"We protest, invest, divest, blockade, persuade, disobey, make nonviolent trouble, and most importantly, we vote, every race, no matter what. And if there's no one worth voting for, bitch, get yourself a clipboard, get your signatures, and get yourself on that motherfucking ballot."
A meticulously realized tale of climate fiction, "The Deluge" is staggeringly detailed and vividly rendered. Stephen Markley shields the reader from absolutely nothing, painting a picture of a world 15 years from now that is wracked by extensions of today's political divisions and extreme weather.
The imagery can be flat-out overwhelming, challenging the audience to embrace the potential of horrors to come. Markley asks you to keep a litany of characters straight and to pull for unlikeable ones at times, but the result is three-dimensional presences to carry the story along.
"The unnerving truth is that you and I, we don't have identity anymore. We vote, value, verify, vaccinate, and venerate based on the machine learning behind our many screens."
"The Deluge" is eminently accessible -- partially due to references to both Raleigh and Stephen King -- to readers of all types. A weighty and stunning work, and should be required reading for anyone seeking a realistic portrayal of what climate change can wrought on the world ... and on us.
"I could believe we would free ourselves of these mournful histories, that all our tears and sorrow would be given back to us, and though we walked these ruins now, we would begin again, and carry across impossible time the glory of this ancient and magnificent world."
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