It’s Ann here today. Andy is in OurLittleCorner making faces😁 .

Is something rotten in the state of Denmark England? California? maybe even Albuquerque? Those are the settings for my three new favorite works – two novels and a TV series, and all are post-apocalyptic. And I make no claims to even liking science fiction (though I would prefer to categorize these works as something other than science fiction. Margaret Atwood, apparently, likes the term “speculative fiction” – which seems apropos).

I’m always impressed with good writing – and good television. And it seems Andy and I are constantly on the lookout for the next best read and/or watch.

After I read Cormac McCarthy’s The Road I swore I would never read another post-apocalyptic novel again. It was that alarming. But time heals all things, and I’m now totally enamored with these futuristic works…Vince Gilligan’s Pluribus on Apple TV, Ian McEwan’s recent novel, What We Can Know, and Octavia Butler’s 1993 novel Parable of the Sower.

I asked an editor from the San Francisco Standard to give me a brief review of Pluribus, and here’s what she wrote:

“Pluribus may paint a picture of the future that’s unnervingly one-step from our future AI reality, but at its core, the show is really about being human. In the face of her new world, the main character vacillates between states of anger, lust, hilarity, loneliness, and sadness — feelings that apparently (thank god) aliens are incapable of. So it’s a good reminder that the flip side of human suffering is joy and they’re interconnected. And aliens with their perfect little lives are clearly missing out. (But then again — are they? Stay tuned for Season 2!)”

And I asked a formerLSU college professor to comment on What We Can Know – and here’s what he had to say:

“Although it is set in decimated post-apocalyptic 2120’s (where many of the dire predictions have come to pass), What We Can Know is much more than a cautionary tale.  McEwan is not only a great story-teller, he packs so much insight and creativity into his paragraphs that I found myself frequently rereading parts (partly to understand but mainly to marvel at his incredible way with words).  It is the kind of book you hate to see end.

And, since none of the family (yes, the Standard editor and the college professor are family 🙂 has read Parable of the Sower, let me discuss it a bit.

I’m fascinated with Butler, whose mother was a housekeeper and father a shoeshiner and who was born in Pasadena in 1948 and died in 2006. I hate to admit I had never read about her or about any of her works until now. There is a brief interview with Butler at the end of Parable of the Sower. In the interview she describes herself this way: Who am I? I am…comfortably asocial—a hermit. … A pessimist if I’m not careful, a feminist, a Black, a former Baptist, an oil-and-water combination of ambition, laziness, insecurity, certainty, and drive.“

The plot of Parable of the Sower (remember it was written 33 years ago) is set in California, beginning in 2024, and its follow-up novel, Parable of the Talents, is set in the 2030’s, which is eery, to say the least. Climate change and water shortage, drugs and disease, inequality and corporate greed are just a few of the issues being faced by the people, including the main character, a Black woman named Lauren.

Where is the upbeat part that makes the novel not totally depressing? Lauren believes that she has an idea that will bring positive changes to the world. Her name for this is Earthseed. Earthseed is what drives her and keeps her going.

And here, in my opinion, is the most-soothing, most-optimistic line from Butler’s novel: “From what I’ve read…the world goes crazy every three or four decades. One trick is to survive until it goes sane again.” I so hope that’s right.

(and one aside: if you really want to be freaked out consider this. In Parable of the Talents, the U.S. is being led by a president who hopes to rid the country of non-Christians, has brought back slavery, AND has the motto “Make America Great Again.” Mind you this was written in 1998. Prescient?

If you’re into reading more “speculative fiction,” here are some others to consider.

How does this all relate to food? It’s both scary and kind of funny to read all of the online sites about food for post-apocalypse times. In my brief research I was more interested in what still could be grown – not what we should store up (canned goods, beans, honey, and alcohol (!) for example). A lot of what can be grown depends on what caused the apocalypse. I’m going to suggest you read the BBC’s Science Focus take, “This is what you’d eat after the apocalypse, according to science.” The possible crops are peas, carrots, potatoes, sugar beets, and spinach.

I’m not sure whether apocalypse survivors will have access to spices, but today’s recipe could be made without any and would still be nutritious. Meanwhile, let’s savor all those seeds, bulbs, tubers, and rhizomes that give us the spices we can enjoy today.

And a final note – as we speculate about the future: maybe we all need to have Selaginella lepidophylla, aka The Resurrection Plant. It’s not going to help with providing food, but, according to HighlandMoss.com , its “ability to rise from the state of the ‘dead’ has made it a symbol of hope and rebirth across various cultures….In folk magic, it’s believed to bring peace, power, and protection from bad spells into a home.” Better yet, according to The Brain Maze on Facebook, it reminds us that “even in the most desolate conditions, life always finds a way to return.”