The Ruins of Earth
★★★★★An anthology dedicated to ecological crisis. Disch snares some of the top names of the new wave to write about the consequences of capitalism, urbanisation, pollution, and societal collapse.
The result is mixed. There’s a smattering of memorable stories and a whole lot of really really bad ones that drove me to dnf — rare for short stories. This was a slog with the jems too widely spaced, I can’t recommend it in spite of the thematic promise.
Do it for Mama! Jerrold J Mundis ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Owning dogs in NYC is outlawed. The police prepare to confiscate 750k dogs while pro and anti dog movements are at each other throats. Social collapse ensues. Written as a character-less expositional newspaper article, it’s a vivid history of the descent into chaos as the city riots. Whilst at the time, a critique of environmentalism, overreach, and civil liberty, this could today be reinterpreted as an allogory for the dangers of America’s ICE raids.
Deer in the Works, Kurt Vonnegut Jr ⭐⭐⭐⭐
A young man’s first day in a sprawling company campus makes him rethink his desire for the company lifestyle. Vonnegut’s surreal satire nails the otherworldly reality of life on the other side of the corporate fence.
Autofac, Philip K. Dick ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The OG AI paperclip problem. Post WW3, unstoppable automated factories continuously consume resources to produce consumer goods. The world is stripped bare in an orgy of industrialisation. A cautionary tale for our AI mediated future.
Roommates, Harry Harrison ⭐⭐⭐
The story that became the novel Make Room! Make Room! which became the film Soylant Green. An overpopulated US, on the verge of famine and social breakdown. A very grim slice of life tale.
The Cage of Sand, J G Ballard ⭐⭐⭐
Three squatters roam the sands along the cape. A quarantine zone of abandoned hotels buried under transported Martian dust containing an alien virus. Typical Ballard, they exist in a desolate liminal zone while the bodies of dead astronauts circle endlessly overhead. Trapped in this desolate landscape, they each come to terms with their personal trauma rooted in the space industry.
Three Million Square Miles, Gene Wolfe ⭐⭐
One man’s obsession with finding unspoilt nature in a world of endless urban sprawl. Short and abrupt.
Gas Mask, James D Houston ⭐⭐
A city becomes totally gridlocked for days.
Wednesday, November 15, 1967, George Alec Effinger ⭐⭐
The diary of the last man on earth as the world dies from its poisoned atmosphere.
The Birds, Thomas M Disch ⭐⭐
Two ducks in a poisoned world have a terrible time. Grim.
America the Beautiful, Fritz Leiber ⭐⭐
Future America where all problems are solved by science and computerisation. A bland tale with little to remember.
The Dreadful Has Already Happened, Norman Kagan ⭐
Rubbish. Dnf
The Shaker Revival, Gerald Jonas ⭐
Epistolary and suffused with hip slang. Documenting a new shaker religion. Dnf.
Closing With Nature, Norman Rush ⭐
A woman attends a retreat and explores the surrounding forest. Absolutely nothing happens, and we’re treated to pages of her stream-of-consciousness internal monologue as she free-associates, interspersed with Wes Anderson-esque content-free dialogue. Awful.
The Plot to Save the World, Michael Brownstein ⭐
No idea what this was about.
Groaning Hinges of the World, R A Lafferty ⭐
Fantastical story written in the narrative style of a fable.
Accident Vertigo, Kenward Elmslie ⭐
Doesn’t deserve even one star.
