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A collection of short stories which envision the terrors of impending climate change. Authors include Margaret Atwood, David Mitchell, Toby Litt and T.C. Boyle.
Synopsis
Stellar line-up of fiction writers envision the terrors of impending climate change.
Book Details
Publisher:
VERSO
Publication Date:
29-Sep-2011
ISBN:
9781844677443
Guardian review
I'm with the Bears edited by Mark Martin - review
the guardian Tue 11 October 2011
A tricky one for the reviewer, as all royalties from this collection of eco-related stories by leading authors go to 350.org, an anti-global warming pressure group, which may make it churlish of me to voice disappointment about the writing. But much of this material seems to have been lifted from the wastebasket. Margaret Atwood provides an acerbic little fable about the extinction of homo sapiens, but she can do this in her sleep. TC Boyle simply drips contempt for loggers and treehuggers alike. Lydia Millet's "Zoogoing" is good, but wait, it's an excerpt from her (far superior) How the Dead Dream. Toby Litt and Nathaniel Rich give us a couple of whimsical throwaways that fall rather short of the challenges facing the world today: a talking crab in the loo, a futuristic nightclub for fans of 1980s electronica. And what is this focus on a post-apocalyptic future set around 2040 (David Mitchell, Helen Simpson) doing here anyway a 1950s SF theme so tired that its effect is reassuring, not alarming? Guys, the ice caps are melting now. Where are those stories?