Book info

• Title Beacons
• Author Gregory Norminton
• Year 2013
• Genre Short Stories

A riveting and provocative collection of short fiction, Beacons throws down the gauntlet to award-winning writers, challenging them to devise original responses to the climate crisis. From Joanne Harris’ cautionary tale of a world where ‘outside’ has become a thing of the past, to Nick Hayes’ graphic depiction of the primeval bond between man and nature, each story thrills the senses as it attempts to make sense of a world warping into something unfamiliar. Original, eclectic, and inventive, Beacons warns and inspires by offering stories that are as various as our possible futures.

Thoughts

This is a collection of short stories written around the subject of climate change, which sort of put me off to start with because it’s such a divisive subject, and because there was bound to be some preaching involved.

Actually, it wasn’t too bad in that sense. There was information at the beginning and at the end, but the real focus was on the stories. Ranging from simple looks at humanity as it was, or is now, to wild predictions about what the future could be like, there was a vast spread of interests. I found what I usually do with books like these - some I wasn’t that interested in, but those that I was, I ended up disappointed that the stories were so short!

I’m still not convinced that short stories are for me, but this was a good fit ‚Äì particularly the dystopian worlds in our future. At first, you think they are quite far fetched but when you get to thinking about it and everything happening with the world today, they seem more and more believable.

Rating: 3 / 5