2d2_wiki

Clade (novel) Clade is a science fiction novel written by Mark Budz, published in 2003. In "Clade", an environmental disaster called the Ecocaust has caused sea levels to rise and causing additional strains on human resources. The government, in response, becomes more restrictive on human freedoms, and this novel explores what happens after the Ecocaust. Plot summary. In "Clade", the Ecocaust, an environmental disaster, causes major problems such as rising sea levels and additional strains on human resources. Although civilization recovers from this disaster, they do so at the expense of their previous freedoms. "Polycorps" develop from governments and corporations. The wonders of biotech introduce a new class system where human beings have been socially engineered at the molecular level through a process called "clading." This "clading" process places entire socioeconomic or ethnic groups made to be biologically predisposed to live in particular communities. If a person enters a community that they have not been claded to, the consequences could be devastating, resulting in sickness or death. Although it is not intentionally racist, businesses and retail outlets using this clading process to keep away the riffraff, will simply screen out clientele below a certain prosperity level. Therefore, a black market exists enabling people to buy the right biotech to inhibit the "pherions" in their systems to be placed in a certain clade. The protagonist is a man named Rigo, a Latino from the San Jose clade who wants to move up in society. Rigo accepts a job at a biotech firm that develops special vegetation for a planned orbital colony. Although his friends look down on him with contempt for selling out, he still maintains a close relationship with his mother, lawless brother, and Anthea, his troubled girlfriend. At work, after Rigo fears being exposed to some dangerous pherions, he finds to his surprise that the company he works for eagerly wants to send some of the plants they've been working on into space; and they want Rigo to supervise the transfer. Something about the haste of the company leaves Rigo feeling fishy. The secrets of this story unravel one after another, leading to holes in the plot.

a0caa08e-f19b-4ff6-88f3-af791a80d77f

m2d2_wiki

Strip Tease (novel) Strip Tease is a 1993 novel by Carl Hiaasen. Like most of his other novels, it is a crime novel set in Florida and features Hiaasen's characteristic black humor. The novel focuses on a single mother who has turned to exotic dancing to earn enough money to gain legal custody of her young daughter, and ends up matching wits with a lecherous United States Congressman and his powerful corporate backers. Like many Hiaasen novels, the book's plot is set against a backdrop of a particular environmental crime or corruption issue that angers the author. In this case, it is the plutocracy of sugar growers in Florida, and the exorbitant subsidies regularly granted to them by the U.S. Congress. "Strip Tease" was a "New York Times" bestseller in 1993. Plot. During a late-night bachelor party at the Eager Beaver, a striptease club in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, drunken groom-to-be Paul Guber climbs on stage and grabs Erin Grant, one of the dancers. Before the club's bouncer can act, Paul is attacked with a champagne bottle by another customer. The attacker turns out to be Congressman David Lane Dilbeck, an incorrigible (yet secret) patron of adult establishments. Political fixer Malcolm Moldowsky, representing Dilbeck's legislative patrons in Florida's sugar cane industry, is furious at Dilbeck's stupidity since he is in the middle of a re-election campaign. Erin, a single mother engaged in a custody legal fight with her ex-husband Darrell, was fired from her job as a secretary for the FBI after he was arrested for grand larceny. The legal costs of her divorce impelled Erin to take up erotic dancing as a career. Ironically, her occupation has given the judge a prejudiced view of her, while Darrell's criminal record has been expunged after he has agreed to become an informant for the police. As a result, Darrell has been given custody of their daughter Angela, and Erin desperately needs even more money to reverse the court decision. One of Erin's lovestruck fans, a bookish man named Jerry Killian, recognizes Dilbeck from the club and tries to blackmail him into influencing the judge in Erin's favor. But when the judge proves resistant to Dilbeck's probing, Moldowsky decides the only way to safeguard Dilbeck is to have Jerry murdered. His body is found floating in the Clark Fork River in Montana – by Miami homicide detective Al Garcia, on vacation with his family. Another blackmailer surfaces in the person of Mordecai, a sleazy lawyer related to Paul's fiancee. One of Paul's friends from the bachelor party inadvertently snapped a picture of Dilbeck during the attack, with which Mordecai demands hush money. Instead, Mordecai and Paul's greedy fiancee are likewise murdered on Moldowsky's orders. However, Dilbeck's memory of Erin is indirectly sparked by the photo, and he obsessively refuses to continue with his campaign until he can "possess" her. Moldowsky, conscious that Dilbeck is necessary to his employers' continued prosperity, is forced to assist him. Garcia returns to Florida and compares notes with Erin and her main ally, the club's bouncer Shad. He discovers evidence linking Jerry's murder to Moldowsky, but nothing that will stand up in court. At the same time, Darrell is again busted for larceny and his criminal record is restored, tipping the dispute in Erin's favor. Deciding not to wait, she snatches Angela while Darrell is away, from her aunt's house. Meanwhile, Moldowsky approaches Erin's boss and asks for her to give Dilbeck a private performance. Erin agrees, knowing that it is the best way of gathering evidence. During her first private show, Dilbeck is rendered nearly helpless with lust, and Erin finds it easy to manipulate him. He offers her more money for a repeat performance, and she agrees. Realizing Dilbeck will probably escape implication in Jerry's murder under normal circumstances, Erin comes up with a plan to "destroy" him. On the night of the second show, Darrell follows Erin to the meeting place and comes upon Moldowsky watch-dogging the show, beating him to death in a drug-induced rage. Inside, Dilbeck tries to seduce her, and is vexed when she is unimpressed. Darrell enters and demands to be taken to his daughter. Erin moves to the next phase of her plan, drawing a pistol and ordering them both out. With the help of Dilbeck's limousine driver, Erin drives the two men to a sugar cane field owned by Dilbeck's most prominent supporters. When the car stops, Darrell runs into the cane and winds up falling into a drug-induced slumber; he is killed the next day when the cane he passed out in is fed into a milling machine. Erin offers to slow-dance with Dilbeck in the cane field. Dilbeck believes the dance is a prelude to "wild cowboy sex," but when he realizes it is not, he tries to rape Erin – at which point he is seized by a squad of FBI agents, led by Erin's old boss, who received an anonymous call saying she had been kidnapped. Erin gives Dilbeck an ultimatum: in exchange for avoiding arrest and public exposure, he must resign from his congressional seat. With Darrell gone, and the threat to her from Dilbeck and his patrons removed, Erin resigns from the club and starts a new life with Angela. In the epilogue, it is said that she has gotten back her old job as a secretary with the FBI and a night job dancing in the Main Street Parade at Walt Disney World, and is currently applying to become an FBI agent herself. Critical reception. "Times" reviewer Donald E. Westlake described Hiaasen's style as "a cross between Dave Barry and Elmore Leonard." In a positive review of the novel, Westlake claims that this is Hiaasen's strongest novel to date, writing: In among his freaks and obsessives ... the author has dropped a real honest-to-God human being, an appealing young woman named Erin Grant. Her presence ... makes the cartoon nastiness around her less cartoony and more nasty than in previous Hiaasen novels. Film adaptation. In 1996, it was adapted to the screen, under the title "Striptease," written and directed by Andrew Bergman, and starring Demi Moore as Erin, Burt Reynolds as Dilbeck, Ving Rhames as Shad, Armand Assante as Al Garcia, Robert Patrick as Darrell, Rumer Willis as Angela and Paul Guilfoyle as Moldowsky. The film is notorious for being one of the worst films ever made.

7c3d61c6-5dee-4d4a-97ac-e7bbd403ec0e

m2d2_wiki

The Back of the Turtle The Back of the Turtle is a novel by Thomas King. Published by HarperCollins in 2014, the novel won the Governor General's Award for English-language fiction at the 2014 Governor General's Awards. Plot. The novel's central character is Gabriel Quinn, a successful scientist of First Nations descent working for the multinational chemical company Domidion. Gabriel returns to Samaritan Bay and Smoke River, the Indian reserve in British Columbia, planning to commit suicide because he is distraught over his role in the community's destruction where GreenSweep, the defoliant product he helped to develop for the company, destroyed the local environment and killed or drove away the community's residents. Gabriel is drawn into a journey of spiritual redemption after jumping into the water to save a group of people from drowning while he is trying to drown himself in the Pacific Ocean. While in Samaritan Bay, he meets Mara, a young woman who lost her family in "The Ruin" that Gabriel helped to create. While Gabriel meets the few people left in a seeming folk-tale-like ghost town, in Toronto, Domidion CEO Dorian Asher is drawn into a media frenzy as the company is implicated in another unfolding environmental disaster in the Athabasca Oil Sands. Background. King began writing the novel in the early 2000s while teaching at the University of Guelph, but set it aside for several years to write his non-fiction book "The Inconvenient Indian", which won the RBC Taylor Prize earlier in 2014.

7bfd2976-9abf-4503-a973-209d18504f1b

m2d2_wiki

Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings is a novel by American writer Christopher Moore. Published in 2003, it combines elements of absurdist and fantasy fiction, as well as the author's own brand of social commentary and humor. A serious theme in the novel involves environmentalism, particularly that associated with whales; and the author's personal research-experience with marine biologists helped to inform much of the story. An unabridged commercial audio cassette recording of "Fluke" has been issued with narration by Bill Irwin and whale songs. On July 29, 2004, NBC's "Today Show" author Nicholas Sparks chose Fluke as the next title to be read by the Today Book Club. Plot introduction. The plot of "Fluke" is set on and off the Hawaiian island of Maui as well as deep underneath the Pacific Ocean off the shore of Chile. Nathan Quinn, a marine biologist, goes out on a routine day-trip expedition to survey whales in the area. When he photographs one of the whale's flukes, he notices that the words "BITE ME" are spelled out in huge letters on the mammal's tail-fin. His curiosity and investigations uncover one mystery after another as he seeks the answers concerning the source of this peculiarity.

647660e2-e181-4dc9-8b50-db9d9a4570f9

m2d2_wiki

Ecotopia Ecotopia: The Notebooks and Reports of William Weston is a utopian novel by Ernest Callenbach, published in 1975. The society described in the book is one of the first ecological utopias and was influential on the counterculture and the green movement in the 1970s and thereafter. The author himself claimed that the society he depicted in the book is not a true utopia (in the sense of a perfect society), but, while guided by societal intentions and values, was "im"perfect and in-process. Callenbach said of the story, in relation to Americans: "It is so hard to imagine anything fundamentally different from what we have now. But without these alternate visions, we get stuck on dead center. And we’d better get ready. We need to know where we’d like to go." Context. Callenbach wove his story using the fiber of technologies, lifestyles, folkways, and attitudes that were common in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest. The "leading edges" (his main ideas for Ecotopian values and practices) were patterns in actual social experimentation taking place in the American West. To draw an example, Callenbach's fictional Crick School was based on Pinel School, an alternative school located outside Martinez, California, and attended for a time by his son. Callenbach placed the genesis of Ecotopia with an article he researched and wrote titled "The Scandal of Our Sewage". Besides the important social dimensions of the story, he talked publicly about being influenced, during work on the novel, by many streams of thought: scientific discoveries in ecology and conservation biology; the urban-ecology movement, concerned with a new approach to urban planning; and the soft-energy movement, championed by Amory Lovins and others. Much of the environmentally benign energy, home building and transportation technology described by the author was based on his reading of research findings published in such journals as "Scientific American" and "Science". Callenbach’s concept does not reject high technology (or "any" technology) as long as it does not interfere with the Ecotopian social order and serves the overall objectives. Members of his fictional society prefer to demonstrate a "conscious selectivity" toward technology, so that not only human health and sanity might be preserved, but also social and ecological wellbeing. For example, Callenbach’s story anticipated the development and liberal usage of videoconferencing. During the 1970s when "Ecotopia" was written and published, many prominent counterculture and New Left thinkers decried the consumption and overabundance that they perceived as characteristic of post-World War II America. The citizens of Ecotopia share a common aim: a balance between themselves and nature. They were "literally sick of bad air, chemicalized food, and lunatic advertising. They turned to politics because it was finally the only route to self-preservation." In the mid-20th century as “firms grew in size and complexity citizens needed to know the market would still serve the interests of those for whom it claimed to exist.” Callenbach’s "Ecotopia" targets the fact that many people did not feel that the market or the government were serving them in the way they wanted them to. This book could be interpreted as “a protest against consumerism and materialism, among other aspects of American life." The term "ecotopian fiction", as a subgenre of science fiction and utopian fiction, makes implicit reference to this book. Plot summary. The book is set in 1999 (25 years in the future from 1974) and consists of diary entries and reports of journalist William Weston, who is the first American mainstream media reporter to investigate Ecotopia, a small country that broke away from the United States in 1980. Prior to Weston's reporting, most Americans had been barred from entering the new country, which is depicted as being on continual guard against revanchism. The new nation of Ecotopia consists of Northern California, Oregon, and Washington; it is hinted that Southern California is a lost cause. The novel takes its form as a narrative from Weston's diary in combination with dispatches that he transmits to his publication, the fictional "Times-Post". At the beginning, Weston is skeptically curious about, not yet sympathetic to the Ecotopians. He describes details of the Ecotopian transportation system and the preferred lifestyle. This includes a wide range of gender roles, sexual freedom, and acceptance of non-monogamous relationships. Liberal cannabis use is evident. Televised passive, mass-media, spectator sports have been displaced in favor of local arts coverage, local participatory sports, and general fitness. A large fraction of young male Ecotopians participate voluntarily in a decidedly male ritual of mock warfare using wooden spears but no guns or arrows. The games are not re-enactments. Physical injuries, occasionally serious, are considered part of the game. Ecotopians on the whole value the benefits to young males over the accidental injuries. Ecotopia also tolerates the voluntary separatism of many people of African descent who have, in fact, chosen to live in a mini-nation in the San Francisco East Bay-area. Ecotopian society has favored decentralized and renewable energy production and green building construction. The citizens are technologically creative, while remaining involved with and sensitive to nature. Thorough-going education reform is described, along with a highly localized system of universal medical care. (The narrator discovers that Ecotopian healing practices may include sexual stimulation.) The national defense strategy has focused on developing a highly advanced arms industry, while also allegedly maintaining hidden WMD within major US population centers to discourage conquest and annexation. Through Weston's diary we learn of observations he does not include in his columns, such as his personally transformative love affair with an Ecotopian woman. The book's parallel narrative structures allow the reader to see how Weston's internal reflections, as recorded in his diary, are diffracted in his external pronouncements to his readers. Despite Weston's initial reservations, throughout the novel Ecotopian citizens are characterized as clever, technologically resourceful, emotionally expressive, and even occasionally violent – but also socially responsible, patriotic. They often live in extended families, and tend to live by choice in ethnically separated localities. Their economic enterprises are generally employee-owned and -controlled. The current governmental administration is that of a woman-led (but not exclusively female) party, and government structures are highly decentralized. The novel concludes with Weston's finding himself enchanted by Ecotopian life and deciding to stay in Ecotopia as its interpreter to the wider world. Values exemplified in the novel. The values embodied by those Ecotopians depicted in the novel reflect the values espoused by its author. Callenbach said that his Ecotopians attach fundamental importance to environmental and social stability within which variety can flourish. They value creativity. They ensure equality for women. They implement the protection and restoration of natural systems. They promote food production in their cities. As well, they treasure personal quality-of-life values, such as health and friendliness, and both meaningful discussion and play. Callenbach began writing the novel by depicting the recycling of valuable materials and substances by the society; he saw a much-expanded role for recycling of all sorts, and this is key to many concepts underpinning Ecotopia. Anticipation of emerging realities. Worth mentioning is Callenbach's speculation on the roles of TV in his envisioned society. The author espoused the fly on the wall genre of direct political-process broadcasts, deeming them valuable to the citizenry. In some ways anticipating C-SPAN, which would first be broadcast in 1979, "Ecotopia" mentions that the daily life of the legislature and some of that of the judicial courts is televised in Ecotopia. Even highly technical debates are televised, addressing the needs and desires of Ecotopian viewers. Another interesting detail in the story is "print on demand" (POD) publishing. Ecotopian customers could choose selected print media from a jukebox-like device that would then print and bind the book. In the 21st century, POD services that print, bind and ship books for customers who order on-line have become commonplace. Impact. The importance of this book is not so much its literary style as in the lively imagination of an alternative and ecologically sound lifestyle on a greater scale, presented more or less realistically. It expressed on paper the dream of an alternative future held by many in the movements of the 1970s and later. Even the names of the two characters most reflective of their respective viewpoints – "Will West(on)", the representative for materialist American culture and "Vera Allwen" (= "All women + all men"), the President and spokeswoman for Ecotopia – suggest the degree to which the author intended the book to be a reflection of what he saw as American ecological and cultural deficiencies. However, in contrast to much of the Green movement in contemporary America, with its preference for regulation, Callenbach's Ecotopia has relatively laissez-faire economic tendencies, guided by intense moral pressure toward sustainable practices both in private life and in business. In 1981, Callenbach published "Ecotopia Emerging", a multi-strand "prequel" suggesting how the sustainable nation of Ecotopia could have come into existence. In 1990, Audio Renaissance released a partial dramatization of "Ecotopia" on audiocassettes in the form of recordings of a radio network broadcast (the "Allied News Network" replacing the "Times-Post"). The tape-recorded diaries of William Weston were read by the book's author, Ernest Callenbach. Weston's reports were read by veteran news reporter Edwin Newman. In the online "Earth Island Journal", "Ecotopia" was reviewed by Brian Smith, identifying himself as a child not of the 1960s but the 1980s. He read the novel 30 years after it was first published, and said of it: "I felt great affinity for the details of the world Callenbach predicted. Even better, I was impressed by how many of his ideas came to pass." "Ecotopia" is now required reading in a number of colleges. Reception. Don Milligan in the British magazine "Peace News" gave "Ecotopia" a negative review, stating ""Ecotopia" is a shoddy amalgam of Swedish social democracy, Swiss neutrality, and Yugoslav workers' co-ops cobbled together with the authoritarianism of "A Blueprint for Survival"..."Ecotopia" is a flawed vision of a flawed future." In marked contrast, Ralph Nader praised the book, noting that "None of the happy conditions in Ecotopia are beyond the technical or resource reach of our society." According to Scott Timberg, quoting University of Nevada environmental-literature professor Scott Slovic in "The New York Times", "'Ecotopia' [the concept] became almost immediately absorbed into the popular culture. You hear people talking about the idea of Ecotopia, or about the Northwest as Ecotopia." In "bolo’bolo", P.M. criticizes Callenbach by saying: References. Notes Further reading

f30ce671-6ff0-4172-a1d1-19677bfd3c44

m2d2_wiki

White Death (novel) White Death is the fourth book in the NUMA Files series of books co-written by best-selling author Clive Cussler and Paul Kemprecos, and was published in 2003. The main character of this series is Kurt Austin. White Death (The NUMA Files #4) 2004 Kurt Austin and the NUMA team a hero for the new millennium, Austin is the leader of NUMA’s Special Assignments Team-and the threat before him now is definitely special. A confrontation between a radical environmentalist group and a Danish cruiser has forced Austin and colleague Joe Zavala to come to the rescue of a ship full of trapped men, but after the two save the crew with their experimental underwater rescue submersible they investigate further, they discover that something far more sinister is at work. It seems that a mysterious signal from an offsite operative remotely sent the organization Sentinel of the Seas (SOS) vessel and its leader the obnoxious Marcus Ryan and the organization’s very attractive lawyer Therri Weld, who Kurt obviously takes an interest in, in to a collision course with a Danish frigate which was trying to keep the SOS boat from interfering with local seal harvesting operations and sending boat ships to the bottom. On the Danish ship the Captain and 13 crew are trapped in a air bobble which is the reason Kurt an Joe come to the sight with their rescue vessel to save the trapped crew. A shadowy multinational corporation, Oceanus, is attempting to wrest control of all the fish in the seas themselves-no matter what havoc results, and is killing anyone who attempts to stop them. And the story includes Nazis, Basque separatists, an outcast murderous tribe, the Kiolya, of Eskimos, Canadian natives in northern Quebec, environmental activists and the usual female sex interest. When Austin is investigating an Oceanus remote shoreline fish farm, he finds a “frankenfish” and a load of armed guards. As Kurt is making his way out of the secret caves the local widow Pia told him about his boat is blown up by a hand grenade and he only barely survives, it seems certain he was supposed to be the next in line to die, but he cannot stop now. He is saved by a rich Basque shipping tycoon Balthazar Aguirrez who is looking for ancient Basque relics to save off a war between the Spanish government and Basque separatists. Kurt is in the middle of an environmental disaster caused by descendants of northern Eskimos’ who want to dominate the fish industry and in the end the world has already begun, and only he and NUMA stand in the way. Gamay and Paul Trout as well as Joe are involved in the action as the Trout’s are investigating a Oceanus fish farm in north east Canada and they almost get killed when run off the road. The conclusion happens at a lake in northern Canada where Oceanus has a operation to raise the fish to dominate the ocean and a recovered WW 2 German zeppelin which they will use to drop the fish into the seas. Kurt and Joe with the assistance of the Aguirrez sons of Balthazar and his helicopters attack the island and release Ryan and Therri and the local natives being held prisoners and soon to be drowned in the lake. The zeppelin with the first load of fish and the head of the evil band takes off with Kurt and Joe hanging on the tie down lines and the brothers assure the captives get to safety and then they blow up the zeppelin hanger and fish pens by releasing hydrogen in the hanger and then setting off a hand grenade. Kurt and Joe battle with the bad guys and take control of the zeppelin and drop the fish to die on the refueling station and then take the zeppelin over the Canadian fish farm and jumped into the ocean and are rescued by Gamay and Paul. The zeppelin with the remaining bad guys heads out over the Atlantic to somehow ends up captured by NUMA and used by Kurt for his finally dinner date with Therri. Kurt gets his date and Aguirrez gets his treasures and the bad guys are eliminated another completed mission. A Novel from the NUMA files, A Kurt Austin Adventure. In this novel, the main character Kurt Austin has to destroy an overpowered fish farm that makes mutant fish before the entire eco-system is changed.

69477154-b49b-45fe-a9df-96e330724c0a

m2d2_wiki

Memory of Water Memory of Water (Finnish: Teemestarin kirja, "The Tea Master's Book") is the debut novel by Finnish author Emmi Itäranta, published in 2014 by HarperCollins. The Finnish version of the novel, which Itäranta wrote simultaneously along with the English one, was published in Finland in 2013 by the publishing house . Set in a dystopian future where fresh water is scarce, it tells the story of Noria, a young tea master's apprentice, who must come to terms with a great secret and even greater responsibility that follows this knowledge. The Finnish manuscript won the Fantasy and Sci-Fi Literary Fiction contest organised by Teos in 2012 and was subsequently published. The book won the in 2012, and the in 2013. It was also shortlisted for the 2013 Tähtivaeltaja Award. The English language version of the book has been featured on several shortlists in both the US and the UK - the Philip K. Dick Award, Compton Crook Award, Golden Tentacle Award and Arthur C. Clarke Award. The novel also appeared on the 2014 James Tiptree, Jr. Award Honor List.

4daff84e-9a00-4c2d-80de-86ad3e4aed00

m2d2_wiki

Three Californias Trilogy The Three Californias Trilogy (also known as the Wild Shore Triptych and the Orange County Trilogy) consists of three books by Kim Stanley Robinson, which depict three different possible futures of Orange County, California. The three books that make up the trilogy are "The Wild Shore", "The Gold Coast" and "Pacific Edge". Each of these books describes the life of young people in the three very different near-futures. All three novels begin with an excavation which tells the reader about the world they are entering. Summaries. "The Wild Shore". "The Wild Shore" was Robinson's first published novel. "The Wild Shore" (1984) is the story of survivors of a nuclear war. The nuclear strike was 2,000 to 3,000 neutron bombs that were detonated in 2,000 of North America's biggest cities in 1987. Survivors have started over, forming little villages and living from agriculture and the sea. The theme of the first chapters is that of a quite normal science fiction pastoral, which is deconstructed in the latter chapters, especially when it becomes clear that the post-nuclear war rural life is hindered from developing further by international treaties imposed by the victorious Soviets, with an unwilling Japan charged with patrolling the West Coast. "The Wild Shore" was nominated for both the Nebula and Philip K. Dick Awards in 1984. Algis Budrys described it as "a frontier novel, with rich threads of Steinbeckian populism woven into its cast of characters." Although faulting the novel's "failure to sustain the weight of its undertakings," he concluded that "Wild Shore" was "a remarkably powerful piece of work, still a good book, almost without doubt a harbinger of great books to come from Robinson." "The Gold Coast". In "The Gold Coast" (1988) we learn about the Southern California of 2027, a dystopian extension of today's Los Angeles and car-oriented architecture, mobility and life-style: "an endless sprawl of condos, freeways and malls." The book describes the life of 27-year-old Jim McPherson, who finds himself caught up in literary and academic interests, anti-weapons-industry terrorism, drugs, parties and casual sex. "The Gold Coast" was nominated for the Campbell, Locus, and British Science Fiction award in 1989. "Pacific Edge". "Pacific Edge" (1990) can be compared to Ernest Callenbach's "Ecotopia", and also to Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Dispossessed". This book's Californian future is set in the El Modena neighborhood of Orange in 2065. It depicts a realistic utopia as it describes a possible transformation process from our present status, to a more ecologically-focused future. The book does not assume a blank slate from which ecological utopia can be erected, but assumes the buildings, cities and infrastructures of our past and present. An important aspect of the book is the way these are changed to become "green". "Pacific Edge" is also realistic insofar as conflicts about diverging interests play a big role. In 2065, these are mainly conflicts between Greens and New Federals as the main political parties that are the A.A.M.T. using small companies to buy the last piece of wilderness in the area and develop it; but also conflicts on the personal scale, for example, Kevin, the main character builds a romantic relationship with the mayor's former lover. From a literary critique point of view the broad descriptions of nature and landscape are of interest, as well as the self-references in regard to writing about utopian futures versus actual political work. "Pacific Edge" was the winner of the John W. Campbell Memorial Award in 1991. These books, especially "Pacific Edge", can be seen as forerunners to Robinson's Mars trilogy. Development history. In an interview with UCSD, Robinson said that "this was one of my few original ideas." And he came up with the idea for the novels while still at UCSD on a drive from UCSD to Orange County, California to visit his parents.

454c682a-ce49-4cd1-85b2-a1271736e0bb

m2d2_wiki

Carbon Dreams Carbon Dreams is a novel by Susan M. Gaines and an example of what has come to be known as Lab lit or "science in fiction". It was published by Creative Arts Book Company in 2000 and is Gaines' first novel. Reception. Thomas Christensen writing for the "San Francisco Chronicle" has said, "In her debut novel, "Carbon Dreams," Susan M. Gaines gives us a work that's equal parts geology and romance. Gaines, who has degrees in chemistry and oceanography, has boldly built the novel around challenging scientific theories". Karen Bushaw-Newton writing for the BioScience said, "Susan Gaines combined fact and fiction to depict the life and struggles of a female geochemist as her career developed. The book portrayed the scientific world in both positive and negative ways by highlighting the passion that scientists have for their research, the difficulties and frustrations of finding funding, and the politics of scientific discovery". In New Scientist the book has been described as "It's all here: the fight for grants, intellectual ownership, a triumph at a conference (dream scene for any researcher), an affair or two and inevitable heartbreak as work edges out the lover. Gripping stuff."

e6b3b253-1c30-4679-aeb8-fdbd733fda5a

m2d2_wiki

Double Whammy (novel) Double Whammy is a 1987 novel by Carl Hiaasen. The protagonist, a private investigator, is hired to expose a celebrity bass fisherman as a cheat and is drawn into a frame-up for murder. The book introduced the character of "Skink" (Clinton Tyree), who becomes a recurring character in Hiaasen's subsequent novels. Explanation of the Title. The "Double Whammy" is a fishing lure, supposedly the favorite of the celebrity angler. Plot. One early August morning in Harney County, Florida, the body of Robert Clinch is found floating in a lake shortly after taking his boat out to go bass fishing. Private investigator R.J. Decker is hired by sugar cane tycoon Dennis Gault, another bass fisherman, to prove that celebrity fisherman Richard "Dickie" Lockhart, his main rival on the fishing tournament circuit, is a cheat. Decker is a former newspaper photographer who was fired and briefly sent to prison after assaulting a teenager who tried to steal his camera equipment. In Lockhart's hometown of Harney, Decker looks up an old newspaper friend, a laconic reporter named Ott Pickney. Finding the local bass fishing guides too expensive, Decker takes Ott's advice and meets a reclusive hermit who lives in the woods, calling himself "Skink". While teaching Decker about fishing, he mentions seeing Clinch on the lake, but not fishing, on the morning he died. Attending Clinch's funeral, Decker meets Gault's sister Elaine, or "Lanie," who confides to Decker that she and Clinch were lovers. She tells Decker that Gault hired Clinch to catch Lockhart first, only she believes Lockhart had Clinch killed. Ott is skeptical of Lanie's suspicions, since the coroner ruled Clinch's death an accident and a murder over fishing is too outlandish to be believed. However, when Ott interviews Clinch's widow, he also discovers clues that Clinch wasn't fishing. Tracking down the junked remains of Clinch's boat, Ott discovers signs of sabotage. Unfortunately, at that moment Ott is tracked down and murdered. After finding the body, Decker and Skink are both committed to nailing Lockhart. They tail him to his latest fishing tournament on Louisiana's Lake Maurepas, but inadvertently photograph the wrong gang of cheaters; Lockhart wins the tournament anyway. Skink tries to raise Decker's spirits, adding, "Worse comes to worst, I'll just shoot the fucker." Later, Decker returns to their hotel room and finds Lanie waiting for him. After the two sleep together and he drops her off at her hotel, Decker notices lights on at the lakeside. He discovers Lockhart floating in the weigh tank, clubbed to death. Assuming Skink is the culprit, Decker drives back to Florida. Upon returning home, he finds the Miami police, led by Detective Al Garcia, waiting for him. Skink intercepts Decker and tells him Gault's whole assignment was a set-up, allowing Gault to kill his hated rival and put the blame on Decker. The Outdoor Christian Network, led by televangelist Charlie Weeb, organizes a fishing tournament in Lockhart's memory to promote Weeb's housing development at the edge of the Everglades. Weeb is becoming increasingly desperate to boost sales of the condominia, as his network is so financially dependent on the development that its failure will also ruin Weeb himself. He becomes even more desperate when the bass salted into the condo's lakes die, revealing that the water is toxic. Weeb orders his new spokesman, Eddie Spurling, to cheat by harvesting caged bass from the neighboring stretch of clean water in the Everglades. While trying to escape Miami, Decker and Skink are stopped by Garcia, who has already found holes in Gault's frame-up story and is more than ready to believe Decker's version of events. Meanwhile, a worried Gault sends his hired thug, Thomas Curl, to kill Decker before Garcia finds him. While researching Lockhart's history, Decker and Skink learn of the housing development, and Skink is determined to stop it by sabotaging the fishing tournament. With the help of Skink's friend, State Trooper Jim Tile, Decker tracks down Lanie and forces her to confess to helping her brother frame Decker for Lockhart's murder. Lanie admits that she became involved with Decker at Gault's suggestion, to help punish Lockhart for Clinch's murder. After Lockhart was killed, Gault convinced her to falsely tell police that Decker was on his way to see Lockhart when she last saw him. Although Lanie's recorded statement is enough to clear Decker's name, Curl kidnaps Decker's ex-wife Catherine and demands that Decker trade his life for hers. Decker tells Skink to go ahead with his plan to sabotage the tournament while he deals with Curl himself. Skink's original plan is to have Garcia and Tile enter the tournament, posing as brothers, and win by catching Skink's gargantuan Queenie. With publicity for Weeb's development aimed exclusively at white people, Skink predicts that having an African-American and a Cuban win the tournament will be fatal for sales. However, at the last moment, Skink changes his plan and arranges a "confrontation" between Queenie and Gault. He anonymously tips off Gault as to the location where he will plant Queenie, while sabotaging the motor of Garcia and Tile's boat. Decker rescues Catherine and kills Curl with a booby-trapped camera. Predictably, the tournament is a fiasco: the latest batch of fish are so sickened by the toxic water that they refuse to eat, while Garcia and Tile are the only participants to catch one (tiny) bass. Spurling refuses to cheat, forcing Weeb to name them the winners and admit that the promised $250,000 grand prize is "not available." Garcia and Tile reveal their badges and arrest Weeb for fraud on live television. Skink sees all the bass floating to the surface and realizes he has put Queenie in mortal danger by slipping her into the toxic water. Decker and Catherine join him on a boat borrowed from Spurling, and they speed to where he put her into the water. They come upon Gault's boat, where Lanie is sitting alone and Gault's dead body is floating in the water. Gault succeeded in hooking Queenie, but was unprepared for her weight and power, and so tried to use his boat's engine to exhaust her. When she unexpectedly changed direction, Gault was unwilling to let her go, and was pulled overboard onto his own boat's propeller. Skink dives into the water, pulls a barely-alive Queenie out and leaps across a levee to put her in the Everglades. Decker and Catherine, following onto the levee, cannot see either of them, but are sure they hear the sound of both swimming to safety.

25da6a7d-5167-4d4c-be5c-04d6c6979a96

m2d2_wiki

Earthquake Terror Earthquake Terror is a 1996 novel by Peg Kehret. It tells the tale of how a boy named Jonathan has to help his partially paralyzed six-year-old sister Abby, during an earthquake while their parents are at a hospital. An excerpt of "Earthquake Terror" is currently used in the fifth grade language arts book by Houghton Mifflin in California .

e9ca707f-e187-412e-a1a7-8dfc6f56890e

m2d2_wiki

Exodus (Bertagna novel) Exodus is a science fiction novel written for teens to young adults by Julie Bertagna, published in August 2002. The story is set on an island faced with the problem of a rising sea level, caused by melting ice caps and other forms of global warming. Mara must think of a way to save herself, the other villagers and, most importantly, the world. The book was short-listed for the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year in 2002. Exodus is part of a trilogy; the sequel to the book is "Zenith", published in 2007, followed by "Aurora", published in 2011. Julie Bertagna was inspired to write this book in 1999, when she learned of two South Pacific Islands being engulfed by the sea as a result of global warming, forcing the people to find higher land. Bertagna started to investigate into the topic of global warming and the stories inspired her to write "Exodus" and its sequel "Zenith". The purpose of the book is to inform young readers about global warming and convince them that something must be done about it. Plot summary. In the year 2100, 15-year-old Mara lives on the island of Wing, with fellow villagers. The melting ice cap has caused the shoreline to rise and they are now almost out of land. Through her cyberwizz, a laptop-like gadget, she navigates through information to find where they can go. She meets a mysterious creature called Fox, who demands to know where she is. Mara is excited because beyond him she can see a new world, but she loses connection before she can learn more. Mara tells the villagers about New Mungo, a place where they can go which is a new land raised high above sea level. They eventually leave in fishing boats, but are forced to leave behind the elder generation who couldn't part from their home. Once they reach New Mungo, they realise it is actually not a welcoming place; a huge outer wall surrounds the whole sky-city. They then are forced to join a refugee boat camp and some of them die there, including Mara's best friend Gail. The Sky Police, from New Mungo, occasionally take the strong up to the city in a procedure called Pickings, but Mara has a bad feeling about this. Mara learns all her family drowned in the perilous journey to New Mungo, and attempts to commit suicide. When she realises her will to live is too strong, Mara manages, with the help of an urchin she names Wing (after her drowned island), to enter the city gates. There she meets the people of the Netherworld (a strange twilight place in the shadow of the sky city, with the roofs of the drowned city of Glasgow jutting above the sea), who are known as the treenesters. They immediately recognise her as their messiah, the Face in the Stone, from an old prophecy called the Stone Telling. She lives with them for some time, exploring and helping them to survive. One day, while she is with her friend Gorbals (a tree-nester) in the forbidden university, Gorbals and Wing are taken by the Sky Police, along with many sea urchins (a wild breed of children without language, but hairy bodies and webbed hands) are slaughtered. Determined to save her friends, she takes the uniform of a police woman that the police accidentally killed in the massacre and sneaks up to the city. She is overwhelmed by its superficial beauty and shallow entertainments. At first, she needed some help with searching. Doll, a computer worker, helps her with the computers. While searching through the Noos, a virtual, evolved version of the World Wide Web, she meets Fox. She discovers it is David, the quiet, hard-working grandson of Caledon, creator of the Sky City and the one who allowed many people to drown if they couldn't pass an intelligence test to allow them entrance to the new world. Together, they organise an escape plan that involves David crashing the Noos with a 20th-century virus, allowing Mara to free the slaves and then leave the city unnoticed. The only catch is that David would not be able to leave with Mara, with whom he has fallen in love, because he must stay to begin a rebellion against the unfair New World. While executing her plan, Mara fatally stabs Tony Rex, a man she believes is a spy, with an ancient bone dagger, and then rescues Gorbals, Wing and all the people chosen in the Pickings, who have become slaves. They slide down air vents into the Netherworld and board a supply ship. They break free of the city walls, also saving the people in the refugee boat camp and the Netherworld. The boats are programmed to Greenland, a place that is thought to have risen high above the water like a cork. Fox also slides down the air vents, to begin his rebellion outside the reach of his grandfather. The book finishes with Mara wondering how far people will go to save themselves, and if Caledon was right to save a special few. The book ends with the hope that the refugees will reach safety in Greenland. A screenplay for this book is currently under way. The movie adaptation of "Exodus" is not yet scheduled for release.

8902f7fb-a9f8-4a86-a9cf-1ae2a8bb416f

m2d2_wiki

The Adventures of Sajo and her Beaver People The Adventures of Sajo and her Beaver People is a 1935 children's adventure novel, written and illustrated by Canadian author Grey Owl. It was based on real-life events. The novel became a bestseller, and contributed to drawing half a million people to Grey Owl's lectures in the late 1930s. Within five years of its publication, it was translated into many European languages, including Polish and Russian. Plot. Sajo, a young Ojibwe Indian girl, and her older brother adopt two young beavers, Chilawee and Chikanee, and try to save them from fur traders.

d74c5f3d-4d06-4f97-86de-d50f1a47d894

m2d2_wiki

Zodiac (novel) Zodiac: An Eco-Thriller (1988) is a novel by American writer Neal Stephenson. His second novel, it tells the story of an environmentalist, Sangamon Taylor, uncovering a conspiracy involving industrialist polluters in Boston Harbor. The "Zodiac" of the title refers to the brand of inflatable motor boats the hero uses to get around the city efficiently. His opponents attempt to frame him as an ecoterrorist. The protagonist is inspired by environmental chemist Marco Kaltofen. Taylor is a recreational user of nitrous oxide, justifying his choice of drug by the eponymous Sangamon's principle: "the simpler the molecule, the better the drug". Plot. In the novel, Taylor is a chemist working for GEE, a fictional environmental activism group which stages both protests and direct actions plugging toxic waste pipes. Taylor becomes involved with Basco Industries, a fictional corporation which produced Agent Orange and is a major supplier of organic chlorine compounds. Basco experiments with genetic engineering to develop chemical producing microbes, driving Taylor's efforts to expose their crimes and preserve Boston Harbor. A number of the later events of the novel take place on Boston Harbor's Spectacle Island which at the time of publication was almost entirely composed of garbage. In the story it is frequented by drugged-out and reputedly Satanic groupies of the "two-umlaut" heavy metal music band, Pöyzen Böyzen, who are too intoxicated with angel dust to realize they are poisoning themselves with the toxic waste that was dumped there. Taylor's projects involve sampling the concentration of polychlorinated biphenyls in Boston Harbor with the help of the Gallaghers, a fishing family who record the location of the lobsters they catch. While gathering evidence which GEE will use to expose Basco's crimes, Taylor is flummoxed by the fact that the toxins have suddenly disappeared. He eventually discovers that Basco has acquired a bioengineering firm, where his high school nemesis is employed as a genetic engineer, to create a bacterium that is able to digest toxins, cleaning up the harbor instantly. However, Basco had been forced to release the bacteria into the wild without full testing because of their imminent exposure by GEE. Depending on the equilibrium state of the harbor, the new bacteria are also able to create toxins. To stop Taylor meddling with their plans, Basco discredits him by planting a bomb in his house and framing him as a terrorist trying to assassinate their president. He escapes with the help of a Native American tribe and eventually returns in secret to steal one of their ships containing a large amount of toxins which they are planning to release into the ocean.

01381999-6fc8-45e0-880f-0b42c70e95b0

m2d2_wiki

The City of Woven Streets The City of Woven Streets, also known as The Weaver, is the second novel by Finnish author Emmi Itäranta, published in 2015 in Finland and by the following year by HarperCollins. As with her debut novel, Itäranta wrote the Finnish and English manuscripts simultaneously. The novel was released in June 2016 in the UK under the name "The City of Woven Streets", and in November 2016 in the US as "The Weaver", while the Finnish version was released in October 2015 as "Kudottujen kujien kaupunki". Set on an unnamed island the novel tells the first-hand story of Eliana, a young weaver, whose quiet life is suddenly shaken by the arrival of a mute girl bearing Eliana's name tattooed on her palm. Eliana finds her own shameful secrets unravelling along with those of the dystopic society she lives in, and she must learn to use her dormant skills to help those in need. The novel won the and the . It was also shortlisted for the Tähtivaeltaja Award.

592a6f5e-7eb6-47d6-82c6-3fb151d82927

m2d2_wiki

The Giving Tree The Giving Tree is an American children's picture book written and illustrated by Shel Silverstein. First published in 1964 by Harper & Row, it has become one of Silverstein's best-known titles, and has been translated into numerous languages. This book has been described as "one of the most divisive books in children's literature"; the controversy stems from whether the relationship between the main characters (a boy and the eponymous tree) should be interpreted as positive (i.e., the tree gives the boy selfless love) or negative (i.e., the boy and the tree have an abusive relationship). Background. Silverstein had difficulty finding a publisher for "The Giving Tree". An editor at Simon & Schuster rejected the book's manuscript because he felt that it was "too sad" for children and "too simple" for adults. Tomi Ungerer encouraged Silverstein to approach Ursula Nordstrom, who was a publisher with Harper & Row. An editor with Harper & Row stated that Silverstein had made the original illustrations "scratchy" like his cartoons for "Playboy", but that he later reworked the art in a "more pared-down and much sweeter style." The final black-and-white drawings have been described as "unadorned… visual minimalism." Harper & Row published a small first edition of the book, consisting of only 5,000–7,500 copies, in 1964. Plot. The book follows the lives of an apple tree and a boy, who develop a relationship with one another. The tree is very "giving" and the boy evolves into a "taking" teenager, a middle-aged man, and finally an elderly man. Despite the fact that the boy ages in the story, the tree addresses the boy as "Boy" his entire life. In his childhood, the boy enjoys playing with the tree, climbing her trunk, swinging from her branches, carving "Me + T (Tree)" into the bark, and eating her apples. However, as the boy grows older, he spends less time with the tree and tends to visit her only when he wants material items at various stages of his life, or not coming to the tree alone (such as bringing a lady friend to the tree and carving "Me +Y.L." (her initials, often assumed to be an acronym for "young love")) into the tree. In an effort to make the boy happy at each of these stages, the tree gives him parts of herself, which he can transform into material items, such as money (from her apples), a house (from her branches), and a boat (from her trunk). With every stage of giving, "the Tree was happy". In the final pages, both the tree and the boy feel the sting of their respective "giving" and "taking" nature. When only a stump remains for the tree (including the carving "Me + T"), she is not happy, at least at that moment. The boy does return as a tired elderly man to meet the tree once more. She tells him she is sad because she cannot provide him shade, apples, or any materials like in the past. He ignores this (because his teeth are too weak for apples, and he is too old to swing on branches and too tired to climb her trunk) and states that all he wants is "a quiet place to sit and rest," which the tree, who is weak being just a stump, could provide. With this final stage of giving, "the Tree was happy". Reception. Interest in the book increased by word of mouth; for example, in churches "it was hailed as a parable on the joys of giving." As of 2001, over 5 million copies of the book had been sold, placing it 14th on a list of hardcover "All-Time Bestselling Children's Books" from "Publishers Weekly." By 2011, 8.5 million copies of the book had been sold. In a 1999–2000 National Education Association online survey of children, among the "Kids' Top 100 Books," the book was 24th. In the 2007 online "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children" poll by the National Education Association, the book came in third. It was 85th of the "Top 100 Picture Books" of all time in a 2012 poll by "School Library Journal". "Scholastic Parent & Child" magazine placed it #9 on its list of "100 Greatest Books for Kids" in 2012. As of 2013, it ranked third on a Goodreads list of "Best Children's Books." Interpretations. There are numerous interpretations of the book, including: Religious interpretation. Ursula Nordstrom attributed the book's success partially to "Protestant ministers and Sunday-school teachers", who believed that the tree represents "the Christian ideal of unconditional love." Environmental interpretation. Some people believe that the tree represents Mother Nature and the boy represents humanity. The book has been used to teach children environmental ethics. An educational resource for children describes the book as an "allegory about the responsibilities a human being has for living organisms in the environment," Lisa Rowe Fraustino states that “some curricula use the book as a what-not-to-do role model." Friendship interpretation. One writer believes that the relationship between the boy and the tree is one of friendship. As such, the book teaches children "as your life becomes polluted with the trappings of the modern world — as you 'grow up' — your relationships tend to suffer if you let them fall to the wayside." Another writer's criticism of this interpretation is that the tree appears to be an adult when the boy is young, and cross-generational friendships are rare. Additionally, this relationship can be seen from a humanities perspective, emphasizing the need for helping each other. Parent–child interpretations. A common interpretation of the book is that the tree and the boy have a parent–child relationship, as in a 1995 collection of essays about the book edited by Richard John Neuhaus in the journal "First Things". Among the essayists, some were positive about the relationship; for example, Amy A. Kass wrote about the story that "it is wise and it is true about giving and about motherhood," and her husband Leon R. Kass encourages people to read the book because the tree "is an emblem of the sacred memory of our own mother's love." Other essayists put forth negative views. Mary Ann Glendon wrote that the book is "a nursery tale for the 'me' generation, a primer of narcissism, a catechism of exploitation," and Jean Bethke Elshtain felt that the story ends with the tree and the boy "both wrecks." A 1998 study using phenomenographic methods found that Swedish children and mothers tended to interpret the book as dealing with friendship, while Japanese mothers tended to interpret the book as dealing with parent–child relationships. Interpretation as satire. Some authors believe that the book is not actually intended for children, but instead should be treated as a satire aimed at adults along the lines of "A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift. Criticism and controversy. Elizabeth Bird, writing for the "School Library Journal", described "The Giving Tree" as "one of the most divisive books in children's literature". Criticism revolves about the depiction of the relationship between the boy and the tree. Winter Prosapio said that the boy never thanks the tree for its gifts. In an interview with "Horn Book Magazine", Phyllis J. Fogelman, an editor with Harper & Row, said the book is "about a sadomasochistic relationship" and "elevates masochism to the level of a good", which mirrors Mary Daly's analysis in "Gyn/Ecology: the Metaethics of Radical Feminism". One college instructor discovered that the book caused both male and female remedial reading students to be angry because they felt that the boy exploited the tree. For teaching purposes, he paired the book with a short story by Andre Dubus entitled "The Fat Girl" because its plot can be described as "The Giving Tree" "in reverse." Some readers may interpret the book against the wider background of Silverstein's interactions with women, e.g., that he frequented the Playboy Mansion and Playboy Clubs, and allegedly, according to his biography "A Boy Named Shel", slept with hundreds, perhaps thousands of women. Author's photograph. The photograph of Silverstein on the back cover of the book has attracted attention. One writer described the photograph as showing the author's "jagged menacing teeth" and "evil, glaring eyes." Another writer compared the photograph to the one on the back of "Where the Sidewalk Ends" in which Silverstein resembles "the Satanist Anton LaVey." Cultural influences and adaptations. Other versions. A short animated film of the book, produced in 1973, featured Silverstein's narration. Silverstein also wrote a song of the same name, which was performed by Bobby Bare and his family on his album "Singin' in the Kitchen" (1974). Silverstein created an adult version of the story in a cartoon entitled "I Accept the Challenge." In the cartoon, a nude woman cuts off a nude man's arms and legs with scissors, then sits on his torso in a pose similar to the final drawing in "The Giving Tree" in which the old man sits on the stump. Jackson and Dell (1979) wrote an "alternative version" of the story for teaching purposes that was entitled "The Other Giving Tree." It featured two trees next to each other and a boy growing up. One tree acted like the one in "The Giving Tree", ending up as a stump, while the other tree stopped at giving the boy apples, and does not give the boy its branches or trunk. At the end of the story, the stump was sad that the old man chose to sit under the shade of the other tree. Playwright Topher Payne (2019) wrote an alternate ending for the book, "The Tree Who Set Healthy Boundaries", as part of the "Topher Fixed It" series for young people. In this version the tree teaches the boy to become a better person. They are both better off for the tree's efforts, and so is the world around them. Cultural influences. The Giving Tree Band took its name from the book. Plain White T's EP "Should've Gone to Bed" has a song “The Giving Tree,” written by Tim Lopez. The 2010 short film "I'm Here", written and directed by Spike Jonze, is based on "The Giving Tree"; the main character Sheldon is named after Shel Silverstein.

631af5b7-55b8-4b2d-b201-4bb3d46bb7eb

m2d2_wiki

Always Coming Home Always Coming Home is a 1985 science fiction novel by Ursula K. Le Guin. It is in parts narrative, pseudo-textbook and pseudo-anthropologist's record. It describes the life and society of the Kesh people, a cultural group who live in the distant future long after modern society has collapsed. It is presented by Pandora, who seems to be an anthropologist or ethnographer from the readers' contemporary culture, or a culture very close to it. Pandora describes the book as a protest against contemporary civilization, which the Kesh call "the Sickness of Man". Setting. The book's setting is a time so post-apocalyptic that no cultural source can remember the apocalypse, though a few folk tales refer to our time. The only signs of our civilization that have lasted into their time are indestructible artefacts such as styrofoam and a self-manufacturing, self-maintaining, solar-system-wide computer network. There has been a great sea level rise since our time, flooding much of northern California, where the story takes place. The Kesh use technological inventions of civilization such as writing, steel, guns, electricity, trains, and a computer network (see below). However, unlike one of their neighboring societies – the Dayao or Condor People – they do nothing on an industrial scale, reject governance, have no non-laboring caste, do not expand their population or territory, consider disbelief in what we consider “supernatural” absurd, and deplore human domination of the natural environment. Their culture blends millennia of human economic culture by combining aspects of hunter-gatherer, agricultural, and industrial societies, but rejects cities (literal “civilization”). In fact, what they call “towns” would count as villages for the reader – a dozen or a few-dozen multi-family or large family homes. What they call “war” is a minor skirmish over hunting territories, and is considered a ridiculous pastime for youngsters, since an adult person should not throw his life away. Pandora observes that a key difference between the Kesh and the readers' [her?] society is the size of their population: "There are not too many of them.". Their low population density means that they can feed themselves from their land. The Kesh maintain this low population without coercion, which would be antithetical to their loosely organized society. They carry a large accumulation of genetic damage, which leads to fewer successful pregnancies and higher infant mortality. They also have social taboos against multiple siblings and early pregnancies; a third child is considered shameful, and the Dayao's practice of large families is referred to as "incontinence". Abortions are practiced freely. Summary. The book is divided into two parts: The first part consists mostly of Kesh texts and records of oral performances, interspersed with Pandora's commentary, accounts of a few aspects of Kesh life, and personal essays. The longest text is a personal history narrated by a woman called "Stone Telling". Stone Telling's autobiography fills less than a third of the book, told in three sections with large gaps filled with other material. The second part, called "The Back of the Book", contains a few Kesh texts but consists mostly of Pandora's accounts of various aspects of Kesh life. Stone Telling recounts how she spent her childhood with her mother's people in the Valley, as a very young woman lived several years with her father's people in The City, and escaped from it with her daughter, who was born there. The two societies are contrasted through her narrative: the Kesh are peaceable and self-organized, whereas the Condor people of The City are rigid, patriarchal, hierarchical, militaristic, and expansionist. The next longest piece in the main part, in the section "Eight Life Stories", is the novelette "The Visionary", which was published as a stand-alone story in "Omni" in 1984. This part also includes history and legends, myths, plays, a chapter of a novel, and song lyrics and poetry. Some editions of the book were accompanied by a tape of Kesh music and poetry. A number of these are attributed by Pandora to a Kesh woman named "Little Bear Woman"; these are: "The Back of the Book", about a fifth of the number of pages, presents cultural lore, with the format and attributions or annotations that an ethnographic fieldworker might make. It includes discussions of village layout and landscaping, family and professional guilds, recipes, medical care, yearly ritual dances, and language. Awards. The novel received the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize and was a runner up for the National Book Awards. Literary significance and criticism. It has been noted that "Always Coming Home" underscores Le Guin's long-standing anthropological interests. The Valley of the Na [River] is modeled on the landscape of California's Napa Valley, where Le Guin spent her childhood when her family was not in Berkeley. Like much of Le Guin's work, "Always Coming Home" follows Native American themes. According to Richard Erlich, ""Always Coming Home" is a fictional retelling of much in A. L. Kroeber's [Ursula's father] monumental "Handbook of the Indians of California"." There are also some elements retrieved from her mother's "The Inland Whale" (Traditional narratives of Native California), such as the importance of the number nine, and the map of the Na Valley which looks like the Ancient Yurok World. There are also Taoist themes: the heyiya-if looks like the "taijitu", and its hollow center (the "hinge") is like the hub of the wheel as described in the "Tao Te Ching". Le Guin had described herself "as an unconsistent Taoist and a consistent un-Christian". One of its earliest reviews, by Samuel R. Delany in "The New York Times", called it "a slow, rich read... [Le Guin's] most satisfying text among a set of texts that have provided much imaginative pleasure" Dave Langford reviewed "Always Coming Home" for "White Dwarf" #82, and stated that "Among many rich strangenesses it also includes a critique of its own improbabilities (as seen through twentieth-century eyes)." Box set and soundtrack. A box set edition of the book (), comes with an audiocassette entitled "Music and Poetry of the Kesh", featuring 10 musical pieces and 3 poetry performances by Todd Barton. The book contains 100 original illustrations by Margaret Chodos. As of 2017, the soundtrack can be purchased separately in MP3 format (). A vinyl record was also released, together with a digital album for streaming and download in several formats. That combination sold out, but the digital album by itself remains available, and a second pressing of the vinyl, plus the digital, was scheduled to ship "on or around 25 May 2018". Stage performance. A stage version of Always Coming Home was mounted at Naropa University in 1993 (with Le Guin's approval) by Ruth Davis-Fyer. Music for the production was composed and directed by Brian Mac Ian, although it was original music and not directly influenced by Todd Barton's work. Influence. John Scalzi, one-time president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, wrote, in his introduction to the 2016 edition, that he discovered the book as a teenager, and calls it "a formative book...sunk deep in [his] bones", one to endlessly return to, always coming home.

568a0b71-067b-4564-ba00-735bbc102783

m2d2_wiki

Ecofiction Ecofiction (also "eco-fiction" or "eco fiction") is the branch of literature that encompasses nature-oriented (non-human) or environment-oriented (human impacts on nature) works of fiction. While this super genre's roots are seen in classic, pastoral, magical realism, animal metamorphoses, science fiction, and other genres, the term ecofiction did not become popular until the 1970s when various movements created the platform for an explosion of environmental and nature literature, which also inspired ecocriticism. Ecocriticism is the study of literature and the environment from an interdisciplinary point of view, where literature scholars analyze texts that illustrate environmental concerns and examine the various ways literature treats the subject of nature. Environmentalists have claimed that the human relationship with the ecosystem often went unremarked in earlier literature. According to Jim Dwyer, author of "Where the Wild Books Are: A Field Guide to Ecofiction", "My criteria for determining whether a given work is ecofiction closely parallel Lawrence Buell's": Definitions and explanations. "The terms 'environmental fiction,' 'green fiction,' and 'nature-oriented fiction,' might better be considered as categories of ecofiction...[Ecofiction] deals with environmental issues or the relation between humanity and the physical environment, that contrasts traditional and industrial cosmologies, or in which nature or the land has a prominent role…[It is] made up of many styles, primarily modernism, postmodernism, realism, and magical realism, and can be found in many genres, primarily mainstream, westerns, mystery, romance, and speculative fiction. Speculative fiction includes science fiction and fantasy, sometimes mixed with realism, as in the work of Ursula K. Le Guin." -Jim Dwyer [Ibid. Chapter 2.] "Stories set in fictional landscapes that capture the essence of natural ecosystems...[They] can build around human relationships to these ecosystems or leave out humans altogether. The story itself, however, takes the reader into the natural world and brings it alive...Ideally the landscape and ecosystems--whether fantasy or real--should be as "realistic" as possible and plot constraints should accord with ecological principles." -Mike Vasey The distinction of true and false ecofiction was made by Diane Ackerman. "Often in fiction nature has loomed as a monstrous character, an adversary dishing out retribution for moral slippage, or as a nightmare region of chaos and horror where fanged beasts crouch ready to attack. But sometimes it beckons as a zone of magic, mysticism, inspiration, and holy conversion. "False ecofiction is based on the fear that something will go wrong, but true ecofiction is based on an integrative view of reality." -Gabriel Navarre Another perspective is that ecofiction is not divided between true and false, but into three categories: "Works that portray the environmental movement and/or environmental activism, works that depict a conflict over an environmental issue and express the author's beliefs, and works that feature environmental apocalypse." -Patricia D. Netzley "Ecofiction is an elastic term, capacious enough to accommodate a variety of fictional works that address the relationship between natural settings and the human communities that dwell within them. The term emerged soon after ecology took hold as a popular scientific paradigm and a broad cultural attitude in the 1960s and 1970s." -Jonathan Levin "Ecofiction forms a literature-based path towards an invigorated understanding of nature's place in human life and is part of a new phase in nature writing that seeks to include a modern consciousness in narratives of place. "The Hopper" believes that in order to refashion our lives to accommodate the knowledge we have of our environmental crisis, we have a lot of cultural heavy lifting to do. To reacquaint ourselves meaningfully with the natural world we have to turn our interpretive, inquisitive, and inspired faculties upon it." Dede Cummings, Green Writers Press Ashland Creek Press often states that "ecofiction is fiction with a conscience." -John Yunker Characteristics. Given that "Ecocriticism seems to be inherently interdisciplinary, cross-cultural, syncretic, holistic, and evolutionary in its nature," it would seem useful to apply these traits to the large field of literature that is ecofiction, especially given its history, reach, and continuity. Interdisciplinary and holistic: Ecofiction can be seen as an umbrella for, or laterally relative to, many genres and subgenres and works well within the parameters of the main categories of speculative fiction, contemporary fiction, Anthropocene fiction, climate fiction, literary fiction, eco-futurist and solarpunk fictions, magical realism, ecological weird fiction, and more. Further, while ecofiction is "fiction with a conscience," per John Yunker, as shown above, it reveals integrity in the concern for our natural world as well as what can be found on numerous storytelling platforms: mystery, thriller, suspense, romance, dystopian, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic, Arcadian, futuristic, crime, detective, and so on. Given the upstream and downstream effects of such issues as climate change, fracking, coal mining, animal justice, pollution, deforestation, and so on, this branch of fiction is not inclusive and has no demarcation other than the environmental and nature impacts by which it is defined and explained. Cross-cultural and syncretic: Ecofiction is written by authors all over the world. Environmental issues, the desire to protect our natural ecological systems, and the praise of nature is an all-encompassing intention of many authors, which crosses all borders, languages, ethnicities, and belief systems. Many ecofiction novels incorporate LGBT and other egalitarian social issues that mirror sustainable, peaceful, and just environmental futures. Developing: Dwyer's field guide has hundreds of examples of ecofiction across time, from the roots and precursors---the earliest cave drawings, pastoral and classic, etc.--up through the 21st century. The continuity goes on. In May 2017, writing in "The New York Times," Yale scholar Wai Chee Dimock reviewed Jeff VanderMeer's novel "Borne" and said, "This coming-of-age story signals that eco-fiction has come of age as well: wilder, more reckless and more breathtaking than previously thought, a wager and a promise that what emerges from the 21st century will be as good as any from the 20th, or the 19th." Two months later, The Association for the Study of Literature and Environment's (ASLE) 17th biennial conference focused on ecofiction as one of its main streams. Ecofiction continues to be alive and relevant, evolving into contemporary study and a way of thinking about new literature. Ecofiction, true to its evolutionary nature, encapsulates the most recent of our environmental crises: climate change. By the time Dwyer's big field study was published in 2010, already climate change had been engaging authors to write cautionary or disaster tales for a few decades. In his field guide, Dwyer cited such examples of climate change fiction as "The Swarm" and "The Day After Tomorrow"—also noting that "Ecofiction rarely fares well in escapist Hollywood." [Ibid. p. 92.] The first anthropogenic global warming (AGW) novel may have been Arthur Herzog's "Heat", published in 1977, though plenty of novels up until then imagined or speculated climate change or events. While ecofiction has included AGW fiction since the 1970s, the past decade has also introduced newer specific genres to handle climate change, such as climate fiction, Anthroprocene fiction, and solarpunk. Thus, true to the evolutionary characteristic of ecofiction, from early pastoralism to modern science's understanding of global warming, hundreds of authors have taken up the issue of climate change in the least as a backdrop to their novels or, more heavily, as a moral, didactic cautionary tale centering around this foreboding, current, and very real environmental catastrophe. An environmental fiction database lists hundreds of climate and other novels falling into the ecofiction genre. History. While the term "ecofiction" is contemporary, as of the 1970s, its precursors are ancient and include many First People's fictionalizing nature in written form, including pictograms, petroglyphs, and creation myths. Classical literature, such as Ovid's "Metamorphoses" and Latin pastoral literature, continued this exaltation of nature as did Medieval European literature, such as Arthurian lore and Shakespeare's tales, followed by Romanticism, traditional pastoralism, and transcendentalism. Dwyer notes that Kenneth Grahame's "The Wind and The Willows", as well as many nonfiction authors, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, John Burroughs, Margaret Fuller, and John Muir, had "strong influences on modern ecological thought, environmentalism, and ecofiction." Up through the late 19th century, classics such as Herman Melville's "Moby Dick", Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", H.G. Wells' "The Island of Dr. Moreau", W.H. Hudson's "A Crystal Age", and Sarah Orne Jewett's "The White Heron and Other Stories" and "The Country of Pointed Firs", among many others, had eco-themes. In the 20th and 21st centuries, nature-related fiction evolved and continued, including eco-feminist fiction writers such as Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Mary Austin. Four "radical" authors also came on the scene: Jack London, D.H. Lawrence, B. Traven, and Upton Sinclair. Environmental science fiction also became popular from authors like Laurence Manning, George Orwell, William Golding, and Aldous Huxley. Regional environmentalists and authors, such as Zora Neale Hutson, William Faulkner, and John Steinbeck, also wrote about problems in their locales. Conservationists and environmentalists, such as Wallace Stegner and George R. Stewart, also contributed. J.R.R. Tolkien's mythology classics went down into history showing famous and iconic battles of industrialization vs. nature. Postwar ecofiction writers arrived too, such as science fiction authors who were cautionary about the environment: Clifford Simak, Jack Vance, Ray Bradbury, and Kurt Vonnegut, to name a few. Enter Peter Matthiessen and Edward Abbey, which Dwyer says are "arguably the most important and enduring new green voices to emerge in this period." And others, such as Jack Kerouac, Gary Snyder, and Michael McClure, represented "presentations of the nascent environmental consciousness of the Beat movement." [Ibid.] This brings us up to the 1970s, when, as Dwyer points out, "ecofiction in all genres truly flourished...which might be considered the "década de oro" (golden age)," heralded by John Stadler's anthology "Eco-fiction", containing science and mainstream ecofiction written between the 1920s and 1960s. [Ibid.] "Eco-fiction", the anthology, starts with this premise: "The earth is an eco-system. It possesses a collective memory. Everything that happens, no matter how insignificant it may seem, affects in some way at some time the existence of everything else within that system. Eco-fiction raises important questions about man's place in the system: Will man continue to ignore the warnings of the environment and destroy his source of life? Will he follow the herd into the slaughterhouse?" The anthology included the authors Ray Bradbury, John Steinbeck, Edgar Allan Poe, A. E. Coppard, James Agee, Robert M. Coates, Daphne du Maurier, Robley Wilson Jr., E. B. White, J. F. Powers, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Sarah Orne Jewett, Frank Herbert, H. H. Munro, J. G. Ballard, Steven Scharder, Isaac Asimov, and William Saroyan. Dwyer stated that the title of Stadler's "Eco-fiction" was his first knowledge of the term ecofiction. [Ibid.] Jonathan Levin goes on to explain, "Two key events helped spark this new environmental awareness [leading to ecofiction]: the controversy surrounding proposed dams on the Colorado River that led ultimately to the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam (begun in the mid-1950s and completed about ten years later), and the 1962 publication of "Silent Spring", Rachel Carson's exposé of the environmental impact of toxic pesticides like DDT. Both generated widespread media coverage, bringing complex and urgent environmental issues and the ecological vocabularies that helped explain them into the American lexicon." Social impact. Ecofiction is often said to be an agent for social change. For example, in 2016, the World Economic Forum's Rosamund Hutt listed "9 novels that changed the world." Among these were two novels that may be considered ecofiction, including John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" (about the dust bowl, which was caused by farmers failing to use smart ecological principles) and Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" (about Chicago's meat-packing industry). Both novels reached far and wide, and are considered to be among the classics of social change novels. Researchers have recently begun to empirically examine the influence of environmentally engaged literature on its readers. For example, scholars have found that literary fiction can make readers more concerned about animal welfare and climate change and raise awareness of environmental injustice.

4ec2da6c-f4bd-4560-8f32-164615d8f561

m2d2_wiki

The Secret (novel) The Secret is the ninth book in the "Animorphs" series, written by K.A. Applegate. It is narrated by Cassie. Plot summary. Cassie and the Animorphs discover from Ax and Tobias that the Yeerks have set up a dummy logging company, called Dapsen Logging Company, in the woods. The Yeerks want to destroy the forest in order to find the "Andalite bandits," whom they believe to be living there. The Animorphs go to check it out, but are discovered, chased away, and shot at. Cassie and her father later find an injured skunk, that was hit by a Dracon beam in the fighting. Cassie's father finds that there is a good chance that the skunk had recently given birth, and Cassie is stricken with guilt. Cassie suggests to the others that they need to find out how the Yeerks got permission to cut trees in a National Forest. If they didn't have permission, the news media would bring attention to them, something they surely did not want. The group decides to go back and enter the logging camp to find this information. Tobias notices that there are termite tunnels in the building, and they decide to morph termites to get in. Jake causes a distraction by morphing into a wolf while the others (excluding Tobias) morph and enter the building. There is a brief episode where they are controlled by the termite queen's orders and lose control of themselves. Cassie kills the termite queen to free her friends and herself from the queen's control, but felt much guilt by it. The Animorphs get the information they need, disable the Yeerks' defenses, and escape unnoticed. The Animorphs find out that there is a committee of three people who must decide on giving the logging operation a go. One has already voted yes and one has voted no; the other, a man called Farrand, was due to make a visit to the camp in order to make his decision. The Animorphs decide to intercede when Farrand makes his visit, as the Yeerks will surely turn him into a Controller at that point to ensure an affirmative vote. Meanwhile, Cassie is still concerned with the skunk babies and decides to look for them. Tobias is able to tell her where the litter of kits is, having found five and eaten one. Cassie rescues them and the Animorphs take over tending the kits, with Tobias doing much of the skunk-sitting while the other Animorphs are in school. Marco ends up naming the skunk kits after members of The Ramones, such as Joey, Johnny, Marky and C.J. In the final showdown, the Yeerks capture Cassie and Farrand, but she morphs into a skunk and sprays all of the Controllers and Visser Three. Ax makes a bargain with Visser Three, offering information on how to get rid of the skunk smell in return for the release of Farrand. Visser Three agrees, and Farrand is transported to a hospital. As soon as he can, Farrand makes a phone call to vote against the logging, and he will likely bring litigation against the company. In return for the release of the human, Ax tells the Yeerks that grape juice will remove the stink (instead of tomato juice, which at best masks the smell), and Tobias later reports that a pool of grape juice was made for Visser Three to soak in. Visser Three hasn't gotten rid of the skunk smell, and in addition is a "lovely, attractive shade of purple." Morphs

42e22beb-0b16-4889-a063-db1a91dd66cd

m2d2_wiki

Hayduke Lives! Hayduke Lives!, written in 1989 by Edward Abbey, is the sequel to the popular book "The Monkey Wrench Gang". It was published posthumously in 1990 in a mildly unfinished state, as Abbey did not complete revision prior to his death. Thus, the book retains much of its author's unrefined musings. "The Monkey Wrench Gang" and "Hayduke Lives!" have been reprinted numerous times due to their popularity. Summary. "Hayduke Lives!" picks up several years after the (literal) cliffhanger and escape from the posse at the end of the previous book. It chronicles George Washington Hayduke's return to the deserts of southern Utah and northern Arizona, where he continues the sabotage initiated in "The Monkey Wrench Gang" under numerous aliases, such as The Green Baron, and Fred Goodsell. The enigmatic "Kemosabe" (a hero from Abbey's first novel, "The Brave Cowboy") also makes a reappearance, coming to the aid of Hayduke after his escape from the posse. For a grand finale, Abbey reunites Hayduke with the outlaw-heroes of "The Monkey Wrench Gang" as they plan the destruction the world's largest walking dragline excavator (giant earth mover, also called GEM or GOLIATH) while combating a greed-ridden Mormon Bishop in another attempt to save the American Southwest from development. The narrative shifts numerous times between characters neglected by the previous book, including Bishop Love, the wives of Seldom Seen Smith and the FBI agents sent to end the sabotage. Earth First! While "The Monkey Wrench Gang" inspired the creation of the movement Earth First!, the latter is cited in "Hayduke Lives!" (notably in chapters 12, 24 and 27). In "Hayduke Lives!", the people active for Earth First! wear T-shirts and banners with slogans such as:

dc343c9c-f6d3-47d3-9971-2704c83ad2a3

m2d2_wiki

The Road The Road is a 2006 post-apocalyptic novel by American writer Cormac McCarthy. The book details the grueling journey of a father and his young son over a period of several months across a landscape blasted by an unspecified cataclysm that has destroyed industrial civilization and almost all life. The novel was awarded the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction in 2006. The book was adapted into a film of the same name in 2009, directed by John Hillcoat. Plot. A father and his young son journey on foot across the post-apocalyptic ash-covered United States some years after an extinction event. The boy's mother, pregnant with him at the time of the disaster, committed suicide some time before. Realizing they cannot survive the winter in more northern latitudes, the father takes the boy south along interstate highways towards the sea, carrying their meager possessions in their knapsacks and a supermarket cart. The father is suffering from a cough. He assures his son that they are "good guys" who are "carrying the fire". The pair have a revolver, but only two rounds. The father has tried to teach the boy to use the gun on himself if necessary, to avoid falling into the hands of cannibals. They attempt to evade a group of marauders traveling along the road but one of the marauders discovers them and seizes the boy. The father shoots him dead and they flee the marauder's companions, abandoning most of their possessions. Later, when searching a house for supplies, they discover a locked cellar containing captives whom cannibals have been eating limb by limb, and flee into the woods. As they near starvation, the pair discovers a concealed bunker filled with food, clothes, and other supplies. They stay there for many days, regaining their strength, and then carry on, taking supplies with them in a cart. They encounter an elderly man with whom the boy insists they share food. Further along the road, they evade a group whose members include pregnant women and catamites, and soon after they discover an abandoned campsite with a newborn infant roasted on a spit. They soon run out of supplies and begin to starve before finding a house containing more food to carry in their cart, but the man's condition worsens. The pair reaches the sea, where they discover a boat that has drifted ashore. The man swims to it and recovers supplies, including a flare gun, which he demonstrates to the boy. The boy becomes ill. When they stop on the beach while the boy recovers, their cart is stolen. They pursue and confront the thief, a wretched man traveling alone. The father forces him to strip naked at gunpoint, and takes his clothes together with the cart. This distresses the boy, so the father returns and leaves the man's clothes and shoes on the road, but the man has disappeared. While walking through a town inland, a man in a window shoots the father in the leg with an arrow. The father responds by shooting his assailant with the flare gun. The pair move further south along the beach. The father's condition worsens, and after several days he realizes he will soon die. The father tells the son he can talk to him in prayer after he is gone, and that he must continue without him. After the father dies, the boy stays with his body for three days. The boy is accosted by a man carrying a shotgun, accompanied by his wife and their two children, a son and a daughter. The man convinces the boy he is one of the "good guys" and takes the boy under his protection. Development history. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, McCarthy said that the inspiration for the book came during a 2003 visit to El Paso, Texas, with his young son. Imagining what the city might look like fifty to a hundred years into the future, he pictured "fires on the hill" and thought about his son. He took some initial notes but did not return to the idea until a few years later, while in Ireland. Then the novel came to him quickly, taking only six weeks to write, and he dedicated it to his son, John Francis McCarthy. In an interview with John Jurgensen of "The Wall Street Journal", McCarthy described conversations he and his brother had about different scenarios for an apocalypse. One of the scenarios involved survivors turning to cannibalism: "when everything's gone, the only thing left to eat is each other." Literary significance and reception. "The Road" has received numerous positive reviews and honors since its publication. The review aggregator Metacritic reported the book had an average score of 90 out of 100, based on thirty-one reviews. Critics have deemed it "heartbreaking", "haunting", and "emotionally shattering". "The Village Voice" referred to it as "McCarthy's purest fable yet." In a "New York Review of Books" article, author Michael Chabon heralded the novel. Discussing the novel's relation to established genres, Chabon insists "The Road" is not science fiction; although "the adventure story in both its modern and epic forms... structures the narrative", Chabon says, "ultimately it is as a lyrical epic of horror that "The Road" is best understood." "Entertainment Weekly" in June 2008 named "The Road" the best book, fiction or non-fiction, of the past 25 years and put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "With its spare prose, McCarthy's post-apocalyptic odyssey from 2006 managed to be both harrowing and heartbreaking." In 2019, the novel was ranked 17th on "The Guardian"'s list of the 100 best books of the 21st century. On March 28, 2007, the selection of "The Road" as the next novel in Oprah Winfrey's Book Club was announced. A televised interview on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" was conducted on June 5, 2007, McCarthy's first, although he had been interviewed for the print media before. The announcement of McCarthy's television appearance surprised his followers. "Wait a minute until I can pick my jaw up off the floor," said John Wegner, an English professor at Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas, and editor of the "Cormac McCarthy Journal", when told of the interview. During Winfrey's interview, McCarthy insisted his son, John Francis, was also his co-author, as some of the conversations between the father and son in the novel were based upon conversations between McCarthy and John Francis in real life. McCarthy also dedicated the novel to his son, possibly as an expression of paternal love as well as a depiction of it, although he did not say as much in the interview. On November 5, 2019, the "BBC News" listed "The Road" on its list of the 100 most influential novels. Awards and nominations. In 2006, McCarthy was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in fiction and the Believer Book Award and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. On April 16, 2007, the novel was awarded the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. In 2012, it was shortlisted for the Best of the James Tait Black. Adaptations. A film adaptation of the novel, directed by John Hillcoat and written by Joe Penhall, opened in theatres on November 25, 2009. The film stars Viggo Mortensen as the man and Kodi Smit-McPhee as the boy. Production took place in Louisiana, Oregon, and several locations in Pennsylvania. The film, like the novel, received generally positive reviews from critics.

ab004780-033b-480d-af73-d5182a9344d7

m2d2_wiki

Ishmael (Quinn novel) Ishmael is a 1992 philosophical novel by Daniel Quinn. The novel examines the hidden cultural biases driving modern civilization and explores themes of ethics, sustainability, and global catastrophe. Largely framed as a Socratic conversation between two characters, "Ishmael" aims to expose that several widely accepted assumptions of modern society, such as human supremacy, are actually cultural myths that produce catastrophic consequences for humankind and the environment. The novel was awarded the $500,000 Turner Tomorrow Fellowship Award in 1991, a year before its formal publication. "Ishmael" is part of a loose trilogy that includes a 1996 spiritual sequel, "The Story of B", and a 1997 "sidequel," "My Ishmael". Quinn also details how he arrived at the ideas behind "Ishmael" in his autobiography, "". Yet another related book is Quinn's 1999 short treatise, "Beyond Civilization". Plot summary. Implicitly set in the early 1990s, "Ishmael" begins with a newspaper advertisement: "Teacher seeks pupil. Must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person". The nameless narrator and protagonist thus begins his story, telling how he first reacted to this ad with scorn because of the absurdity of "wanting to save the world", a notion he feels that he once naïvely embraced himself as an adolescent during the counterculture movement of the 1960s. Feeling he must discover the ad's publisher, he follows its address, surprisingly finding himself in a room with a live gorilla. On the wall is a sign with a double meaning: "With man gone, will there be hope for gorilla?" Suddenly, the gorilla, calling himself Ishmael, begins communicating to the man telepathically. At first baffled by this, the man learns the story of how the gorilla came to be here and soon accepts Ishmael as his teacher, regularly returning to Ishmael's office. The novel continues from this point mainly as a dialogue between Ishmael and his new student. Ishmael's life began in the African wilderness, though he was captured at a young age and has lived mostly in a zoo and a menagerie (before living permanently in a private residence), which caused Ishmael to start thinking about ideas that he never would have thought about in the wild, including self-awareness, human language and culture, and what he refers to as the subject he specifically teaches: "captivity". The narrator admits to Ishmael that he has a vague notion of living in some sort of cultural captivity and being lied to in some way by society, but he cannot articulate these feelings fully. The man frequently visits Ishmael over the next several weeks, and Ishmael proceeds to use the Socratic method to deduce with the man what "origin story" and other "myths" modern civilization subscribes to. Before proceeding, Ishmael lays down some basic definitions for his student: At first, the narrator is certain that civilized people no longer believe in any "myths", but Ishmael proceeds to gradually tease from him several hidden but widely accepted premises of "mythical" thinking being enacted by the Takers: Ishmael points out to his student that when the Takers decided all of this, especially the idea that there is something fundamentally wrong with humans, they took as evidence only their own particular culture's history: "They were looking at a half of one percent of the evidence taken from a single culture. Not a reasonable sample on which to base such a sweeping conclusion". On the contrary, Ishmael asserts that there is nothing inherently wrong with humans and that a story that places humans in harmony with the world will cause humans to enact this harmony, while a destructive story such as this will cause humans to destroy the world, as humans are doing now. Ishmael goes on to help his student discover that, contrary to this Taker world-view, there is indeed knowledge of how humans should live: biological "laws" that life is subject to, discernible by studying the ecological patterns of other living things. Together, Ishmael and his student identify one set of survival strategies that appear to be true for all species (later dubbed the "law of limited competition"): in short, as a species, "you may compete to the full extent of your capabilities, but you may not hunt down competitors or destroy their food or deny them access to food. In other words, you may compete but you may not wage war". All species inevitably follow this law, or as a consequence go extinct; the Takers, however, believe themselves to be exempt from this law and flout it at every point, which is therefore rapidly leading humanity towards extinction. To illustrate his philosophy, Ishmael proposes a revision to the Christian myth of the Fall of Man. Ishmael's version of why the fruit was forbidden to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is: eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil provides gods with the knowledge of who shall live and who shall die—knowledge which they need to rule the world. The fruit nourishes only the gods, though. If Adam ("humanity") were to eat from this tree, he might "think" that he gained the gods' wisdom (without this actually happening) and consequently destroy the world and himself through his arrogance. Ishmael makes the point that the myth of the Fall, which the Takers have adopted as their own, was in fact developed by Leavers to explain the origin of the Takers. If it were of Taker origin, the story would be of liberating progress instead of a sinful fall. Ishmael and his student go on to discuss how, for the ancient herders among whom the tale originated, the Biblical story of Cain killing Abel symbolizes the Leaver being killed off and their lands taken so that it could be put under cultivation. These ancient herders realized that the Takers were acting as if they were gods themselves, with all the wisdom of what is good and evil and how to rule the world: agriculture is, in fact, an attempt to more greatly create and control life, a power that only gods can hold, not humans. To begin discerning the Leavers' story, Ishmael proposes to his student a hypothesis: the Takers' Agricultural Revolution was a revolution in trying to strenuously and destructively live "above" the laws of nature, against the Leavers' more ecologically peaceful story of living "by" the laws of nature. The Takers, by practicing their uniquely envisioned form of agriculture (dubbed by Quinn "totalitarian agriculture" in a later book) produce enormous food surpluses, which consequently yields an ever-increasing population, which itself is leading to ecological imbalances and catastrophes around the world. Ishmael finishes his education with the student by saying that, in order for humanity to survive, Takers must relinquish their arrogant vision in favor of the Leaver humility in knowing that they do not possess any god-like knowledge of some "one right way to live". They can adopt an alternative story that has humans as the first, not the final, fully-conscious creature. We can support evolution and diversity. Ishmael tells his student to teach a hundred people what he has learned, who can each pass this learning on to another hundred. The student becomes busy at work, later discovering that Ishmael has fallen ill and died of pneumonia. Returning to Ishmael's room one day, he collects Ishmael's belongings. Among them he discovers that the sign he saw before ("With man gone, will there be hope for gorilla?") has a backside with another message: "With gorilla gone, will there be hope for man?" Reinterpretation of Biblical myths. Ishmael proposes that the story of Genesis was written by the Semites and later adapted to work within Hebrew and Christian belief structures. He proposes that Abel's extinction metaphorically represents the nomadic Semites' losing in their conflict with agriculturalists. As they were driven further into the Arabian peninsula, the Semites became isolated from other herding cultures and, according to Ishmael, illustrated their plight through oral history, which was later adopted into the Hebrew book of Genesis. Ishmael denies that the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was forbidden to humans simply to test humans' self-control. Instead, he proposes that eating of the Tree would not actually give humans divine knowledge but would only make humans "believe" they had been given it, and that the Tree represents the choice to bear the responsibility of deciding which species live and which die. This is a decision agricultural peoples (i.e. Takers) make when deciding which organisms to cultivate, which to displace, and which to kill in protection of the first. Ishmael explains that the Fall of Adam represents the belief that, once mankind usurps this responsibility—historically decided through natural ecology (i.e. food chains)—that humankind will perish. He cites as fulfillment of this prophecy contemporary environmental crises such as endangered or extinct species, global warming, and modern mental illnesses. References in popular culture. The end credits for the 1999 film "Instinct", starring Anthony Hopkins and Cuba Gooding Jr., indicate that it is inspired by "Ishmael". Daniel Quinn did not approve of the script or movie before transferring the rights, which were transferred as part of the Turner Award, though he may have had some minor input on the script, though to a degree he personally considered trivial. The movie and book share no common story elements, and the philosophical connection to the book is reduced to some pictorial format and a few seconds of on-screen dialogue. Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam has cited the book as an influence on their album, "Yield". Quinn responds to the album's significance in relation to the book on his website. In Rise Against's album "The Sufferer and The Witness", "Ishmael" is on the album notes' recommended reading list. The song "The Taker Story" on Chicano Batman's 2017 album "Freedom is Free" describes the global colonization of the "Taker" societies based on the use of the term in "Ishmael". The name of prog metal band Animals as Leaders was inspired by the book. Chronology of events in the "Ishmael" trilogy. The following is a list of the (fictional) events in the interrelated time frame of "Ishmael" (published in 1992), "The Story of B" (1996), and "My Ishmael" (1997). Much of the chronology remains ambiguous in the former two, though is specified in much more detail in "My Ishmael".

fac70e6a-e01e-4e72-bed8-ae83188db7c3

m2d2_wiki

Fallen Angels (Niven, Pournelle, and Flynn novel) Fallen Angels (1991) is a science fiction novel by American science fiction authors Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Michael Flynn published by Jim Baen. The winner of 1992 Prometheus Award, the novel was written as a tribute to science fiction fandom, and includes many of its well-known figures, legends, and practices. It also champions modern technology and heaps scorn upon its critics - budget cutting politicians, fringe environmentalists and the forces of ignorance. The novel takes aim at several targets of ridicule: Senator William Proxmire, radical environmentalists and mystics, such as one character who believes that one cannot freeze to death in the snow because ice is a crystal and "crystals are healing." It also mocks ignorance in journalism, which greatly helps the main characters (for example, one "expert" cited in a news article believes that the astronauts must have superhuman strength, based on a photograph of a "weightless" astronaut easily handling heavy construction equipment) and the non-scientific world in general. Several real people are tuckerized into the book in a more positive light, including many fans who made donations to charity for that express purpose and a character called "RMS" (presumably Richard M. Stallman) who leads a network of hackers called the Legion of Doom, connected by a series of BBS systems. Setting. Set in an unspecified "near-future" (one of the main characters has childhood memories of the Exxon Valdez disaster) in which a radical left-wing environmentalist movement has joined forces with the religious right through a shared distaste for modern technology. The resulting bipartisan conspiracy has gained control of the US government and imposed draconian luddite laws which, in attempts to curb global warming, have ironically brought about the greatest environmental catastrophe in recorded history – an ice age which may eventually escalate into a Snowball Earth. The exact process is described: clouds are water condensation. This cannot occur without cloud condensation nuclei in the atmosphere. The emission laws have removed most of this, reducing cloud cover, meaning the ground loses heat faster. This in combination with the drop in greenhouse gases has resulted in the return and exacerbation of the Little Ice Age; now self-perpetuating as glaciers have a much higher albedo. As a radical totalitarian environmentalist party now controls the US government, the scientific explanation is denounced as "propaganda from life-hating technophiles", and blame for the ice age is instead solely placed on the society surviving in orbit. Science fiction fandom forms the core of a pro-technology underground in the United States, working in tandem with hacker movements. Other technologists – accused by the government of pursuing "materialist science" – were removed from their jobs and forced underground, where they were generally unable to continue their work. This rabid distaste for technology has resulted in the collapse of the economy and lack of education and a complicit media has left the majority of the population credulous and easily manipulated. The Greens have been in power for most of the lives of the characters. As glaciers rapidly advance south, Canada and the northern United States are all but destroyed. Near the edge of the glaciers, in Milwaukee, barbaric feudal systems arise as the federal government and markets collapse, leaving violence and disease in their wake. In orbit, Mir and Space Station Freedom survive in tandem with a Lunar colony, but with no support from Earth. The city of Winnipeg is the last major outpost of Canadian civilization, warmed and inhabitable due to immense amounts of solar power beamed from the space stations. Plot summary. Astronauts from the orbital society fly a modified scramjet, redesigned to harvest nitrogen from the Earth's atmosphere. Government policy declares that these ships are responsible for the ice age, so the scramjet is shot down with a surface-to-air missile. The pilot and copilot, an Earth-born American named Alex MacLeod and a space-born Russo-American named Gordon Tanner, are forced to crash land in Canada atop the glaciers. Upon hearing of this, the fan underground embarks on a rescue mission – a group of fans rides north through the Dakotas to rescue the astronauts before they can be apprehended by the Government. Upon reaching the Dakotas, the fans must travel largely on foot, as their van is unable to traverse the glaciers. However, they have a major advantage over their foes in the government – their relationship with the space station provides them with superior navigational abilities; following the fall of scientific society, the United States Air Force (USAF) no longer enjoys access to satellite reconnaissance. The fans are able to reach the downed spacecraft well in advance of the USAF. Their escape is aided in a similar manner. Though the Angels are unable to walk due to their overexposure to weightlessness and must be dragged along on sleds, the microwave power transmission beam reserved for Winnipeg is diverted to warm the travellers as they return south to their van. In addition, a tribe of nomadic Inuit peoples shares supplies with them in thanks for the warmth provided by the microwave beam. Upon finally reaching their van, the rescuers flee to a small science fiction convention of some 50 fans at a mansion owned by one of their own. Once there, one of the fans takes on the role of personal trainer to help the Angels adjust to Earth's gravity including various asanas from yoga. At the con, the fans brainstorm a daring plan - before the Greens had come to power, one of the Board of Trustees for the Metropolitan Museum of Boston by the name of Ron Cole supposedly refurbished a Titan II rocket. This rocket still exists at the Museum of Science and Industry at Chicago. The fans and the Angels leave for Chicago just moments before the mansion is raided by the Green police. The trip to Chicago gives the reader a brutal depiction of American life without basic technology. A blizzard forces the fans to take shelter in a farm town - where at least one towns-person dies in each blizzard for lack of heating oil. After hitching a ride in a consignment of cheese, the fans are captured by the feudal inhabitants of Milwaukee who are burning the excess houses in the city for heat. One of their captors has the food swapped with moonshine liquor and forces the group into slavery to pay off a series of trumped-up "fines". They are assisted by a fellow fan amongst their captors, and are able to continue on to Chicago. When the fans finally meet Ron Cole, their hopes are crushed. The rocket is a decaying wreck, and Cole is a shadow of his former self due to invasive "reeducation" treatments. However, Cole is able to put them on another path – a privately constructed single-stage-to-orbit spacecraft at Edwards Air Force Base, disguised by the simple and effective method of its designer, Gary Hudson, declaring it non-functional. "Summary Incomplete"

05533ec6-b580-456c-b749-c59bacb79a25

m2d2_wiki

X (manga) X, also known as X/1999, is a Japanese manga series created by Clamp, a creative team made up of Satsuki Igarashi, Nanase Ohkawa, Tsubaki Nekoi, and Mokona. It premiered in Kadokawa Shoten's "Monthly Asuka" "shōjo" manga magazine in May 1992 and ran there until it went on hiatus in March 2003; it has yet to be concluded. The story takes place at the end of days in the year 1999. The series follows Kamui Shiro, a young esper who returns home to Tokyo after a six-year absence to face his destiny as the one who will determine humanity's fate. Kadokawa Shoten collected and published the individual chapters in 18 "tankōbon" volumes, with five chapters published in the book "All about Clamp". All but several final chapters have been published. It has been adapted into a series of audio dramas. It was followed by a 1996 anime feature film by Rintaro assisted by Ohkawa in studio Madhouse. The same studio, now led by director and writer Yoshiaki Kawajiri, made a 24-episode anime television series in 2001. Since the manga never reached its ending, the two animated adaptations have their own takes of the series' finale. Viz Media published all 18 volumes in North America, while the film and the TV series been have released on DVD by multiple distributors. The series is a foray into apocalyptic fiction; it combines elements from various end-of-the-world scenarios, both secular and religious, with its own mythos. Its themes include exploring the personality of humanity, relationships with others, and external conflicts like the impending Armageddon. It has garnered mostly positive reviews for its large, varied cast and appealing illustrations, despite its lack of an ending. It became one of Clamp's most iconic works in their early career; despite its female target audience, it also attracted male readers because of its focus on action. Plot. In 1999, a teenager named Kamui Shiro returns to Tokyo after a six-year absence to fulfill his mother's dying wish of changing fate. However, he keeps his distance from two childhood friends, Kotori and Fuma Monou, whom he originally treasured as a child. The end of the world is fast approaching as superhuman individuals will assure their victory. The cyborg Nataku steals the from Fuma's family temple, with his dying father telling his son that he is Kamui's "twin star". The Dragons of Heaven are the first to contact Kamui. Hinoto, the dreamgazer for the Japanese Legislature guides them. They are the protectors of the , spiritual barriers (in the form of buildings such as the Tokyo Tower) that hold the fabric of nature together. As long as the "kekkai" survive, Judgment Day is postponed. The Dragons of Earth are the antithesis of the Dragons of Heaven. Their mission is to destroy the "kekkai" and unleash earthquakes so Earth can be cured of the plague of humanity. They were assembled by Hinoto's sister Kanoe, secretary to the Governor of Tokyo. Kamui is forced to choose between the two sides, he concludes he only wants to protect Kotori and Fuma, and becomes a Dragon of Heaven. At the same time, Fuma has a change of personality and becomes the "Kamui" of the Dragons of Earth as he was destined to be Kamui's opposite. Fuma murders Kotori and swears to kill Kamui. The Dragon of Heaven Subaru Sumeragi helps Kamui to overcome this traumatic experience, and he decides to face reality. Just like Subaru decided to search for the Dragon of Earth, Seishiro Sakurazuka, who killed his sister Hokuto years ago, Subaru inspires Kamui to face reality and avoid another catastrophe in his life. Kamui decides he wishes to bring Fuma back to normal. Kamui joins the Dragons of Heaven in their fight against the Dragons of Earth. Across the manga, Kamui and his allies face the Dragons of Earths multiple times but cannot protect most barriers, resulting in multiple earthquakes taking down Tokyo. In a one-on-one match, Seishiro activates Hokuto's dying spell so that Subaru would be forced kill him. Fuma reveals that Seishiro's wish was leaving a mark in Subaru. Following an eye transplant from Seishiro's body, Subaru replaces the late Dragon of Earth. The Dragon of Heaven Arashi Kishu loses her maiden powers after having a sexual relationship with her ally Sorata Arisugawa. A dark alter ego Hinoto kindaps her to turn her into a Dragon of Earth. As these events occur, Tokyo has nearly been destroyed and is flooded, and Kamui and Fuma wield their Sacred Swords needed to clash in the final fight of the war. Both Subaru and Fuma claim that Kamui cannot change the future unless he realizes his own wish. Alternative scenarios. The animated films and the TV series follow the manga's initial story and come to two different endings. In the film all of the Dragons of Heaven and Earth die in the ensuing battles, destroying nearly all of the buildings in Tokyo, resulting in multiple massacres in the process. This leaves Kamui and Fuma as the last Dragons. In the final battle, Kamui decapitates Fuma and the film ends with Kamui crying wondering why he ended up killing his best friend. In the TV series, Fuma murders Sorata Arisugawa while all of the Dragons of Heavens lose their powers to create barriers because they lost their most important members leaving Tokyo defenseless. As Hinoto commits suicide to stop her alternate self from attacking the Dragons of Heaven, Kamui goes to face Fuma. Kamui is defeated for not reaching Dragons of Heaven powers and for abandoning his wish of restoring the old Fuma and instead trying to kill him. Subaru assists Kamui, assuring him that he needs to focus on his true desire. This motivates the wounded Kamui to face Fuma again. In the aftermath, Fuma kills Kamui. In his last moments, Kamui is able to create a barrier that protects the world from changes by the Dragons of Earth, and causes Fuma to return to his old self. Production. The manga artists Clamp created "X". Influenced by the works of Go Nagai and Kyokutei Bakin, the story develops the group's ideas on humanity's responsibility to itself, its family and the planet. After the success of "Tokyo Babylon" and "Clamp School Detectives", their editor at "Monthly Asuka", Seiichiro Aoki, approached the members of Clamp to script a longer series. Writer Nanase Ohkawa, the group's head writer, seized the opportunity to script her long-in-development "end of the world" epic. Conceived while she was still in middle school, Ohkawa's original story focused on a group of warriors fighting a losing battle in the name of justice. While the idea never materialized, many aspects were carried over into Clamp's manga, including the lead characters of Kamui and Fuma. Kamui was originally written as a high-school student from Kotori Monou's point of view to appeal to the "shōjo manga" audience of female teenagers. However, poor response from readers led to Clamp changing their characterizations. Ohkawa aimed to show characters from their previous works in the "X" resulting in multiple crossovers. The title—"X"—was chosen because it has no fixed meaning. In mathematics, it is a common variable. Beyond mathematics, "X" is a generic placeholder whose value is secret or unknown. "X" is also a cruciform, an allusion to Christian mythos, and the representation of death and rebirth in Kabbalah. Ohkawa cites Go Nagai's "Devilman" as a stylistic and thematic influence. Beyond his penchant for drawing extreme violence, Nagai's writing involves themes like the nature of good and evil and fear, ideas that left an impression on Clamp's writer at an early age. Like "Devilman", "X" follows two male best friends destined to fight each other at Armageddon, a confrontation brought about by the murder of the hero's childhood sweetheart. The rest of the cast includes characters from the group's entire canon, including unpublished works, effectively creating an entire world inhabited by their creations. The ensemble cast, inspired on Kyokutei Bakin's "Nansō Satomi Hakkenden", includes Subaru Sumeragi and Seishiro Sakurazuka from "Tokyo Babylon," and the main characters of "Clamp School Detectives". Their first illustration of Kamui gave them a feeling of Ashura, a character from "RG Veda" based on his appearance in Tokyo's destroyed area. Several of the series' characters were created using the Osamu Tezuka's Star System technique, where old designs are incorporated in new characters, except for Kamui, who proved challenging because of his role. He was made to stand apart from other characters, and Ohkawa called his hairstyle and school uniform average. Clamp's lead artist Mokona believes this was influenced by the heroic character-type upon which he was based. In contrast, Kamui and Fuma were new characters whose designs were revised to fit their characters. Subaru and Seishiro reappear in Clamp's manga "X" because their relationship parallels that of the lead Kamui and the main antagonist Fuma. They serve as an example to Kamui and Fuma. One of "X"s most important plot developments is the question of what these two will do, so as not end up like Subaru and Seishiro. Clamp has compared the bond between Subaru and Kamui with that of siblings. The fight sequences were inspired by the manga "Dragon Ball", most specifically by author Akira Toriyama's use of white backgrounds. Influences. "X" is Clamp's take on the apocalyptic fiction genre. The series combines elements from various end of the world scenarios and myths, including Christian eschatology, with Clamp's own modern mythology to tell the tale of the fate of the world. The Apocalypse of John inspires the "X" mythos with Tokyo standing in as a modern-day Babylon. Like the biblical city, Clamp's Tokyo is "the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird," (Rev. 18:2 KJV) and is slated for destruction. Clamp found issues with the amount of gore they aimed to portray, especially Kotori's death foreshadowed in dream scenes. This was mostly affected by the concern over themes of violence in video games present in the 1990s. The writers feared that toning down the violence would negatively affect the manga. Another death scene that left Clamp facing issues was when Fuma decapitates Saiki, which led to more negative responses from the readers. Ohkawa claimed the deaths were meant to be cruel, but the narrative did not fit the "shojo" demography (young girls). The Kobe child murders where Clamp received criticism for the similarities between fictional murders and real life also had an effect. Kamui is established as a Christ figure. He is prophesied to return to Tokyo and the one who will determine humanity's fate. His miraculous birth and his given name reinforce the construction of Kamui as a messiah. "Kamui", like "Christ", doubles as a title that alludes to the character's divine nature. Apocalyptic allusions abound with respect to nomenclature. The Dragons of Heaven take their moniker from the seven seals introduced in Chapter 5 of the Book of Revelation, while the antagonistic Angels allude to the seven celestial beings ordered to "go [their] ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth" (Rev. 16:1 KJV). Other apocalyptic standards like earthquakes are employed, but the apocalypse of Clamp's manga trades the religious element for an environmental theme. Inspired by the Gaia theory that the Earth itself is one living organism, Ohkawa crafts an endtime brought on by humanity's abuse of the planet. The constant earthquakes the Dragons of Earth cause resulted in a negative backlash from readers and editors because of similar incidents in real life. The story reflects environmental concerns in its depiction of Judgment Day. Mankind exists in binary opposition to the Earth. By the end of days, humanity has become such a nuisance that the only way to save the planet is to destroy the whole of civilization. With mankind gone, the planet can regulate itself back to health and experience a rebirth. The Seals, however, look to preserve the status quo and to entrust the future of the planet to the people. "Teito Monogatari", an award-winning historical fantasy novel, inspired aspects of "X's" mythology. Themes. The conflict between the Dragons of Heaven and the Dragons of Earth is at the heart of the series. Like its predecessor "Tokyo Babylon", "X" deals with societal issues. Being set in the present provides an outlet for the authors to reflect and comment on Japan's state of affairs. But unlike "Tokyo Babylon", where the characters were vocal in their concerns, topics in "X" go unspoken and are implied. The story places an emphasis on familial dignity and individualism. "X" delves into the relationship between Man and the Earth. Ohkawa talks of how mankind's concern for the preservation, restoration and improvement of the planet stems from a desire to perpetuate its own existence. She explains, "people will save the Earth to save themselves, but who will risk themselves to save the Earth"? "X" plays out like a tragedy, where the characters are at the mercy of forces greater than themselves. The series shares some motifs with apocalyptic literature, like the disclosure of future events through dreams, and establishes a dual nature to its characters and concepts. Ohkawa admits to being fascinated with the doctrine of Dualism. Dualism is the interdependence between opposing elements, the generalization that two opposing-complementary forces are found in all things. She interprets it as "qualities that seem pleasant in one person but can make you hate the next. That's the dual nature we all have." Inspired by the works of Go Nagai, Ohkawa sought to create heroes capable of wrongdoing, even evil. Kamui is the personification of this doctrine. carries a double connotation: "the one who represents the majesty of God", meaning the one who protects the world and carries out God's will; and "the one who hunts the majesty of God", meaning the one who kills those given God's power and destroys the world. Kamui's decision to save the world as he knows it is a defining moment as it gives rise to his twin star, Fuma. Fuma undergoes a personality change to the point he is no longer recognizable to his best friend. He takes the name of "Kamui", thus fulfilling the dual prophecy and bringing balance to the conflict. Fuma's "Kamui" persona is Kamui's other half; it represents Kamui's potential for destruction. "Kamui" is the epitome of the evil and good that men do. The duality motif extends to the Dragons of Heaven and Earth, two groups of warriors, both alike in power, led to battle by opposite sisters. Dreams are a source of inspiration for Ohkawa, and became a standard motif in her writing. Dreams in "X" depict the future, the destruction of mankind. Hinoto, dreamgazer for the Dragons of Heaven, is convinced it can be changed. Ohkawa explains it as lucid dreaming, where the individual can exert conscious control over the dream to the point it can perform impossible feats. Kakyo of the Dragons of Earth is a dreamgazer in a permanent coma who lives in the dreamscape, always dreaming of the future and knowing there is nothing he can do about it. Although he hopes for a better future, he cannot get involved and is convinced everything is predetermined, including Kamui's return. By arriving in Tokyo, Kamui unwillingly sets Armageddon in motion. Kotori's death and Fuma's turning were foretold, but subject to the young man's allegiance. Thinking of the people he loves, Kamui chooses to become a Dragon of Heaven to protect them, but ends up losing them for it. Other characters are also at the mercy of fate. Sorata Arisugawa is destined to die for a woman; but, unlike Kamui, the warrior monk embraces his preordained future and chooses Arashi Kishu of the Dragons of Heaven as the one for whom he will give his life. Subaru Sumeragi expresses no interest in the future of the Earth, still he and his counterpart, Seishiro Sakurazuka, are drawn to Tokyo on the Promised Day. Even with the fatalist atmosphere that persists in the series, Ohkawa is convinced individuals exert control over their destiny the same way they choose between right and wrong. Media. Manga. "X" began serialization in Kadokawa Shoten's "Monthly Asuka" in May 1992. Publishing the series proved troublesome because of its subject matter, which depicted disasters reminiscent of real events in Japan, such as earthquakes or murders committed by juveniles. Serialization stopped in March 2003, and in March 2005 Clamp stated they were searching for a proper magazine to conclude it. The chapters were collected in eighteen "tankōbon" volumes, with the first one released on 29 July 1992, and the eighteenth on 17 September 2002. On 26 September 2006, Kadokawa Shoten published "Clamp Newtype Platinum", a special Clamp edition of the magazine "Newtype". The issue includes the "X 18.5" supplement, a re-print of five previously uncollected chapters. The series was expected to reach twenty-one volumes upon completion. The "X 18.5" chapters were later released as part of the book "All About Clamp" on 22 October 2009. The North American version of the manga, retitled "X/1999" in its initial printing, was serialized in Viz Media's "Animerica Extra" and released under the "Shōjo" imprint. The magazine noted that during its initial volumes, there were issues with the handling of the series as the manga went on a hiatus with its sixth volume. In July 2001, Viz Media removed the series from "Animerica Extra" because of licensing issues, but it later returned in its March 2003 issue. Viz Media release all eighteen volumes, ending in 2005. Beginning in 2011, Viz re-issued the series in North America as three-in-one volumes, unflipped, titled "X". In Australia, the series is licensed by Madman Entertainment. Music video. On 21 November 1993, SME Records released , pronounced "Double-X" in English, a short film based on Clamp's manga, set to the music of rock band X Japan. "X²" features a slideshow of "X" artwork set to a medley of X Japan's songs: "Silent Jealousy," "Kurenai", and "Endless Rain" with the "X" music video directed by Shigeyuki Hayashi. Feature film. The "X" feature film, directed by Rintaro and co-scripted by Nanase Ohkawa, premiered in Japan on 3 August 1996. Rintaro is not certain but believes Kadokawa Shoten's editors asked him to do the film because of his work on "Harmageddon", a 1983 film that employs different themes from the "X" manga. The supernatural thriller focuses on the roles Kamui, Kotori, and Fuma play in the Apocalypse. The film was given a limited release in the United States in early 2000 and released to DVD on 25 September 2001. "X: The Destiny War", a comic book based on the feature film, was released on 30 September 1996. The X Japan song "Forever Love", composed by Yoshiki, was chosen as the film's theme song, and was later used by the former Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi in a campaign advertisement in 2001. Victor Entertainment released the "X" from June 1996 to December 1996. The seven audio dramas, scripted by Nanase Ohkawa, focus on the thoughts and motivations of the individual Dragons of Heaven and Earth. The feature film's voice actors perform the "Character Files". They were created to promote the film. TV series. Yoshiaki Kawajiri directed the episodes from the "X" anime television series, which was first announced on 18 October 2000. Kawajiri aimed to portray Kamui and Kotori as stronger than their manga counterparts. However, he still wanted to highlight their psychological weaknesses across later episodes. In anticipation of the series' premiere, was released direct-to-DVD on 25 August 2001. Written and directed by Kawajiri, "An Omen" tells the story of the upcoming battles through the prophecies of Kakyō Kuzuki, dreamgazer for the Dragon of Earth, and acts as a primer for viewers unfamiliar with Clamp's manga. The series premiered 3 October 2001 on WOWOW satellite television and finished on 27 March 2002, totaling twenty-four episodes. Twelve DVD volumes from the series, each containing two episodes were released in Japan from 25 February 2002 to 25 January 2003 by Bandai Visual. Naoki Satō composed the series' music; two original soundtracks were released. Pioneer Entertainment distributed the series in North America in March 2002. Geneon collected the series and the OVA in eight DVD volumes released between 24 September 2002 and 25 November 2003. Two DVD box sets of the series were also released on 11 January 2005. In 2006, Geneon released the "X TV Series Re-Mix", on five individual DVDs released between 11 July 2006 and 14 November 2006, as well as a DVD box set on 11 July 2006. The DVDs came with re-mastered video and audio, including remastered and remixed 5.1 Dolby Digital AC3 surround sound for both the Japanese and English tracks. In September 2009, Funimation announced that it had acquired the rights to the anime series and OVA. They were re-released in a DVD box set on 15 June 2010 using the original Geneon dubbing (provided by Bang Zoom! Entertainment) for the English-language audio track. It is licensed by Siren Visual in Australia, and MVM Films in the United Kingdom. Video games. Two video games were developed: Reception. Manga response. The manga was a commercial success in Japan, with 12 million volumes sold, while in North America it often appeared on The New York Times Manga Best Sellers of 2012 and ICv2 lists. The manga's plot and cast were praised. "Animerica" regarded it as one of Clamp's most iconic works from their early career. According to the site, "Part of the appeal of the "X" manga is its surreal blend of Taoist, Shinto, and even European mysticism with real-world locales and historical landmarks familiar to Japanese fans." According to "Anime Nation", "X" "appears to defy the conventions of "boys' manga" and "girls' manga" because of multiple features provided by the authors such as violence and romance that will appeal to many types of reader. "Anime News Network" noted that while there are no explicit homosexual relationships, the "shojo" appeal might give the reader this impression when the male characters interact, something the "shonen" demographic might not like. "Sequental Tart" found Kamui's identity mysterious; he is featured as a caring child to Kotori Monou in a flashback, but he appears as a rude teenager when meeting her again. His fight scenes were noted to be violent in contrast to the lighthearted moments that seem to work as comic relief. As a result, the reviewer it difficult to analyze the series' first volume. "Comic Book Bin" said despite early issues with the way the subplots are handled, "X" still maintains an interesting narrative. As the manga progressed, the reviewer felt the manga became more polished and looked forward to the climax when it is written. Kamui's growing character arc was the subject of a positive mention as "Manga News" also enjoyed his early appearances and the formation of the Dragons of Heaven as they befriend each other. Reviewers felt Fuma Monou is one of the most brutal antagonists of Clamp's career and in "shojo manga" in general because of this gruesome murder of Kotori and how he then causes earthquakes to destroy Tokyo. "Anime News Network" found that the series had many types of characters for Dragons of Heavens and Dragons of Earth that are given enough screen time in the buildup to the Holy War to interact and fight until the manga's eighth volume when the narrative takes a different route. As the second half begins, "Anime News Network" noted the narrative becomes progressively darker because of the number of dead characters as Clamp moves the plot towards the Armageddon; they lamented the lack of closure with all the deaths. The relationship between Kamui and Fuma has been the subject of discussion. In "CLAMP in Context: A Critical Study of the Manga and Anime", Dani Cavallaro says "X" has a complex "philosophic gravity", heavily influencing the "Gothic epic" setting involving Kamui and how the narrative uses interesting fight scenes with notable dramatic results for one fighter. Cavallaro noted Fuma's brutal actions to accomplish his goals in contrast with Kamui's calm temperament when he gradually opens up to his friends. While both take similar paths with respect to their fights in the war between the Dragons, Fuma takes his weapon using brute force while Kamui is given his by his family. Fans reading the series have wondered whether Clamp was hinting at a romantic relationship between Kamui and Fuma. "Sequental Art" commented on homoerotic tones during a few scenes. In response, in the book "Understanding Manga and Anime" writer Robin E. Brenner claims Clamp had no intention of suggesting a romantc relationship between the two as he compared them with the more explicit relationship Subaru had with Seishiro. "Manga News" noted the pair had one of the most anticipated fights in the series because of the long history they have in "Tokyo Babylon" and called their final duel tragic. In "", Jason Thompson wrote "even without a proper ending, the series has a lot going for it", and felt the major storytelling centering around destiny was appealing despite not finding it Clamp's best strength. Clamp's illustrations such as the dream sequences, Seishiro's horror-based spells, and the outstanding designs of Kamui and Hinoto were also the subject of praise. "The Fandom Post" also enjoyed the artwork, mostly praising the way action sequences are drawn "Manga News" found the early artwork typical of Clamp's works involving "RG Veda" and "Tokyo Babylon" but with a different style than "Angelic Layer" and "Cardcaptor Sakura" as it features mostly androgynous characters. "Comic Book Bin" praised the handling of the fight scenes by the artists especially the backgrounds, which "depict energy and magic unleashed in a fast and furious display". Because of the manga's long serialization, critics noted that the artwork evolved, making it as appealing as later Clamp works like "" and "Angelic Layer". However, "Anime News Network" felt the violent imagery portrayed by Clamp throughout earthquakes and murder scenes in "X" was too disturbing for the "Monthly Asuka" demographic and cancelled it. Although the manga returned following its controversial cancellation, the planned ending was even more gruesome causing its cancellation again. Thompson simply regarded the art as "absolutely gorgeous". Response to adaptations. Critical response to Rintaro's 1996 "X" movie was mixed. The film is considered a "technical masterpiece", but has been criticized for its lack of plot and character development. AnimeOnDVD writer Chris Beveridge noted that the film was primarily a battle film and thus felt the plot was "empty" something he further noted during his interview with Rintaro shown on the DVD. "Animerica" referred to it as a "surreal movie experience for both fans of the manga and those who have no idea what to expect". The 2001 incarnation makes use of its longer running time and episode format to explore the original mythos and works the characters' back-stories into the narrative through the use of flashbacks. The television series is considered a better adaptation than the feature film by critics for its deeper focus on the cast despite some characters in the early episodes lacking appeal. Most notably, Kamui's portrayal was often initially seen as weak with him coming across as initially anti-hero, but his dark past and actions would make him likeable. Beveridge found Subaru's introduction in "X" one of his favorite episodes from the volume he reviewed because of the portrayal of the character's state since Hokuto's death. Bamboo Dong of "Anime News Network" found the series, "tries hard to please everyone, and comes daringly close to succeeding". "Otaku USA" recommended the series to people looking forward to the 2021 "Tokyo Babylon" anime, referring to "X" as a "beautifully "shoujo" apocalypse". Zac Bertschy commented that, "the animation quality is consistently very high" and the characters are "never off model"; "each episode is animated with an amazing flash of style and fluidity". Chris Beverdige, writing for the "Fandom Post" regarded Kamui's and Fūma's relationship as one of the best parts of the anime, saying that while the rest of the cast is still likeable, few might make the audience miss the main conflict of the two characters. Beveridge later praised Kamui and Fuma's final fight in the television series for having its "own level of epic sadness and tragedy". Among other characters, Subaru and Seishirō were praised as some of the deepest villains from "X", pointing that Subaru was already developed in "Tokyo Babylon". His confrontation with Subaru in the TV series was praised mainly because how their character designs were updated from the ones from "Tokyo Babylon". Finding most characters interesting, "THEM Anime Reviews" found Sorata and Arashi's bond one of the best written relationships because of how close they become and the plot twists the television series gives them for the climax. "DVD Talk" had mixed thoughts about the characters' relationships, finding them "dull" but instead praised the amount violence they provided in the anime's second half. Ohkawa said the manga group left everything in the hands of staff in charge of it, including the scripts, the cast choices and everything else. As a result, Ohkawa considered that she and her colleagues were simply viewers. They found the television series the proper adaptation of the manga, even though the source material had never reached an ending. The original voice actors received praise, most particularly Kamui's voiced by Tomokazu Seki. Tomokazu Sugita's portrayal of Subaru in "X" was praised by Merumo who also enjoyed the older characterization envisioned in this series. On the other hand, there were mixed responses to the English cast for not being as appealing the Japanese actors. A big exception according to "Anime News Network" was Kotori's actress. "DVD Talk" found the English actors suitable for their roles in the television series.

e071a605-455b-4a5b-992d-2d7a7e5b02f8

m2d2_wiki

Stark (novel) Stark is a 1989 novel by comedian Ben Elton. It was commercially and critically successful in the United Kingdom and Australia. It was Elton's first novel, and launched his writing career. "Stark" was reprinted 23 times in its first year, and ultimately sold well over a million copies, making Elton one of a small number of novelists to sell more than a million copies of their first book. The novel was adapted into "Stark", a television miniseries. It is a comedy with environmental themes. The comedy style has been compared with the literary works of Douglas Adams and Grant Naylor. It is set mainly in Australia, in a dystopian near-future, and the lead protagonist is an expat Englishman. The story is told from the point of view of a large number of characters, and the point of view often temporarily shifts to that of an animal. Much of the early plot takes place in Carlton, a fictional town south of Perth, Western Australia. Most of the rest of the novel takes place in Kalgoorkatta and Bullens Creek, in the Western Australian desert. The final scene takes place at an unspecified location in outer space, perhaps on the Moon. Themes. The novel is largely a satire of business, government and social attitudes toward environmentalism during the late 1980s. It describes a world in which big business and the ultra-rich are uncaring. It also skewers environmental activists as being unwilling to take decisive action or willing to take actions that are self-destructive and ineffectual. The book often deals with serious themes and then delivers comic relief. These comic diversions usually come to an abrupt end, often due to the hapless sudden death of a gag character. The comedy draws on Elton's typical fodder. The book contains crude and cringe humour, with characters who often experience flatulence and drunkenness, and running afoul of the law. The narrative also pokes fun at religion, place names and foreigners. The capricious and sometimes unjust nature of male-female relationships is a constant theme. Corporate culture and military culture are ridiculed. As in much of Elton's comic work, the central character is an unsuccessful, self-loathing, 'farty' skinny Englishman who has trouble relating to women. The book's prominent themes include: Synopsis. Colin "CD" Dobson lives a humdrum life at a critical point in history. The environment is being destroyed by a series of 'avalanches' – sudden upsets in the Earth's ecosystem, causing widespread destruction. The Stark conspiracy is a cabal of the world's richest and most influential men, who have long been aware that the planet's ecosystem is approaching total collapse. For decades, they have been launching unmanned spacecraft loaded with supplies into orbit around the Earth and the Moon. Seeking to save their own lives and leave everyone else to suffer from 'total toxic overload', they secretly build a fleet of spacecraft with the intention of colonising the Moon. Using crude intimidation, they purchase land from aborigines in Western Australia to use as a launch site. They sell their stocks and commodities to raise cash, dumping the assets at the same time and in high volumes to engineer a worldwide stock market crash and lower the price of the resources they need. They buy the Moon from the United States government, along with the hardware to reach it. Six vessels are designed to travel to the Moon, three of which will carry humans, with room for 250 humans on each. The vessels are named 'Star Arks', referencing the Biblical story of Noah's Ark. The Star Arks contain human and animal embryos in suspended animation, as well as resources needed for life support. The Star Arks are prepared under the cover story that the consortium is building a desert resort. CD and his friends form a group called 'EcoAction'. Each of them has their own reason for fighting the consortium, with the collective goal of trying to protect the environment. They take action against the consortium's activities, and in the process uncover the conspiracy. They infiltrate the launch site and wreak havoc. CD and one of the conspirators, Sly Moorcock, compete for the affections of Rachel, who eventually joins the conspiracy as Sly's intended partner. EcoAction try to warn the rest of the world about the plan, but they are not taken seriously. The cabal kill many of those who have investigated or uncovered the conspiracy. Rachel turns on Sly at the last minute so she can sabotage the launch, but he overpowers and tries to abduct her. She escapes and rejoins the surviving members of EcoAction. The Stark Conspiracy blast off, but find that their existence is frustrating and lonely. Sly Moorcock eventually commits suicide. The narrative ends with an admonishment for the world's consumers over their inaction on environmental issues in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Characters. The novel features a large number of characters, both human and animal. The main protagonists are an ensemble of humans who form the EcoAction team. The main antagonists are a small group who form the Stark Conspiracy. There are also numerous gag characters, who are introduced for the purposes of narrating a humorous tale, and then quickly discarded. These characters are often animals. For example, Dave the dolphin is born, and Iggy the iguana eats a fly, and all die very shortly afterwards. Most of the human characters are derided by the narrative for comedic effect and as a vehicle for social commentary. The animal characters are usually anthropomorphised. The author gives them human names and describes their thoughts and point of view as though the animal were a sentient human. Animals are often portrayed as being more intelligent than humans. Their simple lifestyles are compared with those of humans, particularly to the extent which human consumption impacts the environment. Late in the story, a camel named Walter Culboon (named by a human character after two of the EcoAction characters who die) becomes integral to the infiltration of the Stark base. Human characters. EcoAction: The Stark Conspiracy: Connections with other works. Elton wrote a screenplay based on this novel, which was subsequently made as "Stark", a television miniseries. It was a joint production by the BBC and the ABC (the British and Australian national broadcasters). Ben Elton played the lead role, with Colin Friels as Sly and Jacqueline McKenzie as Rachel. There were some differences between the novel and the miniseries; some characters were renamed, and the ending was different. Elton's subsequent two novels, "Gridlock" and "This Other Eden", also deal with environmental themes and are set in a dystopian future. "Alternative 3", a 1977 British television hoax masquerading as a documentary, shared some themes with "Stark".

61ce6ea0-e57e-4602-a212-b58d3990c47f

m2d2_wiki

Skin Tight (novel) Skin Tight is a novel by Carl Hiaasen. It focuses on a former detective for the Florida State Attorney's office, who becomes the target of a murder plot by a corrupt plastic surgeon. Plot summary. Dr. Rudy Graveline, M.D., the director of the prestigious Whispering Palms Surgery Center in Bal Harbour, Florida, is a complete fraud who has never been trained or certified in cosmetic surgery. He has built his reputation through social connections and by taking credit for the work of his associates. On the rare occasions when Rudy himself performs surgery, something goes wrong. He has weathered numerous malpractice complaints and investigations by the state, through bribery and intimidation. Rudy learns from his former surgical nurse, Maggie Gonzalez, that a private investigator named Mick Stranahan is investigating the disappearance of college coed, Victoria Barletta, who Rudy accidentally killed during a botched nose job. Rudy decides to have Mick killed. In reality, Maggie has turned whistleblower and is planning to tell her story on the sensationalist talk show "In Your Face!", pointing to Mick to misdirect Rudy. The intended hit on Mick fails when he ambushes the hit man and impales him with the sword of a stuffed marlin head. Reynaldo Flemm, the host of "In Your Face!", and his producer, Christina Marks, come to Miami looking for Maggie. Rudy approaches a disfigured felon named Blondell Wayne Tatum, also called "Chemo", who agrees to kill Mick in exchange for a discount on his dermabrasion treatments. After Chemo tracks down Mick's vengeful ex-wife, Chloe, she eagerly guides him to Mick's house in Stiltsville. However, when Chloe realizes that Chemo means to kill Mick as opposed to scaring him, the ensuing argument ends with Chemo drowning her in the Bay. Chemo burns down an abandoned stilt house, assuming it is Mick's because of Chloe's incorrect directions. The next day, Detective Al Garcia and Marine Patrol Officer Luis Cordova inform Mick that he is the prime suspect in Chloe's murder because he owed her alimony. When Mick tells them that someone is trying to kill him, they advise him to lie low. Instead, Mick confronts Rudy outside his clinic and warns him to desist, emphasizing his point by blowing up the doctor's Jaguar. Mick is visited by Christina, who had interviewed Mick's old partner, Timmy Gavigan, and been told a detail from the Barletta case: Rudy's brother, George, is a tree trimmer. Mick deduces from this that a wood chipper was used to dispose of Barletta's body. Chemo attacks Mick's house with a submachine gun. After a shootout, he finds himself in the ocean and loses his hand to a Great Barracuda, opting to attach a portable weed whacker to the stump instead of a conventional prosthesis. Rudy has Chemo travel to New York City to eliminate Maggie. However, when Maggie tells him about Rudy's past, Chemo is mortified that he has entrusted his face to such a fraud and decides to help her blackmail Rudy with the knowledge about Victoria's death. Maggie has shot a videotaped confession for security, but Mick and Christina obtain a copy. Returning to Miami, Mick delivers the video to Al before surviving another murder attempt, this time by a pair of corrupt detectives hired by a crooked county commissioner tied to Rudy. Yet again, Mick outfoxes them and lures them into a fatal booby trap. Mick turns up the heat on Rudy by recruiting his brother-in-law, a personal injury lawyer named Kipper Garth, to sue him yet again for malpractice. He then confronts George, who tries to kill Mick and is shot dead by Al. Chemo and Maggie kidnap Christina, holding her hostage in exchange for Mick's copy of the video. Reynaldo tries to break the Barletta case himself by scheduling a nose job and abdominoplasty with Rudy, planning to conduct an ambush interview once the nose job is done. The scheme fails when Rudy conducts the abdominoplasty first and puts Reynaldo under general anesthesia. When Reynaldo's cameraman bursts into the operating room to start the interview, Rudy panics and accidentally stabs Reynaldo through the heart with a liposuction cannula. With George dead and no option left but to flee the country, Rudy returns home to find his girlfriend, Hollywood actress Heather Chappell, has been kidnapped by Mick. Realizing they will never get paid until Mick is no longer a threat to Rudy, Chemo and Maggie join him to confront Mick at his house, taking Christina with them. During the confrontation, Mick knocks out Chemo and Rudy, and sends Christina, Maggie and Heather back to the mainland. Mick then attempts to "jog" Rudy's memory of Victoria's death by "recreating" the circumstances of the botched nose job, with Rudy as the "patient." Scared, Rudy admits he accidentally killed Victoria, then got George to get rid of the body. He also confesses to hiring Chemo to kill Mick; Chemo is so alarmed at Mick learning his motive for taking the job that he kills Rudy. Mick ties up Chemo, calls the police, and swims away. Al arrives, and Chemo is arrested. Chemo is convicted of murdering Chloe and Rudy, and is sentenced to 17 years in prison. Maggie is convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice, and is killed in a riot at the Dade County Stockade. Reynaldo's body is sent to a medical school on Guadeloupe to serve as a clinical teaching aid, while "In Your Face!" is cancelled following his disappearance. Victoria's parents receive a suitcase full of money, supposedly a gift from Rudy's estate. Christina takes a newspaper job in Miami and purchases a second-hand fishing boat.

08ea161a-22b9-460e-8398-38859eed1dd7

m2d2_wiki

Skinny Dip (novel) Skinny Dip is a caper novel by Carl Hiaasen first published in 2004. It is his 11th work of fiction for adult readers. It is his fifth book featuring the character known as "Skink" and his second novel including the character Mick Stranahan, a former detective. It involves a murder plot and a subsequent attempt to exact revenge against the backdrop of a threat to Florida's Everglades National Park. Plot introduction. Set in South Florida in the course of April 2003, it is about a woman, Joey Perrone, who takes revenge on her cheating husband after he has tried to murder her. It is also one of Hiaasen's more topical novels, since the plot also revolves around the ongoing restoration of the Everglades to a natural habitat. Explanation of the novel's title. A "skinny-dipper" is someone who swims in the nude, thus showing all their skin. "Skinny Dip" refers to the fact that when Joey Perrone is thrown overboard the impact when hitting the surface of the water tears off all her clothes so that on the following morning her rescuer finds her not only completely exhausted but also stark naked. Also, throughout the novel people find themselves in embarrassing situations due to their – occasionally inexplicable – nakedness. Plot summary. Charles Regis "Chaz" Perrone, PhD, is a young marine biologist who has devoted his life solely to the lazy pursuit of a hedonistic existence. His insatiable greed drives him to collude with Samuel Johnson "Red" Hammernut, a crooked farm tycoon who owns large vegetable fields in Hendry County, north of the Florida Everglades, which he relentlessly pollutes with fertilizer run-off. Officially employed by the state authorities to test swamp water for pollutants, Chaz is secretly also on Red's payroll, forging the test results and allowing Red to avoid having to cut back on his overuse of fertilizers, or spend large amounts of money on purification. One day, Chaz's wife Joey returns home unexpectedly while he is filling in the doctored figures on a chart. As she has never taken any interest in her husband's work, Joey has no idea what he is doing. However, Chaz is so paranoid that he suddenly fears that she might report him, and begins to meticulously plan a way to murder her. For their second wedding anniversary, Chaz invites his wife on a cruise and one night, while they are out at sea, throws her overboard. Being an experienced swimmer, Joey survives by managing to turn her fall into a dive, and then swims toward the Florida coast. As her strength gives out, she clings to a floating bale of marijuana for several hours. The next morning, Joey is rescued by Mick Stranahan, a former investigator with the State Attorney who was forced into early retirement. Mick lives on a small island in Biscayne Bay owned by a successful but aging Mexican novelist. Mick is now in the novelist's pay as a caretaker, leading a solitary life guarding the island. When Joey is presumed dead back on the mainland, Chaz pretends to be a grieving husband. As no witnesses come forward, the authorities accept his suggestion that Joey either had an accident or committed suicide. Karl Rolvaag, a Broward County detective investigating the disappearance, is suspicious of Chaz's mannerisms, but can find no motive supporting a suspicion of murder. Joey is equally baffled, and begs Mick not to report that she is still alive. Since she has no idea yet why he tried to kill her, she doubts that she can convince the police that it was not a drunken accident or attempted suicide. Instead, she wants to find out herself why he did it, and drive her husband to insanity by building on his vanity and paranoia. Mick agrees with the plan. Joey starts by entering their house while Chaz is at work and leaving traces of herself – negligees and a photo of the couple with her face cut out. Chaz is unsettled enough by these clues that he experiences erectile dysfunction for the first time in his life, which leaves him greatly flustered. Joey happens to be hiding under the bed when Chaz returns unexpectedly with one of his girlfriends and fails to have sex with her. Red, worried by Chaz's reports of a home intruder, orders one of his employees, an illiterate, heavy-set man called Earl Edward O'Toole, to act as Chaz's bodyguard. As Chaz's mental state deteriorates, his job description changes to "babysitter," to prevent Chaz from exposing Red. "Tool", as O'Toole is called by everybody, collects highway fatality markers, and has been addicted to fentanyl ever since he was hit by a rifle bullet that remains embedded just underneath his tailbone. Tool visits nursing homes, pretending to be an employee, and steals fentanyl skin patches off elderly patients' bodies. During one of these expeditions, Tool meets Maureen, a dying woman he befriends. Joey and Mick soon develop a sexual relationship and continue to plan more intricate and sophisticated acts of revenge. Mick has the idea of pretending to blackmail Chaz by inventing a witness to Joey's murder. Chaz is unnerved when a mysterious phone caller seems to know every detail of the night Joey fell overboard, concluding that only Karl could know so much about it. He confronts Karl with his accusation, leading the baffled detective to become even more suspicious of Chaz. Mick also recruits his brother-in-law, a corrupt lawyer, to draft a fake will leaving Joey's entire fortune to Chaz. Delivering this to Chaz and to the police has the double effect of playing on Chaz's greed, and energizing the stagnating investigation. Chaz's judgment deteriorates further with each passing day, and he erroneously concludes that his current mistress, Ricca, is the blackmailer's girlfriend and accomplice. At gunpoint, Chaz drives her out to the swamp at Loxahatchee where, in the dark, he fires at her. Though he only manages to wing her in the leg, Ricca plunges into the water and seemingly drowns. Unbeknownst to Chaz, she survives and is rescued by a Vietnam veteran who considers the Everglades his home. Both Mick and Karl, working independently, trace the bill of sale of Chaz's expensive Hummer to one of Red's companies, and patient investigation leads them to discover the Everglades scam. Karl does not share his conclusions with his captain. There is no evidence directly linking the scam to Joey's disappearance, but Karl is confident that, in his paranoid state, Chaz will break down and confess to the scam to minimize his own punishment, while Red will foresee this and try to have Chaz eliminated. Karl has even discovered hints that Joey is still alive — her credit card has been used to buy women's clothes and accessories – but does not share this with Chaz. Meanwhile, a few friends and relatives are let in on the truth and play along with Mick and Joey. Her brother Corbett, a reclusive sheep farmer in New Zealand, flies to Miami and hires a squadron of helicopters to buzz Chaz's Hummer on his way to the Everglades, then arranges a memorial service for Joey at which Chaz is expected to give a speech. Chaz gets up to deliver a eulogy, but collapses with fright when Ricca enters the church on crutches and sits next to Karl in the audience. Another of Joey's accomplices, a friend from her book club named Rose Jewell, approaches Chaz and offers to console him over dinner at her place. Expecting an easy lay, Chaz accepts the invitation, only to be drugged by Rose and put to sleep in her bed. Only half awake, Chaz thinks he is hallucinating when he finds his wife sitting at his side asking him reproachfully why he has tried to kill her. He confesses that he thought she had figured out his scam. She says she had no idea what he was doing and calls him a monster. The following morning, Chaz wakes up from his drug-induced slumber sitting naked at the wheel of his Hummer, which has been parked on the shoulder of a busy road during rush hour. Later he receives a video allegedly recorded on the night of the murder, in which he clearly recognizes his wife although he can see himself only from behind. The cassette includes a message summoning him to a rendezvous to deliver the blackmail money. Following the blackmailer's instructions, Chaz rents a small boat with an outboard motor and, together with Tool, drives to Stiltsville in the middle of a thunderstorm. Red, who has provided the money, has instructed Tool to kill Chaz well before the meeting with the blackmailer and return the suitcase to him. However, Tool has other plans: inspired by Maureen, he wants to abandon his life of crime, reform, and become a respectable citizen. But before the blackmailers appear, Chaz shoots Tool, who falls into the water but survives. While Mick and Corbett pull Tool out of the water, Joey confronts her husband. She is tempted to shoot him, but, following Mick's instructions, tells him to get lost. Chaz flees in the boat. Chaz safely arrives at the mainland with the money and immediately drives home. His new plan is to compose a suicide note, disappear, and start a new life in Costa Rica. Before he can leave, he is snatched out of his house by Red and Tool, hog-tied, and driven to the Everglades, Red having concluded that the "blackmail" was just a con by Chaz to rip him off. When Red orders Tool to shoot Chaz, Tool deliberately misses and Chaz flees into the swamp. On the way home to Red's farm the entrepreneur insults Tool, who takes revenge on his boss in the middle of nowhere by slaying him and impaling his body on a roadside cross of the same type that Tool collects. Joey decides to stay with Mick on the island. Corbett takes an interest in Ricca and invites her to share some time on his farm in New Zealand. Karl closes the case and moves back to his native Minnesota. Tool is left with all the money. He decides to spend the first part of it on a veterinarian who removes two bullets from his body, and on a new pickup truck in which he embarks on a trip to Canada. He takes along Maureen, who he has rescued from the nursing home at her request, and who wants to see the pelicans migrating. Chaz is picked up by the semi-deranged Vietnam veteran. In response to Chaz's limp inquiry about what happens next, the veteran replies "Nature, red in tooth and claw." Discussion. Hiaasen's novels are often classified as "Crime Fiction" (or "environmental thrillers"), but they can also be read as satirical and comic mainstream novels depicting people in difficult and outrageous situations triggered by human weaknesses such as greed, lust, ignorance, or revenge. Plot. In his review of "Strip Tease", Donald E. Westlake commented that, at the center of all the wackiness was an accessible, touching storyline: a single mother's quest to rescue her young daughter from a reckless husband and an inadequate foster care system. "Skinny Dip" has at its center a wife who survives a murder attempt by her husband, and is driven not just by the need to get even, but to find out the reason he did it. This gives the novel more focus than some of Hiaasen's other books, which often involve the characters running across each other in random ways, or going on unplanned wanderings across Florida. The other central plot is the fight to save the Everglades, and the role that the villains are playing in its destruction. Somewhere along the way, the two plot lines converge, and the quest to take revenge on Chaz becomes tied up with the aim of stopping Red's pollution. In other words, the reader is offered a choice of which thing to root for: some readers may think that Chaz's betrayal of the environment for money makes him detestable, but trying to murder his wife is what makes him a true monster; other readers may think the exact opposite. "Skinny Dip" is also enriched by a variety of subplots: Tool's gradual moral awakening, as he grows closer to a dying old lady who is too proud to admit that she has been abandoned by her family; Karl Rolvaag's longing for his native Minnesota, and his search for his escaped pet pythons; Chaz's obsession with sex and his desperate attempts to reverse the erectile dysfunction which is his only sign of guilt over Joey's murder, including experimenting with a black-market version of Viagra – "the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) definitely would not approve."; and finally, the suitcase full of money, which changes hands until it falls into the grip of the least likely person in the story. The novel contains many scenes reminiscent of classic farces. For instance, at one point there are five people in the Perrone house, three of whom are trying to hide their presence from the other: at the center is Chaz and his "back-up" girlfriend Medea, with whom he has just unsuccessfully attempted sexual relations; hiding under the bed is Joey, caught in the middle of another infiltration of the house; Tool is in another part of the house, ordered to protect Perrone but ordered by him to stay out of the way of his date; and finally Mick, who enters in search of Joey and, when he encounters Tool, politely asks him if he's going to try to stop Mick. ("What a dumb-ass question. Of course I am.") In a similar situation, Chaz, expecting sex with Rose, is drunk and drugged and lured into bed, not knowing that the woman he's groping for is in fact his wife. Other funny situations arise out of Chaz's paranoia and ineptness as a killer. He imagines he's surrounded by enemies, but he always manages to look in the wrong direction. Even when the truth — for example, Joey — is right in front of him, he attributes it to hallucinations caused by the West Nile virus, rather than recognizing it for a sophisticated hoax. Accuracy of Environmental Reporting. In his review of "Skinny Dip" for "The New Republic", "Washington Post" reporter Michael Grunwald criticized the book as being too fictionalized, and potentially misleading, in describing the causes of the Everglades' ecological status. In Hiaasen's scenario, the Everglades are dying as a result of agricultural contaminants dumped by greedy corporate villains, aided and abetted by corrupt or complacent officials. Grunwald maintains that the state effort to curtail agricultural pollution is separate from the Everglades Restoration Project, and had been largely successful even before the Project commenced in 2000. Instead, the biggest threat to the Everglades comes not from corporate pollution or corrupt officials, but rather from "John Q. Public" – the diversion of freshwater for South Florida's huge municipalities, and the normal waste products associated with such cities. Grunwald says that when conservation efforts should focus on curtailing the effects of public activity, it is misleading and dangerous to lay all the blame on "bad guys" personified by Red Hammernut and Chaz. On the other hand, Grunwald agrees that it is "smart to be cynical" about Florida politics, "especially all the daily blathering about conserving our precious natural resources." A recurring theme in Grunwald's book, "The Swamp", is that for the majority of Florida's history, the Everglades has been viewed as a hostile territory, a nuisance, or an obstacle to growth, and only very recently has perception changed to regard it as a place worth saving. Hiaasen is also scathing about this in the chapter when he briefly summarizes the history of the Everglades, and how ninety percent of it has been destroyed through the course of South Florida's development: Inevitably, the Everglades and all its resplendent wildlife began to die, but no one with the power to prevent it even considered trying. It was, after all, just a huge damn swamp. But later, it became clear that the Everglades' health was linked to South Florida's drinking water, and if the Everglades died, then growth would stop dead: This apocalyptic scenario was laid out before Florida's politicians, and in no time at all even the most slatternly among them was extolling the Everglades as a national treasure, that must be preserved at all costs. Adaptations. Audiobook. An audiobook version of "Skinny Dip" was released in 2004 by Books on Tape. The audiobook, read by Stephen Hoye, is unabridged and runs 13 hours and 30 minutes over 11 CDs. It was also released in an abridged version, read by Barry Bostwick, running 4 hours and 47 minutes.

e21dd890-90e4-4d47-bb3c-519a41a54642

m2d2_wiki

Rainforest (novel) Rainforest is a 1987 novel by Jenny Diski about a young female English academic whose ambitions are to lead a sane and sensible life and to contribute to humankind's understanding of the natural world but who eventually has a mental breakdown when faced with too many people surrounding her who, driven by desire and lust, behave irrationally, indifferently, and irresponsibly towards her, each other, society, and the planet. "Rainforest" is set in London and Borneo. Diski says that because of her arachnophobia she wrote the novel "based entirely on textbooks and three trips to Kew Gardens' tropical houses". Plot summary. Mo Singleton grows up in rural Sussex as the only child of John Singleton, a scientist and university lecturer, and Marjorie, a housewife. When Mo is still quite young, her father confides in her by telling her that he is betraying his incompetent and simplistic wife with a colleague at the university. Up to her father's premature death at 45 and beyond, Mo is able to keep their secret without once meeting her father's lover. Following in his footsteps, Mo studies biology and moves to London, where she gets a job at a university. She enjoys teaching first-year students, especially challenging their faulty assumptions about nature and explaining to them what man's role in the big cycle of things really is. She visits her widowed mother in the country every once in a while and spends pleasant weekends with her, has a satisfactory relationship with her boyfriend Luke, a biochemist, and has started making plans for, and is very much looking forward to, her research project which will take her to an isolated spot in the tropical rainforest that covers large parts of the island of Borneo. When, shortly before her departure, she meets Joe Yates, who has been hired as her replacement for the six-month period she will be gone, Mo is both appalled and attracted by his directness but rejects his overt sexual advances as well as his fatalistic philosophy of life. In Borneo, she behaves very professionally, fervently believing that through her academic work she will increase the sum total of human knowledge about the tropical rainforest. Her mental breakdown is already looming but Mo is not yet aware of it. Her mind starts deteriorating rapidly when in the middle of her stay in Borneo, Joe Yates pays her a surprise visit. Questioning the validity and relevance of her findings, he eventually succeeds in seducing her—they have wild, unbridled sex in the wilderness—only to tell her afterwards that he is only passing through and his current girlfriend, one of his students, is actually waiting for him in the nearest town. Mo has to be flown back to England and is institutionalized. News of her beloved colleague Liam deserting his wife and young children for a first-year student only makes matters worse. After her recovery, Mo gives up her academic career and becomes a cleaning lady, working to a fixed schedule and enjoying "the detail and planning involved." She sees a psychiatrist once a week and still has the occasional nightmare about the rainforest.

9597cd87-b819-4126-9a38-abef6151192e

m2d2_wiki

Bambi, a Life in the Woods Bambi, a Life in the Woods (German title: Bambi: Eine Lebensgeschichte aus dem Walde) is a 1923 Austrian coming-of-age novel written by Felix Salten and originally published in Berlin by Ullstein Verlag. The novel traces the life of Bambi, a male roe deer, from his birth through childhood, the loss of his mother, the finding of a mate, the lessons he learns from his father, and the experience he gains about the dangers posed by human hunters in the forest. An English translation by Whittaker Chambers was published in North America by Simon & Schuster in 1928, and the novel has since been translated and published in over 30 languages around the world. Salten published a sequel, "Bambi's Children", in 1939. The novel was well received by critics and is considered a classic, as well as one of the first environmental novels. It was adapted into a theatrical animated film, "Bambi", by Walt Disney Productions in 1942, two Russian live-action adaptations in 1985 and 1986, a ballet in 1987, and a stage production in 1998. Another ballet adaptation was created by an Oregon troupe, but never premiered. Janet Schulman published a children's picture book adaptation in 2000 that featured realistic oil paintings and many of Salten's original words. Plot. Bambi is a roe deer fawn born in a thicket in late spring one year. Over the course of the summer, his mother teaches him about the various inhabitants of the forest and the ways deer live. When she feels he is old enough, she takes him to the meadow, which he learns is both a wonderful but also dangerous place as it leaves the deer exposed and in the open. After some initial fear over his mother's caution, Bambi enjoys the experience. On a subsequent trip Bambi meets his Aunt Ena and her twin fawns Faline and Gobo. They quickly become friends and share what they have learned about the forest. While they are playing, they encounter princes, male deer, for the first time. After the stags leave, the fawns learn that those were their fathers, but that the fathers rarely stay with or speak to the females and young. As Bambi grows older, his mother begins to leave him alone. While searching for her one day, Bambi has his first encounter with "He" - the animals' term for humans - which terrifies him. The man raises a firearm and aims at him; Bambi flees at top speed, joined by his mother. After he is scolded by a stag for crying for his mother, Bambi gets used to being alone at times. He later learns the stag is called the "Old Prince", the oldest and largest stag in the forest, who is known for his cunning and aloof nature. During the winter, Bambi meets Marena, a young doe, Nettla, an old doe who no longer bears young, and two princes, Ronno and Karus. Mid-winter, hunters enter the forest, killing many animals including Bambi's mother. Gobo also disappears and is presumed dead. After this, the novel skips ahead a year, noting that Bambi, now a young adult, was cared for by Nettla and that when he got his first set of antlers he was abused and harassed by the other males. It is summer and Bambi is now sporting his second set of antlers. He is reunited with his cousin Faline. After he battles and defeats first Karus then Ronno, Bambi and Faline fall in love with each other. They spend a great deal of time together. During this time, the Old Prince saves Bambi's life when he nearly runs towards a hunter imitating a doe's call. This teaches the young buck to be cautious about blindly rushing toward any deer's call. During the summer, Gobo returns to the forest, having been raised by a man who found him collapsed in the snow during the hunt where Bambi's mother was killed. While his mother and Marena welcome him and celebrate him as a "friend" of man, the old Prince and Bambi pity him. Marena becomes his mate, but several weeks later Gobo is killed when he approaches a hunter in the meadow, falsely believing the halter he wore would keep him safe from all men. As Bambi continues to age, he begins spending most of his time alone, including avoiding Faline though he still loves her in a melancholic way. Several times he meets with the Old Prince, who teaches him about snares, shows him how to free another animal from one, and encourages him not to use trails, to avoid the traps of men. When Bambi is later shot by a hunter, the Prince shows him how to walk in circles to confuse the man and his dogs until the bleeding stops, then takes him to a safe place to recover. They remain together until Bambi is strong enough to leave the safe haven again. When Bambi has grown gray and is "old", the Old Prince shows him that man is not all-powerful by showing him the dead body of a man who was shot and killed by another man. When Bambi confirms that he now understands that "He" is not all-powerful, and that there is "Another" over all creatures, the stag tells him that he has always loved him and calls him "my son" before leaving. At the end of the novel, Bambi meets with twin fawns who are calling for their mother and he scolds them for not being able to stay alone. After leaving them, he thinks to himself that the girl fawn reminded him of Faline, and that the male was promising and that Bambi hoped to meet him again when he was grown. Publication history. Felix Salten, himself an avid hunter, penned "Bambi: Eine Lebensgeschichte aus dem Walde" after World War I, targeting an adult audience. The novel was first published in Vienna in serialized form in the newspaper the "Neue Freie Presse" from 15 August to 21 October 1922, and as a book in Germany by Ullstein Verlag in 1923, and republished in 1926 in Vienna. Translations. Max Schuster, a co-founder of Simon & Schuster, became intrigued with the novel and contracted with the author to publish it in North America. Clifton Fadiman, an editor at the firm, engaged his Columbia University classmate Whittaker Chambers to translate it. Simon & Schuster published this first English edition in 1928, with illustrations by Kurt Wiese, under the title "Bambi: A Life in the Woods". "The New York Times" praised the prose as "admirably translated". The "New York Herald Tribune" did not comment on the translation. The scholar Sabine Strümper-Krobb characterizes the translation as simplified, saying Chambers inscribed the book with cultural and ideological values of the American society, stressing family values and reducing transcendental ones. Chambers’ translation has been reprinted repeatedly with different illustrations until the 2010s. A new English translation by Hannah Correll was published in 2019. Over 200 editions of the novel have been published, with almost 100 German and English editions alone, and numerous translations and reprintings in over 30 languages. It has also been published in a variety of formats, including printed medium, audiobook, Braille, and E-book formats. The original German edition was unillustrated, but since then, several illustrations have been created. Copyright dispute. When Salten originally published "Bambi" in 1923, he did so under Germany's copyright laws, which required no statement that the novel was copyrighted. In the 1926 republication, he did include a United States copyright notice, so the work is considered to have been copyrighted in the United States in 1926. In 1936, Salten sold some film rights to the novel to MGM producer Sidney Franklin who passed them on to Walt Disney for the creation of a film adaptation. After Salten's death in 1945, his daughter Anna Wyler inherited the copyright and renewed the novel's copyrighted status in 1954 (U.S. copyright law in effect at the time provided for an initial term of 28 years from the date of first publication in the U.S., which could be extended for an additional 28 years provided the copyright holder filed for renewal before the expiration of the initial copyright). In 1958, she formulated three agreements with Disney regarding the novel's rights. Upon her death in 1977, the rights passed to her husband, Veit Wyler, and her children, who held on to them until 1993 when he sold the rights to the publishing house Twin Books. Twin Books and Disney disagreed on the terms and validity of Disney's original contract with Anna Wyler and Disney's continued use of the Bambi name. When the two companies were unable to reach a solution, Twin Books filed suit against Disney for copyright infringement. Disney argued that because Salten's original 1923 publication of the novel did not include a copyright notice, by American law it was immediately considered a public domain work. It also argued that as the novel was published in 1923, Anna Wyler's 1954 renewal occurred after the deadline and was invalid. The case was reviewed by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, which ruled that the novel was copyrighted upon its publication in 1923, and not a public domain work then. However, in validating 1923 as the publication date, this confirmed Disney's claim that the copyright renewal was filed too late and the novel became a public domain work in 1951. Twin Books appealed the decision, and in March 1996 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the original decision, stating that the novel was a foreign work in 1923 that was not in its home country's public domain when published, therefore the original publication date could not be used in arguing American copyright law. Instead, the 1926 publication date, the first in which it specifically declared itself to be copyrighted in the United States, is considered the year when the novel was copyrighted in America. Anna Wyler's renewal was therefore timely and valid, and Twin Books' ownership of the copyright was upheld. The "Twin Books" decision is still regarded as controversial by many copyright experts. David Nimmer, in a 1998 article, argued that the "Twin Books" ruling meant that an ancient Greek epic, if only published outside the U.S. without the required formalities, would be eligible for copyright protection. Although Nimmer concluded that "Twin Books" required this finding (within the Ninth Circuit), he characterized the result as "patently absurd." The American copyright of the novel is currently set to expire on January 1, 2022, while in Austria and other countries of the European Union it entered the public domain on January 1, 2016. Sequel. While living in exile in Switzerland, after being forced to flee Nazi-occupied Austria, Salten wrote a sequel to "Bambi" that follows the birth and lives of Bambi's twin offspring, Geno and Gurri. The young fawns interact with various deer, and are educated and watched over by Bambi and Faline as they grow. They also learn more about the ways of man, including both hunters and the gamekeeper seeking to protect the deer. Due to Salten's exiled status — he had lost his Austrian publisher Paul Zsolnay Verlag — the English translation of the novel was published first, in the United States in 1939 by Bobbs-Merrill; it would take a year before the sequel was published in the original German language in Switzerland by his new publisher. Reception. "Bambi" was "hugely popular" after its publication, becoming a "book-of-the-month" selection and selling 650,000 copies in the United States by 1942. However, it was subsequently banned in Nazi Germany in 1936 as "political allegory on the treatment of Jews in Europe." Many copies of the novel were burned, making original first editions rare and difficult to find. When Felix Salten visited the United States as a member of a European delegation of journalists in May–July 1930, he was greeted warmly because of "Bambi" wherever the delegation went, as was testified by the Finnish member of the delegation, Urho Toivola. In his own travel book, Salten did not boast about this; only when describing his visit to a “Negro college” of Atlanta, he mentions passingly that the children praised his books. In his foreword of the novel, John Galsworthy called it a "delicious book - delicious not only for children but for those who are no longer so fortunate" and a "little masterpiece" that shows a "delicacy of perception and essential truth". He notes that while reading the galley proof of the novel while crossing the English Channel, he, his wife, and his nephew read each page in turn over the course of three hours in "silent absorption." "The New York Times" reviewer John Chamberlain praised Salten's "tender, lucid style" that "takes you out of yourself". He felt that Salten captured the essence of each of the creatures as they talked, catching the "rhythm of the different beings who people his forest world" and showed particular "comprehension" in detailing the various stages of Bambi's life. He also considered the English translation "admirably" done. A reviewer for "Catholic World" praised the approach of the subject, noting that it was "marked by poetry and sympathy [with] charming reminders of German folklore and fairy tale". However, they disliked the "transference of certain human ideals to the animal mind" and the vague references to religious allegory. The "Boston Transcript" called it a "sensitive allegory of life". The "Saturday Review" considered it "beautiful and graceful" piece that showed a rare "individuality". "The Times Literary Supplement" stated that the novel is a "tale of exceptional charm, though untrustworthy of some of the facts of animal life." Isabel Ely Lord, reviewing the novel for the "American Journal of Nursing", called the novel a "delightful animal story" and Salten a "poet" whose "picture of the woods and its people is an unforgettable one." In comparing "Bambi" to Salten's later work "Perri"—in which Bambi makes a brief cameo—Louise Long of the "Dallas Morning News" considered both to be stories that "quietly and completely [captivate] the heart". Long felt the prose was "poised and mobile and beautiful as poetry" and praises Salten for his ability to give the animals seemingly human speech while not "[violating] their essential natures." Vicky Smith of "Horn Book Magazine" felt the novel was gory compared to the later Disney adaptation and called it a "weeper". While criticizing it as one of the most notable anti-hunting novels available, she concedes the novel is not easily forgettable and praises the "linchpin scene" where Bambi's mother dies, stating "the understated conclusion of that scene, 'Bambi never saw his mother again,' masterfully evokes an uncomplicated emotional response". She questions Galsworthy's recommendation of the novel to sportsmen in the foreword, wondering "how many budding sportsmen might have had conversion experiences in the face of Salten's unrelieved harangue and how many might have instead become alienated." In comparing the novel to the Disney film, Steve Chapple of "Sports Afield" felt that Salten viewed Bambi's forest as a "pretty scary place" and the novel as a whole had a "lot of dark adult undertones." Interpreting it as an allegory for Salten's own life, Chapple felt Salten came across as "a little morbid, a bleeding heart of a European intellectual." "The Wall Street Journal"s James P. Sterba also considered it an "antifascist allegory" and sarcastically notes that "you'll find it in the children's section at the library, a perfect place for this 293-page volume, packed as it is with blood-and-guts action, sexual conquest and betrayal" and "a forest full of cutthroats and miscreants. I count at least six murderers (including three child-killers) among Bambi's associates." Impact. Liberal critics have argued "Bambi" to be one of the first environmental novels. Adaptations. Film. Walt Disney animated film. With World War II looming, Max Schuster aided the Jewish Salten's flight from Nazi controlled Austria and Nazi Germany and helped introduce him, and "Bambi", to Walt Disney Productions. Sidney Franklin, a producer and director at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, purchased the film rights in 1933, initially desiring to make a live-action adaptation of the work. Deciding such a film would be too difficult to make, he sold the rights to Walt Disney in April 1937 in hopes of it being adapted into an animated film instead. Disney began working on the film immediately, intending it to be the company's second feature-length animated film and his first to be based on a specific, recent work. The original novel, written for an adult audience, was considered too "grim" and "somber" for the young audience Disney was targeting, and with the work required to adapt the novel, Disney put production on hold while it worked on several other projects. In 1938, Disney assigned Perce Pearce and Carl Fallberg to develop the film's storyboards, but attention was soon drawn away as the studio began working on "Fantasia". Finally, on 17 August 1939, production on "Bambi" began in earnest, although it progressed slowly due to changes in the studio personnel, location and the methodology of handling animation at the time. The writing was completed in July 1940, by which time the film's budget had swelled to $858,000. Disney was later forced to slash 12 minutes from the film before final animation, to save costs on production. Heavily modified from the original novel, "Bambi" was released to theaters in the United States on 8 August 1942. Disney's version severely downplays the naturalistic and environmental elements found in the novel, giving it a lighter, friendlier feeling. The addition of two new characters, Thumper the Rabbit and Flower the Skunk, two sweet and gentle forest creatures, contributed to giving the film the desired friendlier and lighter feeling. Considered a classic, the film has been called "the crowning achievement of Walt Disney's animation studio" and was named as the third best film in the animation genre of the AFI's 10 Top 10 "classic" American film genres. Russian live-action films. In 1985, a Russian-language live-action adaptation, ("Detstvo Bembi", lit. "Bambi's Childhood"), was produced and released in VHS format in the Soviet Union by Gorky Film Studios. It was directed by Natalya Bondarchuk, who also co-wrote the script with Yuri Nagibin, and featured music by Boris Petrov. Natalya 's son Ivan Burlyayev and her husband Nikolay Burlyaev starred as the young and adolescent Bambi, respectively, while Faline (renamed Falina) was portrayed by Yekaterina Lychyova as a child and Galina Belyayeva as an adult. In this adaptation, the film starts using animals, changes to using human actors, then returns to using animals for the ending. A sequel, ("Yunost Bembi"), lit. "Bambi's Youth", followed in 1986 with Nikolay and Galina reprising their voice roles as Bambi and Falina. Featuring over 100 species of live animals and filmed in various locations in Crimea, Mount Elbrus, Latvia and Czechoslovakia, the film follows new lovers Bambi and Felina as they go on a journey in search of a life-giving flower. Both films were released to Region 2 DVD with Russian and English subtitle options by the Russian Cinema Council in 2000. The first film's DVD also included a French audio soundtrack, while the second contained French subtitles instead. Ballet. The Estonian composer Lydia Auster composed the ballet "Bambi" in 1986 which was premièred in Tartu, Vanemuine theater, in 1987. The Oregon Ballet Theatre adapted "Bambi" into an evening-length ballet entitled "Bambi: Lord of the Forest". It was slated to premiere in March 2000 as the main production for the company's 2000–2001 season. A collaboration between artistic director James Canfield and composer Thomas Lauderdale, the ballet's production was to be an interpretation of the novel rather than the Disney film. In discussing the adaptation, Canfield stated that he was given a copy of the novel as a Christmas present and found it to be a "classic story about coming of age and a life cycle." He went on to note that the play was inspired solely by the novel and not the Disney film. After the initial announcements, the pair began calling the work "The Collaboration", as Disney owns the licensing rights for the name "Bambi" and they did not wish to fight for usage rights. The local press began calling the ballet alternative titles, including "Not-Bambi" which Canfield noted to be his favorite, out of derision at Disney. Its premiere was delayed for unexplained reasons, and it has yet to be performed. Theater. Playwright James DeVita, of the First Stage Children's Theater, created a stage adaptation of the novel. The script was published by Anchorage Press Plays on 1 June 1997. Crafted for young adults and teenagers and retaining the title "Bambi—A Life in the Woods", it has been produced around the United States at various venues. The script calls for an open-stage setup, and utilizes at least nine actors: five male and four female, to cover the thirteen roles. The American Alliance Theatre and Education awarded the work its "Distinguished Play Award" for an adaptation. Book. In 1999, the novel was adapted into an illustrated hardback children's book by Janet Schulman, illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher, and published by Simon & Schuster as part of its "Atheneum Books for Young Readers" imprint. In the adaptation, Schulman attempted to retain some of the lyrical feel of the original novel. She notes that rather than rewrite the novel, she "replicated Salten's language almost completely. I reread the novel a number of times and then I went through and highlighted the dialogue and poignant sentences Salten had written." Doing so retained much of the novel's original lyrical feel, though the book's brevity did result in a sacrifice of some of the "majesty and mystery" found in the novel. The illustrations were created to appear as realistic as possible, using painted images rather than sketches. In 2002, the Schulman adaptation was released in audiobook format by Audio Bookshelf, with Frank Dolan as the reader.

4e44ce9a-72fb-487f-a628-03f477fe1815

m2d2_wiki

Environmentalism in The Lord of the Rings The theme of environmentalism in "The Lord of the Rings" has been remarked by critics since the 1970s. The Hobbits' visions of Saruman's industrial hell of Isengard and Sauron's desolate polluted land of Mordor have been interpreted as comments on modern society, while the destruction of Isengard by the tree-giant Ents, and "The Scouring of the Shire" by the Hobbits, have a strong theme of restoration of the natural environment after such industrial pollution and degradation. However, Tolkien's love of trees and unspoilt nature is apparent throughout the novel. Context. J. R. R. Tolkien was brought up as a boy first in rural Warwickshire at Sarehole, at that time just outside Birmingham, and then inside that industrial city. An art exhibition entitled "The Making of Mordor" at the Wolverhampton Art Gallery (2014) claimed that the steelworks and blast furnaces of the West Midlands near Tolkien's childhood home inspired his vision of Mordor, and the name that he gave it, meaning "Black Land" in his invented Elvish language of Sindarin. This industrialized area has long been known as "the Black Country". Philip Womack, writing in "The Independent", likened Tolkien's move from rural Warwickshire to urban Birmingham as "exile from a rural idyll to Mordor-like forges and fires", The critic Chris Baratta notes the contrasting environments of the well-tended leafy Shire, the home of the Hobbits, and "the industrial wastelands of Isengard and Mordor." Baratta comments that Tolkien clearly intended the reader to "identify with some of the problems of environmental destruction, rampant industrial invasion, and the corrupting and damaging effects these have on mankind." Tolkien was acutely sensitive to encroachments on the English countryside; during the Second World War, he was, like W. G. Hoskins, horrified by how much land was taken up by aerodromes. Later in life, Tolkien became obsessed with the growing threat to the countryside as cities grew and roads cut across fields and woods. Pristine creation. Wild nature. Tolkien makes use of wild nature in the form of forests across Middle-earth, from the Trollshaws and Mirkwood in "The Hobbit", reappearing in "The Lord of the Rings", to the Old Forest, Lothlórien, and Fangorn which each occupy whole chapters of "The Lord of the Rings", not to mention the great forests of Beleriand and Valinor of "The Silmarillion". Indeed, while Middle-earth was still "in a twilight under the stars", the "oldest living things had arisen: ... on earth, the shadows of great trees". For the Tolkien critic Tom Shippey, the mention of Mirkwood is an echo of the Norse mythology of the "Elder Edda", with the pathless forests of the North over the Misty Mountains described in one of the poems in the "Edda", the "Skirnismal". Tolkien believed that the primeval human understanding was, as he wrote in "Tree and Leaf", "communion with other living things", now lost. The Tolkien critic Paul Kocher stated that Middle-earth was meant to be the Earth itself in the distant past, when the primeval forests still existed, and with them, a wholeness that is also now lost. Harmony with the land. The free peoples of the West of Middle-earth, including the Hobbits of the Shire, live in definite harmony with their land; Lucas Niiler describes the whole area as "a largely pastoral setting with an agriculturally-based economy", and the Hobbits as "caring farmers, green-thumbs; beer-barley, rich tobacco and beautiful flowers spring up out of their fields and gardens with just the gentle prod of a hoe." Environmental devastation. In the Foreword to the Second Edition of "The Lord of the Rings", Tolkien wrote that while the work had no "allegorical significance ... whatsoever", it did have a basis in his personal experience. He stated that "The country in which I lived in childhood was being shabbily destroyed before I was ten", as Birmingham grew and spread houses, roads and suburban railways across the Warwickshire countryside, and he lamented "the last decrepitude of the once-thriving corn-mill beside its pool that long ago seemed to me so important". Tolkien describes the shattering impact of industrialisation at Saruman's Isengard and in Sauron's dead land of Mordor. Tolkien's feelings about nature fit into a more general pattern of decline, the belief that while evil may be countered, the losses will not quite be made up. As Kocher writes "Ents may still be there in our forests, but what forests have we left? The process of extermination is already well under way in the Third Age, and in works outside the epic Tolkien bitterly deplores its climax today." Saruman's Isengard. Tolkien has the Treebeard, leader of the tree-giants, the Ents, say of the Wizard Saruman: Saruman's Isengard is industrial in several ways: it produces weapons and machinery made of iron, smelted and forged using trees as fuel; an unusually large and powerful breed of Orcs, able as Treebeard says to fight in daylight, produced rapidly, apparently by some kind of cloning; and a gunpowder-like explosive. The underground factories, and the contrast with how the area was before Saruman's day, are described by the narrator in "The Road to Isengard": Saruman thus stands for the exact opposite of the sympathetic stewardship of Middle-earth shown by the Hobbits of the Shire, and Treebeard of Fangorn forest. Industrial hell. The scholar of English literature Charles A. Huttar describes Isengard as an "industrial hell". He quotes Tolkien's description of Isengard, supplying his own emphasis on Tolkien's words: ""tunneled .. circle .. dark .. deep .. graveyard of unquiet dead .. the ground trembled .. treasuries .. furnaces .. iron wheels .. endlessly .. lit from beneath .. venomous"." Huttar comments: "The imagery is familiar, its connotations plain. This is yet another hell [after Moria and Mordor]." Dickerson writes that Saruman's "evil ways" are revealed exactly by his "wanton destruction" of Fangorn's trees, and notes that Treebeard calls Saruman an "accursed tree-slayer". Kocher notes that Treebeard says that Ents have a far closer sympathy for trees than shepherds do for their sheep, because "Ents are 'good at getting inside other things'". He also cites Treebeard's statement that he is "not altogether on anybody's side, because nobody is altogether on my side ... nobody cares for the woods as I care for them", but notes that all the same, Treebeard is driven by the knowledge that Saruman has taken sides in the War of the Ring to take action against him. Treebeard's Ents destroy Saruman's industrial Isengard, whose factories Saruman was fuelling by cutting down Treebeard's trees. After the destruction of the One Ring, Aragorn gives wide lands for new forest; but, Kocher writes, Tolkien gives "ominous hints that the wild wood will not prosper in the expanding Age of Man" that will follow. A longed-for restoration. Trees marching to war. In "The Lord of the Rings", on the morning after the long night of the Battle of Helm's Deep, in which Saruman tried to destroy Rohan, both armies saw that a forest of angry, tree-like Huorns now filled the valley, trapping Saruman's army of Orcs. The Orcs fled into the Huorn forest and were destroyed. Tolkien noted in a letter that he had created walking tree-creatures [Ents and Huorns] partly in response to his "bitter disappointment and disgust from schooldays with the shabby use made in Shakespeare's "Macbeth" of the coming of 'Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill': I longed to devise a setting in which the trees might really march to war". Critics note that it is a shock that the battle, the Orcs, and Saruman's hopes of conquest should end this way. They also observe that it represented Tolkien's wish-fulfilment to reverse the harm he could see being done to the English countryside. "The Scouring of the Shire". Critics since the 1970s have commented on Tolkien's environmentalism as seen in "The Lord of the Rings", especially in the chapter "The Scouring of the Shire". One of the first to note this was Paul H. Kocher, who wrote "Tolkien was an ecologist, champion of the extraordinary, hater of 'progress', lover of handicrafts, detester of war long before such attitudes became fashionable." Birns calls the chapter "as much conservationist as it is traditionalist", writing that it presents a strong pro-environmentalist argument in addition to its other themes. Plank describes the chapter's emphasis on the "deterioration of the environment" "quite unusual for its time", with the hobbits returning to the England-like Shire finding needless destruction of the old and beautiful, and its replacement by the new and ugly; pollution of air and water; neglect; "and above all, trees wantonly destroyed". The chapter has been seen as something of a call to arms, a wish to rouse people to environmental action in their "own backyard".

b8f81c97-8453-4492-82f3-b6a4e06a75af

m2d2_wiki

Dune (novel) Dune is a 1965 science-fiction novel by American author Frank Herbert, originally published as two separate serials in "Analog" magazine. It tied with Roger Zelazny's "This Immortal" for the Hugo Award in 1966, and it won the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel. It is the first installment of the "Dune" saga; further, in 2003, it was cited as the world's best-selling science fiction novel. "Dune" is set in the distant future amidst a feudal interstellar society in which various noble houses control planetary fiefs. It tells the story of young Paul Atreides, whose family accepts the stewardship of the planet Arrakis. While the planet is an inhospitable and sparsely populated desert wasteland, it is the only source of melange, or "the spice," a drug that extends life and enhances mental abilities. Melange is also necessary for space navigation, which requires a kind of multidimensional awareness and foresight that only the drug provides. As melange can only be produced on Arrakis, control of the planet is thus a coveted and dangerous undertaking. The story explores the multi-layered interactions of politics, religion, ecology, technology, and human emotion, as the factions of the empire confront each other in a struggle for the control of Arrakis and its spice. Herbert wrote five sequels: "Dune Messiah", "Children of Dune", "God Emperor of Dune", "Heretics of Dune", and "". Alejandro Jodorowsky ("The Holy Mountain", "El Topo") amassed a team of "spiritual warriors" to help him make "Dune" into a film meant to be released in 1975. They worked on the film for two and a half years and with the team, Jodorowsky produced a trove of written and drawn content including a script, hundreds of storyboards, models and stills. Jodorowsky intended to transmit the philosophy of the series to audiences worldwide and for the film to act as a "messiah". Jodorowsky and producer Michel Seydoux could not get studio support to match the film's massive budget. Instead, David Lynch created the 1984 film adaptation. The book was also adapted into the 2000 Sci-Fi Channel miniseries "Frank Herbert's Dune" and its 2003 sequel "Frank Herbert's Children of Dune" (which combines the events of "Dune Messiah" and "Children of Dune"), a series of computer games, a board game, songs, and a series of follow-ups, including prequels and sequels, that were co-written by Kevin J. Anderson and the author's son, Brian Herbert, starting in 1999. A new film adaptation directed by Denis Villeneuve is scheduled to be released on October 1, 2021. Since 2009, the names of planets from the "Dune" novels have been adopted for the real-life nomenclature of plains and other features on Saturn's moon Titan. Origins. After his novel "The Dragon in the Sea" was published in 1957, Herbert traveled to Florence, Oregon, at the north end of the Oregon Dunes. Here, the United States Department of Agriculture was attempting to use poverty grasses to stabilize the sand dunes. Herbert claimed in a letter to his literary agent, Lurton Blassingame, that the moving dunes could "swallow whole cities, lakes, rivers, highways." Herbert's article on the dunes, "They Stopped the Moving Sands", was never completed (and only published decades later in "The Road to Dune") but its research sparked Herbert's interest in ecology. Another significant source of inspiration for Dune was Herbert's experiences with psilocybin and his hobby of cultivating mushrooms, according to mycologist Paul Stamets's account. Herbert spent the next five years researching, writing, and revising. He published a three-part serial "Dune World" in the monthly "Analog", from December 1963 to February 1964. The serial was accompanied by several illustrations that were not published again. After an interval of a year, he published the much slower-paced five-part "The Prophet of Dune" in the January – May 1965 issues. The first serial became "Book 1: Dune" in the final published "Dune" novel, and the second serial was divided into "Book Two: Muad'dib" and "Book Three: The Prophet". The serialized version was expanded, reworked, and submitted to more than twenty publishers, each of whom rejected it. The novel, "Dune", was finally accepted and published in August 1965 by Chilton Books, a printing house better known for publishing auto repair manuals. Herbert dedicated his work "to the people whose labors go beyond ideas into the realm of 'real materials'—to the dry-land ecologists, wherever they may be, in whatever time they work, this effort at prediction is dedicated in humility and admiration." Plot. Duke Leto Atreides of the House Atreides, ruler of the ocean planet Caladan, is assigned by the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV to serve as fief ruler of the planet Arrakis. Arrakis is a harsh and inhospitable desert planet, and the only source of melange, or "the spice", an extremely expensive and exclusive substance that extends human youth, vitality and lifespan—which is the official reason for its high demand in the Empire, and more importantly is also the secret behind the Bene Gesserit and Guild navigators's further increased mental capabilities. Shaddam sees House Atreides as a potential future rival and threat, and conspires with House Harkonnen, the longstanding enemies of House Atreides among the other Great Houses in the Landsraad, to destroy Leto and his family after their arrival on Arrakis. Leto is aware his assignment is a trap of some kind, but cannot refuse. Leto's concubine Lady Jessica is an acolyte of the Bene Gesserit, an exclusively female group that pursues mysterious political aims and wields superhuman physical powers. Though Jessica was instructed by the Bene Gesserit to bear a daughter as part of their breeding program, out of love for Leto she bore a son, Paul. From a young age, Paul has been trained in warfare by Leto's aides, the elite soldiers Duncan Idaho and Gurney Halleck, and the old Mentat Thufir Hawat have prepared him for becoming a future mentat himself if he so desires. Jessica has also trained Paul in what Bene Gesserit disciplines she can. His prophetic dreams interest Jessica's superior, the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam. She subjects Paul to the gom jabbar, a deadly test which causes blinding pain as part of an assessment of the subject's humanity. To her surprise, Paul manages to pass despite being exposed to more pain than any others before him. Leto, Jessica and Paul travel with their household to occupy Arrakeen, the stronghold on Arrakis formerly held by House Harkonnen. Leto learns of the dangers involved in harvesting the spice, which is protected by giant sandworms, and negotiates with the planet's native Fremen people, seeing them as a valuable ally rather than foes. Soon after the Atreides' arrival, Harkonnen forces attack, joined by the Emperor's ferocious Sardaukar troops in disguise. Leto is betrayed by his personal physician, the Suk doctor Wellington Yueh, who delivers a drugged Leto to the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen and his twisted Mentat, Piter De Vries. Yueh, however, arranges for Jessica and Paul to escape into the desert, where they are presumed dead by the Harkonnens. Yueh replaces one of Leto's teeth with a poison capsule, hoping Leto can kill the Baron during their encounter. Yueh is murdered by De Vries upon delivering Leto, while the Baron narrowly avoids the gas, which instead kills Leto and De Vries. The Baron forces Hawat to take over De Vries' position. While he follows the Baron's orders, Hawat works to undermine the Harkonnens. After fleeing into the desert, Paul realizes he has significant powers as a result of the Bene Gesserit breeding scheme, inadvertently caused by Jessica bearing a son and his exposure to high concentrations of melange. He foresees futures in which he lives among the planet's native Fremen, and has a vision where he is informed of the addictive qualities of the spice. It is also revealed Jessica is the daughter of Baron Harkonnen, a secret kept from her by the Bene Gesserit. Paul and Jessica are accepted into the Fremen community of Sietch Tabr, and teach the Fremen the Bene Gesserit fighting technique known as the "weirding way". Paul proves his manhood and chooses the Fremen name Muad'Dib, while Jessica opts to undergo a ritual to become a Reverend Mother by drinking the poisonous Water of Life. Pregnant with Leto's daughter, she inadvertently causes the unborn child, Alia, to become infused with the same powers in the womb. Paul takes a Fremen lover, Chani, and has a son with her, Leto II. Two years pass, and Paul's powerful prescience abilities manifest, which lead the Fremen to consider him as their messiah, due to Bene Gesserit's Missionaria Protectiva. Paul recognizes that the Fremen could be a powerful fighting force to take back Arrakis, but also sees that if he does not control them, their jihad could consume the entire universe. Word of the new Fremen leader reaches both Baron Harkonnen and the Emperor as spice production falls due to their increasingly destructive raids. The Baron encourages his brutish nephew Glossu Rabban to rule with an iron fist, hoping the contrast with his shrewder nephew Feyd-Rautha will make the latter popular among the people of Arrakis when he eventually replaces Rabban. The Emperor, suspecting the Baron of trying to create troops more powerful than the Sardaukar to seize power, sends spies to monitor activity on Arrakis. Hawat uses the opportunity to sow seeds of doubt in the Baron about the Emperor's true plans, putting further strain on their alliance. Gurney Halleck, having survived the Harkonnen coup, reunites with Paul and Jessica. Believing Jessica to be a traitor, Gurney threatens to kill her, but is stopped by Paul. Paul did not foresee Gurney's attack, and concludes he must increase his prescience by drinking the Water of Life, which is fatal to males. Paul falls into unconsciousness for several weeks after drinking the Water, but when he wakes, he has clairvoyance across time and space: he is the Kwisatz Haderach, the ultimate goal of the Bene Gesserit breeding program. Paul senses the Emperor and Baron are amassing fleets around Arrakis to quell the Fremen rebellion, and prepares the Fremen for a major offensive against the Harkonnen troops. The Emperor arrives with the Baron on Arrakis; their combined troops seize a Fremen outpost, killing many including Leto II, while Alia is captured and taken to the Baron. She remains defiant, putting her trust in her brother. Under cover of an electric storm which shorts out the Emperor's troops' defensive shields, Paul and the Fremen, riding giant sandworms, assault the capital while Alia assassinates the Baron and escapes. The Fremen quickly defeat both the Harkonnen and Sardaukar troops. Paul faces the Emperor, threatening to destroy spice production forever unless the Emperor abdicates the throne. Feyd-Rautha attempts to stop Paul by challenging him to a ritualistic knife fight, during which he attempts to cheat and kill Paul with a poison spur in his belt. Paul gains the upper hand and kills him. The Emperor reluctantly cedes the throne to Paul and promises his daughter Princess Irulan's hand in marriage. As Paul takes control of the Empire, he realizes that while he has achieved his goal, he is no longer able to stop the Fremen jihad, as their belief in him is too powerful to restrain. Themes and influences. The "Dune" series is a landmark of soft science fiction. Herbert deliberately suppressed technology in his "Dune" universe so he could address the politics of humanity, rather than the future of humanity's technology. "Dune" considers the way humans and their institutions might change over time. Director John Harrison, who adapted "Dune" for Syfy's 2000 miniseries, called the novel a universal and timeless reflection of "the human condition and its moral dilemmas", and said: Herbert said Paul's messiah figure was inspired by the Arthurian legend, and that the scarcity of water on Arrakis was a metaphor for oil, as well as air and water itself, and for the shortages of resources caused by overpopulation. Novelist Brian Herbert, his son and biographer, wrote: Each chapter of "Dune" begins with an epigraph excerpted from the fictional writings of the character Princess Irulan. In forms such as diary entries, historical commentary, biography, quotations and philosophy, these writings set tone and provide exposition, context and other details intended to enhance understanding of Herbert's complex fictional universe and themes. Brian Herbert wrote: "Dad told me that you could follow any of the novel's layers as you read it, and then start the book all over again, focusing on an entirely different layer. At the end of the book, he intentionally left loose ends and said he did this to send the readers spinning out of the story with bits and pieces of it still clinging to them, so that they would want to go back and read it again." Environmentalism and ecology. "Dune" has been called the "first planetary ecology novel on a grand scale". After the publication of "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson in 1962, science fiction writers began treating the subject of ecological change and its consequences. "Dune" responded in 1965 with its complex descriptions of Arrakis life, from giant sandworms (for whom water is deadly) to smaller, mouse-like life forms adapted to live with limited water. "Dune" was followed in its creation of complex and unique ecologies by other science fiction books such as "A Door into Ocean" (1986) and "Red Mars" (1992). Environmentalists have pointed out that "Dune" popularity as a novel depicting a planet as a complex—almost living—thing, in combination with the first images of Earth from space being published in the same time period, strongly influenced environmental movements such as the establishment of the international Earth Day. Declining empires. Lorenzo DiTommaso compared "Dune" portrayal of the downfall of a galactic empire to Edward Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," which argues that Christianity allied with the profligacy of the Roman elite led to the fall of Ancient Rome. In "History and Historical Effect in Frank Herbert's "Dune"" (1992), DiTommaso outlines similarities between the two works by highlighting the excesses of the Emperor on his home planet of Kaitain and of the Baron Harkonnen in his palace. The Emperor loses his effectiveness as a ruler through an excess of ceremony and pomp. The hairdressers and attendants he brings with him to Arrakis are even referred to as "parasites". The Baron Harkonnen is similarly corrupt and materially indulgent. Gibbon's "Decline and Fall" partly blames the fall of Rome on the rise of Christianity. Gibbon claimed that this exotic import from a conquered province weakened the soldiers of Rome and left it open to attack. Similarly, the Emperor's Sardaukar fighters are little match for the Fremen of Dune because of the Sardaukar's overconfidence and the Fremen's capacity for self-sacrifice. The Fremen put the community before themselves in every instance, while the world outside wallows in luxury at the expense of others. The decline and long peace of the Empire sets the stage for revolution and renewal by genetic mixing of successful and unsuccessful groups through war, a process culminating in the Jihad led by Paul Atreides, described by Frank Herbert as depicting "war as a collective orgasm" (drawing on Norman Walter's 1950 "The Sexual Cycle of Human Warfare"), themes that would reappear in "God Emperor of Dune" Scattering and Leto II's all-female Fish Speaker army. Middle-Eastern and Islamic references. Due to the similarities between some of Herbert's terms and ideas and actual words and concepts in the Arabic language, as well as the series' "Islamic undertones" and themes, a Middle-Eastern influence on Herbert's works has been noted repeatedly. In addition to Arabic, "Dune" derives words and names from multiple other languages, including Hebrew, Navajo, Latin, Chakobsa, the Nahuatl dialect of the Aztecs, Greek, Persian, East Indian, Russian, Turkish, Finnish, and Old English. As a foreigner who adopts the ways of a desert-dwelling people and then leads them in a military capacity, Paul Atreides bears many similarities to the historical T. E. Lawrence. His 1962 biopic "Lawrence of Arabia" has also been identified as a potential influence. Lesley Blanch's novel "The Sabres of Paradise" (1960) has also been identified as a potential influence upon "Dune", with its depiction of Imam Shamil and the Islamic culture of the Caucasus inspiring some of the themes, characters, events and terminology of "Dune". The environment of the desert planet Arrakis was primarily inspired by the hydrocarbon enviroments of the Middle East as well as Mexico. Similarly Arrakis as a bioregion is presented as a particular kind of political site. Herbert has made it resemble a desertified petrostate area. The Fremen people of Arrakis were influenced by the Bedouin tribes of Arabia, and the Mahdi prophecy originates from Islamic eschatology. Gender dynamics. Paul's approach to power consistently requires his upbringing under the matriarchal Bene Gesserit, who operate as a long-dominating shadow government behind all of the great houses and their marriages or divisions. A central theme of the book is the connection, in Jessica's son, of this female aspect with his male aspect. In a Bene Gesserit test early in the book, it is implied that people are generally "inhuman" in that they irrationally place desire over self-interest and reason. This applies Herbert's philosophy that humans are not created equal, while equal justice and equal opportunity are higher ideals than mental, physical, or moral equality. Margery Hourihan called the main character's mother, Jessica, "by far the most interesting character in the novel" and pointed out that while her son approaches a power which makes him almost alien to the reader, she remains human. Throughout the novel, Jessica struggles to maintain power in a male-dominated society, and manages to help her son at key moments in his realization of power. Heroism. Throughout Paul's rise to superhuman status, he follows a plotline common to many stories describing the birth of a hero. He has unfortunate circumstances forced onto him. After a long period of hardship and exile, he confronts and defeats the source of evil in his tale. As such, "Dune" is representative of a general trend beginning in 1960s American science fiction in that it features a character who attains godlike status through scientific means. Eventually, Paul Atreides gains a level of omniscience which allows him to take over the planet and the galaxy, and causes the Fremen of Arrakis to worship him like a god. Author Frank Herbert said in 1979, "The bottom line of the "Dune" trilogy is: beware of heroes. Much better [to] rely on your own judgment, and your own mistakes." He wrote in 1985, ""Dune" was aimed at this whole idea of the infallible leader because my view of history says that mistakes made by a leader (or made in a leader's name) are amplified by the numbers who follow without question." Juan A. Prieto-Pablos says Herbert achieves a new typology with Paul's superpowers, differentiating the heroes of "Dune" from earlier heroes such as Superman, van Vogt's Gilbert Gosseyn and Henry Kuttner's telepaths. Unlike previous superheroes who acquire their powers suddenly and accidentally, Paul's are the result of "painful and slow personal progress." And unlike other superheroes of the 1960s—who are the exception among ordinary people in their respective worlds—Herbert's characters grow their powers through "the application of mystical philosophies and techniques." For Herbert, the ordinary person can develop incredible fighting skills (Fremen, Ginaz swordsmen and Sardaukar) or mental abilities (Bene Gesserit, Mentats, Spacing Guild Navigators). Zen and religion. Early in his newspaper career, Herbert was introduced to Zen by two Jungian psychologists, Ralph and Irene Slattery, who "gave a crucial boost to his thinking". Zen teachings ultimately had "a profound and continuing influence on [Herbert's] work". Throughout the "Dune" series and particularly in "Dune", Herbert employs concepts and forms borrowed from Zen Buddhism. The Fremen are Zensunni adherents, and many of Herbert's epigraphs are Zen-spirited. In ""Dune" Genesis", Frank Herbert wrote: Brian Herbert called the "Dune" universe "a spiritual melting pot", noting that his father incorporated elements of a variety of religions, including Buddhism, Sufi mysticism and other Islamic belief systems, Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, and Hinduism. He added that Frank Herbert's fictional future in which "religious beliefs have combined into interesting forms" represents the author's solution to eliminating arguments between religions, each of which claimed to have "the one and only revelation." "Foundation". Tim O'Reilly suggests that Herbert also wrote "Dune" as a counterpoint to Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" series. In his monograph on Frank Herbert, O'Reilly wrote that ""Dune" is clearly a commentary on the "Foundation" trilogy. Herbert has taken a look at the same imaginative situation that provoked Asimov's classic—the decay of a galactic empire—and restated it in a way that draws on different assumptions and suggests radically different conclusions. The twist he has introduced into "Dune" is that the Mule, not the Foundation, is his hero." Critical reception. "Dune" tied with Roger Zelazny's "This Immortal" for the Hugo Award in 1966, and won the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel. Reviews of the novel have been largely positive, and "Dune" is considered by some critics to be the best science fiction book ever written. The novel has been translated into dozens of languages, and has sold almost 20 million copies. "Dune" has been regularly cited as one of the world's best-selling science fiction novels. Arthur C. Clarke described "Dune" as "unique" and wrote, "I know nothing comparable to it except "Lord of the Rings"." Robert A. Heinlein described the novel as "powerful, convincing, and most ingenious." It was described as "one of the monuments of modern science fiction" by the "Chicago Tribune", and P. Schuyler Miller called "Dune" "one of the landmarks of modern science fiction ... an amazing feat of creation." "The Washington Post" described it as "a portrayal of an alien society more complete and deeply detailed than any other author in the field has managed ... a story absorbing equally for its action and philosophical vistas ... An astonishing science fiction phenomenon." Algis Budrys praised "Dune" for the vividness of its imagined setting, saying "The time lives. It breathes, it speaks, and Herbert has smelt it in his nostrils". He found that the novel, however, "turns flat and tails off at the end. ... [T]ruly effective villains simply simper and melt; fierce men and cunning statesmen and seeresses all bend before this new Messiah". Budrys faulted in particular Herbert's decision to kill Paul's infant son offstage, with no apparent emotional impact, saying "you cannot be so busy saving a world that you cannot hear an infant shriek". After criticizing unrealistic science fiction, Carl Sagan in 1978 listed "Dune" as among stories "that are so tautly constructed, so rich in the accommodating details of an unfamiliar society that they sweep me along before I have even a chance to be critical". "The Louisville Times" wrote, "Herbert's creation of this universe, with its intricate development and analysis of ecology, religion, politics, and philosophy, remains one of the supreme and seminal achievements in science fiction." Writing for "The New Yorker", Jon Michaud praises Herbert's "clever authorial decision" to exclude robots and computers ("two staples of the genre") from his fictional universe, but suggests that this may be one explanation why "Dune" lacks "true fandom among science-fiction fans" to the extent that it "has not penetrated popular culture in the way that "The Lord of the Rings" and "Star Wars" have". Tamara I. Hladik wrote that the story "crafts a universe where lesser novels promulgate excuses for sequels. All its rich elements are in balance and plausible—not the patchwork confederacy of made-up languages, contrived customs, and meaningless histories that are the hallmark of so many other, lesser novels." On November 5, 2019, the "BBC News" listed "Dune" on its list of the 100 most influential novels. First edition prints and manuscripts. The first edition of "Dune" is one of the most valuable in science fiction book collecting, and copies have gone for more than $10,000 at auction. The Chilton first edition of the novel is 9.25 inches tall, with bluish green boards and a price of $5.95 on the dust jacket, and notes Toronto as the Canadian publisher on the copyright page. Up to this point, Chilton had been publishing only automobile repair manuals. California State University, Fullerton's Pollack Library has several of Herbert's draft manuscripts of "Dune" and other works, with the author's notes, in their Frank Herbert Archives. Adaptations. Early stalled attempts. In 1971, the production company Apjac International (APJ) (headed by Arthur P. Jacobs) optioned the rights to film "Dune". As Jacobs was busy with other projects, such as the sequel to "Planet of the Apes", "Dune" was delayed for another year. Jacobs' first choice for director was David Lean, but he turned down the offer. Charles Jarrott was also considered to direct. Work was also under way on a script while the hunt for a director continued. Initially, the first treatment had been handled by Robert Greenhut, the producer who had lobbied Jacobs to make the movie in the first place, but subsequently Rospo Pallenberg was approached to write the script, with shooting scheduled to begin in 1974. However, Jacobs died in 1973. In December 1974, a French consortium led by Jean-Paul Gibon purchased the film rights from APJ, with Alejandro Jodorowsky set to direct. In 1975, Jodorowsky planned to film the story as a 10-hour feature, set to star his own son Brontis Jodorowsky in the lead role of Paul Atreides, Salvador Dalí as Shaddam IV, Padishah Emperor, Amanda Lear as Princess Irulan, Orson Welles as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, Gloria Swanson as Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam, David Carradine as Duke Leto Atreides, Geraldine Chaplin as Lady Jessica, Alain Delon as Duncan Idaho, Hervé Villechaize as Gurney Halleck, Udo Kier as Piter De Vries, and Mick Jagger as Feyd-Rautha. It was at first proposed to score the film with original music by Karlheinz Stockhausen, Henry Cow, and Magma; later on, the soundtrack was to be provided by Pink Floyd. Jodorowsky set up a pre-production unit in Paris consisting of Chris Foss, a British artist who designed covers for science fiction periodicals, Jean Giraud (Moebius), a French illustrator who created and also wrote and drew for "Metal Hurlant" magazine, and H. R. Giger. Moebius began designing creatures and characters for the film, while Foss was brought in to design the film's space ships and hardware. Giger began designing the Harkonnen Castle based on Moebius's storyboards. Dan O'Bannon was to head the special effects department. Dalí was cast as the Emperor. Dalí later demanded to be paid $100,000 per hour; Jodorowsky agreed, but tailored Dalí's part to be filmed in one hour, drafting plans for other scenes of the emperor to use a mechanical mannequin as substitute for Dalí. According to Giger, Dalí was "later invited to leave the film because of his pro-Franco statements". Just as the storyboards, designs, and script were finished, the financial backing dried up. Frank Herbert traveled to Europe in 1976 to find that $2 million of the $9.5 million budget had already been spent in pre-production, and that Jodorowsky's script would result in a 14-hour movie ("It was the size of a phone book", Herbert later recalled). Jodorowsky took creative liberties with the source material, but Herbert said that he and Jodorowsky had an amicable relationship. Jodorowsky said in 1985 that he found the "Dune" story mythical and had intended to recreate it rather than adapt the novel; though he had an "enthusiastic admiration" for Herbert, Jodorowsky said he had done everything possible to distance the author and his input from the project. Although Jodorowsky was embittered by the experience, he said the "Dune" project changed his life, and some of the ideas were used in his and Moebius's "The Incal". O'Bannon entered a psychiatric hospital after the production failed, then worked on 13 scripts, the last of which became "Alien". A 2013 documentary, "Jodorowsky's Dune", was made about Jodorowsky's failed attempt at an adaptation. In 1976, Dino De Laurentiis acquired the rights from Gibon's consortium. De Laurentiis commissioned Herbert to write a new screenplay in 1978; the script Herbert turned in was 175 pages long, the equivalent of nearly three hours of screen time. De Laurentiis then hired director Ridley Scott in 1979, with Rudy Wurlitzer writing the screenplay and H. R. Giger retained from the Jodorowsky production; Scott and Giger had also just worked together on the film "Alien", after O'Bannon recommended the artist. Scott intended to split the novel into two movies. He worked on three drafts of the script, using "The Battle of Algiers" as a point of reference, before moving on to direct another science fiction film, "Blade Runner" (1982). As he recalls, the pre-production process was slow, and finishing the project would have been even more time-intensive: But after seven months I dropped out of "Dune", by then Rudy Wurlitzer had come up with a first-draft script which I felt was a decent distillation of Frank Herbert's. But I also realised "Dune" was going to take a lot more work—at least two and a half years' worth. And I didn't have the heart to attack that because my older brother Frank unexpectedly died of cancer while I was prepping the De Laurentiis picture. Frankly, that freaked me out. So I went to Dino and told him the "Dune" script was his. 1984 film by David Lynch. In 1981, the nine-year film rights were set to expire. De Laurentiis re-negotiated the rights from the author, adding to them the rights to the "Dune" sequels (written and unwritten). After seeing "The Elephant Man", De Laurentiis' daughter Raffaella decided that David Lynch should direct the movie. Around that time Lynch received several other directing offers, including "Return of the Jedi". He agreed to direct "Dune" and write the screenplay even though he had not read the book, known the story, or even been interested in science fiction. Lynch worked on the script for six months with Eric Bergren and Christopher De Vore. The team yielded two drafts of the script before it split over creative differences. Lynch would subsequently work on five more drafts. This first film of "Dune", directed by Lynch, was released in 1984, nearly 20 years after the book's publication. Though Herbert said the book's depth and symbolism seemed to intimidate many filmmakers, he was pleased with the film, saying that "They've got it. It begins as "Dune" does. And I hear my dialogue all the way through. There are some interpretations and liberties, but you're gonna come out knowing you've seen "Dune"." Reviews of the film were not as favorable, saying that it was incomprehensible to those unfamiliar with the book, and that fans would be disappointed by the way it strayed from the book's plot. 2000 miniseries by John Harrison. In 2000, John Harrison adapted the novel into "Frank Herbert's Dune", a miniseries which premiered on the Sci-Fi Channel. As of 2004, the miniseries was one of the three highest-rated programs broadcast on the Sci-Fi Channel. Further film attempts. In 2008, Paramount Pictures announced that they would produce a new film based on the book, with Peter Berg attached to direct. Producer Kevin Misher, who spent a year securing the rights from the Herbert estate, was to be joined by Richard Rubinstein and John Harrison (of both Sci Fi Channel miniseries) as well as Sarah Aubrey and Mike Messina. The producers stated that they were going for a "faithful adaptation" of the novel, and considered "its theme of finite ecological resources particularly timely." Science fiction author Kevin J. Anderson and Frank Herbert's son Brian Herbert, who had together written multiple "Dune" sequels and prequels since 1999, were attached to the project as technical advisors. In October 2009, Berg dropped out of the project, later saying that it "for a variety of reasons wasn't the right thing" for him. Subsequently, with a script draft by Joshua Zetumer, Paramount reportedly sought a new director who could do the film for under $175 million. In 2010, Pierre Morel was signed on to direct, with screenwriter Chase Palmer incorporating Morel's vision of the project into Zetumer's original draft. By November 2010, Morel left the project. Paramount finally dropped plans for a remake in March 2011. 2021 film by Denis Villeneuve. In November 2016, Legendary Entertainment acquired the film and TV rights for "Dune". "Variety" reported in December 2016 that Denis Villeneuve was in negotiations to direct the project, which was confirmed in February 2017. In April 2017, Legendary announced that Eric Roth would write the screenplay. Villeneuve explained in March 2018 that his adaptation will be split into two films, with the first installment scheduled to begin production in 2019. Casting includes Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides, Dave Bautista as Rabban, Stellan Skarsgård as Baron Harkonnen, Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, Charlotte Rampling as Reverend Mother Mohiam, Oscar Isaac as Duke Leto Atreides, Zendaya as Chani, Javier Bardem as Stilgar, Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck, Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho, David Dastmalchian as Piter De Vries, Chang Chen as Dr. Yueh, and Stephen Henderson as Thufir Hawat. Warner Bros. will distribute the film, which was scheduled to be released on December 18, 2020, but was later pushed to October 1, 2021. Audiobook. In 1993, Recorded Books Inc. released a 20-disc audio book narrated by George Guidall. In 2007, Audio Renaissance released an audio book narrated by Simon Vance with some parts performed by Scott Brick, Orlagh Cassidy, Euan Morton, and other performers. Cultural influence. "Dune" has been widely influential, inspiring numerous novels, music, films, television, games, and comic books. It is considered one of the greatest and most influential science fiction novels of all time, with numerous modern science fiction works such as "Star Wars" owing their existence to " Dune". " Dune" has also been referenced in numerous other works of popular culture, including "Star Trek", "Chronicles Of Riddick", "The Kingkiller Chronicle" and "Futurama". "Dune" was cited as a major source of inspiration for Hayao Miyazaki's anime film "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind" (1984). Real world extraterrestrial locations have been named after elements from the novel and its sequels. "Dune" was parodied in 1984's "National Lampoon's Doon" by Ellis Weiner, which William F. Touponce called "something of a tribute to Herbert's success on college campuses", noting that "the only other book to have been so honored is Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings"," which was parodied by "The Harvard Lampoon" in 1969. Games. There have been a number of games based on the book, starting with the strategyadventure game "Dune" (1992). The most important game adaptation is "Dune II" (1992), which established the conventions of modern real-time strategy games and is considered to be among the most influential video games of all time. The online game "Lost Souls" includes "Dune"-derived elements, including sandworms and melange—addiction to which can produce psychic talents. The 2016 game "Enter the Gungeon" features the spice melange as a random item which gives the player progressively stronger abilities and penalties with repeated uses, mirroring the long-term effects melange has on users. Rick Priestley cites "Dune" as a major influence on his 1987 wargame, "Warhammer 40,000". Space exploration. The Apollo 15 astronauts named a small crater on Earth's Moon after the novel during the 1971 mission, and the name was formally adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1973. Since 2009, the names of planets from the "Dune" novels have been adopted for the real-world nomenclature of plains and other features on Saturn's moon Titan.

75925d5d-fe28-4af9-9bc9-e5fe652ab0d0

m2d2_wiki

The Stone Gods (novel) The Stone Gods is a 2007 novel by Jeanette Winterson. It is mainly a post apocalyptic love story concerned with corporate control of government, the harshness of war, and the dehumanization that technology brings, among other themes. The novel is self-referential, where later characters in the story find and read earlier sections of the book itself, and where certain sets of characters’ story arcs repeat, particularly those of a Robo "sapiens" named Spike and her reluctant human companion, Billie. This technique sets the book in the postmodernist genre, though it is mainly used to warn against history’s tendency to repeat itself, as well as humanity’s inability to learn from past mistakes, even when these mistakes repeat across history, planets, and their respective evolutionary timelines. Ursula Le Guin, while criticizing exposition and sentimentality, thought the novel a worthwhile and cautionary tale. Andrew Milner, a literary critic and author of "Science Fiction and Climate Change", notes that this book is an early example of 'doomer' climate fiction.

571e58a5-28f3-4dbd-95c8-77c789523cdb

m2d2_wiki

Hoot (novel) Hoot is a 2002 mystery/suspense novel, recommended for ages 9–12, by Carl Hiaasen. The setting takes place in Florida, where new arrival Roy makes two oddball friends and a bad enemy, and joins an effort to stop construction of a pancake house which would destroy a colony of burrowing owls who live on the site. The book won a Newbery Honor award in 2003. Plot. The main character Roy Eberhardt moves from Montana to Florida and into the fictional town of Coconut Cove, where a 7th grader, Dana Matherson, starts to bully him. On the bus to school, Roy sees a boy running barefoot outside. Roy tries to leave the bus, but Dana viciously chokes and strangles him. He escapes after punching Dana in the face, breaking his nose, and then exiting the bus. However, Roy can't catch the running boy because a golf ball hits Roy in the head. Vice-Principal Viola Hennepin suspends Roy from the bus for two weeks and orders him to write an apology to Dana. Roy calls for a truce, but Dana refuses to accept. A restaurant called Mother Paula's All-American Pancake House decides to build a franchise in Coconut Cove, but vandalism delays the work. Roy learns the running boy is the vandal known as "Mullet Fingers" and they become friends. Mullet Fingers vandalizes and delays construction overseen by Chuck Muckle to save the endangered burrowing owls that live on the site. The construction foreman Leroy "Curly" Branitt denies the owls' existence. Roy helps Mullet Fingers prove otherwise and tells his class including Beatrice Leep about the owls, how construction will kill the endangered species, and encourages them to join him in protests. Roy and his classmates attend the groundbreaking and expose the truth. This includes the company's illegal removal of an environmental impact statement from their files. This revelation saves the owls and their habitat. Mother Paula's All-American Pancake House blames former employees and promises to preserve the property as an owl sanctuary. Muckle is sent to anger management for attacking a reporter. Dana is later arrested and sentenced to a detention camp. Mullet Fingers's mother sees him protesting with Roy and his classmates and goes in front of all the cameras and attempts to hog all the attention. Two days later, Mullet Fingers climbs out his home's bathroom window and is mistaken for a burglar. Mullet Fingers's mother lies to the police and says he stole a very valuable toe ring. They believe her and he's sent to a juvenile detention center where he escapes. In the last chapter, Roy discovers that Mullet Fingers's real name is Napoleon Bridger Leep. Publication history. Carl Hiaasen started writing children's books when he realized that the other novels that he had written were too adult for his nieces and nephews. In writing his first young adult novel, Hiaasen faced some challenges: "The biggest challenge was trying not to subconsciously 'write down' for young readers." Hiaasen said, "When I was creating the character in "Hoot", I'm sure I stole liberally from my pre-adolescence." Themes. The themes in the novel are friendship, teamwork, growing up, corruption, parental love, kinship, environmentalism and integrity. The character goes through different adventures to get here. Critical reception. Horn Book Magazine Reviews said, “Hoot is quintessential Hiaasen … peopled with original and wacky characters… Not consistently a hoot, but worthy of a holler. Hiaasen's first YA book succeeds as a humorous diversion.” "Publishers Weekly" claims that "With a Florida setting and pro-environment, anti-development message, Hiaasen returns to familiar turf for his first novel for young readers… Several suspenseful scenes, along with dollops of humor, help make this quite a hoot indeed." Adaptations. A film adaptation of the book was released in May 2006, starring Luke Wilson as Officer Delinko, Logan Lerman as Roy Eberhart, Brie Larson as Beatrice Leep, Tim Blake Nelson as Leroy Brannit, Neil Flynn as Mr. Eberhart, Robert Wagner as Mayor Grandy, Cody Linley as Napoleon Leep, and Clark Gregg as Chuck Muckle while Hiaasen portrays Muckle's assistant Felix. Hiaasen and Wil Shriner, the director and script-writer, "fought long and hard to stay truthful to the book."

ac121005-52e9-49a0-9fe4-797976b7c60f

m2d2_wiki

The Overstory The Overstory is a novel by Richard Powers published in 2018 by W. W. Norton & Company. It is Powers' twelfth novel. The novel is about five trees whose unique life experiences with nine Americans bring them together to address the destruction of forests. Powers was inspired to write the work while teaching at Stanford University after he encountered giant redwood trees for the first time. "The Overstory" was a contender for multiple awards. "The Overstory" was shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker Prize on September 20, 2018. It was awarded the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction on April 15, 2019. and the William Dean Howells Medal in 2020. However, critical reviews of the novel were mixed, with critiques of the character plots and melodrama, alongside praise of the structure, writing and compelling reading experience. Patricia Westerford, one of the novel's central characters, was heavily inspired by the life and work of forest ecologist Dr. Suzanne Simard. Plot. Nicholas Hoel, Mimi Ma, Adam Appich, Ray Brinkman, Dorothy Cazaly, Douglas Pavlicek, Neelay Mehta, Patricia Westerford, and Olivia Vandergriff are people who had unique relationships with trees which occasionally led to tragedy or salvation. Patricia Westerford recognizes that trees are social organisms rather than isolated ones and presents research to prove this; however, she is ridiculed for being "unscientific." Later, scientists will realize that she was right and give her international recognition, but she has been disillusioned from this world and prefers to study old forest growth on her own instead. To share her research, she publishes a widely successful book about trees. Neelay Mehta loves coding and embraces how insignificant he is. However, while working on a surprise coding project for his father during class, his teacher takes his project notes away from him. He desperately wants his notes back and accidentally curses the teacher, which prompts his teacher to threaten him. Scared of the consequences of insulting a white woman as an Indian child, he climbs a tree to escape reality briefly, but falls out and paralyzes himself. After paralysis, he is able to spend all day programming and initially develops open source games in a world of for-profit video games, like Robin Hood. Eventually, he becomes so successful he starts a video game company too. Adam Appich is a curious psychology student with an unfortunate childhood. On the last day of his psychology seminar, his professor begins having a seizure. Thinking he is demonstrating the bystander effect, no one rises to help him, and the professor dies. In 1989, when Olivia Vandergriff is one semester away from finishing college, she gets high and is accidentally electrocuted, briefly dying. Upon being revived, she comes to believe that higher powers are trying to give her a message. After seeing a news story about a group of activists trying to protect the remaining 3% of giant redwood trees, she decides that her purpose is to join them. On her way there, she meets Nicholas Hoel, now 35 years old, and at a loss of what to do with his life as the life insurance money he lived on is gone. He has sold the Hoel farm, the Hoel tree is dying, and his art is a commercial failure. After talking to Olivia, he decides to join her in her mission. At the same time, in Portland, Oregon, Mimi Ma, the daughter of a Chinese engineer who dies by suicide, is rising up the corporate ladder when she sees that a small group of trees by her building are scheduled to be destroyed by the city. She contemplates attending a town hall meeting to protest their removal but before she can, the city cuts down the trees in the night. Douglas Pavlicek, a veteran who has spent 5 years of his life replanting trees for major companies only to become disillusioned when he discovers that his work actually enables additional logging of old-growth stands, walks by the trees and sees them being cut down. He tries to prevent their destruction and is arrested. When he returns to the trees he is confronted by Mimi Ma, who quickly realizes he is not a city employee but an environmentalist. The two band together to start joining in protests against environmental destruction. Nick and Olivia join a group of nonviolent radicals and give themselves "tree" names, Nick becoming Watchman and Olivia being Maidenhair. When they are asked to tree sit in a giant redwood called Mimas for two weeks, Olivia leaps at the chance. Their stay ends up lasting for more than a year, during which they watch as the forest around them is clear-cut. They are eventually joined by Adam Appich, who is doing a thesis on environmentalists. The night he is there Nick and Olivia are finally forced out of the tree and arrested so Mimas can be cut down. Nick and Olivia decide to do more work in Oregon. Mimi Ma and Douglas continue going to protests where they are brutalized by the police and arrested. Mimi is eventually fired from her job and, like Douglas, becomes a full-time activist. Changed by his time with Olivia and Nick, Adam goes to Oregon to rejoin them, and meets Mimi Ma, now going by the name Mulberry, and Douglas, going by Doug-fir, who are part of the same activist camp. He stays with them a month and they believe that they are finally achieving something until their camp is destroyed by the forest authorities and law enforcement. In the altercation Mimi and Douglas are both badly injured. In retaliation the group sets fire to logging equipment. Pleased by the results, they set two more fires intending the third to be their final act. During the final arson Olivia is injured and dies, and the four remaining activists burn her body and scatter. The fire is deemed the work of a crazed killer and the logging continues. Mimi Ma sells a priceless heirloom her father passed down, which ensures that she can reinvent herself. Nick becomes a vagrant, Douglas a BLM ranger, and Adam returns to academia. Patricia Westerford is developing a seed bank to preserve tree species before they become extinct. However, she becomes hopeless as she realizes that no one will take conservation seriously enough. Even though many are turning to technology to protect the environment, she believes the most effective conservation technology has already been invented: trees. Neelay Mehta becomes the head of a successful video game company, but he would rather explore the world in his own video games and create new worlds than run it. Soon, he comes up with the idea to make his video game emulate the real natural world, a simulation that contains every species in existence and limited resources. However, his board calls this idea crazy and he is voted off. He wishes to hear the dendrologist, Patricia Westerford, speak to recenter his life. Dorothy and Ray are united by their love for adventure and get married. Ray is a successful lawyer, however, Dorothy begins getting bored in married life, especially since she cannot have children, which Ray wants. She has an extramarital affair and Ray becomes paralyzed from stroke. However, as she helps him recover, she ends her affair and rejuvenate her connection with Ray, even though he cannot speak. They realize that trees are treated as property, with no one to fight for them in court, but they are living too. To them, humans are simply pesky, short-lived bugs. In the end, they have children together, trees. Douglas is still haunted by what happened and writes down everything in his journal using everyone's forest names. Nevertheless, his journal is discovered and the FBI arrests him. In order to protect Mimi Ma he decides to give up one name and goes to New York City where he locates Adam and reminisces with him about the fire. Fingered by Douglas, Adam is arrested and sentenced to 140 years in prison, which strikes him as a small price to pay as it is barely any time in tree life. Mimi Ma, who is now living and working as an unconventional unlicensed therapist of sorts, hears about the arrests and realizes that Douglas turned in Adam to protect her. Westerford, now an acclaimed scientist, is invited to a environmental technology conference to speak. She is about to commit suicide for the trees in front of an audience that doesn't do anything to stop her, until Neelay waves his hands to stop her. She finishes her speech by toasting, "To unsuicide!" Living in the forest, Nick creates a giant message from branches and dead logs that can be read from space. He is helped in this project by a Native American man who happens to be passing by, and later by some of the man's family. The message, which reads "Still," will be legible from space for 200 years before it is absorbed into the forest. Television adaptation. In February 2021, it was reported that Netflix was in developing a television adaptation of novel. It will be executive produced by David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, and Hugh Jackman. Reception. "The Atlantic" called the novel "darkly optimistic" for taking the long view that humanity was doomed while trees are not. "The Guardian" was mixed on the novel, with one review claiming that Powers mostly succeeded in conjuring "narrative momentum out of thin air, again and again"; another reviewer excoriated the novel as being an "increasingly absurd melodrama." "Library Journal" called the book "a deep meditation on the irreparable psychic damage that manifests in our unmitigated separation from nature". Ron Charles of "The Washington Post" offered up effusive praise, writing that this "ambitious novel soars up through the canopy of American literature and remakes the landscape of environmental fiction."

4ff20242-2cb6-4d55-87f7-46927999736a

m2d2_wiki

Oryx and Crake Oryx and Crake is a 2003 novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood. She has described the novel as "speculative fiction" and "adventure romance", rather than pure science fiction, because it does not deal with things "we can't yet do or begin to do", yet goes beyond the amount of realism she associates with the novel form. It focuses on a lone character called Snowman, who finds himself in a bleak situation with only creatures called Crakers to keep him company. The reader learns of his past, as a boy called Jimmy, and of genetic experimentation and pharmaceutical engineering that occurred under the purview of Jimmy's peer, Glenn "Crake". The book was first published by McClelland and Stewart. It was shortlisted for the 2003 Man Booker Prize for Fiction, as well as for the 2004 Orange Prize for Fiction. "Oryx and Crake" is the first of the MaddAddam trilogy, followed by "The Year of the Flood" (2009) and "MaddAddam" (2013). Plot summary. The novel focuses on a character called "Snowman", living in a post-apocalyptic world near a group of primitive human-like creatures whom he calls "Crakers". Flashbacks reveal that Snowman was once a boy named Jimmy who grew up in a world dominated by multinational corporations and privileged compounds for the families of their employees. Near starvation, Snowman decides to return to the ruins of a compound named RejoovenEsense to search for supplies, even though it is overrun by dangerous genetically engineered hybrid animals. He concocts an explanation for the Crakers, who regard him as a teacher, and begins his foraging expedition. In Snowman's recollection of past events, Jimmy's family moves to the HelthWyzer compound, where his father works as a genetic engineer. Jimmy meets and befriends a brilliant science student named Glenn. Jimmy begins to refer to him as Crake when he uses that name in an online trivia game called "Extinctathon". Jimmy and Crake spend much of their leisure time playing online games, smoking "skunkweed", and watching underground videos such as live executions, graphic surgery, Noodie News, frog squashing, and child pornography. During one of their child pornography viewings, Jimmy is very much lovestruck by the gazing eyes of a young girl seen in the porn. After graduating from high school, Crake attends the highly respected Watson–Crick Institute, where he studies advanced bioengineering, but Jimmy ends up at the loathed Martha Graham Academy, where students study humanities, only valued for their propaganda applications. Jimmy gets a job writing ad copy, while Crake becomes a bioengineer at RejoovenEsense. Crake uses his prominent position to create the Crakers, peaceful, gentle, herbivorous humanoids, who have sexual intercourse only during limited polyandrous breeding seasons. His stated purpose for the Crakers, actually a deliberate deception, is to create "floor models" of all the possible options a family could choose in the genetic manipulation of their future children. Crake's bio-engineering team consists of the most expert players gathered from the online "Extinctathon" community. Crake tells Jimmy about another very important project, a Viagra-like super-pill called BlyssPluss, which also promises health and happiness, but secretly causes sterilization in order to address overpopulation. Crake officially hires Jimmy to help market it. At the Rejoov compound, Jimmy eventually sees a human in the Craker habitat and recognizes her as the girl from the pornographic video. Unaware of Jimmy's obsession with her, Crake explains that her name is Oryx and that he has hired her as a teacher for the Crakers. Oryx notices Jimmy's feelings for her and makes herself sexually available to him, despite also being Crake's romantic partner. As their relationship progresses, Jimmy becomes increasingly fearful that Crake has found out about it. He also makes a promise to both Oryx and Crake that he will look after the Crakers if anything happens to them. After Crake's wonder drug BlyssPluss is widely distributed, a global pandemic, deliberately caused by it, breaks out and begins wiping out the human race and causing mass chaos outside of the protected Rejoov compound. Realizing that this was planned by Crake all along, and sensing that something dangerous is happening regarding Crake and Oryx, Jimmy grabs a gun to confront Crake, who is returning with Oryx from outside the compound and needs Jimmy to let them in. Crake presents himself to Jimmy with his arm around an unconscious Oryx, saying that he and Jimmy are immune to the virus. Jimmy lets them in, whereupon Crake slits Oryx's throat with a knife. Jimmy then immediately shoots Crake dead. During Snowman's journey to scavenge supplies, he cuts his foot on a sliver of glass and becomes infected. He returns to the Crakers' camp and learns that three other humans are camping nearby. Snowman follows the smoke to their fire. Snowman is unsure of whether and how to confront them, but makes a decision. Beginnings. Margaret Atwood started writing the novel much earlier than she expected, while still on a book tour for her previous novel, "The Blind Assassin". In March 2001, Atwood found herself in the Northern region of Australia, birdwatching with her partner during a break from the book tour. Here, while watching the red-necked crakes in their natural habitat, she was struck with inspiration for the story. However, Atwood explained that the work was also a product of her lingering thoughts on such a scenario throughout her life, as well as spending a great amount of time with scientists throughout her childhood. She stated Several of my close relatives are scientists, and the main topic at the annual family Christmas dinner is likely to be intestinal parasites or sex hormones in mice, or, when that makes the non-scientists too queasy, the nature of the Universe. Atwood continued to write the novel through the summer of 2001 while visiting the Arctic North, witnessing global warming's effect on the region. However, shaken by the September 11 attacks, she stopped writing for a few weeks in the autumn, saying, "It's deeply unsettling when you're writing about a fictional catastrophe and then a real one happens". However, with the looming questions of the end, Atwood finished the novel for release in 2003. These questions in "Oryx and Crake", Atwood explained, are "simply, What if we continue down the road we're already on? How slippery is the slope? What are our saving graces? Who's got the will to stop us?" Allusions and references. To other works. The cover of some editions contains a portion of the left panel of Hieronymous Bosch's painting "The Garden of Earthly Delights". The cover of other editions contains a modified portion of Lucas Cranach the Elder's painting "The Fall". In the first chapter, Snowman utters a reference from Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five": "It is the strict adherence to daily routine that tends towards the maintenance of good morale and the preservation of sanity," he says out loud. He has the feeling he's quoting from a book, some obsolete, ponderous directive written in aid of European colonials running plantations of one kind or another. One of Snowman's musings, "Now I'm alone [...] All, all alone. Alone on a wide, wide sea" is an allusion to part four of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner". In chapter 5 (sub section Bottle) is "Out, out, brief candle" from Shakespeare's Macbeth. Crake finds as Hamlet does, that his father was probably killed by his mother and step father. Like Hamlet he plots to avenge him. To popular culture. In "Margaret Atwood, Transhumanism, and the Singularity", "Sobriquet Magazine" identified several possible pop cultural references in "Oryx and Crake": the world Atwood imagines in "Oryx and Crake" is hardly that far-fetched, especially online. The exhibitionistic website At Home With Anna K, for instance, is almost certainly a reference to Ana Voog's AnaCam and the lifecasting movement pioneered by Jennifer Ringley and her now-defunct JenniCam website. Likewise, many of the other fictional websites Jimmy and Crake visit in the novel have real-life analogues: Felicia's Frog Squash is essentially a crush porn portal, the premise of dirtysockpuppets.com recalls ITV's Spitting Image programme, Queek Geek sounds an awful lot like Fear Factor, and the concept of watching assisted suicides on nitee-nite.com was actualized in our world when Craig Ewert allowed his death in Switzerland to be documented by Sky TV for their controversial "Right to Die" documentary. Even the seemingly far-fetched idea of broadcasting live executions (which Jimmy and Crake watch on shortcircuit.com, brainfrizz.com, and deathrowlive.com) has already been discussed, with a high percentage of the U.S. population receptive to the concept. To scientific history. The book alludes to green fluorescent protein multiple times in the book. The Children of Crake are described having green eyes from a jellyfish protein, indicating that Crake used this gene in their creation. Green rabbits are wild animals in this world, alluding to Alba, a rabbit created by the scientist Louis-Marie Houdebine with the gfp gene in order to glow green. Critical reception. The book received mostly favourable reviews in the press. "The Globe and Mail", "Maclean's", and the "Toronto Star" ranked the novel high among Atwood's works and Helen Brown, for the "Daily Telegraph", wrote "The bioengineered apocalypse she imagines is impeccably researched and sickeningly possible: a direct consequence of short-term science outstripping long-term responsibility. And just like the post-nuclear totalitarian vision of "The Handmaid's Tale", this story is set in a society readers will recognise as only a few steps ahead of our own." For "The New Yorker", Lorrie Moore called the novel "towering and intrepid". Moore wrote, "Tonally, 'Oryx and Crake' is a roller-coaster ride. The book proceeds from terrifying grimness, through lonely mournfulness, until, midway, a morbid silliness begins sporadically to assert itself, like someone, exhausted by bad news, hysterically succumbing to giggles at a funeral." Joyce Carol Oates noted that the novel is "more ambitious and darkly prophetic" than "The Handmaid's Tale". Oates called the work an "ambitiously concerned, skillfully executed performance". Joan Smith, writing for "The Observer", faulted the novel's uneven construction and lack of emotional depth. She concluded: "In the end, Oryx and Crake is a parable, an imaginative text for the anti-globalisation movement that does not quite work as a novel." In a review of "The Year of the Flood", Ursula K. Le Guin defended the novel against criticism of its characters by suggesting the novel experiments with components of morality plays. On 5 November 2019, the "BBC News" listed "Oryx and Crake" on its list of the 100 most influential novels. Sequels. "The Year of the Flood" was released on 7 September 2009 in the United Kingdom, and 22 September 2009 in Canada and the United States. Though chronicling a different set of characters, the follow-up expands upon and clarifies the relationships of Crake with Oryx and Jimmy with his high school girlfriend Ren. Glenn makes a brief appearance. It also identifies the three characters introduced at the end of the original, and finishes the cliffhanger ending. The third book in the series, "MaddAddam", was published in August 2013. TV adaptation. Darren Aronofsky's company Protozoa Pictures were developing a television adaptation of the entire MaddAddam trilogy, under the working title "MaddAddam". Aronofsky was to serve as executive producer and possibly director, with the script written by playwright Eliza Clark. The project was formerly being developed for HBO; in 2016 Aronofsky said that the network was no longer attached, but confirmed that the scripts were written and the project was still underway. In January 2018, Paramount Television and Anonymous Content announced they had won the bidding war for rights to Atwood's MaddAddam book trilogy and plan to bring the series to cable or video on demand. No network has yet agreed to carry the series.

6dc8b3d8-784e-4d0e-b18e-e8386d4e934e

m2d2_wiki

Lullaby (Palahniuk novel) Lullaby is a horror-satire novel by American author Chuck Palahniuk, published in 2002. It won the 2003 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award, and was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel in 2002. Plot summary. Newspaper reporter Carl Streator has been assigned to write articles on a series of cases of sudden infant death syndrome, from which his own child had died. Carl discovers that his wife and child had died immediately after he read them a "culling song", or African chant, from a book entitled "Poems and Rhymes Around the World". During his investigations into other SIDS cases, he finds that a copy of the book was at the scene of each death. In every case, the book was open to a page that contained the culling song. As Carl learns, the rhyme has the power to kill anyone it is spoken to. Because of the stress of Carl's life, the deadly rhyme becomes unusually powerful, allowing him to kill by only thinking the poem. Carl unintentionally memorizes the rhyme and semi-voluntarily becomes a serial killer who makes people die over minor annoyances. Carl turns to Helen Hoover Boyle, a real estate agent who has also found the rhyme in the same book and knows of its destructive power. While she is unable to help him stop using the rhyme, she is willing to help him stop anyone else from being able to use it again. The two of them decide to go on a road trip across the country to find all remaining copies of the book and destroy the page containing the rhyme. They are joined by Helen's hippie assistant, Mona "Mulberry" Sabbat, and Mona's boyfriend, a nihilistic environmentalist named Oyster. Carl now must not only deal with the dangers of the rhyme, but with the risk of it falling into the hands of Oyster, who may want to use it for sinister purposes. In addition to tracking down and destroying any copy of the rhyme, the foursome hope to find a "grimoire", a hypothesized spellbook which also contains the rhyme. Carl wants to destroy it, believing that the knowledge contained in it is too dangerous, while the others in his group want to learn what other spells it contains—partly in the hope that there is a spell to resurrect the dead. The group eventually abandons Oyster on the side of the highway after he assaults Helen in an attempt to learn the rhyme. Mona eventually realizes that the datebook Helen had been carrying throughout the trip is the grimoire they had been looking for, written in invisible ink. Helen had acquired it years earlier in the estate of the publisher of "Poems and Rhymes Around the World", whom she had killed with the rhyme as revenge for the deaths of her husband and child. Initially, Mona attempts to persuade Helen and Carl to allow her to translate the grimoire, but they are distrustful of her relationship with Oyster, leaving Mona infuriated. Helen, utilizing the resources she obtained from the publisher's estate, translates the book. In addition to the culling song, the grimoire is found to contain other spells. Carl and Helen have a romantic moment where they declare their love for each other, but Carl later is left skeptical of the relationship after Mona convinces him that Helen was using a love spell from the grimoire to control him. After confronting Helen about the accusation, Carl decides to kill Nash, a paramedic to whom he inadvertently gave knowledge of the rhyme. Nash uses the rhyme to kill beautiful models in order to have sex with their corpses. After his confrontation with Nash, Carl surrenders himself to the police and is placed in a maximum security prison. During a rectal exam, the police sergeant asks him if "he is up for a quickie"; to Carl's astonishment Helen has used the grimoire to possess the officer's body and helps Carl escape. During this time Oyster steals the grimoire (with the exception of the culling song) with the help of Mona and uses it to possess Helen and commit suicide. With her last amount of energy Helen possesses the police sergeant and joins Carl to kill Mona and Oyster, who have been using the spells to advance their extremist views. Structure. "Lullaby" uses a framing device, alternating between the normal, linear narrative and the temporal end after every few chapters. Palahniuk often uses this format alongside a major plot twist near the end of the book which relates in some way to this temporal end (what Palahniuk refers to as "the hidden gun"). "Lullaby" starts with Mr. Streator talking to the reader, narrating where he is today and why he is going to tell us the backstory that will give us perspective on his current situation. "Still, this isn't a story about here and now. Me, the Sarge, the Flying Virgin. Helen Hoover Boyle. What I'm writing is the story of how we met. How we got here". This present tense information that makes this book a "frame story" is incorporated every few chapters as its own chapter, entirely italicized. Palahniuk uses these segments as a way to set up his "hidden gun" and as a means to foreshadow where the story is going. His present seems disconnected from the past that he narrates throughout the rest of the novel. The final chapter concludes in the present, providing the puzzle-piece that strings together all the events and makes sense out of the backstory and their current workings searching for "phenomenons". Background. In 1999, Chuck's father, Fred Palahniuk, began dating an Idaho woman named Donna Fontaine. Fontaine had recently put her ex-husband Dale Shackleford in prison for sexual abuse. Shackleford had vowed to kill Fontaine as soon as he was released. After his release, Shackleford followed Fred Palahniuk and Fontaine home from a date to her apartment in Kendrick, Idaho. After shooting Fred Palahniuk in the abdomen and Fontaine in the back of the neck, Shackleford left them to die, though he allegedly returned to the scene multiple times to attempt to start a fire large enough to destroy the evidence. After Shackleford's arrest, Chuck Palahniuk was asked to be part of the decision as to whether Shackleford would receive the death sentence. Palahniuk had worked in a hospital and as a crime reporter and struggled with his stance on capital punishment. Over the next few months he began working on "Lullaby". According to him it was a way to cope with the decision he had to make regarding Shackleford's death. In the spring of 2001 Shackleford was found guilty for two counts of murder in the first degree. A month after Palahniuk finished "Lullaby", Shackleford was sentenced to death. Film adaptation Kickstarter campaign. On May 17, 2016, a Kickstarter campaign was launched aimed at adapting the novel "Lullaby" into a feature film. The film will be directed by Andy Mingo, who previously directed the short film "Romance", based on Palahniuk's short story of the same name originally published in "Playboy Magazine". The adaptation is Palahniuk's first screenwriting endeavor, as he and Mingo have co-written the script together. In May 2020, Chuck Palahniuk disavowed the project in a tweet that he went on to delete: "Chuck, here. I've lost faith in Andy Mingo's ability to create a film from LULLABY (@LullabyMov), and I call for him to explain where he's spent the money given by project supporters to date. I regret supporting his efforts and hope he can restore everyone's trust." Despite raising more than $405,000, no action on the project has occurred as of August 2020. In September 2020, the Kickstarter organizers insisted "Chuck is still in ... According to his manager, there was a miscommunication between him and his manager. Another book that Chuck optioned expired. For some reason, he thought it was our project and posted the tweet in response. Realizing his mistake, he deleted the tweet." In popular culture. American punk rock band Lagwagon's song "Lullaby" was inspired by this novel. Almost every phrase from the lyrics can be found in the book. British band The Bluetones's song "Culling Song" from the album "A New Athens" makes reference to the Culling Song from this book.

64f8b2d1-4538-4a08-986c-c2010fee93fb

m2d2_wiki

Gaia Girls Gaia Girls is the title of the seven-book series of children's books by Lee Welles, published by Chelsea Green Publishing in Vermont. It focuses on the dying earth, personified as Gaia, and girls with the powers to control the elements. The first book in the series, "Enter the Earth" (), has won several awards, including the Independent Publisher Book Award for 2007. The books. There are currently two published books in the series.

0fa7bc61-c9d3-4e05-bd8f-579d1430217b

m2d2_wiki

Sooper Yooper Sooper Yooper is a series of children’s books created by writer Mark Newman and artist Mark Heckman. The books chronicle the work of environmental superhero Billy Cooper, who defends the Great Lakes from invasive species from his headquarters in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where residents are called Yoopers (derived from “U.P.-ers”). History. Mark Heckman and Mark Newman met while working on a regional sports magazine in 1988. With a shared perspective of the world at large, the pair joined forces on a variety of projects, mostly billboards with social or environmental themes, during their 22-year creative partnership before Heckman’s death in 2010. Racism, AIDS, homelessness, pollution and a number of water-related issues were among the topics addressed in their art-based works. Examples of their efforts include “Afro Country Club,” a billboard for a fictitious all-black country club to highlight racism; and “The Bum Rap,” a billboard which employed rap lyrics to call attention to the plight of the homeless. Heckman’s AIDS billboard used 2,001 condoms dipped in paint to create greater awareness of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome. After talking a number of years about writing a children’s book together, the two men collaborated on "Sooper Yooper: Environmental Defender", published by Thunder Bay Press and the Wege Foundation. In 2012, Newman wrote and illustrated its sequel, "Sooper Yooper: The Quest of the Blue Crew", published by Green Junction Press and the Wege Foundation. A prequel, "Sooper Yooper: H20", is planned for late 2016. Characters and themes. Billy Cooper is an ex-Navy SEAL, who is determined to do whatever he can about the increasing threats to the Great Lakes he loves. With his sidekick Mighty Mac, an English bulldog, at his side, Cooper enlists the help of a green-minded philanthropist known as The Wedge to aid him in his efforts to defend the Great Lakes from invasive species and other environmental dangers. Cooper is not a typical crime fighter. The authors chose to give the main character no apparent superpowers in order to underscore their contention that “the average person – not someone endowed with X-ray vision or superhuman strength – can make a difference and help safeguard the planet.” The Blue Crew is composed of super scientists based on the work of real-life biologists and invasive species experts, their teamwork emphasizing themes of cooperation and collaboration. School program. Since the release of the first book in 2010, Newman has embarked on a lengthy tour of schools in states that border the Great Lakes, including Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin as well as the Canadian province of Ontario. Through the first six years of the Sooper Yooper tour, Newman has spoken to 135,875 students at 536 schools. His program includes a number of scientific specimen as examples, including sea lamprey, zebra mussel, Eurasian watermilfoil, rusty crayfish, emerald ash borer and spiny water fleas.

3287477a-0173-4bea-8197-adaa3c05c2b2

m2d2_wiki

A Friend of the Earth A Friend of the Earth is a 2000 novel by T. Coraghessan Boyle. The novel is a story of environmental destruction set in 2025; as a result of global warming and the greenhouse effect, the climate has drastically changed, and, accordingly, biodiversity is a thing of the past. America in 2025. Due to habitat loss, many animal species have become extinct, but the flora has also considerably suffered. Many foods, including beef, eggs, beer, etc., are no longer readily available. Instead, rice is grown everywhere, and sake is the only alcoholic beverage available. Other vegetables are grown in domed fields. El Niño has become an everyday companion of the inhabitants of the United States: strong winds are continuously blowing, and there is heavy rainfall for several months every year. In the dry season, it is unbearably hot. Helpful medicines have been found in the rainforest, including cures for cancer. Deforestation has occurred for two reasons: (a) the storms, which have uprooted whole forests; and, (b) the timber industry's limitless destruction of primeval forests all over the world, including the tropical rainforest. On top of it all, modern science has invented many artificial ways to prolong human life (for example, there are TV ads for organ transplants), and longevity among humans is now a fact with life expectancy having climbed to over the 100-year mark. Consequently, the world is massively overpopulated. In the US, what used to be unspoiled nature is now residential areas, with condominiums having sprung up everywhere. Inside these condos, people who do not care about the environment live their lives in front of their computers and televisions. At no point in the novel does Boyle enter into a discussion of the political situation, but there are various hints hidden in the text which tell us that the social security system has crumbled and that many older Americans are left to their own devices, without a regular income, many of them seemingly even without a roof over their heads. Plot summary. "A Friend of the Earth" is the story of Tyrone O'Shaughnessy Tierwater, a U.S. citizen born in 1950, half Irish Catholic and half Jewish ("I'm a mess and I know it. Jewish guilt, Catholic guilt, enviro-eco-capitalistico guilt: I can't even expel gas in peace."), whose personal tragedy fits in with, and adds to, the gloomy atmosphere created in the novel. Egged on by Andrea, the woman he loves, he becomes a committed "Earth Forever!" activist (an allusion to the radical environmental group Earth First!) in the 1980s, is imprisoned for ecotage, but eventually cannot change anything. On top of that, he suffers the loss of his first wife when their daughter is only three and of his daughter when she is only 25. When the novel opens, Tierwater is a 75-year-old disillusioned ex-con living on the estate of a famous pop star in the Santa Ynez Valley, north of Santa Barbara, in California and looking after the latter's private menagerie. Maclovio Pulchris, the singer, has had the idea of preserving some of the last surviving animals of several species in order to initiate a captive breeding programme at some later point in time, choosing to preserve the animals no one else would. Tierwater has been working for Pulchris ("Mac") for ten years when, in 2025, Andrea, his ex-wife and stepmother to his daughter Sierra, contacts him after more than 20 years. She and a friend of hers, April Wind, move in with Tierwater, officially for April Wind to write a biography, or rather hagiography, of Sierra Tierwater, his daughter, who died in 2001 as a martyr to the environmentalist cause falling off a tree in old growth woodland in which she has been living for about three years.) In the course of the next few months the situation deteriorates even more. The rain and the wind destroy the animals' cages, and subsequently they have to be kept in Pulchris's basement. One morning one of the lions gets loose and attacks and kills the singer, as well as a number of employees. As a consequence, the other lions are shot—and thus lions as a species become extinct. (There is just one surviving lion in the San Diego Zoo left.) Jobless and penniless, Tierwater, who has fallen in love all over again with Andrea, is evicted from the estate by Pulchris's heirs. Along with Andrea, Tyrone leaves the compound, heading for a mountain cabin owned by Earth Forever! somewhere in the forest which decades ago served as a hideout. They arrive there with only one of Pulchris's animals in tow: Petunia, the Patagonian fox, which they now keep as their domestic animal, passing it off as their dog. In the final scene of the book, a teenaged girl comes hiking along the trail where the forest surrounding the dilapidated cabin would have been. Tierwater and Andrea, who again call themselves husband and wife now, have a glimmer of hope that life will soon be like life 30 years before, as the novel ends on an optimistic note. Intertextual references. Some of the icons of the environmental movement mentioned in the text: Allusions/references to other works. Allusions to other novels by T.C. Boyle:

b3bb269d-b27e-41f2-bc8a-8789931e3613

m2d2_wiki

The Sheep Look Up The Sheep Look Up is a science fiction novel by British author John Brunner, first published in 1972. The novel is decidedly dystopian; the book deals with the deterioration of the environment in the United States. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1972. The novel is the third in Brunner's "Club of Rome Quartet", each novel dealing with a separate social issue. "The Sheep Look Up" explores a future dystopia occurring as a result of rampant consumerism and pollution. It succeeds 1968's Stand on Zanzibar (overpopulation) and 1969's The Jagged Orbit (racial tension and violence), and precedes 1975's Shockwave Rider (technology and future shock) in the book series. Background. The novel takes place in an unspecified year in the near-future (at one point said to be in the 1980s, roughly a decade after the novel's publication). Human activities have resulted in wholesale destruction of the environment. Water pollution is so severe that "don't drink" notices are frequently issued. Household water filters are popular items. Air pollution has reached the point that people in urban areas can't go outside without wearing air masks. The fumes left behind by aircraft are such that it causes air sickness in planes trailing behind. California is blanketed by a thick layer of smog that prevents the sun from shining through. Acid rain forces people to cover themselves in plastic so that their clothes don't get ruined. The sea has become so polluted and the beaches so strewn with garbage, that people now vacation in the mountains. Coastal waters are mostly covered by a stinky, oily film made up of sewage, detergents, industrial effluent, and cellulose microfibers. The Mediterranean Sea is poisoned beyond recovery, leading to war, famine, and civil unrest in the surrounding countries. The Baltic, Great Lakes, and Caspian are also described as being poisoned. The use of defoliants and herbicides leads to the Mekong Delta becoming a desert. The heavy use of chemicals has made large swathes of farmland unsuitable for growing anything, resulting in higher food prices. Many animal species and surface sea fish are on the brink of extinction, while birds are not as common as before, the Bald Eagle having gone extinct. Overuse of antibiotics has made a host of bacteria resistant and infectious disease is rampant. Household pests have also grown resistant to pesticides and a new type of agricultural pest, known as Jigras, causes food shortages. The right wing government is indifferent to these problems. The President, known as Prexy, can only offer snappy quotes in response to various disasters. When poisonings and famine become rampant, the government scapegoats Honduran communist rebels and puts the country under martial law. They resort to violence and oppression to silence their critics. References are made to attempts to rein in the environmental destruction, but they are depicted as having made no difference to the state of the environment. Even so, one Republican Senator claims that these regulations are destroying American business. Crime and racial and civil unrest is growing. Travel abroad is discouraged because of terrorist attacks on planes, while fewer and fewer people graduate with science, engineering, or business management degrees, as agriculture and food-related degrees are most in-demand and most likely to lead to emigration from the U.S.. The number of poor people is growing while the shrinking number of the wealthy enclose themselves in walled communities guarded by armed mercenaries. The US is said to be involved in various foreign wars, similar to Vietnam, which was ongoing when the book was published. A conflict in Honduras is hampered first by American soldiers coming down with enteritis and then by the need to crack down on violence in the United States. Many young men flee the draft. A growing group of environmentally-conscious activists calling themselves "Trainites" – from their hidden leader Austin Train – turn slowly to terrorist acts in an attempt to stop the corporations from spoiling the Earth. The character of Austin Train is an academic who, despite predicting and interpreting social change, has become disillusioned by society's failure to listen; this character is used to drive the plot, as well as to explain the background story to the reader. Plot Summary. "The Sheep Look Up" takes place over the course of a single year, with each chapter depicting one month. The story is a multi-strand one, involving a variety of characters whose paths only cross as the world's ecological disaster brings them together. December The novel starts with a man running across the Santa Monica Freeway in a bizarre incident before getting killed when he is hit by a car. The accident and the ensuing traffic jam results in Philip Mason, a Denver-based executive at the Angel City insurance company, being late for a meeting. The head of the insurance company says that they are having to increase life insurance premiums due to declining life expectancy in the United States. Peg Mankiewicz, a journalist, identifies the body of the man in the freeway accident as her friend Decimus Jones. Later, Peg meets with her friend and influential ecologist, Austin Train, from whom the Trainites take their name. He has gone underground and is working as a mall Santa, Peg is one of the few people able to contact him. In Honduras, a group of UN investigators are looking into a famine in the civil war ridden nation. They examine a ruined coffee farm and discover mysterious wormlike insects filling the roots of the plants with holes. They are known as Jigras and are immune to every known insecticide. Jacob Bamberley, heir to an oil fortune and head of Bamberley Trust, a charitable institution that manufactures Nutripon, a hydroponically grown food product meant to provide relief in places afflicted by famine, gives his adopted son Hugh Pettingill a tour of the factory in Denver. Hugh is not impressed by his adoptive father's work. In Africa, in a village called Noshri, a nurse named Lucy Ramage is on hand to receive shipment of Nutripon when suddenly the villagers seem to go insane and start murdering each other. She is saved by UN soldiers who put down the riots. January A supersonic airliner flying over the Rockies causes an avalanche with its sonic boom that destroys a brand new ski resort in Towerhill, Colorado. A police officer named Pete Goddard becomes a hero after saving a group of children trapped in the snow from being crushed by a steel beam. Peg learns from an autopsy that Decimus had a psychedelic drug in his system. She knows he wasn't a drug user and decides to get to the bottom of it. Jacob, trying to debunk allegations that Nutripon was responsible for the violence at Noshri, is a guest on the Petronella Page show, a popular news show. The host forces him to eat a bowlful of it. Suddenly, a bomb threat forces the studio to be evacuated. February In Ireland, Doctor Michael Advowson is treating a young girl who injured her toe after playing on a farm that was being used as a garbage dump. A visitor informs him to report to the United Nations to help investigate the Noshri riots. Philip is diagnosed with Gonorrhea from a one-night stand in Las Vegas which he has exposed his wife to. Lucy finds herself in a mental hospital in England after she had been afflicted with the insanity that affected the people of Noshri. She describes the horrors of the riots. A similar occurrence happens in Honduras. Hugh runs away from home after confronting Jacob about his role in the Noshri disaster. March Peg and Decimus' sister Felice are driving to the Colorado commune that Decimus was a part of, known as the "wat", and pick up Hugh, whose car had broken down. At the wat, they meet Zena, Decimus' widow. They present the wat with a canister of imported earthworms. A Honduran man, from a boat on the heavily polluted Pacific, sets off balloons carrying napalm which cause death and destruction all over San Diego. Philip loses his job, the result of Angel City's woes from the Towerhill disaster. He is then drawn into a business scheme by his friend Alan Prosser, who runs a plumbing firm, to sell household water filters manufactured by the Mitsuyama Corporation of Japan. Alan wants to use Pete Goddard as their spokesman to take advantage of his hero status. Michael conducts an analysis of the Nutripon at Noshri and discovers it contained Ergot, a substance known to cause hallucinations and dementia. As he is flying to New York, Lucy happens to be on the same plane and tells him her theory that the food was intentionally poisoned in an attempt to weaken the governments of the third world countries to allow exploitation of their resources. April Gerry Thorne, an executive at Bamberley Trust, is at his home in the Caribbean talking to fellow executive Moses Greenbriar when he hears Moses' wife screaming. Gerry's wife, Nancy, who was out swimming, has been exposed to a nerve agent, dumped into sea by the military at the end of World War I, contained in barrels that periodically surface. She dies from the exposure and Gerry vows to get justice. Hugh is becoming accustomed to life at the wat. He starts smoking marijuana with another member of the Wat, Carl Travers, who is also Pete's brother. They wind up making love. In New York, Michael meets with Jacob to discuss potential poisoning of Nutripon. Jacob wants Michael to certify the plant's new safety equipment. During the meeting, a Trainite car bomb goes off and destroys the office. Mitsuyama sends Hideki Katsamura on a tour of the United States as the company launches their water filters. Throughout the journey, Katsamura is afflicted with diarrhea. He winds up being patient zero for an outbreak of acute enteritis that ravages the country. It is left unstated whether this was an intentional poisoning to increase water filter sales. May The enteritis epidemic hits America hard. 35 million people become infected. Many are unable to work, businesses are forced to run on skeleton crews and public services such as police, mass transit, and garbage collection are severely disrupted. At the wat, it is discovered that Felice's worms included Jigras, ruining the vegetable crop. The Jigras begin spreading across the nation, resulting in a dire food shortage. Jacob publicly swears to destroy his Nutripon inventory in a public relations exercise. Hugh and Carl, having left the wat and wanting to take more serious action for the environment, meet a man calling himself Austin Train, one of many imposters. June Michael arrives in Colorado to oversee the destruction of the Nutripon stocks. He meets some young people who want to eat what they think is poisoned food as they want to go insane. Michael tells them that the food is clean and when he tries to give some to prove it, he is arrested and a riot breaks out. The army uses laser cannons and 63 people die in the fighting, Michael included. Peg meets with Lucy and a man named Fernando Arriegas to discuss the Noshri incident. At gunpoint, they force Peg to eat contaminated Nutripon. She winds up tripping out and as that happens, mysterious men enter the hotel room and kill Lucy and Fernando. Thorne meets with Professor Quarrey and his wife to discuss whether he has a case against the state department for his wife's death. The conversation goes into Puritan Foods, a company claiming to sell uncontaminated food, and which is tied to an organized crime group called The Syndicate, but after careful analysis, Quarrey has found that Puritan is no better than regular food and that some of it must come from outside of North America as the continent doesn't have enough uncontaminated farm land to grow all the food they sell. They also discuss how the Jigras entered the United States. A worm importer in Texas passed them off as regular worms allowing them to get past inspection. As Thorne leaves, men show up at the apartment and kill him, Quarrey, and his wife. July Jacob is confronted by his wife Maud, who calls him a murderer for the poisonings of Noshri and Honduras. He angrily retreats to his study, where he eats a candy bar confiscated from one of his chronically ill children. He has an allergic reaction and falls out the window, dying. Trainites begin to resort to terrorism. They bomb gas stations, blow up a new highway interchange in Alabama, sabotage a lumber mill in Georgia, and murder loggers trying to cut down California's remaining redwood trees. Hugh, Carl, and the Austin Train impersonator they call Ossie, plot to kidnap Hector Bamberley, the son of Roland Bamberley and nephew of Jacob. Roland has become the West Coast distributor for Mitsuyama water filters, and they want to extort him into giving them away for free. Peg wakes up in a hospital and is questioned by a doctor, coerced by a federal agent, about her ties to Austin Train. August The Mitsuyama water filters are discovered to be faulty, clogging up constantly with bacteria. Alan Prosser faces ruin with having to replace them. In Colorado, there is a meeting of wat members from all over the country. They are discussing a report on Puritan Foods when suddenly a low flying aircraft firebombs the compound, killing many. Hugh and Carl's friend Kitty, who owns the apartment where they are living and keeping Hector, has sex with him. Peg convinces Austin, now working as a garbageman, to go public. He agrees after she says she can get him on the Petronella Page show. Page wants to "crucify" him, but she is won over to his cause. After a Major at a nuclear missile base in North Dakota suddenly goes crazy and almost murders his two kids, the government becomes convinced that the United States is under attack. Martial law begins to spread. September Hugh, Carl, and Ossie, worried about Hector's health and giving up hope that Roland will pay the ransom, let him go. Hector is ridden with all the diseases now common in urban slums, much to the disbelief of his wealthy father. Hector claims he was kidnapped by Austin Train, who is arrested while on the Petronella Page show. At Prosser's offices, an employee suddenly goes on a violent rampage, he is subdued by Alan's gun. But they can see this is not an isolated case, outside the office, Denver residents have gone insane, just like the villagers in Noshri. In the chaos, Philip is able to drive Pete home but once he gets to his apartment, his wife Denise reveals that their son Harold has viciously murdered his sister Jodie. Alan and his assistant Dorothy die after getting trapped in the company's warehouse which is set on fire. October The Masons are holed up in their apartment for days with the rotting corpse of their daughter. Eventually some soldiers arrive, informing them that they are the first living people they've found in the building. Philip's friend and regular doctor Doug McNeil reveals that Denver's water supply has been contaminated with Ergot. Philip is told that he is being called to active duty as a soldier to supervise cleanup from the rioting. Hugh wanders back to his home and finds out that Maud has gone insane. After falsely claiming he is reporting for duty, he is exposed and put on a work gang with other suspected Trainites. Peg comes across him and he reveals that Carl had given Decimus Jones a carton of Nutripon as a Christmas present, explaining why he suddenly ran across a freeway. November The United States is now on the brink of collapse. Ossie sets a bomb at a public building and then dies from fever and delirium. Philip is on patrol when another soldier accuses him of poisoning the water with his filters, and kills him. Pete surprises his pregnant wife Jeannie with a microwave oven. She uses it to cook a chicken but suddenly collapses. At the hospital, it is revealed that the microwave was shoddily built and radiation leaked out and cooked Jeannie's womb in the uterus. One morning, Pete is discovered by Carl in the living room scribbling notes from a book, he says that he is learning how to make a bomb. Peg is covering Austin's trial. Hector quickly realizes that he wasn't kidnapped by the real Austin Train and reveals he had been coerced into saying he was. Austin takes the opportunity to make a speech at his heavily televised trial. He pleads that humanity stop destroying its environment. He also reveals the source of the Ergot poisonings: In 1963, the government stored drums of Ergot-based nerve gas in the mountains surrounding Denver. One day, just before Christmas, an injection induced earthquake caused the drum to rupture and leak its contents into the water table supplying the Nutripon factory, which contaminated the food it produced. Another one caused a much larger leak that poisoned all of Denver. As he finishes his speech, a cameraman informs him that the President has ordered the broadcast to cease. Ossie's bomb then detonates, presumably killing everyone in the courtroom. Tom Grey, an actuary at Angel City, had been throughout the novel, devising a computer simulation of earth to figure out a solution to earth's ecological problems. The ironic and morbidly humorous results are reported on the Petronella Page show. The final scene takes place in Canada where a woman is letting a doctor into her home. She sees billowing plumes of smoke and suggests they call the fire department. The doctor responds, “The brigade would have a long way to go, it’s from America. The wind’s blowing that way.” Next Year The final chapter of the book is simply a few lines from John Milton's poem "Lycidas" from which the novel derives its title. Publication notes. Despite being nominated for a Nebula Award, the book fell out of print, only later being republished in 2003. The new edition contains a foreword by David Brin and an afterword by environmentalist and social change theorist James John Bell. Brin's foreword attempts to ground the book in Brunner's time, and in the context of his other writings. In the afterword, Bell treats the book almost as prophecy, drawing parallels between events in the book and subsequent real-world developments: "His words have a kind of Gnostic power embedded in them that gives his characters passage into our world," and notes that "Brunner's puppet of a president, affectionately called Prexy, is a dead ringer for our Dubya". Writer William Gibson made a similar remark in a 2007 interview:

8b61b68e-acc3-4443-9423-e174524b1ad1

m2d2_wiki

American War (novel) American War is the first novel by Canadian-Egyptian journalist Omar El Akkad. It is set in a near-future United States of America, ravaged by climate change and disease, in which a second Civil War has broken out over the use of fossil fuels. The plot is told using historiographic metafiction by future historian Benjamin Chestnut about his aunt, Sarat Chestnut, who is a climate refugee pushed out of Louisiana by the civil war. The narrative chapters are interspersed with fictional primary documents collected by the narrator. The novel was generally well received, being . Plot. In 2074, after the passage of a bill that bans the use of fossil fuels anywhere in the United States, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Texas secede from the Union, starting the "Second American Civil War." South Carolina is quickly incapacitated by a virus, known as "The Slow," that makes its inhabitants lethargic, and Texas is invaded and occupied by Mexico, while the remaining "Free Southern States" (Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia - The MAG) continue to fight. The novel is told from the point of view of Sarat (Sarah T Chestnut) and her nephew, Benjamin. Sarat is 6 years old when the war breaks out. She lives with her family on the climate change-ravaged coast of Louisiana. Her family consists of her parents Benjamin and Martina, her older brother Simon, and her fraternal twin Dana Chestnut. After Sarat's father is killed during a "homicide bombing" in Baton Rouge in 2075, Sarat and her family relocate to a refugee camp called "Camp Patience," located on the Mississippi–Tennessee border. Sarat and her family spend the next six years living a squalid existence at Camp Patience. In 2081, when Sarat is 12 years old, she befriends the charismatic Albert Gaines, a recruiter for the Southern rebels. Gaines introduces her to an agent of the emerging Bouazizi Empire named Joe, who is sending aid to the Free Southern States to keep the United States weak and divided. Later, a Northern militia unit attacks Camp Patience and massacres many of the refugees, killing Sarat's mother and wounding her brother. Overcome by grief and rage, Sarat later kills one of the top generals of the Northern Union. Following the Camp Patience massacre, Sarat and her siblings are resettled by the Free Southern government in Lincolnton, Georgia, on the border with South Carolina. The two sisters are joined by Simon, who is suffering from a bullet still lodged in his brain. Five years later, in 2086, the Chestnut siblings settle in to their new lives. While Sarat has become a member of Gaines' rebel group, the broken Simon is tended by a Bangladeshi American woman named Karina. As time passes, Simon and Karina develop romantic feelings for each other. During a guerrilla operation near a U.S. base along the Georgia-Tennessee border, Sarat assassinates General Joseph Weiland, a prominent U.S. commander. While Sarat is hailed as a hero by the Free Southern States, Weiland's assassination only hardens the U.S.'s resolve to end the Southern insurgency, leading to a crackdown against the Southern guerrillas. Sarat eventually grows disillusioned with the corrupt and self-serving Southern leadership. Later, Dana is killed when a rogue drone bombs a bus she was traveling in. Sarat is later captured by U.S. forces who imprison her at the Sugarloaf Detention Facility in the Florida Sea. Sarat later learns her mentor Gaines betrayed her to the U.S. For the next seven years, Sarat is repeatedly tortured, including being subjected to water boarding. To end the torment, Sarat confesses to several, exaggerated charges. Sarat is later released after the U.S. government deems Gaines an unreliable source. Years later, Simon has married Karina, who produced a son named Benjamin. In 2095, the 6-year-old Benjamin meets his aunt Sarat, who settles down on Benjamin's homestead. Sarat is later visited by one of her former rebel comrades, who informs her that his group has captured Bud Baker, one of her former Sugarloaf captors who tortured her. Sarat kills Bud but decides to spare his family after discovering he had two teenage twin sons. Back at Benjamin's household, tensions between Sarat and her brother's wife Karina rise after Benjamin sustains a broken arm and Sarat binds it with a crude splint. Benjamin realizes that his aunt is still haunted by her childhood at Camp Patience. As his arm recovers, Benjamin becomes friendly with his aunt. Sarat is later visited by the Bouazizi agent Joe who recruits her into carrying a deadly virus into the Reunification Ceremony in Columbus, Ohio. Joe reveals that his real name is Yousef Bin Rashid and that the Bouazizi Empire wants to prevent the re-emergence of the U.S. as a superpower. Seeking revenge against the U.S. government, Sarat accepts the offer and convinces her former rebel comrades to secure her passage to the Reunification Ceremony. Before leaving, Sarat visits the crippled Gaines at his cabin but leaves without killing him. She also arranges for her associates to smuggle her nephew Benjamin to safety in New Anchorage. Later, Sarat infiltrates the Reunification Ceremony. While entering, she briefly encounters one of Baker's teenage sons who she had spared, now working as a guard there. He allows her in upon recognizing her, without requesting any proper ID. The resulting "Reunification Plague" kills 110 million people, devastating the already war-torn country. The orphaned Benjamin settles to his new life in New Anchorage and becomes a respected historian. Decades later, Benjamin discovers his aunt's diaries and learns of her experiences during the Second American Civil War and her role in the Reunification Plague. To spite his aunt, Benjamin burns her diaries but keeps one page as a memento. Setting. Much of the novel is set in the "Free Southern States," which is originally consisted of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Texas. The U.S. was split between a secessionist southern state comprising parts of the old southeastern U.S. and the remaining northern and western states; near the outset of the war, Mexico annexed or occupied large portions of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Other secessionist movements are mentioned: Northern California, Oregon, Washington and parts of Canada are in talks to form Cascadia. The novel is interspersed with several "in-universe" historical documents, interviews, and media reports. The "Second American Civil War" lasts between 2074 and 2095. The conflict was precipitated by the assassination of President Ki during a suicide bombing attack in 2073 and the shooting of Southern protesters outside Fort Jackson in South Carolina in 2074. After five years of conventional warfare around the borders of the Free Southern States, rebel "insurrectionists" wage a guerrilla warfare against U.S. forces. Following a protracted negotiation process, the war is settled in the United States' favor. However, a "secessionist terrorist" (later revealed to be the protagonist Sarat) releases a biological agent known as the "Reunification Plague" during the Reunification Day Ceremony in Columbus, Ohio, which kills 110 million in a nationwide epidemic. Refugees flee to New Anchorage as the country begins the long process of "reconstruction." The Reunification Plague is also revealed to be the result of a failed attempt by the virologist Gerry Tusk to find a cure to "The Slow." The rest of the world has also seen geopolitical change. After multiple failed revolutions, the states of Northern Africa and portions of the Arab world and Central Asia have united as the Bouazizi Empire, with their capital in Cairo. China and the Bouazizi nations have emerged as the world's dominant economies and the European migrant crisis has reversed, with refugees from the collapsed European Union states fleeing across the Mediterranean to North Africa. In a reversal of great power politics, China and the Bouazizi Empire send aid to the war-torn United States. The Bouazizi Empire also channels funding to the Free Southern States in an attempt to destabilize the United States, which it regards as a rival to its imperial ambitions. Russia is said to have undertaken a period of aggressive expansion and renamed itself as the Russian Union. Climate change also had a significant impact on the world. Florida was inundated by rising sea levels, only existing as a small archipelago. In a reference to Guantánamo Bay's Camp X-Ray, Florida's Sugarloaf Mountain has been repurposed as a detention facility. Much of Louisiana is under water and New Orleans is entirely abandoned. After intense migration inland from the flooded eastern seaboard, the U.S.'s capital of was relocated to Columbus. The Arabian Peninsula is too hot to support life, instead being devoted to solar power production. Simon's wife Karina is said to have been born in the Bangladeshi Isles, suggesting extensive flooding in South Asia. Reception. In "The New York Times", book critic Michiko Kakutani compared it favorably to Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" and Philip Roth's novel "The Plot Against America". She wrote that "badly melodramatic" dialogue could be forgiven by the use of details that makes the fictional future "seem alarmingly real". The novel was a shortlisted finalist for the 2017 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, and for the 2018 amazon.ca First Novel Award. It also was a finalist for the 2018 Arthur C. Clarke Award. It was also one of the five books in the finals of the 2018 "Canada Reads" contest and was the fourth book eliminated. In November 2019 the "BBC News" listed "American War" on a list of the 100 most influential novels.

b0a4560c-79c6-4718-98c9-434dbc9edb79

m2d2_wiki

The Drowned World The Drowned World is a 1962 science fiction novel by British writer J. G. Ballard. The novel depicts a post-apocalyptic future in which global warming has caused the majority of the Earth to become uninhabitable. The story follows a team of scientists researching ongoing environmental developments in a flooded, abandoned London. The novel is an expansion of a novella of the same title first published in "Science Fiction Adventures" magazine in January 1962, Vol. 4, No. 24. In 2010, "Time Magazine" named "The Drowned World" one of the top 10 best post-apocalyptic books. The novel has been identified as a founding text in the literary genre known as climate fiction. Synopsis. Set in the year 2145 in a post-apocalyptic and unrecognisable London, "The Drowned World" is a setting of tropical temperatures, flooding and accelerated evolution. The Earth went back to its Paleozoic era sixty or seventy years before the novel began. There are two main causes of the flood, both unrelated to humans' activity on the planet. First, a series of sudden violent and prolonged solar storms lasting several years enlarged the Van Allen belts and diminished the Earth's gravitational hold upon the outer layers of the ionosphere. As a result, the Earth remained unprotected from solar radiation and temperature climbed steadily making it all a tropical zone. Cities around the Equator were abandoned as temperature reached 100 degrees (Ballard never mentions if these are Celsius or Fahrenheit). Second, the continued heating of the atmosphere melted the polar ice-caps and the contours of the continents were reshaped: in Europe the Mediterranean became a system of inland lakes and the British Isles were linked to France. In North America, the Mississippi basin became an enormous gulf opening into the Hudson Bay and the Caribbean was transformed into a silt desert. Only one city is mentioned in the novel, Camp Byrd (pop. 10,000), Greenland, and only five million people are estimated to live on the polar caps. Birth of mammals has been drastically reduced, for humans only one couple in ten yields any offspring. On the other hand, reptilians and amphibians rapidly reproduce across the planet; as the novel develops once rare albino iguanas, alligators, and serpents become more common. Ballard's story follows the biologist Dr Robert Kerans and his struggles against the devolutionary impulses of the environment. As part of a scientific survey unit under the leadership of Colonel Riggs, sent to map the flora and fauna in the boiling lagoon, the tranquility and banality of their role is soon upset by the onset of strange dreams which increasingly plague the survivors' minds. Amidst talk of the army and scientific team moving north, Lieutenant Hardman, the only other commissioned member of the unit, flees the lagoon and instead heads south, a search team unable to stop his escape. When the other inhabitants of the lagoon finally flee the searing sun and head north, Kerans and two associates, the beautiful but reclusive Beatrice Dahl and fellow scientist Dr Alan Bodkin, settle down in the swamp into an isolated existence. Kerans is still tormented by his psycho-analytical tendencies, ever analysing and debating the regression of the environment into a neo-Triassic period, but the brief quiet is ended by the arrival of Strangman. The leader of a team of pirates seeking out and looting treasures within the deep, Strangman defies the remaining civilised reasons of Kerans' mind and disrupts the world that the survivors have grown to know. When Strangman and his team drain the lagoon and expose the city beneath, both Kerans and Bodkin are disgusted; the latter attempts to blow up the flood defences and re-flood the area, but without success. With Kerans and Beatrice resigned to their fate, Strangman pursues Bodkin and kills him in revenge. Strangman and his team grow tired and suspicious of Dr Kerans, and with Beatrice now under Strangman’s web of control, Kerans is imprisoned and subjected to bizarre and tribalistic rituals intended to kill him. He survives, although severely weakened by the ordeals, and attempts to save Beatrice from her own imprisonment, to little avail. With the doctor and Beatrice facing the guns of Strangman and his men, the army under Colonel Riggs returns to save them at the last moment. With no reason or evidence to prosecute Strangman, the authorities co-operate with him, and Kerans once more grows frustrated by the inaction, finally taking a stand and succeeding in re-flooding the lagoon where Bodkin had failed. Wounded and weak, the doctor flees the lagoon and heads south without aim, meeting the frail and blind figure of Hardman along the way. After he aids Hardman back to some amount of strength, he soon continues onwards on his travels south, with little idea of an aim or objective, a "second Adam searching for the forgotten paradises of the reborn sun". Themes. As with many of Ballard's later works, the novel depicts characters who seize on apocalyptic or chaotic breakdowns in civilization as opportunities to pursue new modes of perception, unconscious urges, or systems of meaning. Writer Travis Eldborough stated that Ballard's work, and this novel in particular, allows us to "ask whether our sense of self—and of self as independent, sovereign, irrevocable—is itself a construction, and a temporary one." Critic Brian Baker states that "The Drowned World" "explores the deep implications of time, space, psychology and evolutionary biology in order to dismantle anthropocentric narratives and, in turn, open up alternative ways of experiencing, and conceiving of, contemporary human subjectivity." Scholar Jim Clarke stated that in the novel and its 1966 successor "The Crystal World", "Ballard's solitary protagonists traverse liminal states, often as psychological as physical, in which civilization recedes to the status of memory, and existence comes to be dominated and defined by the environment." Reception. Following the novel's release, writer Kingsley Amis called Ballard "one of the brightest new stars in post-war fiction," and described the book as containing "an oppressive power reminiscent of Conrad." "Galaxy Science Fiction" writer Algis Budrys mocked "The Drowned World" as "a run, hide, slither, grope and die book". In a retrospective piece for "The Telegraph", writer Will Self noted that Ballard's work was unappreciated during his life, and that following a critical reappraisal of his work, ""The Drowned World" shows him to be the most important British writer of the late 20th century." Writer Martin Amis states that "it is the measure of [Ballard's] creative radicalism that he welcomes these desperate dystopias with every atom of his being," but criticized the novel's perfunctory plotting, stating that "We conclude that Ballard is quite unstimulated by human interaction – unless it takes the form of something inherently weird, like mob atavism or mass hysteria. What excites him is human isolation."

cec83447-6ad1-4e42-aea2-92927d3a3d00

m2d2_wiki

The Purchase of the North Pole The Purchase of the North Pole or Topsy-Turvy () is an adventure novel by Jules Verne, published in 1889. It is the third and last novel of the Baltimore Gun Club, first appearing in "From the Earth to the Moon", and later in "Around the Moon", featuring the same characters but set twenty years later. Like some other books of his later years, in this novel Verne tempers his love of science and engineering with a good dose of irony about their potential for harmful abuse and the fallibility of human endeavors. Plot. In the year of 1891, an international auction is organized to define the sovereign rights to the part of the Arctic extending from the 84th parallel, the highest yet reached by man, to the North Pole. Several countries send their official delegates, but the auction is won by a representative from an anonymous United States buyer. After the auction closes, the mysterious buyer is revealed to be Barbicane and Co., a company founded by Impey Barbicane, J.T. Maston and Captain Nicholl — the same members of the Baltimore Gun Club who, twenty years earlier, had traveled around the Moon inside a large cannon shell. The brave gunmen-astronauts had come out of their retirement with an even more ambitious engineering project: using the recoil of a huge cannon to remove the tilt of the Earth's axis — so that it would become perpendicular to the planet's orbit, like Jupiter's. That change would bring an end to seasons, as day and night would be always equal and each place would have the same climate all year round. But the society's interest lay in another effect of the recoil: a displacement of the Earth's rotation axis, that would bring the lands around the North Pole, which they had secured in the auction, to latitude 67 north. Then the vast coal deposits that were conjectured to exist under the ice could be easily mined and sold. The technical feasibility of the plan had been confirmed by J. T. Maston's computations. The necessary capital had been provided by Ms. Evangelina Scorbitt, a wealthy widow and ardent Maston's admirer (whose more than scientific interest was lost on the obsessive engineer). The cannon needed for that plan would be enormous, much larger than the huge "Columbiad" that had sent them to the Moon. Once the plan became public, the brilliant French engineer Alcide Pierdeux quickly computes the required force of the explosion. He then discovers that the recoil would buckle the Earth's crust; many countries (mostly in Asia) would be flooded, while others (including the United States) would gain new land. Alcide's note sends the world into panic and rage, and authorities promptly rush to stop the project. However Barbicane and Nicholl had left America for destination unknown, to supervise the completion and firing of the monster gun. J. T. Maston is caught and jailed, but he is unwilling or unable to reveal the cannon's location. Frantic searches around the world fail to find it either. The cannon in fact had been dug deep into the flanks of Mount Kilimanjaro, by a small army of workers provided by a local sultan who was an enthusiastic fan of the former Moon explorers. The projectile, a steel-braced chunk of rock weighing 180,000 tons, would exit the barrel at the fantastic speed of 2,800 kilometres per second — thanks to a new powerful explosive invented by Nicholl, which he had called "melimelonite". The cannon is fired as planned, and the explosion causes huge damage in the immediate vicinity. However, the Earth's axis retains its tilt and position, and not the slightest tremor is felt in the rest of the world. Alcide, shortly before the cannon was fired, had discovered that J. T. Maston, while computing the size of the cannon, had made a calculation error — the first of his life. Indeed, he had accidentally erased three zeros from the blackboard when he was struck by lightning during a telephone call from Ms. Scorbitt. Because of that single mistake in the data, twelve zeros got omitted from the result. Because Maston's calculations were undoubtedly considered correct when they were discovered, this error was not discovered early enough. The cannon he designed was indeed far too small: a trillion of them would have had to be fired to achieve the intended effect. Riduculed by the whole world and bearing the bitter resentment of his two associates, J. T. Maston went back into retirement vowing to never again make any mathematical calculations. But Ms. Scorbitt finally declared her feelings, and he gladly surrendered to marriage. Alcide gains worldwide recognition by revealing the cause of the failure of the operation to the public.

6e283fe9-a88e-45ac-b8f9-4cfe418b530c

m2d2_wiki

Forty Signs of Rain Forty Signs of Rain (2004) is the first book in the hard science fiction "Science in the Capital" trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. (The following two novels are "Fifty Degrees Below" (2005) and "Sixty Days and Counting" (2007).) Robinson has been nicknamed the "Master of Disaster" for his description of natural disasters based partly on the contents of this book. Plot introduction. The focus of the novel is the effects of global warming in the early decades of the 21st century. Its characters are mostly scientists, either involved in biotech research, assisting government members, or doing paperwork at the National Science Foundation (NSF). There are also several Buddhist monks working for the embassy of the fictional island nation of Khembalung. Characters. Anna Quibler – a hard-scientist administrator in charge of the Bioinformatics Division at the NSF; part of her job entails farming out grant proposals from scientists and science students nationwide to program directors under her supervision. She befriends the Khembalis. Charlie Quibler – Anna's husband, a stay-at-home dad taking care of their young sons. He is the science policy advisor to Senator Phil Chase and works tirelessly to introduce bills to Congress for climate change mitigation. Frank Vanderwal – a University of California, San Diego biomathematician with an interest in sociobiology, working for a year at the NSF; he oversees review of biology grant proposals. A rock climbing hobbyist and co-founder of Torrey Pines Generique. Drepung – a Tibetan Buddhist monk, he identifies himself to Anna as the assistant and translator for Rudra Cakrin, but is revealed later in the series to be the spiritual leader of the Khembalese. Rudra Cakrin – embassador from Khembalung to the United States; a Tibetan in exile, he pretends to be the spiritual leader of the Khembalese but is actually Drepung's assistant. Leo Mulhouse – chief science researcher at Torrey Pines Generique, working on gene therapy. Senator Phil Chase – a Democratic Senator from California, he understands the need for both policy change and Realpolitik; a character in "Antarctica". Diane Chang – Head of the National Science Foundation. Plot. Frank Vanderwal, having spent a year at the National Science Foundation (NSF) in Washington, D.C., is impatient with what he sees as its passivity and its reluctance to demand serious political change in the face of severe climate change. He keeps an eye on environmental triggers such as climate change in the Arctic and thermohaline circulation. Though he likes his colleague, Anna Quibler, and much of her work, he misses his hometown, San Diego. An athletic man, he frequently goes climbing and canyoneering when he can. Interested in sociobiology, he views both his own behavior and others' as that of primates who evolved on the African savannahs and who are not entirely biologically prepared to live in the urban environment. He considers behaviors in ordinary situations, such as traffic, and in extraordinary situations in light of the game theory decision making strategy known as the prisoner's dilemma. Anna's husband, Charlie Quibler, feels as urgently as Frank does about environmental issues. He juggles the raising of their two young sons, Nick and Joe, with encouraging Senator Phil Chase and Chase's chief of staff, Roy, to badger the conservatives in Congress about passing legislation to convert the United States to a non-anthropogenic global warming society, to construct carbon sinks, and to work for international cooperation for amelioration of climate change. (It is clear that the President, never named, is George W. Bush; we are told that his predecessor was Bill Clinton; he views climate change as a "downer" and refers to it as "climactic [not climatic] terrorism.") Anna, a devoted wife and mother, is, in Frank's view, something of an ultra-rationalist; Charlie is amused by her constant search for quantifiable measurements in all parts of her life. She discovers the new Khembali embassy in the NSF building and invites Drepung and Rudra Cakrin to lunch. When they all get along well, and she becomes interested in their concern about the threat of rising sea levels to Khembalung, their small island nation in the Bay of Bengal, she invites them to come for dinner when they all have time. Leo Mulhouse, a science director at Torrey Pines Generique, a biotechnology startup company in San Diego, searches for therapies for various human diseases. He is alarmed to learn that his boss, Derek, has spent $51 million to buy another company which might (and might not) work in tandem; Torrey Pines has not yet been able to show any profits, which puts them at risk for sale to investors who might care to purchase or even quash any patentable techniques they come up with. He turns out to be right when the company is sold some weeks later. Leo has another worry: his house, located on a cliff over the Pacific, is threatened by coastal erosion. Frank, eager to return to California, writes an angry denunciation of NSF and leaves it in the in-box of the director, Diane Chang, for her to find the next morning. That evening, he unexpectedly has a romantic encounter with a beautiful woman in a Washington Metro subway elevator when the elevator is stuck between floors. They are released, and she disappears before he can learn her name. Invited to the Quiblers' house to meet the Khembalis, he tells Anna about the woman; she is pleased to find him so excited and talkative, and urges him to track her down. Frank, thinking that now he might want to stay in D.C., regrets the angry letter about the NSF and decides to break into Chang's office and remove it. Using his climbing skills, he enters the NSF building from the roof, descends through the atrium skylight, manages his way down a large mobile, and gets into Chang's office. The letter, however, is gone; Chang often comes into her office at all hours. Nervous and upset, he returns home. The next day, Chang tells him to prepare a talk for the NSF Board of Directors. Frank realizes that Chang has read his letter, but he tells the directors honestly how he feels about the NSF and urges them to become more daring and more politically active. During the discussion, he sees that many of them feel as he does. Frank accepts an invitation to remain at NSF for another year. A catastrophic "trigger event" occurs when what Robinson calls the Hyperniño creates an enormous storm on the West Coast. The sandstone cliffs of California begin shelving off into the Pacific Ocean. Leo, now unemployed, witnesses this at his Leucadia, California home and, in the rainstorm, joins members of the United States Geological Survey and an army of volunteers in attempting to shore up the cliffs. Meanwhile, another enormous storm in the Atlantic creates a flood in Washington. Charlie is trapped at the Capitol Building with other co-workers. They watch as the rain comes down for hours and the National Mall is drowned. "Constitution Avenue looked like the Grand Canal in Venice." The Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay overflow, flooding the city: When the National Zoo faces rising waters, the Khembalis help the staff to unlock the cages and free the animals. Drepung and his associates arrange for two tigers to be brought to the Quiblers' house, where one is kept in a zoo truck and the other is put into their cellar. Frank, joining other volunteers in deploying sandbags out in the storm, is amazed to see his mystery woman pass in a boat up the river. Spotting the boat's number, he gets her phone number and calls her; she promises that, after a while, she will call him back. After days, the storm and the floodwaters subside. Charlie, finally arranging a lift home from the office, says to Senator Chase, "Are you going to do something about global warming "now"?" Reception. Rick Kleffel began a strong review with a strong statement: Robert K. J. Killheffer in his review for "Fantasy & Science Fiction" said ""Forty Signs of Rain" is a fascinating depiction of the workings of science and politics, and an urgent call for us to pull our heads from the sand and confront the threat of climate change. We should listen." The reviewer for SF Site was also interested in the scientific themes, calling the novel "one of the most chilling" and "one of the most important and thought provoking books" she had read that year: "Greed is the key, here, and it's a tragedy. ... This book is a wake up call of sorts, to scientists in the United States especially, to go out and fight for what they believe in." "Kirkus Reviews" was critical, saying, "As stiff and hard SF as they were, the Mars books succeeded through the sheer chutzpah of their epic insight. This one feels like the ho-hum preview for a run-of-the-mill end-of-the-world story." "Publishers Weekly" said, "Robinson's tale lacks the drama and excitement of such other novels dealing with global climate change as Bruce Sterling's "Heavy Weather" and John Barnes' "Mother of Storms", but his portrayal of how actual scientists would deal with this disaster-in-the-making is utterly convincing. Robinson clearly cares deeply about our planet's future, and he makes the reader care as well." Lara Apps wrote, "The result is a slow-building, educational and entertaining introduction to what promises to be a provocative and exciting trilogy." Jerry Wright, admitting that Robinson's "politics leave me cold," concluded, "Robinson seems to focus on details of the characters' lives, their work, and their thoughts, but behind it all, the specter of global warming looms. Soon there is a change here, a change there, until all the imbalances combine to bring about a catastrophe that who knows, might even wake up the DC politicians. KSR outlines quite a plausible scenario, and the science behind the troubles seem accurate."

612da64d-cdfd-47f1-a5de-cfecf932c12e

m2d2_wiki

The Windup Girl The Windup Girl is a biopunk science fiction novel by American writer Paolo Bacigalupi. It was his debut novel and was published by Night Shade Books on September 1, 2009. The novel is set in a future Thailand and covers a number of contemporary issues such as global warming and biotechnology. "The Windup Girl" was named as the ninth best fiction book of 2009 by "TIME" magazine. It won the 2010 Nebula Award and the 2010 Hugo Award (tied with "The City & the City" by China Miéville), both for best novel. The book also won the 2010 Campbell Memorial Award, the 2010 Compton Crook Award and the 2010 Locus Award for best first novel. Setting. "The Windup Girl" is set in 23rd-century Thailand. Global warming has raised the levels of world's oceans, carbon fuel sources have become depleted, and manually wound springs are used as energy storage devices. Biotechnology is dominant and megacorporations (called "calorie companies") like AgriGen, PurCal and RedStar control food production through 'genehacked' seeds, and use bioterrorism, private armies and economic hitmen to create markets for their products. Frequent catastrophes, such as deadly and widespread plagues and illness, caused by genetically modified crops and mutant pests, ravage entire populations. The natural genetic seed stock of the world's plants has been almost completely supplanted by those that are genetically engineered to be sterile, forcing farmers to buy new seeds from the calorie companies every season. Thailand is an exception. It maintains its own reserve of genetically viable seeds, fights off engineered plagues and other bioterrorism, and keeps its borders firmly closed against the calorie companies and other foreign biological imports. The capital city of Bangkok is below sea level and is protected from flooding by levees and pumps. The current monarch of Thailand is a child queen who is essentially a figurehead; the three most powerful people in Thailand are the Somdet Chaopraya (regent for the child queen), General Pracha (the chief of the Environment Ministry), and Minister Akkarat (the chief of the Trade Ministry). Pracha and Akkarat are longtime enemies, and represent the protectionist/independent/isolationist and internationalist/accommodationalist factions in the government, respectively. Plot summary. Anderson Lake is an economic hitman for the AgriGen Corporation, working in Thailand. He owns a factory trying to mass-produce a revolutionary new model of "kink-spring" (the successor, in the absence of oil or petroleum, to the internal combustion engine) that will store gigajoules of energy. But the factory is a cover for his real mission: discovering the location of the Thai seedbank, with which Thailand has so far managed to resist the calorie companies' attempts at agro-economic subjugation. He has heavily delegated the running of the factory to his Chinese manager, Hock Seng, a refugee from the Malaysian purge of the ethnic Chinese. Hock Seng was a successful businessman in his former life and he plots to steal the kink-spring designs kept in Anderson's safe. When Emiko, an illegal Japanese "windup" (genetically modified human) girl stuck in bonded servitude in a sex club, reveals Anderson information she has learned about the secret seedbank, he in return tells her about a refuge in the north of Thailand where people of Emiko's kind (the "New People") live together. From then on, she becomes determined to escape to this place by paying off Raleigh, the club's owner. Meanwhile, Jaidee Rojjanasukchai, a zealous and honest captain of the White shirts (the armed, enforcement wing of the Environment Ministry, which is charged with preventing illegal imports, unauthorized energy use, and the incursions of bio-engineered viruses), intercepts and destroys a dirigible containing a great amount of illegal contraband. Anderson and others in the foreign trading community (known as "farangs") pressure Akkarat to make Jaidee back off. To make him fall in line, they kidnap Jaidee's wife. When he learns of this, he submits and is sentenced to nine years in a monastery. Later, realizing that his wife will never be returned to him and has likely been murdered, he escapes and is caught and killed while trying to assassinate Akkarat. The other White shirts declare him a martyr and rise up against the Trade Ministry. At the same time, Hock Seng learns that factory workers are falling victim to a new plague originating from the kink-spring factory. He has the bodies disposed of surreptitiously. As the White shirts take control of Bangkok, he escapes from the factory into hiding. Anderson discovers Hock Seng's flight and also goes into hiding Jaidee's replacement (and former protégé), Kanya, discovers the new plague and sets about trying to contain it while dealing with guilt of being Akkarat's mole and betraying Jaidee. She reluctantly seeks help from Gibbons, the scientist at the heart of the Thai seedbank, who is revealed to be a renegade AgriGen scientist. He identifies the new plague and gives clues to Kanya that lead her to Anderson's factory. Anderson meets with Akkarat and the Somdet Chaopraya, who is the regent to the young Thai Queen and the most powerful person in all of Thailand. Anderson offers to supply a new strain of GM rice and a private army from AgriGen to repel the White shirts in exchange for access to the seedbank and lowering of the trade barriers. To seal the deal, knowing of the Somdet Chaopraya's addiction to sexual novelty, he takes him to Emiko's club. When the Somdet Chaopraya and his entourage later sexually humiliate and degrade her, Emiko snaps and kills them. She escapes and seeks refuge with Anderson. Akkarat accuses General Pracha of orchestrating the Somdet Chaopraya's assassination and uses this as a pretext for to fight Pracha and the White shirts. The capital is plunged into civil war. Having failed to steal the kink-spring designs, Hock Seng tries to capture Emiko for ransom. However, Anderson makes a deal with him: Hock Seng would be patronized by AgriGen and Emiko would remain with Anderson. In short order, Pracha and most of the top Environment Ministry men are killed. Akkarat, now all-powerful, appoints his spy Kanya as the new chief of the Environment Ministry. He also opens up Thailand to the calorie companies, and grants Anderson and AgriGen access to the seedbank. Kanya, accompanies the "calorie men" to the seedbank, where she reneges and executes the AgriGen team. She then directs the seedbank's monks to move the seeds to a pre-arranged secure location. With the hidden military arsenal in the seedbank, she orchestrates the destruction of the levees around Bangkok, flooding it. Bangkok's people and the capital relocate to the site of Ayutthaya. Akkarat is stripped of his powers and sentenced to servitude as a monk. Anderson dies of the plague originating from his factory while he is in hiding with Emiko. Emiko is found by Gibbons, who promises that he will use Emiko's DNA to engineer a new race of fertile New People, thus fulfilling her dream of living with her own kind. Awards and honors. In September 2010, the novel won the 2010 Hugo Award for Best Novel category, tying with China Miéville's "The City & the City". In May 2010, the novel won the Nebula Award for Best Novel. In 2010, the novel won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. In 2012 a translated version of the novel by Kazue Tanaka and Hiroshi Kaneko won a Seiun Award for "Best Translated Long Fiction" at the 51st Japan Science Fiction Convention. The German translation "Biokrieg" won the Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis in 2012. The French translation "La Fille Automate" won the in 2012. Reception. Adam Roberts, reviewing the book for "The Guardian", concludes "when it hits its sweet-spot, "The Windup Girl" embodies what SF does best of all: it remakes reality in compelling, absorbing and thought-provoking ways, and it lives on vividly in the mind."

9951c9d0-8307-4f2e-85a6-3dc59d08d47b

m2d2_wiki

Climate fiction Climate fiction (sometimes shortened as cli-fi) is literature that deals with climate change and global warming. Not necessarily speculative in nature, works may take place in the world as we know it or in the near future. The genre frequently includes science fiction and dystopian or utopian themes, imagining the potential futures based on how humanity responds to the challenges created by climate change. Technologies such as climate engineering or climate adaptation practices often feature prominently in works exploring their impacts on society. Climate fiction is distinct from petrofiction which deals directly with the petroleum culture and economy. University courses on literature and environmental issues may include climate change fiction in their syllabi. This body of literature has been discussed by a variety of publications, including "The New York Times, The Guardian," and "Dissent" magazine, among other international media outlets. History. The term "cli-fi" first came into mainstream media use on April 20, 2013 when NPR did a five-minute radio segment on Weekend Edition Saturday to describe novels and movies that deal with human-induced climate change, and historically, there have been any number of literary works that dealt with climate change in earlier times as well. Dan Bloom has been an influential figure in the development of "cli-fi" as a distinct genre. Jules Verne's 1889 novel "The Purchase of the North Pole" imagines climate change due to tilting of Earth's axis. In his posthumous "Paris in the Twentieth Century", written in 1883 and set during the 1960s, the titular city experiences a sudden drop in temperature, which lasts for three years. Several well-known dystopian works by British author J. G. Ballard deal with climate-related natural disasters: In "The Wind from Nowhere" (1961), civilization is reduced by persistent hurricane-force winds, and "The Drowned World" (1962) describes a future of melted ice-caps and rising sea-levels caused by solar radiation. In "The Burning World" (1964, later called "The Drought") his climate catastrophe is human-made, a drought due to disruption of the precipitation cycle by industrial pollution. As scientific knowledge of the effects of fossil fuel consumption and resulting increase in atmospheric concentrations entered the public and political arena as "global warming", fiction about the problems of human-induced global warming began to appear. Susan M. Gaines's "Carbon Dreams" was an early example of a literary novel that "tells a story about the devastatingly serious issue of human-induced climate change," set in the 1980s and published before the term "cli-fi" was coined. Michael Crichton's "State of Fear" (2004), a techno-thriller portrays climate change as "a vast pseudo-scientific hoax" and is critical of scientific opinion on climate change. Margaret Atwood explored the subject in her dystopian trilogy "Oryx and Crake" (2003), "The Year of the Flood" (2009) and "MaddAddam" (2013). In "Oryx and Crake" Atwood presents a world where "social inequality, genetic technology and catastrophic climate change, has finally culminated in some apocalyptic event". The novel's protagonist, Jimmy, lives in a "world split between corporate compounds", gated communities that have grown into city-states and pleeblands, which are "unsafe, populous and polluted" urban areas where the working classes live. Cultural critic Josephine Livingston at "The New Republic": "From Jeff Vandermeer's "Annihilation" to Nathaniel Rich's "Odds Against Tomorrow", the last decade has seen such a steep rise in sophisticated 'cli-fi' that some literary publications now devote whole verticals to it. With such various and fertile imaginations at work on the same topic, whether in fiction or nonfiction, the challenge facing the environmental writer now is standing out from the crowd (not to mention the headlines)." Prominent examples. The popular science-fiction novelist Kim Stanley Robinson focused on the theme in his "Science in the Capital" trilogy, which is set in the near future and includes "Forty Signs of Rain" (2004), "Fifty Degrees Below" (2005), and "Sixty Days and Counting" (2007). Robert K. J. Killheffer in his review for Fantasy & Science Fiction said ""Forty Signs of Rain" is a fascinating depiction of the workings of science and politics, and an urgent call to readers to confront the threat of climate change." Robinson's climate-themed novel, titled "New York 2140," was published in March 2017. It gives a complex portrait of a coastal city that is partly underwater and yet has successfully adapted to climate change in its culture and ecology. Ian McEwan's "Solar" (2010) follows the story of a physicist who discovers a way to fight climate change after managing to derive power from artificial photosynthesis. "The Stone Gods" (2007) by Jeanette Winterson is set on the fictional planet Orbus, a world very like Earth, running out of resources and suffering from the severe effects of climate change. Inhabitants of Orbus hope to take advantage of possibilities offered by a newly discovered planet, Planet Blue, which appears perfect for human life. Barbara Kingsolver's novel, "Flight Behavior" (2012), employs environmental themes and highlights the potential effects of global warming on the monarch butterfly. "Devolution of a Species" by M.E. Ellington focuses on the Gaia hypothesis, and describes the Earth as a single living organism fighting back against humankind. Other authors who have used this subject matter include: Influence. Many journalists, literary critics, and scholars and have speculated about the potential influence of climate fiction on the beliefs of its readers. To date, three empirical studies have examined this question. A controlled experiment found that reading climate fiction short stories "had small but significant positive effects on several important beliefs and attitudes about global warming – observed immediately after participants read the stories," though "these effects diminished to statistical nonsignificance after a one-month interval." However, the authors note that "the effects of a single exposure in an artificial setting may represent a lower bound of the real-world effects. Reading climate fiction in the real world often involves multiple exposures and longer narratives," such as novels, "which may result in larger and longer-lasting impacts." A survey of readers found that readers of climate fiction "are younger, more liberal, and more concerned about climate change than nonreaders," and that climate fiction "reminds concerned readers of the severity of climate change while impelling them to imagine environmental futures and consider the impact of climate change on human and nonhuman life. However, the actions that resulted from readers' heightened consciousness reveal that awareness is only as valuable as the cultural messages about possible actions to take that are in circulation. Moreover, the responses of some readers suggest that works of climate fiction might lead some people to associate climate change with intensely negative emotions, which could prove counterproductive to efforts at environmental engagement or persuasion." Finally, an empirical study focused on the popular novel "The Water Knife" found that cautionary climate fiction set in a dystopic future can be effective at educating readers about climate injustice and leading readers to empathize with the victims of climate change, including environmental migrants. However, its results suggest that dystopic climate narratives might lead to support for reactionary responses to climate change. Based on this result, it cautioned that "not all climate fiction is progressive," despite the hopes of many authors, critics, and readers.

a0c0d92a-8b8a-4533-bfa5-d99b68c714ac

m2d2_wiki

The Dead and the Gone The Dead and the Gone is a young adult science fiction dystopian novel by Susan Beth Pfeffer. Released in hardcover in May 2008, it is the second book in The Last Survivors, following "Life as We Knew It" and preceding "This World We Live In" and "The Shade of the Moon". Background. Pfeffer's novel "Life As We Knew It" was created after watching the original film "Meteor" (1979), noting that "it got [her] thinking about how the people who have the most to lose if the world comes to an end are kids," and wanted to see how her characters would cope with a situation that was out of their control. "The Dead and the Gone" occurs at the same time as the first novel, "Life As We Knew It", but in New York City. She playfully mentioned that "I figure with 300 million people alive in the United States, even if I write about 10 people a book, I can still get another 2,999,998 novels out of that meteor, and that should keep me busy and entertained well past the foreseeable future." "The Dead and the Gone" uses a third-person narrative, while the previous book, "Life As We Knew It", used a first-person narrative in a journal format. Asked about the change in narrative, Pfeffer replied quite simply that in her planning processes, she "just could not envision a teenage boy keeping a diary. It's as simple as that," accounting for the change. Plot. "The Dead and the Gone" follows 17-year-old Alex Morales and his sisters, Briana and Julie, in their struggle to survive after an asteroid hits the Moon and knocks it out of orbit, closer to Earth. Taking place in New York, they are plagued with volcanic eruptions, tsunamis and tidal waves, and earthquakes, along with famine caused by food shortages and disease that kill millions of people in the process. Alex is forced to take care of his sisters in the absence of his mother and father and to raid dead bodies for valuables to trade for food. He struggles with his religious faith while trying desperately to survive. Characters. Alex Morales: A 17-year-old Puerto Rican boy who has to take care of his two younger sisters after the moon disaster occurs. He blames himself for all of the things happening to his sisters and his supposed inability to help them. He attends a private school on a scholarship, and before the moon disaster worked at a pizza place. Near the end of the book, he gets the flu. Briana Morales (Bri): Alex's devoutly religious 14-year-old sister. She is more used to cooking and cleaning than Alex is, and takes on these household chores. Alex arranges for her to be sent to a convent in the country, where she can receive education and regular meals. She is brought back to New York some time later, having developed asthma due to the volcanic ash polluting the air. After this, Alex won't let her do anything around the house, so it is left up to Julie. Because of her religious beliefs, she has faith that their parents are still alive and will return to the family eventually. Julie Morales: Alex's youngest sister. Julie is 12 years old and turns 13 later in the book. She stays with Alex when Bri leaves, and despite their differences before the book, they become much closer as they struggle to survive. She gets on well with Bri despite their different religious attitudes, and is particularly close to Carlos. Despite Alex initially considering her to be a spoiled brat, she ultimately copes well with the situation they are in. Father Mulrooney: The strict and uptight elderly head of Alex's private school. After Alex initially considered him to be unduly harsh, they become closer over time, with Father Mulrooney helping Alex and Julie escape what is left of the city at the end of the story. Sister Rita: Headmaster of Julie and Bri's school, Holy Angels. Assisted Father Mulrooney help get Alex and Julie out of New York City. Isabella Morales (Mami): Alex, Bri, and Julie's mother. A kind, nurturing, and caring woman who works as a nurse, Isabella is an effectual mother. She was most likely in the subways when the floods hit and is presumed dead. Luis Morales (Papi): Alex's father, who, while strict and overly-uptight, is still loving and nurturing. He was the superintendent of their apartment building, and the family lives in the basement apartment. He was on the coast of Puerto Rico when tides rose and is presumed dead. Kevin Daley: A classmate of Alex's, who has black market connections. He teaches Alex how to "body shop" (taking the valuable items off of the people who die in the streets), and how to trade those items for food. Harvey: A man with whom Alex trades items, from body shopping and from other apartments, for food. Introduced to him by Kevin Daley. Carlos Morales: Alex's 22-year-old brother, who is in the Marines and deployed to Texas. Chris Flynn: A wealthy boy in Alex's class. He was rivals with Alex before the apocalypse, and offers Alex a favour when he leaves the city. Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Lorraine: Alex's aunt and uncle, who have three young children with another one on the way. They own a bodega, and Uncle Jimmy allows Alex and Julie to pack up some food to take home. They leave New York City to move to Tulsa, and offer to take Bri with them. Father Franco: The priest at Alex's church. He organises for Bri to live at the convent, and provides solace and information throughout the disaster. Tony Loretto and James Flaherty: Alex's schoolmates, who help Alex and Kevin plan a birthday party for Julie and get Bri asthma medication. Reception. "Publishers Weekly" described "The Dead and the Gone" as "riveting", and said that "once again Pfeffer creates tension not only through her protagonist's day-to-day struggles but also through chilling moral dilemmas: whether to rob the dead, whom to save during a food riot, how long to preserve the hope that his parents might return," adding that "[t]he powerful images and wrenching tragedies will haunt readers." John Green of the "New York Times" said that it "transcend[s] [its] premises with terrifyingly well-imagined futures and superb characterization," and that "the story’s climax and resolution feel achingly right."

3ed863b9-1d94-45fb-8e38-ec8d33a3cc20

m2d2_wiki

The Man with the Compound Eyes The Man with the Compound Eyes is a Taiwanese novel by Wu Ming-Yi. The novel was first published in Taiwan in 2011 by Summer Festival Press. In 2013 it became Wu's first novel to be translated into English (trans. by Darryl Sterk) and was released simultaneously in the UK and in the USA. Before publication an extract of the novel was published in the online literary journal "Asymptote". Described as an ecological parable the novel details the lives of several characters living in and around the Taiwanese coastal town of Haven whose lives have been impacted by climate change. Plot. Atile'i is a teenage boy and a member of the Wayo Wayo who inhabit a small island and have almost no contact with the outside world. Because resources are scarce, second sons are sent out in boats as teenagers to die. Atile'i goes out, but as his boat sinks, he is able to swim to an "island" which is actually a trash vortex. Atile'i survives on the island though he notices that animals who eat from it die, and he begins to think he is trapped in hell. In the coast town of Haven, in Taiwan, a professor Alice Shih has become suicidal after her Danish husband and their son disappeared during a hike. Alice lives in a house built by her husband that was initially built near the sea, but because of erosion is now almost completely flooded. Initially planning to kill herself, Alice decides to live after a kitten washes up in her home. A news report announces that a part of the trash vortex is about to break free and come in contact with the coast of Taiwan. As it hits the shore, it also is accompanied by a huge wave which permanently destroys Alice's sea house and the only other structure along the shore, the nearby cafe the Seventh Sisid. After Alice's kitten goes missing, she looks for it and discovers Atile'i, with a leg injury. Because he is afraid of strangers, she has her friend, Dahu, loan her his hunting cabin, and she lives there together with Atile'i as he heals. Alice decides to go to the spot where she believes her husband's body was found after he died during the hike. In various sections Alice's husband Thomas's death is described as is his meeting with a man with compound eyes who tells Thomas he is dead and also informs him that his and Alice's son Toto died years ago and his presence was a product of Alice's writing and a delusion on her part. Alice then returns home and begins writing a book and a short story, both entitled "The Man With the Compound Eyes." Almost a year later, Dahu is travelling with some friends when he hears a news report about a young woman being picked up off the Gulf of Mexico. This is Rasula, Atile'i's love, who was pregnant with his child. She falls into a coma and becomes brain dead, but her child is born via caesarean section and is healthy despite being born with sirenomelia. Because of the trash vortex, the coast of Taiwan is permanently altered as is the weather. Atile'i leaves Alice to try to find Rasula and return to Wayo Wayo. Wayo Wayo is later completely destroyed and the population wiped out when a tsunami hits the island. Reception. The novel was positively reviewed. Anita Felicelli writing for "The Rumpus" praised it as "stylistically interesting". Jason Sheenhan writing for NPR called it an "achingly sad book with tears on every page." Tash Aw writing for "The Guardian" called Wu "a deft novelist".

67ab696c-e9e1-46f3-89d9-ccb392b73da8

m2d2_wiki

The Water Knife The Water Knife is a 2015 science fiction novel by Paolo Bacigalupi. It is Bacigalupi's sixth novel, and is based on his short story, "The Tamarisk Hunters", first published in the environmental journal "High Country News". It takes place in the near future, where drought brought on by climate change has devastated the Southwestern United States. Synopsis. Set at an undetermined point in the near future, the American Southwest has been ravaged by drought, brought on by rising heat and extreme water shortages due to the debilitating effects of climate change. The Colorado River and its tributaries, which are an essential source of water for the region, has decreased to a mere trickle. In Nevada, Arizona, and California, corrupt business magnates control the severely depleted water supply, and routinely battle in armed conflicts for dwindling portions of the river. Angel Velasquez, a detective, assassin and spy “cuts” water for the Southern Nevada Water Authority, controlled by his boss Catherine Case. Angel's job, as a "water knife", is to infiltrate and sabotage the water supplies of competing states, and to make sure that Case can keep her luxuriant arcology developments thriving in Las Vegas. Case wants to ensure that the rich stay wet, while the poor get nothing but dust. When reports of a game-changing water source arise in Phoenix, Angel is sent south to investigate in his customized Tesla. Upon arriving in the blistering heat of Arizona, he encounters Lucy Monroe, an award winning journalist harboring her own agenda and secrets, and Maria Villarosa, a young refugee from Texas, surviving on her instincts and shrewdness. The three find themselves being manipulated in a corrupt game, larger and dirtier than any of them could have ever imagined. Angel soon discovers that California is trying to monopolize the tiny current of the river, and with Phoenix on the verge of collapsing into chaos and violence, the bodies begin to stack up. As time starts to run out for the three, they discover their only hope for survival rests in one another's hands. But when water is such a precious commodity in the desert region, and where partnerships can change in the blink of an eye, the only thing for certain is that someone will have to bleed if anyone hopes to drink. Major themes. Major themes include: water shortage and drought, climate change, corporate greed, social hierarchy, refugee crises and fabricated arcologies. Reception. Hugo Award winner Jason Heller said "Bacigalupi plays on a grand scale, but he does so with a keen eye for detail, from the designer dust masks worn by the rich to the construction printers used on an industrial scale (like giant 3-D printers), for the building of Southern Nevada Water Authority super resorts. His big triumph, though, is never forgetting that "The Water Knife" is a thriller at its pounding heart. Even amid reams of deeply researched information about the economy, geology, history and politics of water rights and usage in the United States, he keeps the plot taut and the dialogue slashing". In his review for "The Washington Post", Héctor Tobar writes that "Bacigalupi is a grim, efficient and polished narrator" and creates a "twisted fictional landscape" that is a "vision of the near-future that borrows heavily from the strangeness and conflicts of the present". Tobar also states that some of the inventions used in the novel reek of stereotypes: "Mexico, for example, has devolved into a series of political entities called the Cartel States...but a powerful journalist named Lucy Monroe and a refugee from Texas named María Villarosa provide feminine wiles and a much-needed antidote to the book’s relentless bursts of testosterone-driven prose". Overall, Tobar suggests that fans of Bacigalupi's previous novel, "The Windup Girl", will surely "enjoy losing themselves in these nearly 400 pages of climate sci-fi, or cli-fi, as it’s now called". "The Denver Post" called the novel a "blockbuster" writing that the characters in the book are "dragged together by fate, make bargains with each other and with themselves, and sometimes manage to rise to the level of anti-hero...there’s a little more techno-jargon, there are explosions and helicopters, breathless action and genuine suspense...this is a rich and, yes, gritty world from a smart author who knows the American Southwest well and knows readers better". Denise Hamilton postulated that the book brought to mind the movie Chinatown, saying that while "one is set in the past and the other in a dystopian future, both are neo-noir tales with jaded antiheroes and ruthless kingpins who wield water as lethal weapons to control life - and mete out death". Hamilton further opines that "Bacigalupi's use of water as sacred currency" evokes the novel "Dune" and the "violence and slang" may also bring to mind the film, "A Clockwork Orange". Still though, Hamilton argues that the book is not a pastiche either; "Bacigalupi weaves an engrossing tale all his own, crackling with edgy style...and he makes water politics sexy, laying down the jargon and technical details early, then hurrying back to the action-filled streets...the ultimate villains here aren't the hired assassins or lowly water engineers but the faceless corporate owners who play God, deciding if entire regions live or die".

c868bf2b-9f22-44e2-874a-3ac864b723b4

m2d2_wiki

The Burning World (novel) The Burning World is a 1964 science fiction novel by British author J. G. Ballard. An expanded version, retitled The Drought, was first published in 1965 by Jonathan Cape. Plot. In contrast to Ballard's earlier novel "The Drowned World", "The Burning World" describes a world in which water is scarce. After an extensive drought, rivers have turned to trickles and the earth to dust, causing the world's populations to head toward the oceans in search of water. The drought is caused by industrial waste flushed into the ocean, which form an oxygen-permeable barrier of saturated long-chain polymers that prevents evaporation and destroys the precipitation cycle. The main focus of the book is on the surrealistic landscapes forming a changing setting symbolising the developing psychological conflicts and alienation of the principal character.

d5c64476-a986-4567-b62b-290c1d245ade

m2d2_wiki

The Road The Road is a 2006 post-apocalyptic novel by American writer Cormac McCarthy. The book details the grueling journey of a father and his young son over a period of several months across a landscape blasted by an unspecified cataclysm that has destroyed industrial civilization and almost all life. The novel was awarded the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction in 2006. The book was adapted into a film of the same name in 2009, directed by John Hillcoat. Plot. A father and his young son journey on foot across the post-apocalyptic ash-covered United States some years after an extinction event. The boy's mother, pregnant with him at the time of the disaster, committed suicide some time before. Realizing they cannot survive the winter in more northern latitudes, the father takes the boy south along interstate highways towards the sea, carrying their meager possessions in their knapsacks and a supermarket cart. The father is suffering from a cough. He assures his son that they are "good guys" who are "carrying the fire". The pair have a revolver, but only two rounds. The father has tried to teach the boy to use the gun on himself if necessary, to avoid falling into the hands of cannibals. They attempt to evade a group of marauders traveling along the road but one of the marauders discovers them and seizes the boy. The father shoots him dead and they flee the marauder's companions, abandoning most of their possessions. Later, when searching a house for supplies, they discover a locked cellar containing captives whom cannibals have been eating limb by limb, and flee into the woods. As they near starvation, the pair discovers a concealed bunker filled with food, clothes, and other supplies. They stay there for many days, regaining their strength, and then carry on, taking supplies with them in a cart. They encounter an elderly man with whom the boy insists they share food. Further along the road, they evade a group whose members include pregnant women and catamites, and soon after they discover an abandoned campsite with a newborn infant roasted on a spit. They soon run out of supplies and begin to starve before finding a house containing more food to carry in their cart, but the man's condition worsens. The pair reaches the sea, where they discover a boat that has drifted ashore. The man swims to it and recovers supplies, including a flare gun, which he demonstrates to the boy. The boy becomes ill. When they stop on the beach while the boy recovers, their cart is stolen. They pursue and confront the thief, a wretched man traveling alone. The father forces him to strip naked at gunpoint, and takes his clothes together with the cart. This distresses the boy, so the father returns and leaves the man's clothes and shoes on the road, but the man has disappeared. While walking through a town inland, a man in a window shoots the father in the leg with an arrow. The father responds by shooting his assailant with the flare gun. The pair move further south along the beach. The father's condition worsens, and after several days he realizes he will soon die. The father tells the son he can talk to him in prayer after he is gone, and that he must continue without him. After the father dies, the boy stays with his body for three days. The boy is accosted by a man carrying a shotgun, accompanied by his wife and their two children, a son and a daughter. The man convinces the boy he is one of the "good guys" and takes the boy under his protection. Development history. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, McCarthy said that the inspiration for the book came during a 2003 visit to El Paso, Texas, with his young son. Imagining what the city might look like fifty to a hundred years into the future, he pictured "fires on the hill" and thought about his son. He took some initial notes but did not return to the idea until a few years later, while in Ireland. Then the novel came to him quickly, taking only six weeks to write, and he dedicated it to his son, John Francis McCarthy. In an interview with John Jurgensen of "The Wall Street Journal", McCarthy described conversations he and his brother had about different scenarios for an apocalypse. One of the scenarios involved survivors turning to cannibalism: "when everything's gone, the only thing left to eat is each other." Literary significance and reception. "The Road" has received numerous positive reviews and honors since its publication. The review aggregator Metacritic reported the book had an average score of 90 out of 100, based on thirty-one reviews. Critics have deemed it "heartbreaking", "haunting", and "emotionally shattering". "The Village Voice" referred to it as "McCarthy's purest fable yet." In a "New York Review of Books" article, author Michael Chabon heralded the novel. Discussing the novel's relation to established genres, Chabon insists "The Road" is not science fiction; although "the adventure story in both its modern and epic forms... structures the narrative", Chabon says, "ultimately it is as a lyrical epic of horror that "The Road" is best understood." "Entertainment Weekly" in June 2008 named "The Road" the best book, fiction or non-fiction, of the past 25 years and put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "With its spare prose, McCarthy's post-apocalyptic odyssey from 2006 managed to be both harrowing and heartbreaking." In 2019, the novel was ranked 17th on "The Guardian"'s list of the 100 best books of the 21st century. On March 28, 2007, the selection of "The Road" as the next novel in Oprah Winfrey's Book Club was announced. A televised interview on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" was conducted on June 5, 2007, McCarthy's first, although he had been interviewed for the print media before. The announcement of McCarthy's television appearance surprised his followers. "Wait a minute until I can pick my jaw up off the floor," said John Wegner, an English professor at Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas, and editor of the "Cormac McCarthy Journal", when told of the interview. During Winfrey's interview, McCarthy insisted his son, John Francis, was also his co-author, as some of the conversations between the father and son in the novel were based upon conversations between McCarthy and John Francis in real life. McCarthy also dedicated the novel to his son, possibly as an expression of paternal love as well as a depiction of it, although he did not say as much in the interview. On November 5, 2019, the "BBC News" listed "The Road" on its list of the 100 most influential novels. Awards and nominations. In 2006, McCarthy was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in fiction and the Believer Book Award and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. On April 16, 2007, the novel was awarded the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. In 2012, it was shortlisted for the Best of the James Tait Black. Adaptations. A film adaptation of the novel, directed by John Hillcoat and written by Joe Penhall, opened in theatres on November 25, 2009. The film stars Viggo Mortensen as the man and Kodi Smit-McPhee as the boy. Production took place in Louisiana, Oregon, and several locations in Pennsylvania. The film, like the novel, received generally positive reviews from critics.

aa9971d6-e88f-4709-a2d9-bd38e10b6ba0

m2d2_wiki

Ship Breaker Ship Breaker is a 2010 young adult novel by Paolo Bacigalupi set in a post-apocalyptic future. Human civilization is in decline for ecological reasons. The polar ice caps have melted and New Orleans is underwater. On the Gulf Coast nearby, humanity has reverted to survival mode and a small economy has grown from the scavenging of washed up oil tankers for bits of copper and other valuables. Nailer is a fifteen-year-old boy who works on the light crew. His mother died when he was a young boy and he now lives with his alcoholic and drug addicted father, Richard Lopez. After a storm, Nailer rescues Nita, the stranded daughter of a wealthy merchant, and helps her to get back home. Unfortunately, this infuriates several parties, including Nailer's father, the local power brokers, and Nita's father's enemies, including Nita's uncle Pyce. Plot. Nailer, a small-framed teenage boy, is scavenging through an old rusty ship for copper wire. As he crawls through the darkness looking for scavenge to make quota, he dreams of traveling through the bright blue waters of the flooded oceans on a speeding clipper ship. While gathering copper wires, Nailer falls through the duct and lands in a deep pool of oil. Sloth, another member of the light crew, finds Nailer in the oil pocket, but decides to leave him to die because she wants Nailer's job and she wants to sneak the oil out of the ship and sell it. Luckily, Nailer is able to escape the oil and washes up on the beach. On the way out, Nailer is impaled by a rusty piece of metal. He survives. A storm arrives shortly after Nailer's father, Richard, passes out due to a drug overdose. Sadna, Pima's mother, helps wake Richard up and saves him from the storm. After two nights, the storm finally subsides. Nailer and Pima decide to check the beach for scavenge. They find a massive clipper ship stranded on the beach. With a lot of hesitation, the two Light Crew teenagers save the only survivor of the ship, Nita, who is nicknamed "Lucky Girl" by Nailer, since she survived the shipwreck. After Nailer saves Nita, Richard wants to kill the girl and steal the scavenge. Pima lunges at Richard with a knife, but is overpowered. Richard decides to show mercy because Pima's mother, Sadna, had saved him from the storm. Knowing that there might be a reward for returning Nita to her father or uncle, Richard decides to spare her. Soon after, Nailer becomes sick and sleeps for 3 days. "Lucky Girl" eventually tells Pima and Nailer the truth: she ran away to safety because her uncle, who wishes to sell illegal "tar sand", aims to use her as leverage against her father. Nailer decides to leave with Nita, and a half-man named Tool (originally in Richard's Heavy Crew) to New Orleans. After jumping trains, they arrive in New Orleans. They wait for a ship called the "Dauntless", a ship loyal to Nita's father, to arrive. Eventually the Dauntless arrives, but so does Richard. He is dressed as a swank (a rich man). Feeling suspicious, Nailer scouts the ship. After returning to his and Nita's hideout, he discovers that Richard and Nita's uncle, Pyce, have kidnapped her. Nailer joins Captain Candless and the rest of the Dauntless crew on a high-speed chase after the Pole-Star, the ship Nita is presumedly on. While on the ship, Nailer learns how to read and works on the gear systems in the depths of the ship. During some high speed maneuvering, the Dauntless outsmarts the other ships, the Ray and the Pole Star, after sailing back to the gulf where the story started. The crew members of the Dauntless board the ship, and Nailer searches for Nita. He encounters his father and a fight ensues. Using his newfound ability to read and his experience with the gear systems, Nailer wins, killing Richard, and saves Nita. The book ends with Nailer meeting Nita again on the same beach they met.

71caaeef-0d7f-471d-a472-1e3158953515

m2d2_wiki

Fallen Angels (Niven, Pournelle, and Flynn novel) Fallen Angels (1991) is a science fiction novel by American science fiction authors Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Michael Flynn published by Jim Baen. The winner of 1992 Prometheus Award, the novel was written as a tribute to science fiction fandom, and includes many of its well-known figures, legends, and practices. It also champions modern technology and heaps scorn upon its critics - budget cutting politicians, fringe environmentalists and the forces of ignorance. The novel takes aim at several targets of ridicule: Senator William Proxmire, radical environmentalists and mystics, such as one character who believes that one cannot freeze to death in the snow because ice is a crystal and "crystals are healing." It also mocks ignorance in journalism, which greatly helps the main characters (for example, one "expert" cited in a news article believes that the astronauts must have superhuman strength, based on a photograph of a "weightless" astronaut easily handling heavy construction equipment) and the non-scientific world in general. Several real people are tuckerized into the book in a more positive light, including many fans who made donations to charity for that express purpose and a character called "RMS" (presumably Richard M. Stallman) who leads a network of hackers called the Legion of Doom, connected by a series of BBS systems. Setting. Set in an unspecified "near-future" (one of the main characters has childhood memories of the Exxon Valdez disaster) in which a radical left-wing environmentalist movement has joined forces with the religious right through a shared distaste for modern technology. The resulting bipartisan conspiracy has gained control of the US government and imposed draconian luddite laws which, in attempts to curb global warming, have ironically brought about the greatest environmental catastrophe in recorded history – an ice age which may eventually escalate into a Snowball Earth. The exact process is described: clouds are water condensation. This cannot occur without cloud condensation nuclei in the atmosphere. The emission laws have removed most of this, reducing cloud cover, meaning the ground loses heat faster. This in combination with the drop in greenhouse gases has resulted in the return and exacerbation of the Little Ice Age; now self-perpetuating as glaciers have a much higher albedo. As a radical totalitarian environmentalist party now controls the US government, the scientific explanation is denounced as "propaganda from life-hating technophiles", and blame for the ice age is instead solely placed on the society surviving in orbit. Science fiction fandom forms the core of a pro-technology underground in the United States, working in tandem with hacker movements. Other technologists – accused by the government of pursuing "materialist science" – were removed from their jobs and forced underground, where they were generally unable to continue their work. This rabid distaste for technology has resulted in the collapse of the economy and lack of education and a complicit media has left the majority of the population credulous and easily manipulated. The Greens have been in power for most of the lives of the characters. As glaciers rapidly advance south, Canada and the northern United States are all but destroyed. Near the edge of the glaciers, in Milwaukee, barbaric feudal systems arise as the federal government and markets collapse, leaving violence and disease in their wake. In orbit, Mir and Space Station Freedom survive in tandem with a Lunar colony, but with no support from Earth. The city of Winnipeg is the last major outpost of Canadian civilization, warmed and inhabitable due to immense amounts of solar power beamed from the space stations. Plot summary. Astronauts from the orbital society fly a modified scramjet, redesigned to harvest nitrogen from the Earth's atmosphere. Government policy declares that these ships are responsible for the ice age, so the scramjet is shot down with a surface-to-air missile. The pilot and copilot, an Earth-born American named Alex MacLeod and a space-born Russo-American named Gordon Tanner, are forced to crash land in Canada atop the glaciers. Upon hearing of this, the fan underground embarks on a rescue mission – a group of fans rides north through the Dakotas to rescue the astronauts before they can be apprehended by the Government. Upon reaching the Dakotas, the fans must travel largely on foot, as their van is unable to traverse the glaciers. However, they have a major advantage over their foes in the government – their relationship with the space station provides them with superior navigational abilities; following the fall of scientific society, the United States Air Force (USAF) no longer enjoys access to satellite reconnaissance. The fans are able to reach the downed spacecraft well in advance of the USAF. Their escape is aided in a similar manner. Though the Angels are unable to walk due to their overexposure to weightlessness and must be dragged along on sleds, the microwave power transmission beam reserved for Winnipeg is diverted to warm the travellers as they return south to their van. In addition, a tribe of nomadic Inuit peoples shares supplies with them in thanks for the warmth provided by the microwave beam. Upon finally reaching their van, the rescuers flee to a small science fiction convention of some 50 fans at a mansion owned by one of their own. Once there, one of the fans takes on the role of personal trainer to help the Angels adjust to Earth's gravity including various asanas from yoga. At the con, the fans brainstorm a daring plan - before the Greens had come to power, one of the Board of Trustees for the Metropolitan Museum of Boston by the name of Ron Cole supposedly refurbished a Titan II rocket. This rocket still exists at the Museum of Science and Industry at Chicago. The fans and the Angels leave for Chicago just moments before the mansion is raided by the Green police. The trip to Chicago gives the reader a brutal depiction of American life without basic technology. A blizzard forces the fans to take shelter in a farm town - where at least one towns-person dies in each blizzard for lack of heating oil. After hitching a ride in a consignment of cheese, the fans are captured by the feudal inhabitants of Milwaukee who are burning the excess houses in the city for heat. One of their captors has the food swapped with moonshine liquor and forces the group into slavery to pay off a series of trumped-up "fines". They are assisted by a fellow fan amongst their captors, and are able to continue on to Chicago. When the fans finally meet Ron Cole, their hopes are crushed. The rocket is a decaying wreck, and Cole is a shadow of his former self due to invasive "reeducation" treatments. However, Cole is able to put them on another path – a privately constructed single-stage-to-orbit spacecraft at Edwards Air Force Base, disguised by the simple and effective method of its designer, Gary Hudson, declaring it non-functional. "Summary Incomplete"

156fd92e-32dc-4f19-ab67-1f6959e7b330

m2d2_wiki

Floodland (novel) Floodland is a children's fantasy novel by Marcus Sedgwick, published on 2 March 2000 by Orion Children's Books. "Floodland" won the Branford Boase Award in 2001 for an outstanding first published novel. Plot introduction. "Floodland" is set in the near future where most of the United Kingdom is covered by water. The story is about a ten-year-old girl named Zoe who is left behind after her parents leave the island before the floods. She is left alone in the ruins of Norwich but escapes to Eels Island (Ely Cathedral) where she discovers a sinister society run by a strange boy named Dooby. Will she ever find her parents?

8c3aeb97-00b7-4b5c-bc7a-84b420af95b5

m2d2_wiki

Fifty Degrees Below Fifty Degrees Below (2005) is the second book in the hard science fiction "Science in the Capital" trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. It directly follows the events of "Forty Signs of Rain", with a greater focus on character Frank Vanderwal, and his decision to remain at the National Science Foundation, following the earlier novel’s superstorm and devastating flood of Washington D.C. Major themes. The book, and series, looks mainly at possible mitigation and adaptation efforts that could be undertaken to combat the dangers of anthropogenic climate change, though mainly the plot focuses on an international effort to restart the stalled Gulf Stream. The focus is mainly on the scientific approach by the NSF, and its effort to work with the United States government, the UN and other international bodies. The character of Frank Vanderwal is followed closely through about a year and a half of his life. Alongside his work at the NSF, his storyline focuses mainly on his attempt at a paleolithic lifestyle, which includes focusing on certain types of behaviour that the human brain has adapted to enjoy, such as sleeping outdoors and hunting. Vanderwal also meets a woman who introduces him to the potential and danger of total electronic surveillance. Reception. "Publishers Weekly" praised the novel, saying "this ecological disaster tale is guaranteed to anger political and economic conservatives of every stripe, but it provides perhaps the most realistic portrayal ever created of the environmental changes that are already occurring on our planet. It should be required reading for anyone concerned about our world's future." Kirkus Reviews were mixed in their review saying "though it is fast-paced and exciting, it does occasionally strain believability. Where the author succeeds is in his fascinating speculation about our ecological future, and the steps we could be taking to repair the world for future generations. First-rate ecological speculation, but a second-rate thriller." Janet Raloff reviewing for Science News said "overall, Robinson's engaging book is a fast-moving, upbeat romp driven by science." The novel was nominated for a Locus Award in 2006.

3af94f05-7666-4da8-af62-aa96e3457518

m2d2_wiki

The Stone Gods (novel) The Stone Gods is a 2007 novel by Jeanette Winterson. It is mainly a post apocalyptic love story concerned with corporate control of government, the harshness of war, and the dehumanization that technology brings, among other themes. The novel is self-referential, where later characters in the story find and read earlier sections of the book itself, and where certain sets of characters’ story arcs repeat, particularly those of a Robo "sapiens" named Spike and her reluctant human companion, Billie. This technique sets the book in the postmodernist genre, though it is mainly used to warn against history’s tendency to repeat itself, as well as humanity’s inability to learn from past mistakes, even when these mistakes repeat across history, planets, and their respective evolutionary timelines. Ursula Le Guin, while criticizing exposition and sentimentality, thought the novel a worthwhile and cautionary tale. Andrew Milner, a literary critic and author of "Science Fiction and Climate Change", notes that this book is an early example of 'doomer' climate fiction.

a1c3611b-4763-495c-b60a-2157014517f2

m2d2_wiki

The Overstory The Overstory is a novel by Richard Powers published in 2018 by W. W. Norton & Company. It is Powers' twelfth novel. The novel is about five trees whose unique life experiences with nine Americans bring them together to address the destruction of forests. Powers was inspired to write the work while teaching at Stanford University after he encountered giant redwood trees for the first time. "The Overstory" was a contender for multiple awards. "The Overstory" was shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker Prize on September 20, 2018. It was awarded the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction on April 15, 2019. and the William Dean Howells Medal in 2020. However, critical reviews of the novel were mixed, with critiques of the character plots and melodrama, alongside praise of the structure, writing and compelling reading experience. Patricia Westerford, one of the novel's central characters, was heavily inspired by the life and work of forest ecologist Dr. Suzanne Simard. Plot. Nicholas Hoel, Mimi Ma, Adam Appich, Ray Brinkman, Dorothy Cazaly, Douglas Pavlicek, Neelay Mehta, Patricia Westerford, and Olivia Vandergriff are people who had unique relationships with trees which occasionally led to tragedy or salvation. Patricia Westerford recognizes that trees are social organisms rather than isolated ones and presents research to prove this; however, she is ridiculed for being "unscientific." Later, scientists will realize that she was right and give her international recognition, but she has been disillusioned from this world and prefers to study old forest growth on her own instead. To share her research, she publishes a widely successful book about trees. Neelay Mehta loves coding and embraces how insignificant he is. However, while working on a surprise coding project for his father during class, his teacher takes his project notes away from him. He desperately wants his notes back and accidentally curses the teacher, which prompts his teacher to threaten him. Scared of the consequences of insulting a white woman as an Indian child, he climbs a tree to escape reality briefly, but falls out and paralyzes himself. After paralysis, he is able to spend all day programming and initially develops open source games in a world of for-profit video games, like Robin Hood. Eventually, he becomes so successful he starts a video game company too. Adam Appich is a curious psychology student with an unfortunate childhood. On the last day of his psychology seminar, his professor begins having a seizure. Thinking he is demonstrating the bystander effect, no one rises to help him, and the professor dies. In 1989, when Olivia Vandergriff is one semester away from finishing college, she gets high and is accidentally electrocuted, briefly dying. Upon being revived, she comes to believe that higher powers are trying to give her a message. After seeing a news story about a group of activists trying to protect the remaining 3% of giant redwood trees, she decides that her purpose is to join them. On her way there, she meets Nicholas Hoel, now 35 years old, and at a loss of what to do with his life as the life insurance money he lived on is gone. He has sold the Hoel farm, the Hoel tree is dying, and his art is a commercial failure. After talking to Olivia, he decides to join her in her mission. At the same time, in Portland, Oregon, Mimi Ma, the daughter of a Chinese engineer who dies by suicide, is rising up the corporate ladder when she sees that a small group of trees by her building are scheduled to be destroyed by the city. She contemplates attending a town hall meeting to protest their removal but before she can, the city cuts down the trees in the night. Douglas Pavlicek, a veteran who has spent 5 years of his life replanting trees for major companies only to become disillusioned when he discovers that his work actually enables additional logging of old-growth stands, walks by the trees and sees them being cut down. He tries to prevent their destruction and is arrested. When he returns to the trees he is confronted by Mimi Ma, who quickly realizes he is not a city employee but an environmentalist. The two band together to start joining in protests against environmental destruction. Nick and Olivia join a group of nonviolent radicals and give themselves "tree" names, Nick becoming Watchman and Olivia being Maidenhair. When they are asked to tree sit in a giant redwood called Mimas for two weeks, Olivia leaps at the chance. Their stay ends up lasting for more than a year, during which they watch as the forest around them is clear-cut. They are eventually joined by Adam Appich, who is doing a thesis on environmentalists. The night he is there Nick and Olivia are finally forced out of the tree and arrested so Mimas can be cut down. Nick and Olivia decide to do more work in Oregon. Mimi Ma and Douglas continue going to protests where they are brutalized by the police and arrested. Mimi is eventually fired from her job and, like Douglas, becomes a full-time activist. Changed by his time with Olivia and Nick, Adam goes to Oregon to rejoin them, and meets Mimi Ma, now going by the name Mulberry, and Douglas, going by Doug-fir, who are part of the same activist camp. He stays with them a month and they believe that they are finally achieving something until their camp is destroyed by the forest authorities and law enforcement. In the altercation Mimi and Douglas are both badly injured. In retaliation the group sets fire to logging equipment. Pleased by the results, they set two more fires intending the third to be their final act. During the final arson Olivia is injured and dies, and the four remaining activists burn her body and scatter. The fire is deemed the work of a crazed killer and the logging continues. Mimi Ma sells a priceless heirloom her father passed down, which ensures that she can reinvent herself. Nick becomes a vagrant, Douglas a BLM ranger, and Adam returns to academia. Patricia Westerford is developing a seed bank to preserve tree species before they become extinct. However, she becomes hopeless as she realizes that no one will take conservation seriously enough. Even though many are turning to technology to protect the environment, she believes the most effective conservation technology has already been invented: trees. Neelay Mehta becomes the head of a successful video game company, but he would rather explore the world in his own video games and create new worlds than run it. Soon, he comes up with the idea to make his video game emulate the real natural world, a simulation that contains every species in existence and limited resources. However, his board calls this idea crazy and he is voted off. He wishes to hear the dendrologist, Patricia Westerford, speak to recenter his life. Dorothy and Ray are united by their love for adventure and get married. Ray is a successful lawyer, however, Dorothy begins getting bored in married life, especially since she cannot have children, which Ray wants. She has an extramarital affair and Ray becomes paralyzed from stroke. However, as she helps him recover, she ends her affair and rejuvenate her connection with Ray, even though he cannot speak. They realize that trees are treated as property, with no one to fight for them in court, but they are living too. To them, humans are simply pesky, short-lived bugs. In the end, they have children together, trees. Douglas is still haunted by what happened and writes down everything in his journal using everyone's forest names. Nevertheless, his journal is discovered and the FBI arrests him. In order to protect Mimi Ma he decides to give up one name and goes to New York City where he locates Adam and reminisces with him about the fire. Fingered by Douglas, Adam is arrested and sentenced to 140 years in prison, which strikes him as a small price to pay as it is barely any time in tree life. Mimi Ma, who is now living and working as an unconventional unlicensed therapist of sorts, hears about the arrests and realizes that Douglas turned in Adam to protect her. Westerford, now an acclaimed scientist, is invited to a environmental technology conference to speak. She is about to commit suicide for the trees in front of an audience that doesn't do anything to stop her, until Neelay waves his hands to stop her. She finishes her speech by toasting, "To unsuicide!" Living in the forest, Nick creates a giant message from branches and dead logs that can be read from space. He is helped in this project by a Native American man who happens to be passing by, and later by some of the man's family. The message, which reads "Still," will be legible from space for 200 years before it is absorbed into the forest. Television adaptation. In February 2021, it was reported that Netflix was in developing a television adaptation of novel. It will be executive produced by David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, and Hugh Jackman. Reception. "The Atlantic" called the novel "darkly optimistic" for taking the long view that humanity was doomed while trees are not. "The Guardian" was mixed on the novel, with one review claiming that Powers mostly succeeded in conjuring "narrative momentum out of thin air, again and again"; another reviewer excoriated the novel as being an "increasingly absurd melodrama." "Library Journal" called the book "a deep meditation on the irreparable psychic damage that manifests in our unmitigated separation from nature". Ron Charles of "The Washington Post" offered up effusive praise, writing that this "ambitious novel soars up through the canopy of American literature and remakes the landscape of environmental fiction."

e608e046-eae8-4d9d-a203-4cd78aef8f69

m2d2_wiki

Oryx and Crake Oryx and Crake is a 2003 novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood. She has described the novel as "speculative fiction" and "adventure romance", rather than pure science fiction, because it does not deal with things "we can't yet do or begin to do", yet goes beyond the amount of realism she associates with the novel form. It focuses on a lone character called Snowman, who finds himself in a bleak situation with only creatures called Crakers to keep him company. The reader learns of his past, as a boy called Jimmy, and of genetic experimentation and pharmaceutical engineering that occurred under the purview of Jimmy's peer, Glenn "Crake". The book was first published by McClelland and Stewart. It was shortlisted for the 2003 Man Booker Prize for Fiction, as well as for the 2004 Orange Prize for Fiction. "Oryx and Crake" is the first of the MaddAddam trilogy, followed by "The Year of the Flood" (2009) and "MaddAddam" (2013). Plot summary. The novel focuses on a character called "Snowman", living in a post-apocalyptic world near a group of primitive human-like creatures whom he calls "Crakers". Flashbacks reveal that Snowman was once a boy named Jimmy who grew up in a world dominated by multinational corporations and privileged compounds for the families of their employees. Near starvation, Snowman decides to return to the ruins of a compound named RejoovenEsense to search for supplies, even though it is overrun by dangerous genetically engineered hybrid animals. He concocts an explanation for the Crakers, who regard him as a teacher, and begins his foraging expedition. In Snowman's recollection of past events, Jimmy's family moves to the HelthWyzer compound, where his father works as a genetic engineer. Jimmy meets and befriends a brilliant science student named Glenn. Jimmy begins to refer to him as Crake when he uses that name in an online trivia game called "Extinctathon". Jimmy and Crake spend much of their leisure time playing online games, smoking "skunkweed", and watching underground videos such as live executions, graphic surgery, Noodie News, frog squashing, and child pornography. During one of their child pornography viewings, Jimmy is very much lovestruck by the gazing eyes of a young girl seen in the porn. After graduating from high school, Crake attends the highly respected Watson–Crick Institute, where he studies advanced bioengineering, but Jimmy ends up at the loathed Martha Graham Academy, where students study humanities, only valued for their propaganda applications. Jimmy gets a job writing ad copy, while Crake becomes a bioengineer at RejoovenEsense. Crake uses his prominent position to create the Crakers, peaceful, gentle, herbivorous humanoids, who have sexual intercourse only during limited polyandrous breeding seasons. His stated purpose for the Crakers, actually a deliberate deception, is to create "floor models" of all the possible options a family could choose in the genetic manipulation of their future children. Crake's bio-engineering team consists of the most expert players gathered from the online "Extinctathon" community. Crake tells Jimmy about another very important project, a Viagra-like super-pill called BlyssPluss, which also promises health and happiness, but secretly causes sterilization in order to address overpopulation. Crake officially hires Jimmy to help market it. At the Rejoov compound, Jimmy eventually sees a human in the Craker habitat and recognizes her as the girl from the pornographic video. Unaware of Jimmy's obsession with her, Crake explains that her name is Oryx and that he has hired her as a teacher for the Crakers. Oryx notices Jimmy's feelings for her and makes herself sexually available to him, despite also being Crake's romantic partner. As their relationship progresses, Jimmy becomes increasingly fearful that Crake has found out about it. He also makes a promise to both Oryx and Crake that he will look after the Crakers if anything happens to them. After Crake's wonder drug BlyssPluss is widely distributed, a global pandemic, deliberately caused by it, breaks out and begins wiping out the human race and causing mass chaos outside of the protected Rejoov compound. Realizing that this was planned by Crake all along, and sensing that something dangerous is happening regarding Crake and Oryx, Jimmy grabs a gun to confront Crake, who is returning with Oryx from outside the compound and needs Jimmy to let them in. Crake presents himself to Jimmy with his arm around an unconscious Oryx, saying that he and Jimmy are immune to the virus. Jimmy lets them in, whereupon Crake slits Oryx's throat with a knife. Jimmy then immediately shoots Crake dead. During Snowman's journey to scavenge supplies, he cuts his foot on a sliver of glass and becomes infected. He returns to the Crakers' camp and learns that three other humans are camping nearby. Snowman follows the smoke to their fire. Snowman is unsure of whether and how to confront them, but makes a decision. Beginnings. Margaret Atwood started writing the novel much earlier than she expected, while still on a book tour for her previous novel, "The Blind Assassin". In March 2001, Atwood found herself in the Northern region of Australia, birdwatching with her partner during a break from the book tour. Here, while watching the red-necked crakes in their natural habitat, she was struck with inspiration for the story. However, Atwood explained that the work was also a product of her lingering thoughts on such a scenario throughout her life, as well as spending a great amount of time with scientists throughout her childhood. She stated Several of my close relatives are scientists, and the main topic at the annual family Christmas dinner is likely to be intestinal parasites or sex hormones in mice, or, when that makes the non-scientists too queasy, the nature of the Universe. Atwood continued to write the novel through the summer of 2001 while visiting the Arctic North, witnessing global warming's effect on the region. However, shaken by the September 11 attacks, she stopped writing for a few weeks in the autumn, saying, "It's deeply unsettling when you're writing about a fictional catastrophe and then a real one happens". However, with the looming questions of the end, Atwood finished the novel for release in 2003. These questions in "Oryx and Crake", Atwood explained, are "simply, What if we continue down the road we're already on? How slippery is the slope? What are our saving graces? Who's got the will to stop us?" Allusions and references. To other works. The cover of some editions contains a portion of the left panel of Hieronymous Bosch's painting "The Garden of Earthly Delights". The cover of other editions contains a modified portion of Lucas Cranach the Elder's painting "The Fall". In the first chapter, Snowman utters a reference from Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five": "It is the strict adherence to daily routine that tends towards the maintenance of good morale and the preservation of sanity," he says out loud. He has the feeling he's quoting from a book, some obsolete, ponderous directive written in aid of European colonials running plantations of one kind or another. One of Snowman's musings, "Now I'm alone [...] All, all alone. Alone on a wide, wide sea" is an allusion to part four of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner". In chapter 5 (sub section Bottle) is "Out, out, brief candle" from Shakespeare's Macbeth. Crake finds as Hamlet does, that his father was probably killed by his mother and step father. Like Hamlet he plots to avenge him. To popular culture. In "Margaret Atwood, Transhumanism, and the Singularity", "Sobriquet Magazine" identified several possible pop cultural references in "Oryx and Crake": the world Atwood imagines in "Oryx and Crake" is hardly that far-fetched, especially online. The exhibitionistic website At Home With Anna K, for instance, is almost certainly a reference to Ana Voog's AnaCam and the lifecasting movement pioneered by Jennifer Ringley and her now-defunct JenniCam website. Likewise, many of the other fictional websites Jimmy and Crake visit in the novel have real-life analogues: Felicia's Frog Squash is essentially a crush porn portal, the premise of dirtysockpuppets.com recalls ITV's Spitting Image programme, Queek Geek sounds an awful lot like Fear Factor, and the concept of watching assisted suicides on nitee-nite.com was actualized in our world when Craig Ewert allowed his death in Switzerland to be documented by Sky TV for their controversial "Right to Die" documentary. Even the seemingly far-fetched idea of broadcasting live executions (which Jimmy and Crake watch on shortcircuit.com, brainfrizz.com, and deathrowlive.com) has already been discussed, with a high percentage of the U.S. population receptive to the concept. To scientific history. The book alludes to green fluorescent protein multiple times in the book. The Children of Crake are described having green eyes from a jellyfish protein, indicating that Crake used this gene in their creation. Green rabbits are wild animals in this world, alluding to Alba, a rabbit created by the scientist Louis-Marie Houdebine with the gfp gene in order to glow green. Critical reception. The book received mostly favourable reviews in the press. "The Globe and Mail", "Maclean's", and the "Toronto Star" ranked the novel high among Atwood's works and Helen Brown, for the "Daily Telegraph", wrote "The bioengineered apocalypse she imagines is impeccably researched and sickeningly possible: a direct consequence of short-term science outstripping long-term responsibility. And just like the post-nuclear totalitarian vision of "The Handmaid's Tale", this story is set in a society readers will recognise as only a few steps ahead of our own." For "The New Yorker", Lorrie Moore called the novel "towering and intrepid". Moore wrote, "Tonally, 'Oryx and Crake' is a roller-coaster ride. The book proceeds from terrifying grimness, through lonely mournfulness, until, midway, a morbid silliness begins sporadically to assert itself, like someone, exhausted by bad news, hysterically succumbing to giggles at a funeral." Joyce Carol Oates noted that the novel is "more ambitious and darkly prophetic" than "The Handmaid's Tale". Oates called the work an "ambitiously concerned, skillfully executed performance". Joan Smith, writing for "The Observer", faulted the novel's uneven construction and lack of emotional depth. She concluded: "In the end, Oryx and Crake is a parable, an imaginative text for the anti-globalisation movement that does not quite work as a novel." In a review of "The Year of the Flood", Ursula K. Le Guin defended the novel against criticism of its characters by suggesting the novel experiments with components of morality plays. On 5 November 2019, the "BBC News" listed "Oryx and Crake" on its list of the 100 most influential novels. Sequels. "The Year of the Flood" was released on 7 September 2009 in the United Kingdom, and 22 September 2009 in Canada and the United States. Though chronicling a different set of characters, the follow-up expands upon and clarifies the relationships of Crake with Oryx and Jimmy with his high school girlfriend Ren. Glenn makes a brief appearance. It also identifies the three characters introduced at the end of the original, and finishes the cliffhanger ending. The third book in the series, "MaddAddam", was published in August 2013. TV adaptation. Darren Aronofsky's company Protozoa Pictures were developing a television adaptation of the entire MaddAddam trilogy, under the working title "MaddAddam". Aronofsky was to serve as executive producer and possibly director, with the script written by playwright Eliza Clark. The project was formerly being developed for HBO; in 2016 Aronofsky said that the network was no longer attached, but confirmed that the scripts were written and the project was still underway. In January 2018, Paramount Television and Anonymous Content announced they had won the bidding war for rights to Atwood's MaddAddam book trilogy and plan to bring the series to cable or video on demand. No network has yet agreed to carry the series.

712c253b-ba52-47e8-9acd-444370b95b80

m2d2_wiki

The Water Cure (Mackintosh novel)

ecfb267d-0721-4692-932d-700f3702d950

m2d2_wiki

Sixty Days and Counting Sixty Days and Counting (2007) is the third book in the hard science fiction "Science in the Capital" trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. It directly follows the events of "Fifty Degrees Below", beginning just after the election of character Phil Chase to the White House. It follows the previous novel's deep freeze of the area surrounding Washington D.C. and details the remediation of the climate in the United States and around the world. Like other novels by Robinson, "Sixty Days and Counting" is informed by Buddhism and Buddhist beliefs.

27c320e1-1645-45c2-8673-236572d5c5d9

m2d2_wiki

Earth (Brin novel) Earth is a 1990 science fiction novel by American writer David Brin. The book was nominated for the Hugo and Locus Awards in 1991. Plot summary. Set in the year 2038, "Earth" is a cautionary tale of the harm humans can cause their planet via disregard for the environment and reckless scientific experiments. The book has a large cast of characters and Brin uses them to address a number of environmental issues, including endangered species, global warming, refugees from ecological disasters, ecoterrorism, and the social effects of overpopulation. The plot of the book involves an artificially created black hole which has been lost in the Earth's interior and the attempts to recover it before it destroys the planet. The events and revelations which follow reshape humanity and its future in the universe. It also includes a war pitting most of the Earth against Switzerland, fueled by outrage over the Swiss allowing generations of kleptocrats to hide their stolen wealth in the country's banks. The scope of the story expands vastly as the plot gradually reveals itself, bringing into question the future course—and even the survival—of humanity. Predictions. Brin set this novel 50 years in the future from the time he was writing, using the book as an opportunity to predict what technologies might — at that future date — be taken for granted day to day. Three technologies he predicted came to pass within only 8 years of the writing, including a media-centric, hypertext Internet, email spam, and the proliferation of personal video recording devices. Brin claims at least 15 predictive hits in "Earth", including: Reception. Poet Frederick Turner describes "Earth" as, "An interesting science fiction glimpse at a possible future."

2f6b7680-5bf8-4955-979e-987313cd03c5

m2d2_wiki

Walkaway (Doctorow novel) Walkaway is a 2017 science fiction novel by Cory Doctorow, published by Head of Zeus and Tor Books. Set in our near-future, it is a story of walking away from "non-work", and surveillance and control by a brutal, immensely rich oligarchical elite; love and romance; a post-scarcity gift economy; revolution and eventual war; and a means of finally ending death. Summary. In a world of non-work, ruined by human-created climate change and pollution, and where people are under surveillance and ruled over by a mega-rich elite, Hubert, Etc, his friend Seth, and Natalie, decide that they have nothing to lose by turning their backs and walking away from the everyday world or "default reality". With the advent of 3D printing – and especially the ability to use these to fabricate even better fabricators – and with machines that can search for and reprocess waste or discarded materials, they no longer have need of Default for the basic essentials of life, such as food, clothing and shelter. As more and more people choose to "walkaway", the ruling elite do not take these social changes sitting down. They use the military, police and mercenaries to attack and disrupt the walkaways' new settlements. One thing that the elite are especially interested in is scientific research that the walkaways are carrying out which could finally put an end to death – and all this leads to revolution and eventual war. Reception. Writing on "NPR" online, Jason Sheehan is of the opinion that Doctorow's writing is "super weird in the best possible way." Sheehan says that "Walkaway" is a remarkable "story of a utopia in progress, as messy as every new thing ever is, told in the form of people talking to each other, arguing with each other and working together to solve problems. It's all about the deep, disturbing, recognizable weirdness of the future that must come from the present we have already made for ourselves, trying to figure out what went wrong and what comes next." In "The Verge", Adi Robertson writes: ""Walkaway" imagines a future shaped by the same problems and possibilities Doctorow's been playing with for years: the threat of ubiquitous surveillance and artificial scarcity, and the promise that almost any technology can be repurposed and turned against its creator". Robertson goes on to say that "one of Doctorow's core themes in "Walkaway" is subverting what he described as the popular 'man against man against nature' pulp plot." In "Ars Technica", Sean Gallagher writes that "the future is open source in this optimistic sci-fi disaster epic full of big ideas." He and Doctorow see "Walkaway" as a prequel to the author's debut novel "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom". Gallagher concludes that "Walkaway" "shows us a world trying to make things right after having made all the wrong decisions about how to use technology. But Walkaway executes that move beautifully. And like all great performances, it's worth witnessing over and over again."

d7545dd5-2709-48c0-a48c-dbf041df2f81

m2d2_wiki

Barkskins Barkskins is a 2016 novel by American writer Annie Proulx. It tells the story of two immigrants to New France, René Sel and Charles Duquet, and of their descendants. It spans over 300 years and witnesses the deforestation of the New World from the arrival of Europeans into the contemporary era of global warming. Plot. The eponymous "barkskins" are indentured servants, transported from Paris slums to the wilds of New France in 1693, "... to clear the land, to subdue this evil wilderness," (p. 17) according to their master, a "seigneur". The two men are contracted for three years of service to earn land of their own, but Charles Duquet runs away at the first opportunity, seeking to make a fortune for himself in the fur trade or by any means he can. René Sel, on the other hand, dutifully wields the axe clearing farmland for the master. Later, he is forced to marry the master’s cast off Mi’kmaq woman, Mari, a healer who gives him children. The Sel family heritage is thus Native American and working class. Duquet, luckily surviving his escape through the wilderness, has a fortune to make, mostly on furs and lumber, and by swindling others whenever he can get away with it. Only then will he marry the daughter of a Dutch business partner, open an office in Boston, therefore Anglicizing the family name to Duke, and father or adopt the boys who will build the Duke & Sons timber empire after him. All the while, for the Sel family, there is unceasing discontent. The young are always seeking their future as Native Americans in a whiteman's world. Indian lumbermen, for example, were always recruited for river work balancing on the longest logs rushing down a river where an awkward move could get a man crushed before he drowned.(p. 299) Major themes. Nature. Human struggles with nature are a recurring theme in Annie Proulx's books. About the forest in "Barkskins", Proulx said, "It's the underpinning of life. Everything is linked to the forest. This is but one facet of larger things, like climate change and the melting of the ice. So deforestation is part of a much, much larger package." Borders. As noted in her memoir, "Bird Cloud," Annie Proulx grew up in New England, attended college in Canada, and had a lifelong practice of spending summers in Newfoundland and winters in the States. Thus, she was well acquainted with the geography of the novel and familiar with national and cultural borderlands. Proulx herself descended from English Americans on her mother's side and French Canadians on her father's, which makes her "mixed", although not to the same degree as the Sels in "Barkskins". For the Sel family, the whiteman's cultural borders were closed to them in many ways because the borders of their homelands were never closed enough. Reception. "Barkskins" received a 74% rating from the book review aggregator iDreamBooks based on 26 critics' reviews. Review aggregator Book Marks reported three mixed and two negative reviews among 26 total, indicating "positive" reviews. With few exceptions, reviewers praised the novel particularly with regard to the brilliance of Annie Proulx’s prose, the intimately detailed scenes by which she reveals the complex inner lives of her characters, and/or breathtaking scenes of fearful destruction as well as awesome beauty. The forests and deforestation of the New World underlie the epic scope of the book, while human adventures range beyond the central concerns of forest ecology and the logging industry. The narrative is partitioned into books that turn the reader’s attention to one family or another across generations. Some reviewers thought the sweeping epic scope of the work created a faulty or difficult structure for the novel as a whole. Several expressed disappointment that the passage of so many years seemed to shorten the time given to the portrayals of some promising characters, especially toward the end of the book. Some inconsistencies were noted; for example, changes in the diction of a Native American character's speech within a single episode. The didactic nature of the theme was both applauded and faulted. A few reviewers thought it undercut the narrative perspective at times, imposing a good vs. evil dichotomy. Proulx’s descriptions were universally admired. Most readers found verisimilitude in these observations of the uncertainty and fragility of life, while a few spoke of an overwhelming echo of doom long foretold. Publication. Excerpts from the novel were published in "The New Yorker" in March 2016. In other media. Television. A dramatic television series, based on the novel premiered on May 25, 2020 on National Geographic.

24757fca-fedf-4e32-87aa-bb21375d1a02

m2d2_wiki

Life as We Knew It (novel) Life As We Knew It is a young adult science fiction novel by American author Susan Beth Pfeffer, first published in 2006 by Harcourt Books. It is the first book in "The Last Survivors" series, followed by "The Dead and the Gone". When an asteroid hits the moon and brings it closer to Earth, life in Northeastern Pennsylvania will never be the same again for Miranda and her family. The lack of food and extreme cold provides major threats to their survival. Synopsis. The book portrays 16-year-old Miranda, living a normal life in Pennsylvania with her mother and brothers. Her biggest worries are her grades and her conflicted feelings about becoming a godmother to her soon-to-be-born half-sibling, who is expected by her father and his second wife Lisa. Soon, the news becomes focused on one subject: an asteroid predicted to hit the moon. People are excited about the opportunity to witness the event, and on the night of the impact, Miranda and her family go outside to witness it. However, the asteroid was denser than expected by scientists, and immediately after impact, it becomes apparent that something is wrong. The moon has been pushed closer to the Earth by the impact, which causes a change in the Earth's gravitational pull. Life on earth is shattered, as is Miranda's life. Tsunamis and earthquakes ravage the coasts of many countries, causing millions of deaths. Chaos erupts and Miranda and her family go shopping for food, water, and supplies before the stores are emptied. Miranda's older brother Matt comes home from college. Living inland, they are safe from tsunamis, but as the summer goes on, another threat looms; the moon's shift causes magma to be forced up to the surface, resulting in many dormant volcanoes erupting, which cover the sky in ash, causing the temperature to drop dramatically (enough for frost to appear by mid-August and for 20-degree weather by October), making it impossible for food to grow. As things become harsher for the family, they start eating less to conserve food. Laura stops eating and makes other sacrifices to give Jon, who Miranda is convinced Laura considers to be the strongest of her children, a chance of survival. This is often a source of resentment that causes conflict between Miranda and her mother. Winter is an especially hard time. With little food, the family must also deal with snow, a lack of running water, and no natural gas or electricity. A serious influenza infection spreads through town, killing hundreds of people, including Peter; Miranda is spared, and nurses her mother and brothers back to health. As the family become more and more isolated, with nearly everyone else is either leaving town or dying, they continue to fight for survival. As the family's food supply comes very close to running out, Miranda ventures into town. She tells herself that it is to see whether there has been a letter from her father and Lisa, though in her heart she knows that she is dying of starvation and her intention is to die away from her home, where her mother will not have to see it. When Miranda finds the post office abandoned, and as she is about to lie down and let the cold kill her, she sees a yellow piece of paper that attracts her gaze. The paper leads her to the town hall, where, to her shock, she discovers the mayor is giving out bags of food; there are few takers, as many people are dead and even more have no way of knowing about the program. The family is given four bags of food and promised more to come in the following weeks. With a new reason to hope, Miranda muses on her seventeenth birthday about why she is still keeping a diary: for the people who might read it in the future, or for herself. Characters. Miranda Evans: A 16-year-old girl. The novel's point of view is her diary entries. She has two brothers, one of whom she is jealous of, and the other she idolizes, but she cares greatly for both of them. Her favourite hobby used to be ice skating, but prior to the book's events, she suffered an ankle injury, forcing her to switch to swimming. She still has a passion for ice skating, idolizing Brandon Erlich, a famous skater from her town. Later on in the novel, she is the only one of her family to not contract a life-threatening strain of flu and nurses them through it. Matt Evans: Miranda's 19-year-old brother who provides for the family, collecting firewood and doing manual labor. He is looked up to by his mother and siblings (Miranda "cares desperately what he thinks of her", despite denying it). Matt was studying at college before returning to his family after the event. Jonathan "Jonny" Evans: Miranda's 13-year-old brother who has a passion for baseball. The family considers him to be the most likely to survive, but Jonny is scared of living without the rest of his family, and uncomfortable that he eats more than the others do. Laura Evans: Miranda's mother, a writer. She puts her family's lives ahead of her own, starving herself so her children can have more to eat. She dates Peter during the novel. Later in the book, she sprains her ankle twice, immobilizing her. Megan Wayne: Miranda's devoutly Christian friend. She used to be carefree before she went to church, an interest that began when their mutual friend Becky died. She begins to starve herself with the encouragement of her pastor, who tells the congregation that God is punishing the human race for their sins. Sammi: One of Miranda's friends, who is boy crazy. She had been with numerous boys and fights with Megan, who believes that she leads an immoral life. Sammi leaves town with a man who she believes will provide her with protection. George: Sammi's 40-year-old boyfriend, with whom she moves to Nashville. Becky: Miranda's friend whom she constantly dreams about. She died before the book begins. She was "like the glue" between Miranda, Megan, and Sammi, and when she died, they began to separate. Mrs. Wayne: Megan's mother. She worries that her daughter is starving herself, as she does not share Megan's religious beliefs. Hal/Dad: Miranda's father. He is separated from her mother and married to Lisa, who is pregnant with Miranda's soon-to-be goddaughter. He cares for his children very much, bringing them food when they stop in on their way West. Lisa: Miranda's pregnant stepmother, whose child Miranda will be godmother to. Peter Elliot: Laura's boyfriend, a doctor. He works throughout the events, and visits several times, sometimes bringing food and giving medical advice. He dies from flu and exhaustion. Dan: A boy on Miranda's swim team, with whom she begins to swim in the local pond, Miller's Pond, after their local indoor pool is closed. They have a short-lived romance before Dan leaves in search of a better place to live. Horton: The beloved family cat, who is particularly close to Jonny. Brandon Erlich: An ice skater from their town who is training for the Olympics. He is idolized by skaters worldwide. He has a fan-site dedicated to him, which Miranda visits frequently before the event. One day she surprisingly meets him at a frozen lake, where they talk and skate. Although she returns to the lake, she never sees him again. It is assumed he died or left Howell, although their meeting may have been all in Miranda's imagination. Mrs. Nesbitt: An elderly woman who is like family to the Evanses, having cared for Miranda's mother when she was a child. She passes away during the novel, leaving all of her food, water, and belongings to Miranda's family. Reverend Marshall: The pastor at Megan's church. By telling his congregation that God will sustain them, and behaving in a falsely caring manner, he ensures that they bring him food by way of thanks. This means that he has much more to eat than most people, something which greatly enrages Miranda. Mayor Ford and Tom Danworth: The local mayor and another city employee. They appear at the very end of the book, having organised a food distribution system. Reception. "Kirkus Reviews" said that "death is a constant threat, and Pfeffer instills despair right to the end but is cognizant to provide a ray of hope with a promising conclusion. Plausible science fiction with a frighteningly realistic reminder of recent tragedies here and abroad." Ilene Cooper said in her review for Booklist that "each page is filled with events both wearying and terrifying and infused with honest emotions. Pfeffer bring's cataclysmic tragedy very close." Awards. Pfeffer's book was named Young Adult Library Services Association's Best Books for Young Adults in 2007, and shortlisted for the Andre Norton Award for Outstanding Science Fiction or Fantasy Book of 2007. In addition, it won the Booklist Editor's Choice Award for Books for Youth (Older Reader's Category) in 2006. It was nominated for the 2009 Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award and won the Truman Readers Award of 2009.

fcd6e66b-91d3-4ff9-b288-93356b917b94

m2d2_wiki

The Ministry for the Future The Ministry for the Future is a novel by American science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson published in 2020. Set in the near future, the novel follows a subsidiary body, established under the Paris Agreement, whose mission is to advocate for the world's future generations of citizens as if their rights are as valid as the present generation's. While they pursue various ambitious projects, the effects of climate change are determined to be the most consequential. The plot primarily follows Mary Murphy, the head of the titular Ministry for the Future, and Frank May, an American aid worker traumatized by experiencing a deadly heat wave in India. Many chapters are devoted to other (mostly anonymous) characters' accounts of future events, as well as their ideas about ecology, economics, and other subjects. With its emphasis on scientific accuracy and non-fiction descriptions of history and social science, the novel is classified as hard science fiction. It is also a part of the growing body of climate fiction. Robinson had previously written other climate fiction novels, such as "2312" and "New York 2140". The novel also includes elements of utopian fiction as it portrays society addressing a problem and elements of horror fiction as climate change threatens characters. Background. At the time of the novel's publication, American science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson was 68 years old and living in Davis, California. He had previously written 20 novels and received the Robert A. Heinlein Award and the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Imagination in Service to Society for his body of work. Prior to "The Ministry for the Future", his latest novel had been "Red Moon", published two years earlier. With "The Ministry for the Future", Robinson was seeking to return to the climate fiction genre which he had previously written with "2312", "New York 2140" and the Science in the Capital series ("Forty Signs of Rain", "Fifty Degrees Below", "Sixty Days and Counting"). While his previous climate fiction had approached the topic from an aftermath point of view, with the new novel he sought to write with the near-future as the starting point with existing real-world technologies, economics and societies and then push the narrative further into the future. This approach is reflected in the book's dedication to Fredric Jameson, Robinson's doctoral supervisor, who wrote that "It is easier to imagine the end of the world than to imagine the end of capitalism." Whereas many science-fiction and climate fiction stories illustrate future societies as end-products of a future history, Robinson was seeking to write about that bridge-time to a future when the effects of climate change are mitigated and the Holocene extinction halted. Plot. The book follows an international organization named the Ministry for the Future in its mission to advocate for the world's future generations of citizens as if their rights are as valid as the present generation's. Beginning in 2025, the organization, established as a subsidiary body under the Paris Agreement and based in Zurich, is led by protagonist Mary Murphy, a former foreign-minister of Ireland and a composite character of diplomats Mary Robinson, Christiana Figueres and Laurence Tubiana. Climate change is established as a threat that compromises the safety and prosperity of the future. While the narrative includes chapters of nonfiction history and descriptions of events from the perspectives of other characters and objects, the plot follows Murphy as she seeks to convince central banks of the threats to currency and market stability posed by the effects of climate change. Specifically, a coordinated global round of quantitative easing through the issuance of an complementary currency, called the carbon coin with a high discounted rate to exchanged for carbon capture, is adopted. At the same time, in Antarctica, various countries cooperate in a geoengineering project to drill to the bottom of glaciers and pump meltwater up to slow basal sliding. Style and genre. The novel comprises 106 short chapters. The chapters mostly alternate between the two protagonists, Mary as she leads the Ministry and Frank as he seeks to act on his frustrations from surviving an extreme heat wave, though numerous chapters are presented from the point of view of other characters or nameless narrators. The style also shifts between chapters, from third person narration of the two protagonists to the first person presentations of others, including object narratives of a photon and a carbon atom. Various chapters also take the form of meeting notes, an encyclopedia article, a prose poem, a Socratic seminar, and explanatory essays, among other styles of writing. Describing this presentation, Robinson stated that the standard structure of the novel did not work for the topic and story he wanted to write. He was seeking to write with an "international scope" with characters that provide explanations for how or why institutions and systems work the way they do and how they might change. His editor at Orbit Books, Tim Holman, encouraged Robinson to try an alternative approach which resulted in various modes of writing, principally unnamed characters providing "eyewitness accounts" but also could take the form of an essay, drama, dialogue, radio interview, riddle, etc. Robinson, in an interview with Amy Brady, editor-in-chief of the "Chicago Review of Books", described his approach as heteroglossia or polyvocal, where the form follows function. With climate change and the Holocene extinction looming in the background, as characters variously seek to halt it or fall victim to it, the reviewer in the "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette" described this narrative as "a good old-fashioned monster story". It begins with an inciting incident and follows characters who interact with privileged groups unwilling to change their habits to address the monster. This type of metaphorical monster, climate change in this case, was compared with those of ""Babadook" (grief), "Rosemary's Baby" (motherhood), "Get Out" (racism), and "Frankenstein" (humanity)". The novel belongs in the genres of hard science fiction, climate literature and utopian fiction. As hard science fiction, the novel emphasizes scientific accuracy with its portrayal of technology and climate science. The exploration and extrapolation of effects of humans changing the world's climate made it part of a growing body of climate fiction, while numerous reviewers classified it as utopian fiction as it portrays a society changing in ways to address its short-comings. However, non-fiction environmental writer Bill McKibben in the New York Review of Books, wrote it "is not utopian, it's anti-dystopian, realist to its core". The novel's approach was compared with Edward Bellamy's "Looking Backward 2000–1887" as a future history that bridges the gap between modern times and a future utopia. Publication and reception. The book was published by Orbit Books, a speculative fiction imprint of the Hachette Book Group. It was released as a hardcover and e-book on 6 October 2020, and will also be released in paperback in June 2021. An audiobook version, narrated by a cast including Jennifer Fitzgerald and Fajer Al-Kaisi, was published by the Hachette Audio imprint and was given an Earphones Award by AudioFile for the audiobook's presentation. The cover, designed by Lauren Panepinto with photographs by Trevillion Images, was revealed on the Newsweek website on 7 April 2020, and described by Robinson as "...suggesting something like the feel of glimpsing the light at the end of the tunnel—the possibility of getting into a new open field of possibilities." Reviewers predominately commented on the novel's relevance with respect to the year's events, such as the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season (the most active season to date), megafires in Australia and the Western United States and the global pandemic, with reviewer Mark Yon summarizing that in that context, this book is "the novel we need". Reviewers also commented on the book's meticulous and well-communicated research. The first chapter, which describes a heat wave that reaches a lethal wet-bulb temperature, Robinson's counter-point to those advocating adaptation, was described by reviewers as gut-wrenching and some of Robinson's most stunning and grimmest writing. However, the reviewers for Kirkus Reviews and The Nerd Daily found the book's "information dumping" took away from the character development and narrative drive. The review in the New Zealand online newspaper "The Spinoff" stated, "The book is many things, but it is never boring... indulges wild tonal shifts... relentless, pacy, utterly absorbing story of our near future"

9c494839-2cf0-45d4-82eb-7b6af7284c1e

m2d2_wiki

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch is a 1965 science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1965. Like many of Dick's novels, it utilizes an array of science fiction concepts, explores the ambiguous slippage between reality and unreality. It is one of Dick's first works to explore religious themes. The novel takes place in a future 2016 where humankind has colonized every habitable planet and moon in the Solar System. To cope with the difficult life away from Earth, colonists rely on the illegal hallucinogen Can-D, secretly distributed by corporate head Leo Bulero. New tensions arise with the rumor that merchant explorer Palmer Eldritch has returned from an expedition in possession of a new alien hallucinogen to compete with Can-D. Plot summary. The story begins in a future world where global temperatures have risen so high that in most of the world it is unsafe to be outside without special cooling gear during daylight hours. In a desperate bid to preserve humanity and ease population burdens on Earth, the UN has initiated a "draft" for colonizing the nearby planets, where conditions are so horrific and primitive that the unwilling colonists have fallen prey to a form of escapism involving the use of an illegal drug (Can-D) in concert with "layouts." Layouts are physical props intended to simulate a sort of alternative reality where life is easier than either the grim existence of the colonists in their marginal off-world colonies, or even Earth, where global warming has progressed to the point that Antarctica is prime vacation resort territory. The illegal drug Can-D allows people to "share" their experience of the "Perky Pat" (the name of the main female character in the simulated world) layouts. This "sharing" has caused a pseudo-religious cult or series of cults to grow up around the layouts and the use of the drug. Up to the point where the novel begins, New York City-based Perky Pat (or P.P.) Layouts, Inc., has held a monopoly on this product, as well as on the illegal trade in the drug Can-D which makes the shared hallucinations possible. The novel opens shortly after Barney Mayerson, P.P. Layouts' top precog, has received a "draft notice" from the UN for involuntary resettlement as a colonist on Mars. Mayerson is sleeping with his assistant, Roni Fugate, but remains conflicted about the divorce, which he himself initiated, from his first wife Emily, a ceramic pot artist. Meanwhile, Emily's second husband tries to sell her pot designs to P.P. Layouts as possible accessories for the Perky Pat virtual worlds—but Barney, recognizing them as Emily's, rejects them out of spite. Meanwhile, the UN rescues Palmer Eldritch's ship from a crash on Pluto. Leo Bulero, head of P.P. Layouts and an "evolved" human (meaning someone who has undergone expensive genetic treatments by a German "doctor" which are supposed to push the client "forward" on an evolutionary scale, and which result in gross physical, as well as mental, modifications), hears rumors that Eldritch discovered an alien hallucinogen in the Prox system with similar properties to Can-D, and that he plans to market it as "Chew-Z," with UN approval, on off-world colonies. However Chew-Z does not require the prop of the external layouts and seems to have certain undefined qualities that make the use of Chew-Z even more addictive than Can-D has been. This would effectively destroy P.P. Layouts. Bulero tries to contact Eldritch but he is quarantined at a UN hospital. Both Mayerson and Fugate have precognitions of reports that Bulero is going to be responsible for murdering Eldritch. Under the guise of a reporter, Bulero travels to Eldritch's estate on the Moon, where Eldritch holds a press conference. Bulero is kidnapped and forced to take Chew-Z intravenously. He enters a psychic netherworld over which both he and Eldritch seemingly have some control. After wrangling about business with Eldritch, Bulero travels to what appears to be Earth at some time in the not-too-distant future. Evolved humans identify him as a ghost and show him a monument to himself commemorating his role in the death of Eldritch, an "enemy of the Sol System." Bulero returns to Earth and fires Mayerson because Mayerson was afraid to travel to the Moon to rescue him. Mayerson, in despair, accepts his UN conscription to Mars but Bulero recruits him as a double agent. Mayerson is to inject himself with a toxin after taking Chew-Z in a plot to deceive the UN into thinking Chew-Z is harmful and cause them to ban it. On Mars, Mayerson buys some Chew-Z from Eldritch, who appears in holographic form. Mayerson tries to hallucinate a world where he is still with Emily but finds that he does not control his apparent hallucination. Like Bulero, he finds himself in the future. Mayerson arrives in New York two years hence where he speaks with Bulero, Fugate and his future self about the death of Palmer Eldritch. He also encounters several manifestations of Eldritch, identifiable by their robotic right hand, artificial eyes, and steel teeth. Eldritch offers to help Mayerson become whatever he wants, but is so controlling of the Chew-Z alternative reality that Mayerson ultimately decides he'd rather be dead than continue to be manipulated by Eldritch. When a despairing Mayerson chooses death, he finds himself apparently forced into Eldritch's body right at the point in the timeline where Bulero is ready to shoot a torpedo at Eldritch's ship. It appears that Eldritch's plan is to preserve his own life essence housed in Mayerson's body while allowing Mayerson himself to die in Eldritch's place. Eldritch, meanwhile, intends to live on in Mayerson's form and enjoy the simple if arduous life of a Martian colonist. Mayerson, stuck in Eldritch's body and mistaken for him, is indeed nearly killed by Bulero in the near future, but before the fatal shot can be fired he is awakened from his Chew-Z trance in the present by Bulero, who has just arrived on Mars. Bulero is willing to take Mayerson back to Earth but refuses to after learning that Mayerson did not inject himself with the toxin. Mayerson is now confident that Bulero will kill Eldritch, so the sacrifice of taking the toxin in order to ruin Eldritch's business is unnecessary; but he does not try to convince Bulero of this. Later, Mayerson discusses his experience with a neo-Christian colonist and they conclude that either Eldritch became a god in the Prox system or some god-like being has taken his place. Mayerson is convinced some aspect of Eldritch is still inside him, and that as long as he refuses to take Chew-Z again, it is Eldritch who will actually be killed by Bulero in the near future; Mayerson is half-resigned, half-hopeful about taking on the life of a Martian colonist without reprieve. Mayerson considers the possibility of Eldritch being what humans have always thought of as a god, but inimical, or perhaps merely an inferior aspect of a bigger and better sort of god. The novel has an ambiguous ending, with Bulero heading back toward Earth, and apparent proliferation of Eldritch's cyborg body 'stigmata', which may mean that Bulero is still trapped in Eldritch's hallucinatory domain, or that Chew-Z is becoming increasingly popular among Terrans and Martian colonists. Reception and legacy. Algis Budrys of "Galaxy Science Fiction" described the novel as "an important, beautifully controlled, smoothly created book which will twist your mind if you give it the least chance to do so". He praised Dick's accomplishment, saying "the whole creation resonates to the touch of the only present science-fiction writer who could possibly have done it" and characterizes the result as "a witty, sometimes lighthearted, and always fascinating piece of fiction". Budrys later named the book the best science-fiction novel of his first year as reviewer for the magazine, reporting that others "are calling it some kind of half-conscious failure". Weird fiction writer China Mieville listed this book in one of his top weird fiction books of all time, saying "It's infuriating to have to choose just one of Dick's works - he is the outstanding figure in SF. In the end I went for Stigmata because I remember how I felt when I put it down. Hollow and beaten. I kept thinking: "That's it. It's finished. Literature has been finished." In a 2003 retrospective review, sci-fi and fantasy author Michael Moorcock criticized "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch" as thematically "incoherent", complaining about Dick's lack of an "idiosyncratic structure or style".

eec86ebc-30a4-4329-8d51-52a01153d842

m2d2_wiki

State of Fear State of Fear is a 2004 techno-thriller novel by Michael Crichton, his fourteenth under his own name and twenty-fourth overall, in which eco-terrorists plot mass murder to publicize the danger of global warming. Despite being a work of fiction, the book contains many graphs and footnotes, two appendices, and a 20-page bibliography in support of Crichton's beliefs about global warming. Many climate scientists, science journalists, environmental groups, and science advocacy organisations dispute Crichton's views on the science as being error-filled and distorted. The novel had an initial print run of 1.5 million copies and reached the #1 bestseller position at Amazon and #2 on "The New York Times" Best Seller list for one week in January 2005. The novel itself has garnered mixed reviews, with some literary reviewers stating that the book's presentation of facts and stance on the global warming debate detracted from the book's plot. Plot summary. Peter Evans is a lawyer for a millionaire philanthropist, George Morton. Evans' main duties are managing the legal affairs surrounding Morton's contributions to an environmentalist organization, the National Environmental Resource Fund (NERF) (modeled after the Natural Resources Defense Council [NRDC]). Morton becomes suspicious of NERF's director, Nicholas Drake, after discovering that Drake has misused some of the funds Morton had donated to the group. Soon afterward, Morton is visited by two men, John Kenner and Sanjong Thapa, who appear on the surface to be researchers at MIT, but, in fact, are international law enforcement agents on the trail of an eco-terrorist group, the Environmental Liberation Front (ELF) (modeled on the Earth Liberation Front). The ELF is attempting to create "natural" disasters to convince the public of the dangers of global warming. All these events are timed to happen during a NERF-sponsored climate conference that will highlight the "catastrophe" of global warming. The eco-terrorists have no qualms about how many people are killed in their manufactured "natural" disasters and ruthlessly assassinate anyone who gets in their way (few would recognize their preferred methods as murder: the venom of a rare Australian blue-ringed octopus which causes paralysis, and "lightning attractors" which cause their victims to get electrocuted during electrical storms). Kenner and Thapa suspect Drake of being involved with the ELF to further his own ends (garnering more donations to NERF from the environmentally-minded public). Evans joins Kenner, Thapa, and Morton's assistant, Sarah Jones, on a globe-spanning series of adventures to thwart various ELF-manufactured disasters before these disasters kill thousands of people. Kenner's niece, Jennifer Haynes, joins the group for the final leg as they travel to a remote island in the Solomon Islands to stop the ELF's "pièce de résistance", a tsunami that will inundate the California coastline just as Drake is winding up the international conference on the "catastrophe" of global warming. Along the way, the group battles man-eating crocodiles and cannibalistic tribesmen (who feast on Ted Bradley, an environmentalist TV actor whom Drake had sent to spy on Kenner and his team). The rest of the group is rescued in the nick of time by Morton, who had previously faked his own death to throw Drake off the trail so that he could keep watch on the ELF's activities on the island while he waited for Kenner and his team to arrive. The group has a final confrontation with the elite ELF team on the island during which Haynes is almost killed, and Evans kills one of the terrorists who had previously tried to kill both him and Jones in Antarctica. The rest of the ELF team is killed by the backwash from their own tsunami, which Kenner and his team have sabotaged just enough to prevent it from becoming a full-size tsunami and reaching California. Morton, Evans, and Jones return to Los Angeles. Evans quits his law firm to work for Morton's new, as yet unnamed, organization, which will practice environmental activism as a business, free from potential conflicts of interest. Morton hopes Evans and Jones will take his place in the new organization after his death. Allegorical characters. Several critics have suggested that Crichton uses the major characters as proxies for differing viewpoints on the topic of global warming in order to allow the reader to clearly follow the various positions portrayed in the book. Author's afterword/appendices. Crichton included a statement of his views on global climate change as an afterword. In the "Author's message", Crichton states that the cause, extent, and threat of climate change are largely unknown. He finishes by endorsing the management of wilderness and the continuation of research into all aspects of the Earth's environment. In Appendix I, Crichton warns both sides of the global warming debate against the politicization of science. Here he provides two examples of the disastrous combination of pseudoscience and politics: the early 20th-century ideas of eugenics (which he directly cites as one of the theories that allowed for the Holocaust) and Lysenkoism. This appendix is followed by a bibliography of 172 books and journal articles that Crichton presents "...to assist those readers who would like to review my thinking and arrive at their own conclusions." Global Warming. "State of Fear" is, like many of Crichton's books, a fictional work that uses a mix of speculation and real world data, plus technological innovations as fundamental storyline devices. The debate over global warming serves as the backdrop for the book. Crichton supplies a personal afterword and two appendices that link the fictional part of the book with real examples of his thesis. The main villains in the plot are environmental extremists. Crichton does place blame on "industry" in both the plot line and the appendices. Various assertions appear in the book, for example: Numerous charts and quotations from real world data, including footnoted charts which strongly suggest mean global temperature is, in this era, lowering. Where local temperatures show a general rise in mean temperature, mostly in major world cities, Crichton's characters infer it is due to urban sprawl and deforestation, not carbon emissions. Crichton argues for removing politics from science and uses global warming and real-life historical examples in the appendices to make this argument. In a 2003 speech at the California Institute of Technology, he expressed his concern about what he considered the "emerging crisis in the whole enterprise of science—namely the increasingly uneasy relationship between hard science and public policy." Reception. Literary reviews. The novel has received mixed reviews from professional literary reviewers. "The Wall Street Journal"'s Ronald Bailey gave a favorable review, calling it "a lightning-paced technopolitical thriller" and the "novelization of a speech that Mr. Crichton delivered in September 2003 at San Francisco's Commonwealth Club." "Entertainment Weekly"'s Gregory Kirschling gave a favorable A- review and said it was "one of Crichton's best because it's as hard to pigeonhole as greenhouse gas but certainly heats up the room." In "The New Republic", Sacha Zimmerman gave a mixed review. Zimmerman criticized Crichton's presentation of data as condescending to the reader but concluded that the book was a "globe-trotting thriller that pits man against nature in brutal spectacles while serving up just the right amount of international conspiracy and taking digs at fair-weather environmentalists." Much criticism was given to Crichton's presentation of global warming data and the book's portrayal of the global warming debate as a whole. In the "Sydney Morning Herald", John Birmingham criticized the book's usage of real world research and said it was "boring after the first lecture, but mostly in the plotting... It's bad writing and it lets the reader ignore the larger point Crichton is trying to make." In "The Guardian", Peter Guttridge wrote that the charts and research in the book got "in the way of the thriller elements" and stated the bibliography was more interesting than the plot. In "The New York Times", Bruce Barcott criticized the novel's portrayal of the global warming debate heavily, stating that it only presented one side of the argument. In the "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette", Allan Walton gave a mostly favorable review and offered some praise for Crichton's work. Walton wrote that Crichton's books, "as meticulously researched as they are, have an amusement park feel. It's as if the author channels one of his own creations, "Jurassic Park's" John Hammond, and spares no expense when it comes to adventure, suspense and, ultimately, satisfaction." Criticism from scientific community. This novel received criticism from climate scientists, science journalists and environmental groups for inaccuracies and misleading information. Sixteen of 18 US climate scientists interviewed by Knight Ridder said the author was bending scientific data and distorting research. Several scientists whose research had been referenced in the novel stated that Crichton had distorted it in the novel. Peter Doran, leading author of the "Nature" paper, wrote in the "New York Times": "our results have been misused as 'evidence' against global warming by Michael Crichton in his novel "State of Fear"". Myles Allen wrote: Michael Crichton's latest blockbuster, "State of Fear", is also on the theme of global warming and is, ... likely to mislead the unwary... Although this is a work of fiction, Crichton's use of footnotes and appendices is clearly intended to give an impression of scientific authority.The American Geophysical Union states in their newspaper "Eos" "We have seen from encounters with the public how the political use of "State of Fear" has changed public perception of scientists, especially researchers in global warming, toward suspicion and hostility." James E. Hansen wrote that Crichton "doesn't seem to have the foggiest notion about the science that he writes about." Jeffrey Masters, chief meteorologist for Weather Underground, writes: "Crichton presents an error-filled and distorted version of the Global Warming science, favoring views of the handful of contrarians that attack the consensus science of the IPCC." The Union of Concerned Scientists devote a section of their website to what they describe as misconceptions readers may take away from the book. Recognition. US Congress. Despite being a work of fiction, the book has found use by opponents of global warming. For example, US Senator Jim Inhofe, who once pronounced global warming "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people", made "State of Fear" "required reading" for the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, which he chaired from 2003 to 2007, and before which he called Crichton to testify in September 2005. Al Gore said on March 21, 2007, before a US House committee: "The planet has a fever. If your baby has a fever, you go to the doctor ... if your doctor tells you you need to intervene here, you don't say 'Well, I read a science fiction novel that tells me it's not a problem. Several commentators interpreted this as a reference to "State of Fear". AAPG 2006 Journalism Award. The novel received the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) 2006 Journalism Award. AAPG Communications director Larry Nation told the "New York Times", "It is fiction, but it has the absolute ring of truth". The presentation of this award has been criticized as a promotion of the politics of the oil industry and for blurring the lines between fiction and journalism. After some controversy within the organization, AAPG has since renamed the award the "Geosciences in the Media" Award. Daniel P. Schrag, Director of the Center for the Environment at Harvard University, called the award "a total embarrassment" that he said "reflects the politics of the oil industry and a lack of professionalism" on the association's part. As for the book, he added "I think it is unfortunate when somebody who has the audience that Crichton has shows such profound ignorance".