Gordon Van Gelder, who’s been editing The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction since 1997, has completed his first original anthology. Welcome to the Greenhouse: New Science Fiction on Climate Change is being published by OR Books, a “a new, unique publisher that aims to publish daring and revolutionary books by cutting costs of distribution and storage.” They sell only through their own web site.
OR’s Fern Diaz tells us: “Forty years ago, Walt Kelly’s comic strip character Pogo famously intoned: ‘We have met the enemy, and he is us.’ Now, as the evidence for climate change becomes overwhelming, we learn the hard reality behind that witticism. The possible destruction, and certain transformation, of the ecosphere has been brought about by our own activities.
“What will our new world look like? How will we—can we—adapt? The clash of a rapidly changing environment with earth’s self-styled ruling species, humans, provides ample creative fodder for this riveting anthology of original science fiction. In Welcome to the Greenhouse, award-winning editor Gordon Van Gelder has brought together sixteen new speculative stories by some of the most imaginative writers of our time, both familiar names and relative unknowns. Terrorists, godlike terraformers, and humans, both manipulative and hapless, populate these pages. The variety of stories here reflects the possibilities of our future: grim, hopeful, fantastic and absurd.”
Van Gelder himself, in his introduction, explains the genesis of the anthology. “I am something of a contrarian. It’s probably the result of having a scientist for a father. Whatever the reason, if you present to me a truth that is universally acknowledged, I’ll question it instinctively.
“I’ve largely sat on the sidelines during the global warming controversies that have raged over the past decade. Do I think Earth’s climate is warming? Yes. Do I know what the causes are? Can’t say for certain that I do. In fact, I don’t think anyone can say for certain that they know.…
“However… that sort of complacent attitude is likely to lead to chaos. Consequently, I asked a number of writers who speculate on the future to consider the subject of climate change. What might life be like in five, fifty, or five hundred years?”
Contents of the book include:
Preface by Elizabeth Kolbert
Introduction by Gordon Van Gelder
“Benkoelen” by Brian W. Aldiss
“Damned When You Do” by Jeff Carlson
“The Middle of Somewhere” by Judith Moffett
“Not a Problem” by Matthew Hughes
“Eagle” by Gregory Benford
“Come Again Some Other Day” by Michael Alexander
“The Master of the Aviary” by Bruce Sterling
“Turtle Love” by Joseph Green
“The California Queen Comes A-Calling” by Pat MacEwen
“That Creeping Sensation” by Alan Dean Foster
“The Men of Summer” by David Prill
“The Bridge” by George Guthridge
“Farmearth” by Paul Di Filippo
“Sundown” by Chris Lawson
“Fish Cakes” by Ray Vukcevich
“True North” by M.J. Locke