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Mad Planet
Mad Planet
Book Excerpt
out. Dark red and orange above, light yellow below, they formed a series of platforms above the smoothly flowing stream. Burl moved cautiously toward them.
En route he saw one of the edible mushrooms that formed most of his diet, and paused to break from the flabby flesh an amount that would feed him for many days. Often, his people would find a store of food, carry it to their hiding place, then gorge themselves for days, eating, sleeping, eating, sleeping until all was gone.
Burl was tempted to abandon his plan. He would give Saya of this food, and they would eat together. Saya was the maiden who roused unusual emotions in Burl when she was near, strange impulses to touch and caress her. He did not understand.
He went on, after hesitating. If he brought her food, Saya would be pleased, but if he brought her of the things that swam in the stream, she would be more pleased. Degraded as his tribe had become, Burl was yet a little more intelligent. He was an atavism, a throwback to ancesto
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This is what I call an adventure story. It's like those written by Jules Verne, in which the characters explore an exotic world, but there is no particular point or plot to the story. In Mad Planet, a future Earth is described in which all the creatures we know have grown to 10x or more their original size (plant life as well). Man, strangely enough, has not grown with them. The entire story is just an essay about a man traipsing about this world. Normally, I might give something like this 2 stars, but the writing is tidy and lacking melodrama, so I'm being generous.
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Good adventure story set 30,000 years in the future when a jump in carbon dioxide levels wiped out civilization and radically changed ecology. Humanity has regressed to prehistoric levels, and staying alive is a struggle. The hero is a little brighter than the average human of his time, which gets him in trouble.
Creative story.
Creative story.
06/08/2013
Increased CO2 levels result in a future earth where humanity has regressed to a savage state in a daily struggle to survive toxic fungi, huge insects and predatory spiders. A pretty good story but not recommended if you're about to clean out the garage.
01/25/2013