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San Francisco, 9:56 PM
Sun Nov 29
11 posts in the last 24 hours
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11/27/09
11/28/09
11/28/09
Because that's probably the way it would really happen.
Not with a bang, but a whimper.
11/27/09
The Girl Who Owned a City (OT Nelson) is another cozy catastrophe where the children who survive the death of everyone over the age of 12 really seem to have it pretty good.
11/27/09
It wouldn't end Humanity, but perhaps Western Civilization: another cosy disaster scenario I think about is a sudden and widespread development of a food allergy to high fructose corn syrup. How and why food allergies develop is not well understood, but frequently appear linked to high levels of exposure, tripping some kind of metabolic tipping point mechanism. This would render virtually all processed foods inedible. I ponder whether we could develop alternative food sources in sufficient quantity, and delivery mechanisms of sufficient speed, to stave off wide spread starvation.
11/27/09
11/27/09
11/27/09
Another similar loss-of-fertility 70s book was "The Twilight of Briareus" by 'Richard Cowper' (actually John Middleton Murry, Jr writing under a pseudonym). A relatively close supernova has rendered the entire world population sterile, but not after some heavy weather. And then it all starts going pear-shaped, with very 1970s mind-body tripping issues emerging.
I think one reason why Europeans tend to write more of these slow, reduced birth potential futures is because so many of the writers grow up in societies formerly somewhat fecund, but now at the tail end of nearly a century of reduced fertility below replacement levels. This is in contrast to the US, which singularly alone among developed nations exhibits population growth more characteristic of an under-developed nation.
11/28/09
A few years ago I read the executive summary of a U.N. report on global population growth which supported this assertion, and also predicted a peak world population occurring in 2050 with a decline afterwards. (I have the full report too, but wasn't brave enough to tackle hundreds of pages of columns of numbers.) But some years later the U.N. retracted the report because of admitted statistical errors. So right now, I'm not exactly sure from where to get my mostly-unbiased information.
You seem to me to imply some cultural reason for the difference in population growth (or decline) in developed nations. That's as good a rationale as any IMO. But I do wonder if it has to do with environmental factors, including issues with our food. It is interesting to think that while clean water is acknowledged to be a major issue in the third world, safe food supplies might be an undiscovered issue in the first world.
But if that were true, I would think the U.S. would be at the head of the list in terms of decline, which appears not to be the case. (Might have something to do with our obesity epidemic though... I could stand to loose a few pounds myself, despite working out on a regular basis.)
11/27/09
As much as I love an apocalyptic setting for novels, The Kraken Wakes and The Day of the Triffid are probably my least favourites among Wyndham's work. Not to say I didn't enjoy them, but I prefer both the plot and characters in The Chrysalid and (the non-post-apocalyptic) Chocky.
11/27/09
11/27/09
I think all of Wyndham's alien invasion/encounter scenarios are pretty original. My favourite is definitely Chocky - subtly influencing the minds of scientist/potential scientist to develop new technology and facilitate future contact is a pretty nifty idea.
11/28/09
11/18/09
My fantasy characters drink tea. Because, like me, they're genteel and cultured. Pass me my morningstar, I see vermin!
11/17/09
"Bud noticed they we're all making rather a big deal about the tea." #annemccaffrey
11/17/09
Mind you, though, according to some late 19th century sources, you can take the woodier parts of plants, roast them, and call that 'coffee'. vis: [www.make-stuff.com] #annemccaffrey
11/17/09
11/17/09
11/17/09
And I know that it isn't far future, but in one of the Callahan's Saloon novels they have the Perfect Coffee Making Machine. Perhaps equaled by Agatha Heterodyne's first effort (before it was made safer): [www.girlgeniusonline.com] #annemccaffrey
11/17/09
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11/17/09
I started reading the new one the other day. I stopped after 5 pages, the new guys style just kept throwing me off. My mind kept telling me this couldn't be a WoT book.
11/17/09
11/17/09
11/17/09
in the same co-dominion universe but different series, war world, i remember two peoples cementing an alliance by exchanging coffee beans and hops #annemccaffrey
11/17/09
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