Book Review: Dry by Neal Shusterman, and Jarrod Shusterman

Dry by Neal Shusterman, and Jarrod Shusterman

Hardcover, 390 pages

Published October 2nd 2018 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

I am on record as saying that the movement for Cli-fi fiction is the most important fiction movement we have going. So in an effort to put my eyes where my mouth is I am reading lots of climate fiction from this year. In that effort I saw lots of buzz about this YA novel called Dry. Adults don't be scared away from this book. Yes compared to the *finger under nose* high lit novel I just read and reviewed this is a simple story with young adult motivations. I am sure that will annoy many of us adult readers. Teenagers can come off as annoying to adults in fiction but that often happens when they are written accurately. I give the authors credit for putting a focus on young readers because ultimately they are the next generation and getting them to care about Climate action is important.

I knew nothing but the title and that it is about Climate change before digging in. This book is as much Climate horror as it is Cli-fi. Once I dug into the plot I was very excited by the concept. This novel takes place mostly in Orange County south of LA during an event called the great Tap-Out. Early in the novel Arizona and Nevada decide to turn off the water coming from the Colorado river. In this sense it is like a YA successor to Paolo Bacigalupi's The Water Knife. That book dealt with the political aspects of the river and the management of it.

This novel is about the tap and fresh water being shut down for Southern California. This is a great set-up for a survival story and that is what is at the heart of this story. A group of teenagers cut off from their parents as well as the most basic aspect of life - water fight for survival. The authors have constructed a tightly plotted story with fully realized characters in this environment.

The story cuts between five survivors but most of the pages center around Alyssa and the neighbor Kelton who has had a crush on her. Both teenagers are typical when suddenly the water is gone. This is quite a change of lifestyle for the characters and in 350 pages we feel like we have gone on a journey.

It is impossible to read this book and not get the message that our place in the ecosystem here in southern California is delicate. To someone one not familiar with these issues it might seem the authors are over-blowing this crisis. The reality one of the most tightly populated parts of our country depends mostly on one river. I am very aware of this because of the research I did for my latest novel also a southern California Cli-fi novel Ring of Fire.

Look I really, really dug this novel but that is partly because it is somewhat of a spiritual cousin to my novel. While Dry takes place in The OC and mine in San Diego so much of the themes are similar. Dry is more tightly focused on the water issue, and has no supernatural/ more out there Sci-fi elements. None the less I think the two books compliment each other in message, geography and bleak fight for survival.

Is it perfect? I loved it enough to give it five stars but I had little problems. Anyone who reads my reviews knows I am not a huge fan of first person narrative. In this case where the POV shifts the first person style made even less sense. Without spoilers I also think the epilogue undercuts the power of the 350 pages before it. I think the authors blinked like Speilberg did in his War of the Worlds.

None the less I think all the good far outweighs my tiny nitpicks. Dry is an effective horror novel, YA or not it is an important novel for our time. It deserves to be on the shelf next to eco-horror classics like The Sheep Look Up. The novel does all the things it is supposed to do in telling a story, but the bottom line is you will be haunted by this book when you close it for the last time. The reason is it will be impossible to read this book and not think about what Water means. You can't turn on the tap ever again without it being there somewhere in your mind.

This book should be read.

Book Review: The Overstory by Richard Powers

The Overstory by Richard Powers

Hardcover, 502 pages Published April 2018 by W. W. Norton Company

I had never heard of Richard Powers or that this book was short-listed for the Man-Booker prize when I put the book on hold on it at the library. At the time I saw it mentioned in a tweet by Dan Bloom who promotes Cli-fi fiction. My hold took three months to come through and by the time it was here I had forgotten about it or why I wanted it so I went in cold.

The Overstory is high literature, the kind I respect but don't often read. I like things about this kind of fiction but generally prefer a story told simply. There is nothing simple about the prose or narrative at the heart of this book. The first one hundred pages of this novel could easily lose a reader like me but I sensed a inter-weaving plot and it was enough to hook me for a slow burn.

That first part of the novel connects several unrelated people and is more story collection than novel or so it seems. The only connection these people share is to the natural world to be more exact they are connected to Trees. This book is very much about trees, and look I love and understand the power of trees but this book really goes overboard on the tree the parts of the book are named "Roots,"“Trunk,” “Crown,” and “Seed,”

The characters go from having no connection to being deeply entangled in the radical environmental movement. Woven into the story is the characters deeply held convictions that the earth needs defended. It was cool that so much attention and energy was given to the importance of Trees as needing ethical standing. The characters are really well written and given honest feeling motivations. This important because in movies and book that depict animal and eco activists they are often made to look really silly. The movies 12 Monkeys and 28 Days Later are perfect examples.

While the book feels bloated and repetitive at times there is no doubting that Powers is a great writer. The prose is often beautiful balancing the wonders of nature with the conflict of human beings. There are moments when the book has you ready to do anything to save the planet and pages later feel hopeless at the futility.

This is no monkeywrench gang (which is a better if you want to experience this world - better yet Eco-warriors by Rik Scare) none the less this book is much prettier prose wise and will reach many more people. I am not sure this book will have this effect on everyone but the depth of feelings I felt reading the book ranged from anger, hope and then the book brought to me the crushing reality that most activism as well intentioned as it is will ultimately fail and be crushed by this culture. I think the purpose of the story was the wonder and power of trees and the importance of fighting, and I hope that comes through.

I think most will read this and feel the call to defend nature what ever the costs and hope it does. Either way anyone who enjoys eco-fiction or the importance of the Cli-fi movement should give this a shot. Powers is certainly a better writer than me, but I have to say he focused the story on elements I wouldn't have and missed things that help connect me to an experience. I mean the horror writer in mean thought the whole scene with the pepper-spray and the lock down is something I have witnessed with my own eyes and watched on video and this book didn't begin to capture the feeling or horror of it.

This book probably is 200 pages longer than it NEEDS to be but if you except that aspect of it this is power and important story.With the way humans treat the planet there really is no issue more important and if that doesn't win this book awards it should at least have your attention.

Podcast Book Review: Vulcan's Hammer by Philip K Dick

Vulcan's Hammer by Philip K Dick

Paperback, 165 pages Published August 2004 by Vintage (first published September 1960)

Dickheads podcast!

PKD's 7th novel Vulcan's Hammer is considered by many, including Dick himself, to be his worst. But one of our three Dickeads counts it as his favorite so far. Can you guess which one? Plus: Salty ass supercomputers. Bread & Butter Sci-Fi. And a walking simulator.

Book Review:The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself by Sean Carrol

The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself by Sean Carrol

Hardcover, 480 pages

Published May 2016 by Dutton

I was overdue for reading this book, earlier in the year I discovered Sean Carrol's podcast Mindscape. I enjoy the podcast quite a bit. It is basically this super smart Caltech theoretical physicist talking to other smart people. The episodes are hit or miss for me depending on the guest but when I saw the title of this book I knew I have to read it. I love cosmology and the big picture, I know I understand these things better than I should. One of the highlights of my year was when Dr. Brian Keating in my Dickheads interview with him told me I had missed my calling as physicist. Yeah the whole sucking at math thing prevented that, but I love thinking about these cosmic issues.

Dr. Keating himself called this book "Poetry for Physicists", and the writing is indeed very deep and profound. Carrol tackles the meaning of life from basic thought to the creation of the universe. To say this book is mind expanding is really selling the experience short. It is funny to me that books that explore history, culture and politics are often called must reads, and yet most books that explore the very existence and meaning of life from a scientific perspective rarely are.

Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking might be the last time, but unlike that book I think the Big Picture is much easier book to get a handle on. This book has better chance to be understood if people give it the chance. Sean Carrol not only explains the science, but gives it relatable human meaning.

“Poetic naturalism is a philosophy of freedom and responsibility. The raw materials of life are given to us by the natural world, and we must work to understand them and accept the consequences. The move from description to prescription, from saying what happens to passing judgment on what should happen, is a creative one, a fundamentally human act. The world is just the world, unfolding according to the patterns of nature, free of any judgmental attributes. The world exists; beauty and goodness are things that we bring to it.”

Keep in mind that the chapter on Poetic Naturalism begins with a discussion of the Richard Matheson written episode of Star Trek the Enemy Within and the ethic of cloning via the Transporter. That is more fun than sticking to straight forward academic theory. That was the first of several parts that took the book to a different level for me. Some times it is something fun like that then other times it was intense ideas.

Even when I disagreed with him I liked that he got me thinking...

“The trick is to think of life as a process rather than a substance. When a candle is burning, there is a flame that clearly carries energy. When we put the candle out, the energy doesn’t “go” anywhere. The candle still contains energy in its atoms and molecules. What happens, instead, is that the process of combustion has ceased. Life is like that: it’s not “stuff”; it’s a set of things happening. When that process stops, life ends.”

When the candle flame is put out the smell of the wax often floats in the room, I refuse to believe that when the process of our bodies stops that the things that make up our spirit ends. I like that this book prompted me to think so intensely on the subject.

After all this science the Big Picture ends with a very human chapter.

“The idea of “Ten Commandments” is a deeply compelling one. It combines two impulses that are ingrained in our nature as human beings: making lists of ten things, and telling other people how to behave.”

So instead Carrol ends with Ten Considerations number 9 really struck a chord with me. "We can do better than Happines." Creativity, art, knowledge, activism. Your existence in this massive universe is kinda of a miracle, and there is nothing spiritual about that. I am talking cold rational science. You are damn lucky to be here, and damn lucky to have a cool book like this to prompt how you think about that universe. Yeah read this one.

Book Review: An Ocean of Minutes by Thea Lim

An Ocean of Minutes by Thea Lim

Hardcover, 309 pages

Published July 10th 2018 by Touchstone

Look I really thought this sounded cool at first. I was rooting for this book. I am going to keep this kinda short.

Ocean of Minutes is a sappy time-travel romance that was going for Time Travel's Wife vibe but it was such a confusing and flat mess I just couldn't get into it. I'll try to explain the plot to you but in doing so I think I found the key problem. The plot is all over the place and doesn't make much sense. The main point of view character is Polly she falls in love with Frank, but wait they are already married. The romance was highlighted in well written but poorly placed flashbacks. Oh yeah there is a pandemic killing almost everyone. Don't worry about the details This novel is not super interested in that aspect of the story. By the way the romance during the end of the world was kinda what hooked me when I was browsing the book at Mysterious Galaxy.

Don't worry about the end of the world in 1991, because humans have invented Time Travel. You can only go back 12 years, and there are airports for time Travel. Only people with valuable skills like our main character's ability to uh... restore furniture give you the pass to travel to the post plague future. So the idea is we are supposed to learn why Polly is so devoted Frank and why after they get sent to separate futures why they would look for each other.

I think this is a sci-fi book that would work better for non-sci-fi readers. The world building is terrible, and worse it seems inorganically driven by the needs of the plot. Many round pegs are forced into square holes. I could have forgiven this if the characters worked for me better. There were moments, like when Frank got her furniture back from an asshole ex-boyfriend. Mostly I felt totally uninterested or invested in the world, the characters and had very little desire to finish reading.

I think Non sci-fi readers could probably over look many of these elements. A less critical eye might be able to just let this story go on it's merits. Not for me. Lim certainly has talent. I just not sure sci-fi is the best use of her talents. I know I was hard on this book but I would actually give her second novel or short stories a shot.

That said for time travel romance I say stick with Somewhere in Time by Richard Matheson.

Book Review (Podcast) Dr. Futurity by Philip K. Dick

Dr. Futurity by Philip K. Dick

Paperback, 169 pages

Published August 9th 2005 by Vintage (first published February 1960)

What happens when a mild-mannered doctor is thrust into a whacky future devoid of white people? This 1960 novel started as the impossible to find novelette Time Pawn written way back in '53. Join us in exploring Dr. Futurity. Plus: The Bronchitis Ward. Danzig. And The Big Bang Theory guy murders the rapper Sir William S. Drake.

Book Review: Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller

Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller

Hardcover, 328 pages

Published April 2018 by Ecco

If you have read my blog or reviews at all you will know I am a big believer in the Cli-Fi literary movement and consider myself apart of it as both an author and critic. In my role as a critic, I feel a great responsibility to promote works of Cli-fi because I consider these novels to be as valid a form of social commentary like the novels On The Beach and Alas Babylon were at the height of the arms race. We are at a crossroads where every look into the horrors that climate change unchecked is likely to bring are important. I hope that one day we will get a classic that reaches the mainstream. I am trying to read as many of the major works of Cli-fi that I can and boost the signal for the great ones.

That leads me to this novel Blackfish City and the author Sam Miller. I was first turned on to this novel by hearing Miller as a guest on one of my favorite podcasts Geek's Guide to the Galaxy. If you are paying attention, being a guest on Geek's Guide is a common way I find authors. Indeed one of my other favorite reads of the year Freeze Frame Revolution by Peter Watts was found that way. Your take way at this point is you should be listening to Geek's guide...back to the book.

This novel takes place in the near future after the majority of the world is in full ecological collapse. The city is Qaanaaq built in the arctic circle by various multi-national corporations. I picture Manhattan floating in the middle of the fog-drenched northern sea. Tall buildings and overpopulated the people are spread between the eight arms of the city. They have had to adapt to a crazy lifestyle that is divided by class and skill, some are the rich who bought their way out of the mainland and the Refugees turned workers who do the dirty work. A disease called "The Breaks" is spreading among the poor, and the frayed edges of this society are starting to show.

When the novel kicks off we meet a woman riding a killer whale who is known as an "Orcamancer." When this happened in the opening chapter I thought I was reading the wrong book. I was expecting cli-fi neo-noir and Cyberpunk influence. Don't worry we get there quickly. It belongs in the tradition of speculative fiction novels that explore the nature of the urban landscape. The tradition has a great history with some of my favorites being Simak's City from the fifties, John Shirley's City Come A-Walkin to the more modern like China Mieville's Perdido Street Station.

This novel has a diverse set of characters and bounces between multiple points of view with good rhythm. You gotta pay close attention to details for example. Soq, for example, is a non-binary character I think some of the older more traditional sci-fi readers might get lost. There are excellent characters throughout some we grow to like such as Soq and Fill, some like Podlove who challenge us. My favorite was Kaev a professional fighter who has taken a few more hits than he probably ever should have.

This book balances lots of things I love in a novel. Miller has lots of plates spinning from world building, well-drawn characters and clear but not heavy-handed message. If you look at the issues he is able to address from the climate horrors,post-scarcity culture, classism, refugees and at the core the many ills of capitalism. It might seem like he was writing a political paper but it is all subtly slipped into the story naturally. You end up with a super smart politically driven neo-noir novel that reminded me of an urban Snowpiercer with plenty of PKD influence for my Dickheads. (Working on getting this author on Dickheads in the next few months)

My favorite quote of the book was "Money is a mind, the oldest artificial intelligence. Its prime directives are simple, it's programming endlessly creative. Humans obey it unthinkingly, with cheerful alacrity. Like a virus, it doesn't care if it kills its host. It will simply flow on to someone new."

So yeah I really loved this novel. Was there any weakness? The spiritual meets the technological aspect of the psychic polar bear and Orcamancer was probably my least favorite part. That being said it still worked fine for me. It connected this very modern cyberpunk noir tale to the spiritual traditions and natural wildlife of the region of the world it takes place in.

I suspect this novel will be on my best of the list at the end of the year. I think it should be essential reading for its Cli-fi nature alone, but as a work of sci-fi aside from the message, it is a must read. It will be compared to Kim Stanley Robinson's 2140, I am surprised as anyone to say this, but this novel tackles similar themes but is a better novel with the message more clearly stated. High praise but Blackfish City earned it.

David Agranoff is the Wonderland award-nominated author of 5 novels including his latest the Cli-Fi horror novel Ring of Fire out from cult horror publisher Deadite Press.

Updated to include my podcast interview with Sam Miller: