Penny Ponders On Storm Girl
“Stunning commentary on turbulent times”
Storm Girl by Linda Nicklin is much more than its label of ‘eco-thriller’ — it has adventure, mystery, romance, and themes that echo chillingly off the modern world. Its protagonist, a young woman called Angel, is a convincingly drawn character with whom it is easy to empathise.
I’m not, strictly speaking, reviewing it here, because my brief is to home in on a specific angle, and in this case, I will be concentrating on the background to this book. By doing that, I don’t want to put anyone off — this is a very good read with a well-drawn cast of characters. There are no cartoon goodies or baddies in this one, but there is excitement, suspense, and drama.
My role is to dive into focused areas of the spotlight books for Fantastic Books Publishing’s
If you want to read an in-depth review of Storm Girl, I recommend this one from fellow author Stuart Aken:
There’s a whole section at the back of this book describing Linda Nicklin’s background work. It is not in the least reassuring to know that everything she writes about has happened, is happening, or could easily happen.
A scary question
This was one of those questions that I wanted to ask, but wasn’t at all sure that I wanted to hear answered. This is what I asked Linda:
In terms of both climate change and the rise of an autocratic elite, you have done considerable research and used scenarios that are already partly realised e.g. the floating cities. Rise in sea levels is an urgent problem albeit that covid grabbed the headlines soon after your book was published. Given the events of the past couple of years, how do you feel about the scenarios of Storm Girl? Do you think they are more or less likely to come about the way you describe?
I wasn’t expecting a reassuring reply and I didn’t get one:
I can’t begin to tell you about the horrors facing us if the earth warms to the 30 or even 40 C that our current pathway predicts.
The scenarios in Storm Girl are based on IPCC predictions. Many of the things that happen in Storm Girl are already happening now. We are witnessing resource wars, mass migration, heat domes, wildfires, floods, nation states disappearing beneath rising seas, and parts of our world are already becoming uninhabitable.
If you want to give yourself nightmares check out the increasingly frequently occurring high humidity/heat combinations. At a certain level the body can’t sweat to cool itself and fit healthy adults die within 6 hours, children and babies much sooner.
Raph explains global breadbasket failure to Angel when the resistance first meets in York. Ukraine is a key part of the global breadbasket, and this year there is a real risk of famine in some parts of the world.
There are things I didn’t expect to see coming true. For example, how quickly public transport could be an infection hazard, or the speed that international supply chains could break down. Covid gave us a glimpse of that.
The rise of inequality marches on. Our current economic model assumes endless resources and endless growth. It doesn’t factor in the destruction of the planet or the human degradation as a negative cost. And as long as the only measure of success is GDP, the super-rich, the banks and major fossil fuel companies will carry on their destructive path. This transition is complete in Storm Girl and I don’t see it slowing.
Floating cities do exist, but I think they are also a metaphor for the yawning gap between the rich and poor. The suffering of the masses is invisible to people so rich that they can reinvent their lives and themselves at a whim.
I don’t think that we learned the lessons that Covid presented to us: everything is connected, nature is fragile and at the same time immensely powerful, society can change at speed, and terrible things can happen if you don’t listen to the science and then act. I wish we had.
As I said, it’s not a reassuring answer, but it’s one that people need not only to hear but also to act on.
MABLE 2022
Both Storm Girl and Linda Nicklin are in the spotlight during this autumn’s online MABLE 2022 event that will run during September and October. Do sign up. It’s free and you’ll have the chance to chat with the authors.