Greenhouse Summer [Hardcover]

Gary Wolfe did say, in a generally favorable review (Locus 12-99),
that GS had a slow start, but here I am in the *middle*...

Spinrad's fictional hothouse is, well, *hot*, and 100% man-made. The
latter isn't likely in RL, but it's now well-known that Earth's climate
has changed drastically -- and quickly -- in the past, for no obvious
reasons. Anyway, it's *fiction*, and Spinrad points out the dismal
record of climate models. As always, his writing is impeccable, and he
has a gift for coining Neat Phrases, such as the 'Lands of the Lost', for the
climatic losers -- the poor, low, hot places.

The real problem comes with his McGuffin, 'Condition Venus' -- a

predicted runaway greenhouse, which would make the earth
uninhabitable. This simply isn't believable-- not even the wildest-eyed
eco-alarmists have proposed such a scenario. So the book clunks every
time Condition Venus is trotted out -- which seems like every other
page, around where I gave up.

Another problem is the economics, which is capitalism losing out to
anarcho-syndicalism -- like the Bad Boys syndicate, who are really
good at heart, barring the odd assassination. Anyway, I wouldn't know
an anarcho-syndicalist if one bit me on the ass, even after half a
book's-worth of 'em. The politics are kinda impenetrable too, Blues
and Greens and the Big Blue Machine -- the latter seems to be a trade-
association of climatic engineers and big construction outfits. Eh?

I love the Parisian setting, which is much (too much?) like that in
"La Vie Continue" (1988, in Other Americas) in which a fictional
Spinrad sells movie rights to his "Riding the Torch". Female lead is to
be the "Red Metal Rose" of Russian Spring fame. Very entertaining tale. Unlike Greenhouse Summer.

Anyway, I've mostly liked my previous Spinrad reads [note 2], even
the much-maligned fat-fan unsold-novel excerpt.... But I gave up on
this one. For 220 pages, nothing much *happened*. Life is short, and
the to-read pile is large....
___________
Note 1) Well, I tried again, stalling this time at p. 220. Eric & Monique
finally got it on [yawn]. Not much else happened. Hell with it.

Note 2) -- which include most of his lifetime oeuvre. I suppose my
all-time Spinrad fave might be Child Of Fortune (1985). And I like his
book-review columns in Asimov's.

review copyright 2000 by Peter D. Tillman

Explicit sex is graphically portrayed two or three times, and to no point whatsoever. Some writers, notably William Barton, use sex as an integral part of character developement and plot, but Spinrad seems to just stick it in (no pun intended) for just shock appeal, or whatever. No more Spinrad novels for me, for awhile.