Book Review: The Day The Oceans Overflowed
By Charles Fontenay, circa 1964, from the US of A. As the 'clean' pulpy coverart of its era shows a huge wave threatening fleeing hetero-couples, the second part of the title reads "A Handful of People Fight for Survival Against A Violent Upheaval of Nature."
All in all, fun silly pulp - perfect for all my travel reading of late. The 'hot and heavy' descriptions are so sanitised as to be quite humourous(1)(2). :-)
Plot (and I don't care if I spoil it for you): Human population levels are creating a huge housing crisis...so the solution is to use some fandangled-'fusion'-chemistry to melt the polar ice caps and free up all that otherwise barren land for human development. Of course this raises the sea levels, but the big UN project has that all figured out, and can move people, even as they populate new lands. Alas! They miscalculate, and that weirdo-chemical thing throws out the laws of thermodynamics and heats up a lot faster than expected, creating a bipolar crisis (hehehe)! Chaos ensues.
The hodge-podge of 2D characters encounter adventure as they try to reach safety...progressively entering more destructive, violent, martial and unlawful stages of political devolution.
The meta-story: Science fails for its arrogance, Capitalism fails for its inhumanity & distrustfulness, Feudalism fails due to warlordship, and Christianity is saviour...of course.
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Cheers Comrade Mike, was actually kind of fun. There were several hilarious lines in the book, let's see what I can find...
(1) Says the "Duke of Reston" to the protagonists: "Now, you folks have messed up civilization back here, just because it was messed up for you where you come from. If you know anything about history, you know that when civilization gets all messed up, there's nothing left but a state of barbarism. The only kind of law and order that works in a state of barbarism is a feudal order..."
Comrade Mike: Discuss. ;-)
(2) "Moving in and getting settled was a simple matter fo rsomeone with as light a load of luggage as Brand [the scientist character] carried. By midafternoon, he was thinking in terms of another need that faced him during the next three months: companionship.
His little black address book was somewhat out of date by now. The first two numbers he called brought identical results: the young ladies had married and moved away from home while he was in the Arctic. On the third try, he was glad the first two had failed. He remebered Camilla Blackthorne pleasantly. Five years younger than he, she had been a good dancer and a lot of fun on a date. ...
He went for supper with the family. Camilla was as he rememberd her, blue-eyed and yellow-haired, with a wonderful figure that was now a little more mature. He knew her parents, too, and her little brother, fourteen-year-old Chris [emphasis added].
Comment: snicker, snicker.
All in all, fun silly pulp - perfect for all my travel reading of late. The 'hot and heavy' descriptions are so sanitised as to be quite humourous(1)(2). :-)
Plot (and I don't care if I spoil it for you): Human population levels are creating a huge housing crisis...so the solution is to use some fandangled-'fusion'-chemistry to melt the polar ice caps and free up all that otherwise barren land for human development. Of course this raises the sea levels, but the big UN project has that all figured out, and can move people, even as they populate new lands. Alas! They miscalculate, and that weirdo-chemical thing throws out the laws of thermodynamics and heats up a lot faster than expected, creating a bipolar crisis (hehehe)! Chaos ensues.
The hodge-podge of 2D characters encounter adventure as they try to reach safety...progressively entering more destructive, violent, martial and unlawful stages of political devolution.
The meta-story: Science fails for its arrogance, Capitalism fails for its inhumanity & distrustfulness, Feudalism fails due to warlordship, and Christianity is saviour...of course.
---
Cheers Comrade Mike, was actually kind of fun. There were several hilarious lines in the book, let's see what I can find...
(1) Says the "Duke of Reston" to the protagonists: "Now, you folks have messed up civilization back here, just because it was messed up for you where you come from. If you know anything about history, you know that when civilization gets all messed up, there's nothing left but a state of barbarism. The only kind of law and order that works in a state of barbarism is a feudal order..."
Comrade Mike: Discuss. ;-)
(2) "Moving in and getting settled was a simple matter fo rsomeone with as light a load of luggage as Brand [the scientist character] carried. By midafternoon, he was thinking in terms of another need that faced him during the next three months: companionship.
His little black address book was somewhat out of date by now. The first two numbers he called brought identical results: the young ladies had married and moved away from home while he was in the Arctic. On the third try, he was glad the first two had failed. He remebered Camilla Blackthorne pleasantly. Five years younger than he, she had been a good dancer and a lot of fun on a date. ...
He went for supper with the family. Camilla was as he rememberd her, blue-eyed and yellow-haired, with a wonderful figure that was now a little more mature. He knew her parents, too, and her little brother, fourteen-year-old Chris [emphasis added].
Comment: snicker, snicker.