First published in 1961 when the author was in her late 70s, this book expounds on her philosophy that by constant heavy mulching, gardening can be mastered without weeds, without tilling, without “work.” Anyone who has ever walked in a forest or wooded area can tell that nature’s system of dropping organic material and letting it lie creates the most healthy and vibrant soils. Yet this idea of natural mulching and letting stuff rot where it falls was all but foreign in the 50s, when […]
Alexandro Jodorowsky’s Screaming Planet
Alexandro Jodorowsky is a genius, I have no doubt. He’s also absolutely bat sh*t insane. Which leads to some truly intense writing, and even more so vision. Screaming Planet is a set of stories (but for one) created for Metal Hurlant, a French anthology series along the lines of Heavy Metal. The screaming planet of the title is an asteroid from a long ruined planet that streaks through the universe, passing its sorrow to those sentient creatures it feels a kinship with. As […]
California, by Edan Lepucki
Set in the middle of this century, “California” spins a tale of an earth in flux. Droughts, super storms and climate shift have caused financial and environmental catastrophes that leave the 1% in “safe” enclaves while the rest scramble to eek out a life wherever they can, preferably out of the cities, preferably with like-minded souls that can provide a group illusion of safety and power. Cal and Frida are a young couple who flee dry Los Angeles to build an existence in […]
Written in Red, by Anne Bishop
Humans and Others have long held an uneasy truce. Most of the wild places are Other controlled, but humans have persevered and cities have grown. As part of the truce, and to stay close to the human innovations they have come to appreciate, the Others are given a “courtyard” in most cities, where they live by their laws and unwanted trespassers are usually listed as “special meat” the next morning at the butcher shop. On a stormy winter night, Meg arrives freezing and scared, and […]