Joined: Oct 04, 2004 Posts: 5141 Location: Oklahoma
Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2005 5:40 pm Post subject:
katkinkate wrote:
Wolf and Iron by Gordon R Dickson
My husband suggested this one. He's already read it. He just had me read the first 5 paragraphs. It does sound interesting, and relevant if we have a hard landing. I'll add it to my queue. I'm currently reading "Alas, Babylon" (along with assorted nonfiction).
Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2005 9:04 pm Post subject: novels
The Doomsday Report, Rock Brynner
The End of the Dream, Philip Wylie
The Sheep Look Up, John Brunner
Fatal Exposure, Michael Tobias
Carol Johnston's online novel-in-progress about Peak Oil, called "After the Crash." I've read several chapters of it--it's interesting. Google it.
Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2005 12:34 pm Post subject: Re: Into the Forest" by Jean Hegland
LadyRuby wrote:
Into the Forest" by Jean Hegland
I've just finished reading this. What a beautiful and touching story. Really really enjoyed it. I loved that you never really knew what caused the power to fail and the gas to run out but it can definitely be read as a peak oil situation.
Thanks for the recommendation, I would never have come across it otherwise!
Joined: Dec 08, 2004 Posts: 1542 Location: Nez Perce Nation
Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2005 7:40 pm Post subject:
OldSprocket wrote:
Good thread. Good suggestions. Good IDs for those of us without memories . . .
Someone here will know the title of the book about all grasses dying. No more wheat, no more rice, no more corn.
No Blade of Grass
by John Christopher
Out of print and nearly impossible to find. I have a very old copy. I first read this book when at university some 35 years ago. There's also a movie based on the book.
Addendum:
A good one for the Survivalist crowd is ...
Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse
by James Wesley Rawles
Both a fairly good story and a "how to" manual for survivalists; kind of an Anarchist's Cookbook with a plot. _________________ "Modern Agriculture is the use of land to convert petroleum into food."
-- Albert Bartlett
"It will be a dark time. But for those who survive, I suspect it will be rather exciting."
-- James Lovelock
Out of print and nearly impossible to find. I have a very old copy. I first read this book when at university some 35 years ago. There's also a movie based on the book.
That's it Domus. I read a library copy 10 or 15 years ago. I recall having a bit of difficulty finding books by John Christopher.
Joined: Dec 08, 2004 Posts: 1542 Location: Nez Perce Nation
Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2005 7:57 pm Post subject:
OldSprocket wrote:
DomusAlbion wrote:
No Blade of Grass
by John Christopher
Out of print and nearly impossible to find. I have a very old copy. I first read this book when at university some 35 years ago. There's also a movie based on the book.
That's it Domus. I read a library copy 10 or 15 years ago. I recall having a bit of difficulty finding books by John Christopher.
I found an old copy in a used book store a couple of years ago and reread it. I was a bit disappointed; it seems my memory/impressions from my first reading made it more exciting than this last reading.
Amazon has links to used copies for sale but they are rather dear:
I recommend the Orange County Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. The earliest book, "The Wild Shore" (1984) is set many years after a nuclear war. The second book is also set in 21st century Southern California, but in a world where consumer culture has gotten even more hyper than in our dimension. That's "The Gold Coast" from 1988. The final book, "Pacific Edge" from 1990, takes place in a third alternate future, where there is a lot less energy but a sane civilization. That book begins with several of the townsfolk chipping away at a freeway with pickaxes.
Another book that might be of interest is "The Fifth Sacred Thing" by Starhawk. It is set in a post-collapse California, with water scarcity, ecological sanity/insanity, and regional conflict.
Imagine if you had to wait ten years in between each book of the Lord of the Rings. Then imagine after being entranced by the first two books, surprising in their originality, wonder and realistic depth, you wait another decade, pick up The Return of the King, and halfway through, J.R.R Tolkien walks into Middle Earth, shakes Frodo's hand, and proceeds to explain to him how he conceived of the idea of hobbits as a bedtime story for his children.
Then read on for a bit more, and find that Sauron, Lord of Mordor, is in actuality not evil incarnate, but just some pissed off guy, yelling on the balcony of his tower.
Then, just as Frodo walks into the tunnel leading to the Cracks of Doom, there's an interjection BY THE AUTHOR, telling you that it's time to stop reading now.
Imagine all this, and then you begin to get a good idea of how what began as a truly unique and genere shattering epic and potential genuine magnum opus can go out with a groan instead of a bang.
Anybody who loved this series in its entirety, I cannot fault you. But I can say that you were not as dedicated and engulfed in the world of the gunslinger and his new friends as the rest of us were. You are the guys who never watch the ballgames until it's on the news that your team's made the playoffs for the first time in 30 years, and then you go out and buy their hat to wear at the sports bar.
You liked it because you don't care. You liked it because you were expecting just another decent story, and that's what you got. For you it was never real.
The rest of us were expecting a revolutionary epic, because all those years ago when we first found ourselves in the strange world of the gunslinger, we saw all the makings of one.
We saw the potential for something truly magnificent, and we're sad and disillusioned and pissed off as we contrast what could have been with what has come to be. We wonder how something that started so good could end so badly.
_________________ We are babies, we must cry.
Oil is Peaking, we must lie.
la la la la la la la...
Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2005 3:38 pm Post subject: Re: [Peak Oil... novels]
That Ill Wind book sounds very interesting. Just bought a copy off eBay. First edition. _________________ In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs it is the rule. – Nietzsche
Time makes more converts than reason. – Thomas Paine
History is a set of lies agreed upon. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Earth Abides!! That's it. Thanks... I'm going to try to find a copy of that and read it again... crumbled freeways... dried out car tires... no more gas... I can only remember scattered parts.
EastBay
A 1950 radio adapatation of this 1949 novel can be found here:
It was aired on the drama program "Escape". Look near the bottom of the referenced web page. It's the only program that Escape ever aired as a two parter.
It's only in RealAudio, and starts about 1/2 hour into the four show 'episode' of Same Time, Same Station. You can jump to the 1/2 hour by moving RealAudio's progress slider.
Joined: Jan 02, 2006 Posts: 6 Location: SW Florida
Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2006 10:51 pm Post subject: Re: [Peak Oil... novels]
This doesn't really qualify, but there are similarities to post peak. I recently read the Depression novel "Tobacco Road" by Erskine Caldwell. The book starts out with the Lester family trying to steal turnips from an in-law, because they hadn't eaten anything as good as a turnip in a long time.
The edition I have has a foreword by Lewis Nordan, who described his childhood during the forties. He says that while he knew families like the Lesters, most families were better off and had enough electricity to power lights and a radio. Everything old may soon be new again! _________________ "...and a mouse is miracle enough for sextillion infidels" -- Walt Whitman
Joined: Aug 04, 2005 Posts: 421 Location: Traded the man in front of the tank for a cat playing the banjo
Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 4:54 am Post subject: KABOOM
I just finished a fiction book called KABOOM, its very PO related since the story happens during and after the peak. There were many things that I wanted to say so I sat down and wrote them. I still have to add some footnotes and expand some parts but you can read the whole story for free at http://www.marketingvictims.blogspot.com/ , the only catch is that since I’m from Spain the book is right now in Spanish only. If I find the time and the help I'll translate it. _________________ When someone interprets as derogatory almost anything that is said about him (or about groups with whom he identifies) we conclude that he has inferiority feelings or low self-esteem.
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