The Aftermath
A Novel of Survival
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The year is 2010 and the world as we know it has come to an end. A huge comet has smashed into the earth off the coast of California, vaporizing and generating a fiery rain that engulfs the globe in a destructive holocaust. But at the opposite pole of the planet, there is a "safe zone" encompassing part of the southeast African shore and the southern tip of Madagascar where the damage is extensive but not total.
Spared from destruction is a luxury cruise ship, the Queen of Africa, which carries 600 of the world's leading engineers. These outstanding technologists, traveling with their immediate families, are engaged in a seminar dedicated to finding solutions to humanity's eternal needs-shelter, food, energy, environmental preservation, and the like. But when the impact of the comet sends shock waves around the world, the passengers' first priority is to abandon ship for terra firma. Thus they head for the South African coast to begin the task of "starting over."
In KwaZulu Natal the passengers find a surviving community of about 25,000, including many experienced agricultural and industrial workers. These people have been cast back, physically, to the Stone Age, but intellectually they are at the forefront of technological progress in the 21st century, and they have at their disposal the natural resources needed to embark on an industrial revolution. So begins an epic adventure of rebuilding the world from scratch, but in an unpredictable, and sometimes hostile, environment, survival itself may be the real challenge.
The Aftermath is a provocative adventure story that provides a scientifically sound blueprint for surviving Armageddon.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In his idea-filled, forward-looking first novel, noted essayist Florman (The Existential Pleasures of Engineering, etc.) shows only passing concern for the nitty-gritty of daily survival in a postapocalyptic world. The story opens with a cosmic "Bang!," when a comet crashes into the Pacific on Christmas Day, 2009. The few people who survive are those fortunate enough to be nearly on the opposite side of the earth. The most notable group consists of a collection of top engineers taking a seminar cruise in the Indian Ocean. Landing in South Africa, these optimistic "Can do!" types quickly cooperate with the mixed communities of so-called Inlanders, trading their knowledge for food and salvaged materials. Establishing "Engineering Village" as their home, they plan on making it the hub of a second Industrial (and later, electronic) Revolution. Much of the book is concerned with the planning needed to reconstitute the lost industries and social structures of the survivors' former lives. Even when the daily fish catch is stolen by the divinely mad pirate leader Queen Ranavolana, their first impulse is to put together a meeting with a "clear, focused agenda." Interleaving a recounting of the new colonists' struggles with selections from the journal of their recording secretary, Florman tries to personalize his story. But, lacking realistic conflict, his narrative remains only a blueprint of an upbeat vision rather than a solid foundation for this hopefulness. (Dec. 11)