Title:
Best Climate Change Stories: An Anthology of Original Short Fiction
Editor:
Ron Sauder
Publisher:
Secant Publishing
Pages:
296
My
GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The
book is the result of a collaboration between Book Bin, an independent
bookstore, and Secant Publishing, an independent book publisher. Philip Wilson
from Book Bin and Ron Sauder from Secant held a worldwide contest with the idea
of creating awareness on the subject of climate change through the power of
literary art. The contest elicited entries in a variety of genres, including
humour, horror, suspense, satire, science fiction and social realism.
This
collection includes 34 of those stories, with authors from 9 countries and
10 American states. Three stories were selected as Gold, Silver and Bronze
winners.
Here
are the stories I liked:
1)
Beyond
The Timberline by Olaf
Lahayne, winner of the BRONZE medal, started with a bang, sounding a note
of warning. Two men, a Swiss national and an Italian, ascend the Alps and see a
pine tree growing at a height far above its known range. Both are a little too
eager to claim the tree for their own nations. This friendly tussle leads to an
amazing conclusion.
Even
after their drinking water is over, the first warning sign, they do not learn
their lesson. They pull their zippers down and urinate on the tree. All
thoughts of something precious, a sacred natural heritage, gone out of their
minds.
While
we spar, we doom ourselves. Instead of taking pride in our collective
achievements, we fight over them. The story pivots on a huge note of hubris.
2)
2100,
Remnants of a Thriving World
by BE Saunders was a story I really liked. The unnamed narrator, a woman
in her 60s, is fleeing Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, with her daughter and
grandchildren after the city is repeatedly flooded, as a fallout of climate
change. The destruction of their home sees them heading to an unknown
destination to a fate as migrants. The line, “The time had come to succumb to
the waves, one way or another,” reminds us that they have no recourse but to
consign their future to the waves. They will either be led to a new home or die
trying to get there.
3)
Adaptive
Solutions by Karly
Foland: A couple are raising their six-year-old daughter in a horrible
nightmare of a world in which all animals, birds and insects have abandoned
humans to recede back into the wilderness. Mankind’s failure to practice
stewardship and harmony has led to our undoing. Now there is no animal produce
in our food, no animals as pets, no animals or birds to be seen or heard. This
story was beautifully written, steeped in guilt, defiance and hope.
4)
Desert
Fish by KM Watson (SILVER medal winner):
Valeria, a young immigrant girl from Guatemala, is befriended by Sofia, an
elderly woman, herself once an immigrant from Mexico. Valeria’s family has been
displaced by climate change, which made agriculture impossible in their home
country. Sofia shows Valeria the desert fish which survive and thrive in the
smallest pond of water in the desert, setting the girl an example of hope.
This
story reminds us of the social cost of climate change. The descriptions here
were so beautiful that I could actually imaging the desert setting.
5)
In
Times of Change, Root Down to Rise Up by Jessica Marcy: This story was written from the
PoV of an old oak tree. It tells us about the history of the land in which it
is rooted. The tree has the voice of an old African tree, immersed in the pride
of Black heritage and the sufferings of black people, tied in with the issue of
climate change.
6)
Leave
No Trace by Lee
Clontz: In a world in which the nZika virus is fatal, a father’s attempt to
celebrate his vaccine allergic 10-year-old son’s birthday with a camping trip
nearly ends badly. I liked this one.
7)
Noah’s
Great Rainbow by AA
Rubin (GOLD medal winner): The skies have turned grey on account of a
stratospheric injection to dim the sun’s heat and deflect it into space, The
narrator, a painter, has been tasked with painting the ceiling of the town
hall. He paints it in the colours of Noah’s rainbow to symbolize a commitment
never to do anything to harm the earth again.
8)
Sea
Burial by Lee
Nash: A beautiful story about a family torn apart and how it sews itself,
with one stranger disrupting the family, and another healing it.
9)
The
Amuse-Bouche by Dean
Engel: The Amuse-bouche sees the only surviving member of a protected
oyster species sacrificed for a conservationist’s libido. The amount of detail
in this story was amazing.
10)
First
Can on Mars by VM
Sawh: An influencer, hailing from an ultra-rich family, rushes off to Mars,
seeking to build her brand even from there.
Stories that were good but could have been improved
1)
American
Mangroves by Paul
Briggs is set in the 2060s, when the world's mangroves have been washed
away to sea. The world has woken up to the need to cultivate mangroves as a way
to safeguard nature's legacy and the future of mankind. Unfortunately it is
already too late, as is evidenced by the evidence of hidden graves found in the
dead forest, proof that mankind's future will echo its past, unless something
is done. Against this potential disaster is framed the condition of the black
community, enslaved by white plantation owners, literally trapped between the
devil and the deep blue sea. I thought this story could have been improved.
there was no immediate connection apparent between the loss of the mangroves
and the protection of the gravesites.
2)
Bitter
Almonds by Andrea Dejean: As a result of climate
change, the growth patterns of plants and the behavioural patterns of animals
are both altering. This story, though nice, was too short to make its point.
3)
Blood by PH
Zietsman: The earth has stopped yielding a harvest of any kind. Hungry and
increasingly desperate, the world is grappling with violence and a decline of
the social order. The media supports Big Pharma’s drive to profit off this
nightmare.
4)
Blue
Cassandra by Douglas Arvidson: After a spate of
storms have battered a portion of the mainland into an island, a few school
children and their teachers are surviving on the roof of the school building.
When an unmanned boat approaches, it raises their hopes.
5)
Brownian
Motion by Cedric Rose: The story started well and
the descriptions were beautiful but it seemed to end abruptly, not only with no
conclusion, but without even addressing the threatened conflict.
6)
Dislocation by Clare D Becker: The
encroachment of the sea into the land has downgraded real estate prices and
affected families and marriages everywhere. Venice has completely gone
underwater. In Boston, Dante Bartolomeo hopes he can win the Boston Canals
Gondola Race, and that the prize money will convince his wife, Aida, not to
leave. In the end, no amount of prize money can stave off destruction.
I
liked this line: Humanity cannot imagine its own extinction.
7) Landslide by Catherine
Chaddic: An earth-shattering event in Austria, her birthplace, forces a
woman to reconsider her choice of career.
8)
Planet Suite by Martin
Phillips: The story consisted of vignettes in the lives of three sets of
characters whose lives have been upended by climate change. Dominic, a
successful baker in Brittany, France, finds his business ruined on account of
frequent floods. Patti and Hank Roberts and their friends in Oregon find
themselves homeless on account of wildfires. Keida Kater in Northern Mali finds
his entire life upended by a severe drought.
9) PLaNT Man by Maura
Morgan: Nate, a climatologist, employs unconventional and illegal methods
to address the problem of climate change.
10)
Raymond and Ruby
by Ian Inglis: This story blended the problem of climate change with
crime. Raymond, unhappy in his marriage with Ruby, decides to kill her. Both of
them have become irritable on account of the increasing heat. This story leaned
more on the side of crime rather than climate change.
11) Symbiosis
by Brian Brennan: Symbiosis is about
a future civilization in which the rich and powerful justify the breeding of
the babies of the poor in order to serve their nutritional needs. A good story.
But given the amount of world building, this has the potential to become a novella.
12)
The Captain of the Fleet
by David Poyer: This story blended the climate change element with
horror. Unfortunately, neither genre was very strong.
13)
When the Water Starts to Rise
by Jennifer Gryzenhout: This story
was well written, but it ended abruptly.
14)
Wildfire by Nicola
Billington: An impactful story in just two pages.
(I
read this book on NetGalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and
NetGalley.)
