Earth 7 (2026) by Deb Olin Unferth

 Audiobook Review

Earth 7 (2026)

by Deb Olin Unferth

Daunt Publishing

  The idea of "book-tok" is not something I take seriously, probably because it favors genres like Romantasy.  The major exception to this stance is the phenomenon of Jacquelline Harpman, the Belgian author who struck Tik Tok gold a couple years back with the English language translation of I Who Have Never Known Men (1995).  I had that book recommended to me by a random woman at a dog friendly cafe in Eagle Rock, but when I searched up the title, it seemed clear I would like that book, and I did. Earth 7, which is published by Daunt Publishing, seems to mine that same literary territory: minimalist science fiction and strong feminist themes with an end of the world vibe. 

  The protagonist of Earth 7 is the lonely daughter of a single mom who happens to be a gifted scientist/programmer, working in the aftermath of "Depop" which is pretty much how it sounds- the causes being many and varied.  Dylan Stein is her name, and she is raised by her mom inside a living habitat at the bottom of the ocean.  Originally planned as a community, Dylan's mom ends up being the last hold out, which leaves Dylan, naturally, dreaming of escape.  Unferth works with a light touch as far as the genre stuff goes- there are no chapters of exposition where recent history is explained by a thoughtful professor or authority figure.   Rather, Earth 7 more or less resembles a bildungsroman as Dylan escapes her undersea mom prison for life on the dry n' dusty surface, where she works for an obscure corporation plodding forward in the wasteland. 

  Eventually she falls in love, with another woman, of course and that sets in motion the rest of the book- Dylan and her love living in obscurity in the desert until death do us part.  Stuff happens, but it is low impact plot and mostly what the reader is left with is atmosphere of the dying Earth. 

Lost World (2026)by Patrick Wyman

 Audiobook Review

Lost World (2026)

by Patrick Wyman

  I love the subject of "pre-history" or the history of pre or semi-literate peoples.  The frontiers of linguistic history have been joined with incredible advances in DNA science and LIDAR ground-scanning technology to produce a new knowledge about complex cultures in pre-history outside of those who developed writing.  Wyman has a podcast, but he is well versed on his linguistics.  I'm not as sure of his grasp of the underlying science of dna and human genetics- a historical pitfall for linguistics trying to stretch historical identity back into non-historical times.  But there is no denying that DNA is a big improvement over 20th century nonsense about "blood" and "race," neither of which exist as they relate to identifying human cohorts.

  Wyman does an excellent job traversing the recent work in these various fields and harnessing them to a narrative that roughly tracks the theoretical outline of scholar James C. Scott and his successors like David Graeber, i.e. not taking for granted that the concept that we know as "civilization" through Ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Mediterranean somehow represents the ONLY way for humans to organize complex society.  As recently as a decade ago this was mostly speculation, but the confluence of DNA science and LIDAR archeology has really pushed back the frontiers of knowledge in non-western places like Bronze age Ireland, the Amazon, the Andes, China, etc.  Even if we don't know what DNA specifically represents, we can use it to track the kinship of people we find in archeological settings.  

  Lost World is at its least interesting when it gets into the familiar proto-indo-european game- although it's clear that genetic evidence has borne out the truth of the traditional thesis of horse writing redheads who came and conquered Europe, especially in the north and west.  More interesting to me was the less familiar material- firming up the Anatolian Farmers vs. the European Hunter-Gatherer groups and showing how they persist in modern DNA despite the loss of their culture.    His description of the expansion of the Malay-Austronesian language group from a small patch of land in present day Taiwan to a present geographic territory encompassing everywhere from Malaysia to Hawaii is a welcome counterpart to the western intensive PIE hypothesis. 

  I also thought the archeological evidence was interesting- here he mostly discusses recent discoveries in modern day Turkey and Ireland, making the case that pre-bronze age Earthworks (think Stonehenge) were not a product of elites and enslaved a la the Egyptian pyramids but rather a more cooperative, voluntary endeavor. 

All the Living(2009) by CE Morgan

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

All the Living (2009)
by CE Morgan

Berea, Kentucky

Kentucky: 3/16

   Like Strangers Here Below, All the Living is set in Berea, Kentucky.  Birds of Opulence, the first book in the Kentucky chapter, is also set nearby. I gather from all three books that this whole swath of Kentucky was settled from the north, and settled late, and settled without a landed class of plantation owners, which allowed for alternative ways of life: Interracial schools, communities of free African American.  Here, we have a young man who inherits his family tobacco farm and then moves in to his family home with a local girl he meets at an orphanage.  They live together "in sin" which is surely unusual but the farm they live on is so isolated that literally no one knows.  She finds work as a pianist at the local church- piano being her only skill (something she reflects upon frequently.)  All the Living is another example of the "Go Nowhere, Do Nothing" novel which becomes about the place where it is located because that is the only setting.  Great for the purpose of the project, but these protagonists, white, black, young, old- blend together over time in terms of the limits of their insights about the human condition.

Stangers Here Below (2010) by Joyce Hinnefeld

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

Strangers Here Below (2010)

by Joyce Hinnefeld

Pleasant Hill, Kentucky

Kentucky: 2/16

   Two books in and I can already tell you that Kentucky had a different racial vibe than the deep South.  Take Berea College, which was founded as an interracial institute of higher education in the 19th century. It had to abandon that mission for a half-century when Kentucky made interracial education illegal in 1904 but then went back to being interracial before such a thing was widespread.  This book details the history of that school as seen through the eyes of one white student and one black student and folds in the story of a nearby Shaker colony that was hanging on by virtue of a single resident into the mid 20th century.   Strangers Here Below is a perfect pick for the 1,001 Novels: A Library of America project because it is specifically about a specific place on the map, but I also liked the underlying history itself- of which I was unaware. 

Rum Punch (1992) by Elmore Leonard

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

Rum Punch (1992)

by Elmore Leonard

Miami, Florida

Florida: 21/21

  I've long been interested in Elmore Leonard as an example of an author who writes genre books which maybe transcend genre.  I think the standard is wait for the death of the author, give it 20 years, and see if anyone is still reading or writing about said author.  By any standard, Elmore Leonard has achieved canonical status, whether you are measuring by his four Library of American volumes, including an entire volume dedicated to his western era, or the activity on his Amazon author page.  

  After that, the question is, which works best represent the author- pick an early work, a mid-career work and a late career work.  With Leonard, I think the early career pick is Mr. Majestyk (1974) which is an early example of his crime fiction and takes place in Detroit, not Florida or California.  It also leaves out his whole western career which spans 1954 to 1970.  Mid-career and late career kind of blend together with Leonard- he continued publishing until 2012 but you'd be hard pressed to pick anything after Out of Sight (1996).  You've also got Get Shorty, Maximum Bob and this book- all of which were hits, well reviewed and got memorable movie/tv versions (Jackie Brown for Rum Punch.)  

  I would probably go with this book over Get Shorty because of the "inside-Hollywood" angle of that book.  You want an Elmore Leonard Florida title on the short-list.  Rum Punch is a good pick because Jackie Brown, the weary stewardess at the center of the familiar double-cross heavy Leonard plot, is as memorable a heroine as you are going to get.  As for the rest: guns, drugs, murder- you know the drill.