From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Nov 29 10:33:29 1994 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!sunic!pipex!howland.reston.ans.net!math.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!csn!boulder!storytel From: storytel@ripco.com (Conrad Lawrence) Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.books Subject: REVIEW: The Council to Save the Planet Date: Mon, 28 Nov 1994 19:05:55 GMT Organization: Ripco Internet BBS Chicago Lines: 150 Sender: usenet@rci.ripco.com (Net News Admin) Approved: brock@colorado.edu Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: ucsub.colorado.edu Content-Type: text Summary: Speculative Fiction Keywords: science fiction speculative sci-fi SciFi environment X-Newsreader: NN version 6.5.0 #9 (NOV) Content-Length: 7478 Status: O Originator: brock@ucsub.Colorado.EDU Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.books.reviews:53 rec.arts.sf.reviews:687 rec.arts.books:103142 [Moderator's note: This review has been written by the author of the book.] One Possible Future Conrad Lawrence gives the planet a second Chance in The Council to Save the Planet The Council to Save the Planet by Conrad Lawrence Northwest, 364 pages Six people determine that in order to save the Earth, it must be destroyed; or, at least part of it. What started as cocktail party whim for four scientists, a journalist and an Air Force Colonel, becomes a think tank to consider salvation of the planet's environment and ecology; until, one puts forth a call to action. Thus begins the first short story of Conrad Lawrence's anthology The Council To Save the Planet. As the story continues, the six enact a horrible cataclysm designed to give the Earth an opportunity to heal, and it's populous a second chance at caring for the planet upon which they survive. The six set out to destroy the whole planet's techno-industrial complex and succeed. Or, do they? As the first story comes to it's culmination, questions are risen as to whether the cataclysm befalling the planet is an act of humans; or, an act of natural forces. Reminiscent of Ray Bradbury's bestseller of 1954, The Martian Chronicles, Lawrence's anthology chronicles a period of time in the future, setting the scene and conflict in the first story, The Council and reaching a conclusion some twenty stories later. The volume is both an anthology and a novel. Each story can be read separately and alone, but when read in order they chronologically tell a larger story of a futre envisioned by the author. Although, like Bradbury's book in structure, The Council to Save the Planet, is speculative fiction of the same caliber as Orwelle. The adept breadth of storytelling spans the spectrum from imposing, mind-boggling concepts and schemes, to action and adventure, dotted with periodic levity. Under the storytelling runs a consistent and curative message that a basic and benevolent change in philosophy toward the Earth as a resource is needed before any specific actions will be of any positive effect on what the author believes to be a damaged environment. Despite the message bed upon which the story was laid, suprisingly, the narrative never gets preachy. Once The Council has set the stage for the first third of the Twenty-first Century, comes the crew of the underwater oil rig, the Graeculus (Ironically, a Greek term for parasite). Forgotten when the cataclysm strikes, the deep sea drillers are left to reach the surface by their own devises, isolated with no knowledge of what has taken place. In Earthset their struggle to survive the ascent and to cope with the unknown fate of their world is depicted, ending with a somewhat vague positiveness to appears on the surface to be an unpalatable future. The juxtaposition of stories in content and style creates a panoply in the message and narrative. In Earthrise we meet two couples who epitomize the polarity of those who only take from any resource available, versus those who nurture resources for long-term availability. The story is a gentle, though sad, tale of everyday life; or, at least everyday life in the future depicted. Against this are contrasted the hard edge stories of Die Grunen and Nightmare, which once again examines this polarity in violent and dramatic conflict between whole factions of people. At other times, the author takes tongue-in-cheek potshots at some of the desecrations people proffer upon the environment. In Shedim people die and go to a hell befitting of their particular environmental sin. Jeff, the main character, prone to littering, must spend eternity picking up litter in an endless void of white; while another character must spend forever shutting off lights and tightening faucets. In Stresspoint an alien abductee is sent back to Earth by a Galactic Federation, with a planetary shrink (who happens to be the Loch Ness monster) to restore the planet's sanity. The insanity is qualified by one member of the Federation who exclaims, "Here is a population which abuses the planet on which it depends for sustenance of life. The inhabitants deplete the planet's resources at an abominable rate, endeavoring to do nothing about refurbishing those resources, once depleted. On top of it they have no effective space travel. Once they've destroyed their planet, they can't go anywhere else!" In Retribution, the author takes a compassionate view of the environment's worst offenders by offering a look into the mind of an industrialist who destroyed the ecology surrounding a whole town insuring the town's death. Facing a lynching, we don't see a malicious discompassionate company CEO, but a man with good intentions to provide for his family. It is such expositions which provide tones other that black and white to the concept which drives this book. Throughout the book, members of The Council reappear, influencing and guiding the planet's future. Through these appearances we see the gut-wrenching self-questioning that members of The Council exact upon themselves, depicting the ever-present theme that there is no precise right or wrong and that nothing of worth comes without cost. As is passionately exemplified by one of the members of The Council in a moment of doubt: "Who are we to say that our change, or our end is better than the one which this planet has set for itself?" Self-questioning costs two of the members their lives. Having enacted a plan that shares the arrogance of the book's title, The Council must bear the burden of it's responsibility. A responsibility that, in the author's eyes, will not allow them to walk away from the future they may have imposed upon the planet. Wrong though they may, or may not, have been, the surviving members of The Council are compelled to do what they can to see the planet through to whatever future. Passages with the Council, portray the author's own rigid sense of responsibility that people should feel toward their planet. Other stories depict the author's skepticism that planet's populous has the ability to make the changes necessary to ensure its survival. This is poignantly defined in the final story History, which jumps years to the future and a colony ship headed for another star system. Throughout the book, people and groups of people are seen repeating what are in the author's estimation the same errors; creating conflict with others whom have learned by the cataclysm. It is these conflicts that created the basis for captivating storytelling. This is speculative fiction not common in today's packaged formula oriented literary industry. %A Conrad Lawrence %C Salt Lake City %D 12/93 %G 1-56901-189-3 %I Northwest Publishing, Inc %K science fiction speculative envrironment sci-fi sf Sci-Fi %O $9.95 %P 364 %T The Council To Save The Planet