Book: "The Last Light" by Alex Scarrow

[Aaron]

[video width=400 height=350]http://www.youtube.com/v/NvEwiUKAM4w[/video]
A trailer for Alex Scarrow's 2nd novel, a conspiracy thriller based around Peak Oil

[roccman]

Score:

Mad Max - 1

Little House on the Prarie - 0

[Kristen]

Not bad. Did you make it?

[emailking]

Ooh I definitely want to buy the book!

[Aaron]

No... the author emailed me asking for a plug... I can probably get him to comment on this thread if you like.

[killJOY]

CRAPPY. (reality is much more interesting than perfectly good trees transformed by the prurient, puerile musings of "novelists.")

Since when do "novels" require "trailers"? When the "novel" is a dead form, that's when. As someone who has rubbed shoulders with many a "novelist," retreat! for there is a GREAT EGO in danger of EXPLODING nearby.

"Fiction" writing, like psychoanalysis and mood rings, "peaked" a long time ago. One thing to look forward to in a post-peak era is an absence of "novelists."

[IslandCrow]

In the section on rioting in London, it looked as if some of the young people were throwing petrol bombs. This got me thinking... If the collapse was as fast as the plot, then they could well have found some cars that had some petrol left in the tank, but otherwise with the petrol stations running out of supplies where would they have got the petrol?

I guess I just will have to get a copy of the book and see what Alex's answer to this is.

[oilcanboyd]

Well nice intro music- clubbed to death!

Actually just FYI, we have a 12k liter underground tank, when empty, there is still 210 liters in it. BUT watch out for water.

interesting novel trailer.
OCB

[Doly]

Actually just FYI, we have a 12k liter underground tank, when empty, there is still 210 liters in it. BUT watch out for water.

???

What do you have in the tank? Water? Gasoline?

And what does that "still 210 liters when empty" mean?

[alexscarrow]

Hi,

I notice Aaron has popped my trailer up.

Killjoy, relax. Since I'm no glittering celebrity...a complete no one actually, my publisher won't be spending a single penny on promotion. So, I've got to do it myself - hence my having to create trailers etc. Trust me, it's not about ego.

Last Light is as much about how lazy and reliant on oil we've become, as it is driectly about peak oil. It's the book I've wanted to write for a while now...not just a thriller, but something of soapbox book. I want to scare the general head-in-the-sand public into talking about energy security.

And...if I'm really, really lucky, this kind of guerilla marketing may hit a critical mass, then hopefully it'll become a discussed book and be on the likes of Oprah and Richard&Judy.

Believe me, the book pulls no punches. Early reviewer feedback was along the lines of '...this book made me switch on News 24, and check the number of tins I have in my pantry...'

That's what I'm after.

Anyway, if you're interested in checking in on the book (hope you don't mind me putting this link in, Aaron) www.scarrow.co.uk



Scarrow

[fergiemeek]

I just received Last Light in the post from Amazon this morning - a 400 page hardback that will require some effort to get on and off the bus on the way to work tomorrow!

I'll read it over the next few days and post my thoughts back here.

By the way, I just finished S. M. Stirling's Dies The Fire last night, this is a science fiction story about how the world would cope if various forms of power (electricity, gunpowder, steam etc.) suddenly stopped working. It was a fantastic read and well worth investing time and money in.

[careinke]

I can not find this book on Amazon. Maybe it is only available in the UK.

Cliff (Start a revolution, grow a garden)

[eXpat]

I hope my copy arrives soon so i can have it for the weekend

[fergiemeek]

Yes, sorry, I am in the UK - I hadn't checked Amazon.com.

I finished the first 150 pages last night, what a page turner! A very clever storyline that allows a 'fast crash' and therefore a more exciting, but still believable, tale. I have been reading this site and several others for several years now and consider myself well-informed on peak oil issues - Alex Scarrow has obviously done his research very well, I never expected to read either of the terms 'Peak Oil' or 'Hubbert's Peak' in a novel.

[Narz]

Alex, get your book up on Amazon USA and I'll buy it.

[TheDude]

And...if I'm really, really lucky, this kind of guerilla marketing may hit a critical mass, then hopefully it'll become a discussed book and be on the likes of Oprah and Richard&Judy.

Man. Are you familiar with the Spanish word "cajones"?

Reaching the masses through print Doomer Porn is worth a shot, it's just that most of the US just reads IMs anymore it seems. Also we've just bumped up our shipping rates, which has yanked book prices up a notch I'm sure.

You're familiar with the term "Doomer Porn," right?

By the way, I just finished S. M. Stirling's Dies The Fire last night, this is a science fiction story about how the world would cope if various forms of power (electricity, gunpowder, steam etc.) suddenly stopped working. It was a fantastic read and well worth investing time and money in.

I'll play Counterpoint and offer the opinion that SM's writing sucks out loud. Gave up on Dies Fire about halfway through, after the pilot and family conveniently meet up with the guy who, waddya know, happens to be an expert bowmaker. Just the thing you need in a world where guns suddenly don't work. Maybe it's an experiment in absurdism, deus ex machina goes reductio ad absurdum?

He's a lot better than the Lights Out guy though.

[careinke]

I thought Lights out was a fun Summer read. But the Ultimate Doomer Porn was Lucifer's Hammer. If I could get a hold of Last Light, I would certainly buy it.

Cliff (start a revolution, grow a garden)

[fergiemeek]

Well, I finished Last Light yesterday and I can unreservedly recommend it to all those who like 'end of the world' novels. Without doubt this is an action novel, it follows the trials of one family through the collapse of civilisation and shows us just how hard survival through a hard crash would be. There is no 'happy ever after' ending to this book.

There are several strands to the novel, the father (an oil engineer) has to fight his way back to the UK from Iraq, the mother, daughter and son actually live through the crash in the UK (this was my favourite part of the book) and there is also a global conspiracy sub-plot that adds to, rather than taking away from, the main plot. The author manages to get in quite a bit of Peak Oil related discussion via the father, Andy Sutherland, without it ever being forced and I think that any 'average' reader would come away from reading this book with a completely altered perception of the invincibility of Western civilisation - this is actually a hope of Alex Scarrow's as expressed in his endpiece.

I would recommend reading this book (that deals with the actual crash itself) followed by John Seymour's novel Retrieved From The Future (that deals with the post-crash period) - as far as I am aware these are the only two novels that deal expressly with Peak Oil.

Obviously Last Light is fiction but it still managed to send shivers down my spine on several occasions and it made a nice change from reading books on Permaculture, Gardening and Self-Sufficiency - although it did give me even more incentive to carry on planning for an uncertain future (even here in the Scottish Highlands!).

Go buy this book today if you can!
Fergie

[alexscarrow]

Hi,

thanks for posting your thoughts.

Sadly, in the UK, there's absolutely no promotion going on for the book. All I'll have to increase awarness of it, is word of mouth.

So to that end, if I could ask you to post a review on Amazon.co.uk for LAST LIGHT, that would help immensely.

As for being available in the statrs. I'm hoping the US rights will sell soon, but, for our American cousins on this forum, you can get it from Amazon in the UK....but I suppose the exchange rate might make it cost a tad more.

Anyway, I hope the book scares the crap out of the head-in-the-sand readers who've never heard of PO...and if just a few of them go on to google the term and open their eyes, then writing the book will have been worth it.

[fergiemeek]

Hi Alex,

I posted my (5 star ) review to Amazon this evening - three people have given the book 5 stars already which isn't bad!

Good luck with the book, it deserves a wide readership.

All the best,
Fergie