Pro-environment Sci-fi novels?

[arenean]

I'm just wondering if any DU'ers know of any sci-fi novels written from an ecological/ environmental standpoint? Obviously this means no Larry Niven or Michael Crichton!

[OnTheOtherHand]

1. Kim Stanley Robinson

Practically all of it, not that I've read it all.

[Forkboy]

19. I've read all his stuff, and he touches on it frequently.

He's my favorite living author (Vonnegut and Hunter Thompson having passed).

[TechBear_Seattle]

2. Kim Stanley Robinson's "Science in the Capital" series

The titles are:

Forty Signs of Rain
Fifty Degrees Below
Sixty Days and Counting

The series examines global warming, with the focus being on the fictional island country of Khembalung, a nation in the Indian Ocean. The existence of Khembalung is threatened by rising oceans and increasingly severe weather caused by climate change.

Also of interest is his Mars trilogy, which tracks a group of scientists and settlers who terraform Mars.

[qdemn7]

12. KSR "Mars Trilogy" is excellent

Highly recommended.

Then there's "Earth Abides" by George R. Stewart. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Abides
"Make Room, Make Room" the novel on which the film Soylent Green is based.
Ectopia and Ecotpia Emerging by Ernest Callenbach http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Callenbach

[Bigmack]

14. These are GREAT books

I've read the first two, and am really looking forward to the third. This writer is VERY well informed in several areas of science, and is also an excellent writer. The only "down" side to these books is his tendency to stay hung-up in complex, technical aspects of the science involved in the wider stories. Alas, I have to admit that calling this aspect of his writing a "down side" only, probably, reflects my own scientific ignorance. All in all, I'm quite struck by the likely prescience of these books. I recommend them with great enthusiasm.

[pitohui]

16. yet another vote for ksr and don't forget the california/orange county trilogy

try to read "the gold coast" with a dry eye if you're into the environment

the mars trilogy is also superb

[Forkboy]

21. I read those after I had read the Mars trilogy and was suprised.

In a lot of ways it was closer to Ray Bradbury (in a good way) than the hard science stuff he's known for now.They were great books though, and showed a writer coming into his own.

[jojo54]

3. Portent by James Herbert

A little "out there" in the sci-fi department, but definitely to the point. Mother Earth at her fiercest.

[msedano]

4. philip wylie

the disappearance explores human ecology. women and men separate into parallel realities. the men push shove and end in toward total nuclear destruction. the women learn to work together beyond peaceful co-existence, and found a brava new world.

wylie also wrote an eco environmental piece, one memorable paragraph has a pig explode...the end of the dream might be the title, or it's another. wylie's a great writer. be alert there's another fellow, phillip two "l" wylie

Author Wylie, Philip, 1902-1971.
Title The end of the dream.
Edition <1st ed.>
Publisher Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday, 1972.


there's a related scifi, pastwatch, the redemption of christopher columbus. orson scott card. future meztizos use time travel to go back to 1492 and sabotage colon's rape of america. the book ends with a mighty fleet of tlaxcala sailing into europe to establish pax americana.

i'm sure i'm forgetting something really obvious. if it comes to me i'll see you this evening, same bat-channel.

mvs

http://labloga.blogspot.com
http://readraza.com

[jojo54]

6. Have you read When Worlds Collide?

The sequel is After Worlds Collide. Hokey but it gets your attention.

edited to add: Wylie co-wrote these books with Edwin Balmer.

[msedano]

9. it's been decades since i read wylie...

and skipped when worlds collide. thanx for the lead (and I don't mean PRC toys).

then there's the entire Mars series by Edgar Rice Burroughs, he of Tarzan. Mars is all mucked up, puro desert, the reds v. the greens, fearsome beasts and gorgeous naked women, but these are macho yarns, not eco-sci-fi. and a heck of a lotta fun.

There's Cormac McCarthy's The Road. The earth has entered its final ice age. All human life combats itself to survive or find a warm spot near the equator. This is a 2007 title. http://labloga.blogspot.com/2007/06/apres-lapocalypse.html

Oryx and Crake from Canada's finest writer, Margaret Atwood (read first The Handmaid's Tale for a totally riveting work). A biological experiment has gone awry leaving human life in isolated pockets cleansed or not yet infected. This one's fairly recent, 21st century I think.

So, arenean, the original poster, why do you ask?

[arenean]

10. Some good suggestions!

Hiya!
I think it was The Ecologist magazine last year who mentioned eco-fiction, but I just browsed the article in Borders, and didn't pick it up. So now I've forgotten the books they mentioned - but thanks to everyone who've suggested titles so far! I'll be checking them out...

[pitohui]

18. whoa -- generation of vipers philip wylie?

for some reason i don't think his ouvre would appeal to most DUers just a hunch

[YOY]

5. I can think of a sci-fi Video game that's very pro-environment

Alpha Centauri. You colonize a new planet that seems to reject humanity. One of the more successful factions you can play are the Greens. The main storyline focuses around the discoveries of the Green's leaders into the nature of "Planet".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sid_Meier's_Alpha_Centauri

It is inspired by many Sci-fi works. It is a few years older and will run on just about any modern PC and I am sure there is a Mac/Linnux version.

[PATRICK]

7. Dune by Frank Herbert

was credited early for bringing the issue to prominence in sci-fi with the Keynes the planetary ecologist having a government position of great power in order to protect the production of spice.

[YankeyMCC]

8. Paolo Bacigalupi

I don't think he has published a full novel but you might like these stories:

http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0704/yellowcard.shtml

More: http://windupstories.com/stories/

[hedgehog]

11. Earth by David Brin

It also features the Net!

[Greyskye]

13. Zodiac: An Eco-Thriller by Neal Stevenson

Excellent writer, great book! Recommended!
Link to Amazon customer reviews: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/0553573861/ref=cm_cr_dp_all_summary/102-8340990-7370535?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books#customerReviews

[tom_paine]

15. Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut

Although it is only science fiction by the loosest of terms (don't expect crazy technologies or genetic anomalies), it certainly has a visionary and environmentalist outlook, particularly considering it was written in the early 70s.

[pitohui]

17. john brunner is the classic in this area

stand on zanzibar

the sheep look up

[Forkboy]

20. Another vote for Kim Stanley Robinson.

Easily one of the best writers in any genre.

[Tesha]

22. Anything by Sherri S. Tepper.

Notably, The Gate to Women's Country, but
essentially all of her novels are pro-human rights,
pro-women, pro-environmentalism, etc.

Tesha

[Tesha]

23. "The Fifth Sacred Thing" by Starhawk. (NT)

[Tesha]

24. "Ecotopia" by Ernest Callenbach

This could be called the novel that started a whole
school of pro-environmental fiction. And the prequel,
Ecotopia Emerging is also good, albeit not as
ground-shaking.

Tesha

[Mythsaje]

26. Good book...

Better than I expected, actually.

[pitohui]

25. tepper's beauty is another good one that deals w. the topic of extinction EOM

m

[Sequoia]

27. "The Sheep Look Up", by John Brunner

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ylZHwwI%2BL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg


An enduring classic, this book offers a dramatic and prophetic look at the potential consequences of the escalating destruction of Earth. In this nightmare society, air pollution is so bad that gas masks are commonplace. Infant mortality is up, and everyone seems to suffer from some form of ailment. The water is polluted, and only the poor drink from the tap. The government is ineffectual, and corporate interests scramble to make a profit from water purifiers, gas masks, and organic foods. Environmentalist Austin Train is on the run. The Trainites, environmental activists and sometime terrorists, want him to lead their movement. The government wants him in jail, or preferably, executed. The media wants a circus. Everyone has a plan for Train, but Train has a plan of his own. This suspenseful science fiction drama is now available to a new generation of enthusiasts.

http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=27900&cgi=product&isbn=1932100016



Plot Summary:
By 2021, the World War had killed millions, driving entire species into extinction and sending mankind off-planet. Those who remained coveted any living creature, and for people who couldn't afford one, companies built incredibly realistic simulacrae: horses, birds, cats, sheep. . . They even built humans.

Emigrees to Mars received androids so sophisticated it was impossible to tell them from true men or women. Fearful of the havoc these artificial humans could wreak, the government banned them from Earth. But when androids didn't want to be identified, they just blended in.

Rick Deckard was an officially sanctioned bounty hunter whose job was to find rogue androids, and to retire them. But cornered, androids tended to fight back, with deadly results.

http://www.philipkdick.com/works_novels_androids.html

Both are excellent books!!

And this one I read long ago:

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/51vZQgwJxBL._BO2,204,203,200_PIlitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg

The gigantic comet had slammed into Earth, forging earthquakes a thousand times too powerful to measure on the Richter scale, tidal waves thousands of feet high. Cities were turned into oceans; oceans turned into steam. It was the beginning of a new Ice Age and the end of civilization. But for the terrified men and women chance had saved, it was also the dawn of a new struggle for survival--a struggle more dangerous and challenging than any they had ever known....
"Massively entertaining."

amazon.com