Perihelion Summer

February 25, 2019
Hugo-winner Egan (Phoresis) postulates a bleak too-near future in this hard SF apocalyptic tale of abrupt climate change sparked by a binary black hole rapidly approaching Earth. Young Australian scientist Matt Fleming is testing a new kind of aquaculture with the Mandjet, an innovative “floating fish farm” that can withstand sea level changes. As a fearfully hot summer and an equally violent winter cause crop failures and widespread disaster across the planet, Matt struggles to bring his parents and sister to relative safety on Mandjet, battling both the Australian government’s lack of preparation and his relatives’ personal denial of the looming tragedy. Traveling with a ragtag flotilla to Antarctica, Matt and his shipmates develop a grim plan for survival that seems to be humankind’s only hope of enduring Earth’s rapid collapse. Egan’s rapid-fire plot, full of convincing scientific detail, and his sympathetically drawn characters of various races and backgrounds make this a vivid commentary both on societies’ stubborn refusal to face an environmental threat and individuals’ determination to survive it.

March 15, 2019
Near-future catastrophe devastates the Southern Hemisphere: another entry from Egan (Phoresis, 2018, etc.) that's more than a novella yet less than a novel.A small black hole, Taraxippus (taraxippoi were horse-frightening demons believed to haunt racetracks throughout ancient Greece), enters the solar system. Matt Fleming and his friends, concerned about the possible effects of the black hole's passage, invest in a mobile aquaculture rig, the Mandjet, self-sustaining in food, power, and fresh water, reasoning that they'll be safe at sea no matter what climatic effects might occur. Taraxippus, however, proves to be a double whammy: two black holes orbiting one another. They don't harm the planet directly but do pass close enough to permanently perturb Earth's elliptical orbit around the sun. Almost immediately, Southern Hemisphere summers grow considerably hotter, with winters much colder (the north experiences cooler summers and warmer winters), rendering much of Australia and South America uninhabitable and accelerating the melting of the Antarctic icecap. In a series of quick, vivid sketches, Egan shows us how, for those aboard the Mandjet and their friends and relatives still on land, life--the entire planet--will change forever. As a metaphor representing global climate change, it's effective enough; more than 30 years ago, another Australian, George Turner, did something comparable in Drowning Towers. This lacks that book's weight and complexity, though it's certainly a noteworthy contribution to a debate whose implications Egan is content to leave to our imaginations.More an appetizer than an entree.

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Starred review from April 1, 2019

Egan (Phoresis) brings his reliably rigorous intelligence and its humane application to exploring the effects of a cosmic accident on Earth. Taraxippus, a black hole one-tenth the mass of the sun, enters the solar system. Astronomers track it, and model potential gravitational effects on Earth's orbit. Summers will be hotter, winters will be colder; crops will fail, as will the natural processes crucial to sustaining forests and reefs. Egan chronicles the real world impact by focusing on the team operating the Mandjet, a mobile aquaculture rig capable of providing its own food, water, and power. On the human scale, reactions range from denial to skepticism, resignation to suicide. Egan's mastery shines in characterization, where even four gun-toting hijackers succumb to dread and, ultimately, their better selves. VERDICT The mix of science, adventure, and philosophical probing of extinction will likely appeal to readers of Nnedi Okorafor, Neal Stephenson, William Gibson, and Louise Erdrich, and fans of complex sociological/environmental scenarios.--William Grabowski, McMechen, WV

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