The Orange R

by John Clagett

This is an Authors Guild/BIP title. Please use Authors Guild/BIP specs. Author's bio: Use author's bio. Description: The Orange R is a fantasy set in the future and based on the fact that man is... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 059500296X
• ISBN13: 9780595002962
• Release Date: July 2000
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Length: 260 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.1" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Dark Prophecy

I can't recommend this book highly enough. I read it first way back in 1982 in paperback, the 1978 edition. It does what Science Fiction does best: it looks at the consequences of science and technology and explores what will happen to humans caught up in the backlash. And the most important thing, it issues a warning that if we act now, we can avoid the disaster. Like Frederick Pohl's Space Merchants, this book shows a future that will make you uncomfortable. Nuclear Energy is the source of all electricity in this future America: and inevitably, radiation leaks have poisoned the countryside. A young man discovers that this didn't HAVE to happen, that there were and ARE alternatives that were suppressed deliberately. There's a scene in the book I recall vividly. The young protagonist is shown solar cells on the roof of a farmhouse. He can't believe it. He's been taught that solar cells don't WORK. He starts laughing, because he's been 'programmed' with solar energy jokes from childhood. Instead of "how many (fill in blank) does it take to screw in a lightbulb", the most common jokes he knows are all about mad scientists that try over and over to invent a working solar cell. I once had a chance to talk to a former Exxon Board Member back in 1994. I mentioned Solar power technology, and he vehemently insisted it was impossible to generate 'commercial' power from solar. He said that Exxon had investigated the technology and declared it was impractical. I tried to tell him about the latest developments and he wouldn't even listen. I told him about a pilot plant that used mirrors to focus sunlight on a Solar Power Tower, and he denied such a thing would work. This conversation reminded me forcefully of "The Orange R". Back then, Nuclear power was obviously in decay. But not today. There's a resurgence of Nuclear, pushed by politics. If it's not defeated, look to see this dark prophecy come true.