"The Last Hope of The Earth" SPOILERS-- consider ignoring this mssg unread The Urth list — 1 messages, 1 voices, 28 Sep 2004 https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/4231 Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it. Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact. ============================================================================== James Wynn — 28 Sep 2004, 14:37 I wrote: "the picture Wright paints of Mars is far less hospitable than what we now know to be the case." I should have written "the picture Wright paints of Mars is far less INHOSPITABLE than what we now know to be the case." ~ Crush > -----Original Message----- > From: James Wynn [mailto:thewynns at earthlink.net] > Sent: Tue 9/28/2004 4:06 PM > To: urth at urth.net > Cc: > Subject: (urth) "The Last Hope of The Earth" > > > > I just finished "The Last Hope of the Earth" (aka "The Creeping Shroud") > by > Lan Wright. I hunted this book down because I suspected Wolfe may have > been > paying a tribute to it in the "Short Sun." And I must say I scored. :-) > > Aside from that, the story quite good. Anyone who thinks Michael > Crichton's > SF hangs the Moon will like this too. > > I present an overview of the story below to detail the relevant points but > it's heavy with spoilers. > > The thing is that Lan Wright only seems to have written about 5 novels > over > a period of 10 > years that I can tell; the last being in 1968. He gets no mention in "The > Encyclopedia of Science Fiction." Has anyone read any of Wright's other > novels? And if so, what is your take on them? > > ~ Crush > ... > ... > ... > ... > ...TOTAL STORY-KILLING SPOILERS BELOW > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > > "The Last Hope of the Earth" by Lan Wright > > TLHotE features no alien invaders. There are no arrogant scientists or mad > geniuses who must be stopped before they destroy the world. The enemy in > TLHotE is a plant. Not a plant mutilated by a nearby nuclear power plant > or > a greedy corporation; but a real life plant that is still a problem even > today: the WATER HYACINTH. This is what the Western Aquatic Plant > Management > Society website says about the Water Hyacinth: > > "Water hyacinth is listed as one of the most productive plants on earth > and > is considered one of the world's worst aquatic plants. It forms dense mats > that interfere with navigation, recreation, irrigation, and power > generation. These mats competitively exclude native submersed and > floating-leaved plants. Low oxygen conditions develop beneath water > hyacinth > mats and the dense floating mats impede water flow and create good > breeding > conditions for mosquitoes. > > "Water hyacinths are a severe environmental and economic problem in all of > the gulf coast states and in many other areas of the world with a > sub-tropical or tropical climate. This species has rapidly spread > throughout > inland and coastal freshwater bays, lakes, and marshes in the United > States > and in other countries." > > In tLHotE the Water Hyacinth began to clog waterways, first the Nile, then > the Amazon. Then it mutated to survive in sea water to travel worldwide > and > clog *every* river, bay, and stream, and in the ocean it quickly formed > massive ISLANDS that capture ships and impede navigation. > > Wright adds a twist to the real-life Water Hyacinth in that his expels a > thick sulphurous mist that eventually reduces visibility to a few dozen > feet > anywhere near water. The thick smog quickly caused a greenhouse effect > that > tremendously increases the temperature and humidity world-wide. Another > aspect to the climate change that Wright doesn't really justify is that > over > a period of decades it causes the crust and mantel of the earth to heat up > leading to increased earthquakes and volcanic activity. Japan and the US > eastern seaboard sink below the ocean. > > All this causes civilization to breakdown. At the beginning of the novel, > the only outposts left are White Sands, New Mexico in America (the UN > meets > in Denver), England, Australia, and Kenya. The protagonist Peter Benbow, a > biologist, leaves his pregnant wife in England to go to America to be, > from > there, dispatched on a secret mission that is seen as The Last Hope of > humanity. He is to go to Mars to help set up a colony there. Every spare > bit > of food and manufacturing resources on Earth is devoted to this plan. The > leader of the English outpost promises to send Benbow's wife and child to > him as soon as he can. Unfortunately shortly after arriving at Mars, > Benbow > learns that the English outpost has collapsed just before his wife was to > give birth, the leader executed. His wife has managed to get a note to him > that she plans to attempt to get to Africa. > .. > ... > ... > ... > MUCH MUCH MORE MASSIVE SPOILERS BELOW!! > ... > .. > ... > ... > ... > ... > .. > ... > ... > ... > ... > .. > ... > ... > ... > ... > .. > ... > ... > ... > ... > .. > ... > ... > ... > ... > .. > ... > ... > ... > Those on Earth have heard that the Marsian colony is a futuristic Eden > with > towering sky-scrapers and all the comforts of the by-gone Earth. When > Benbow > arrives he learns the truth is quite different. The Mars colony consists > of > about 4000 citizens huddled in shanties beneath cheap plastic domes. > They've > been working on the colony for about 8 years. Their food comes from > hydroponics and yeast vats. It is understood that colony has about a year > to > become self-sufficient before supplies from Earth cease entirely. Benbow > shortly becomes disenchanted with the prospects of the colony. THIS IS > WHERE > THIS NOVEL SETS ITSELF APART FROM ALMOST EVERY OTHER SF NOVEL. Benbow > meets > with the colony leader and makes an excellent case for why the Mars colony > will NEVER be self-sufficient. For example, the hydroponics and yeast vats > require water -- but there IS NO water on Mars. He makes a trek to the ice > caps and is aghast. One of his team members says "What did you expect? > Giant > glaciers and hundreds of feet of ice like in Greenland?" The ice caps > consist of about 3 inches of surface ice. Actually, the picture Wright > paints of Mars is far less hospitable than what we now know to be the > case. > But even so, he has convinced me of the total impracticality of colonizing > any other planet without enough breakthroughs to put off any consideration > of the task for the next 500 years. Mars is colder, dryer, and less > hospitable than a mountaintop in Antarctica. This is probably why this > novel > didn't take off during the Cold War struggle to beat the Russians to the > Moon. That, and the story's undercurrent of White Supremism. (ho hum) > > The colony leader (Mueller) admits that what Benbow says is true. Mueller > sends him to the little 5 mile-diameter moon Diemos to discover the great > secret of Mars...a secret unknown to anyone on Earth and to very few of > the > colonists on Mars .... > ... > ... > ... > BEWARE!!! BIGGER SPOILERS BELOW!!..... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > There Benbow discovers two MASSIVE GENERATION ships under construction. > Each > will hold 2000 passengers. One will go to Sirius. The other will go to > Alpha > Centauri. Benbow considers this idea crazy. He asks what the ships arrive > and find no inhabitable planets? The answer is "They'll continue to the > next > closest star". No one on Earth is told of this plan for fear that they > would stop shipping supplies. No one on Mars is told of this for fear that > it would break their spirits. Benbow receives permission to return to > Earth > to try to find his wife and child -- promising to tell no one what he has > seen. When Benbow returns he discovers that his wife has taken a new > husband > since she didn't think she would ever see him again (paraphrase "Nettle > will > have found a new husband by now. She was always a very practical woman). > ... > ... > ... > BEWARE!!! HOW THE STORY ENDS..... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > ... > > > > > He also discovers that the climate changes wrought by the Water Hyacinth > are > actually killing the plant worldwide. Earth is on the mend. White Sands > has > not told the Mars colony because Gen. Kramer, the outpost leader, has > plans > of world conquest from Earth to Mars. He is stockpiling supplies for an > attack on the Martian heaven he has heard of to bring it under his > control. > There are so many parallels between Gen. Kramer and Typhon, one could bat > them back and forth for days. > > Benbow explains to him that Mars isn't worth taking; that he needs to > bring > the scientists back to help rebuild Earth. Unfortunately when they contact > Mars, they learn that the ship left 8 weeks previously during Benbow's > trip > to Earth. They are now beyond contact or recall. > > > _______________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------