Frostlands

by John Feffer

Overview

Arcadia’s defense corps is mobilized to defend against what first appears to be a routine assault, one of the many that the community must repulse from para- military forces every year. But as sensors report a breach in the perimeter wall, even 80-year-old Rachel Leopold shoulders a weapon and reports for duty. The attack, it turns out, has been orchestrated by one of the world’s largest corporations, CR ISPR International, and it is interested primarily in stopping Rachel’s research into stopping global warming. As Arcadia prepares to defend itself against the next CR ISPR attack, Rachel contacts Emmanuel Puig, the foremost scholar of her ex-husband’s work, to get information that she can use to stop CR ISPR . Arcadia intersperses the action with short reports from Emmanuel Puig on his interactions with Rachel as they meet, via V R, in different parts of the world—Brussels, Ningxia, and finally Darwin. The novel concludes with an explosive, unexpected twist that forces a reevaluation of all that has come before.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608465040
Publisher:	Haymarket Books
Publication date:	03/12/2019
Series:	Dispatch Books
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	166
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 7.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

John Feffer is a playwright and the author of several books including Aftershock: A Journey into Eastern Europe’s Broken Dreams and the novel Splinterlands. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Nation, Salon, and others. He is the director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies.

Editorial Reviews

"By taking us on a cautionary journey into a future planetary collapse where the term “one per cent” is redefined in a terrifying way, John Feffer forces us to look deeply at our own society’s blindness to ecological apocalypse and greed. But the novel’s enchantment goes beyond dystopia: the quest for salvation depends on a crusty female octogenarian who would make Wonder Woman salivate with envy."
—Ariel Dorfman

"A worthy sequel to the thought-provoking Splinterlands, Frostlands is triumphant and absorbing science fiction, full of ecological and societal warnings. It is a unique and imaginative look at a future Earth scarred by environmental neglect.... In a short space, Frostlands touches on a variety of intriguing subjects. The killer drones and network-hacking warfare of Frostlands aren’t wild speculative fantasy of a remote future; Feffer is focused on the next fifty years or so, with an eye toward avoiding the mostly bleak landscape that Frostlands so vividly captures. Rachel and Arcadia represent the ability of humans to adapt and fight back against even self-inflicted environmental and societal wounds; their story is both edifying and entertaining."

—Foreword Reviews

"Devotees of near-future science fiction adventures will root for resolute and energetic Rachel on her quest to save Earth."

—Publishers Weekly

Praise for Splinterlands:

Feffer’s confident recitation of world collapse is terrifyingly plausible, a short but encompassing look at world tragedy. "
—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

“Feffer’s book is a wild ride through a bleak future, casting a harsh, thought-provoking light on that future’s modern-day roots.”
—Foreword Reviews

"Just as it’s especially enjoyable to read science fiction written by real scientists, Feffer offers readers a uniquely well-researched and historically robust argument for why the world turns out the way that it does, which makes it all the more relevant—and frightening. "
—Washington City Paper

"Readers who enjoy dystopian stories that hold more than a light look at political structures and their downfall will more than appreciate the in-depth approach John Feffer takes in his novel."
—Midwest Book Review

"Splinterlands is a short and powerful dystopian novel, framed as an all-too-credible account of what might happen in our lifetimes."
—Climate and Capitalism

"John Feffer is our 21st-century Jack London, and, like the latter's Iron Heel, Splinterlands is a vivid, suspenseful warning about the ultimate incompatibility between capitalism and human survival."
—Mike Davis

“Feffer’s book, in short, is provocative in the best sense….The dystopic alternative, illustrated so powerfully in Feffer’s Splinterlands, provides us with powerful motivation to shape a better, less splintered, future.”
—W. J. Astore

"Splinterlands paints a startling portrait of a post-apocalyptic tomorrow that is fast becoming a reality today. Fast-paced, yet strangely haunting, Feffer's latest novel looks back from 2050 on the disintegration of world order told through the story of one broken family— and offers a disturbing vision of what might await us all if we don't act quickly."
—Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickle and Dimed and Living with a Wild God, and founder of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project

“A chilling portrayal of where the politics of division could take us. Now I only hope he writes the sequel to tell us how to avoid it!”
—Naomi Oreskes, co-author of The Collapse of Western Civilization

From the Publisher

09/24/2018
Feffer expands the urgent environmental warnings of Splinterlands in a slim, standalone sequel that’s equally dire and sinister but more leisurely paced. The world of 2051 is marked by mass extinctions, crop failures, and melting ice caps. From the Arcadia farming commune in Vermont, 80-year-old Rachel Leopold is fending off drone attacks from CRISPR International, a devious genetic engineering corporation. If her research into regenerating the melting permafrost to slow down global warming is successful, the elites will be less likely to purchase CRISPR’s pricey longevity treatments. Rachel contacts Emmanuel Puig, the biographer of her ex-husband, Julian (narrator of the dystopian Splinterlands). Puig suggests she reach out to her children—jaded Aurora in Brussels and wealthy Gordon in Ningxia—for cryptic clues to infiltrating CRISPR’s headquarters. Rachel’s other son, Benjamin, a former guerilla fighter turned hacker, is deep underground targeting CRISPR. As CRISPR seems to know Rachel’s every move, she suspects a mole within Arcadia. Devotees of near-future science fiction adventures will root for resolute and energetic Rachel on her quest to save Earth. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

10/15/2018
As the world succumbs to the ravages of climate change and provisions become scarce, octogenarian Rachel Leopold maintains a garden and grows heirloom apples in the utopian community of Arcadia, taking up arms against its attackers. A former glaciologist, Rachel also secretly researches methods to reverse the polar ice melt, which could save Earth's dwindling population and prevent the release of methane pockets under the permafrost. As she nears success, Arcadia comes under fire from the multinational group CRISPR. To save Arcadia and possibly the world, Rachel must decode clues left by her late ex-husband, Julian, while around her the walls of Arcadia are breached by bots and her trust in her compatriots is tested. VERDICT This fast read picks up after the death of Julian, the protagonist of Splinterlands, and can be enjoyed as a stand-alone sequel to the first book in the series. Its sense of urgency inspires readers to keep going and a pale glimmer of hope at the end is welcome after the quick, harrowing ride.—Jennifer Beach, Longwood Univ. Lib., Farmville, VA

Library Journal