In 2020 the sun betrays the inhabitants of planet Earth, finally penetrating an abused ozone layer, and scorching the world and decimating its population. A group of men including Richie, Buddy, and the unlikely Elvis resolve that times are way too hot in Miami, Florida and decide to trek out, […]
Read MorePost-apocalyptic
Into the Forest, Jean Hegland
This novel, published in 1998, won the Independent Publisher Book Award (IPPY) Nominee for Fiction (Finalist) (1997), and James Tiptree Jr. Award Nominee for Longlist (1996). It is currently a movie directed by Ellen Page, airing June 3, 2016. See Dragonfly’s blog post about the movie based off the book. […]
Read MoreLocust Girl, Merlinda Bobis
Most everything has dried up: water, the womb, even the love among lovers. Hunger is rife and survival desperate, except across the border. One night, a village is bombed for attempting to cross the border. Nine-year old Amedea is buried underground and sleeps to survive. Ten years later, she wakes […]
Read MoreMara and Dann, Doris Lessing
An emotionally involving science-fantasy novel with a focus on history and sociological relevance, Mara and Dann is Doris Lessing’s return to magic realism after a number of autobiographies and books of essays. As with most of her work, this tale is set in Africa (now known as Ifrik) but several […]
Read More2050: A Future History – Series, J. Zornado
Thanks to author J. Zornado, professor of English at Rhode Island College, for news of his trilogy 2050: A Future History. He writes: The overarching narrative is a meditation on knowing. It is also a projection about where things are headed from here, given our obsessions with AI, cloning, and […]
Read MoreThe Mercy Journals, Claudia Casper
I got a chance to meet Claudia at one of her book launches, and she is a warm, down-to-earth person who filled the room with hugs, laughter, and soul. We will be talking again soon when I interview her about The Mercy Journals. The novel offers a view into the […]
Read MoreThe Scorpion Rules, Erin Bow
Sci-fi novel with a touch of northern climate change is one of year’s best. –Newsminer The world is at peace, said the Utterances. And really, if the odd princess has a hard day, is that too much to ask? Greta is a duchess and crown princess—and a hostage to peace. […]
Read MoreKingsley, Carolyn O’Neal
In Kingsley, Carolyn O’Neal explores the frightening result of decades of toxins in the environment through the life of a fourteen year old boy named Kingsley Smith. Kingsley is a sweet boy, but he’s too fat to wear swim trunks and too poor to play golf. After colony collapse disorder […]
Read MoreThe Percipience Series, Ken Kroes
Book 1: 2022 Using an uncanny ability to harvest information to predict the future, philanthropist Richard foresees a dark future for the human race. This future is exacerbated by the return of cold-war-like tensions, sophisticated terrorist organizations, and new controls on information flow. In addition to espionage and murder, the […]
Read MoreStar’s Reach: A Novel Of The Deindustrial Future, John Michael Greer
More than four centuries have passed since industrial civilization stumbled to its ruin under the self-inflicted blows of climate change and resource depletion. Now, in the ruins of a deserted city, a young man mining metal risks his life to win a priceless clue. That discovery will send him and […]
Read MoreThe Road, Cormac McCarthy
The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, “each the other’s world entire,” are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on […]
Read MoreThe Southern Reach Trilogy, Jeff VanderMeer
Annihilation is the first volume in Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach trilogy, Authority is the second, and Acceptance is the third. Area X—a remote and lush terrain—has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned […]
Read MoreLilith’s Brood, Octavia Butler
Lilith Iyapo is in the Andes, mourning the death of her family, when war destroys Earth. Centuries later, she is resurrected — by miraculously powerful unearthly beings, the Oankali. Driven by an irresistible need to heal others, the Oankali are rescuing our dying planet by merging genetically with mankind. But […]
Read MoreStation Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel
An audacious, darkly glittering novel about art, fame, and ambition set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse, from the author of three highly acclaimed previous novels. One snowy night a famous Hollywood actor slumps over and dies onstage during a production of King Lear. Hours later, the world as […]
Read MoreSuper Bunker, James Ellis
Thanks to author James Ellis for bringing to our attention his new climate change thriller, Super Bunker. From the author: Signs and warnings of global warming have been ignored. The pristine planet we once knew is quickly vanishing. Now Earth’s citizens must build underground shelters in order to survive. This […]
Read More