Comment on New novels by Cory Doctorow, Jeff VanderMeer and Claire North

Newer authors such as Paolo Bacigalupi, Emily St. John Mandel and Claire Vaye Watkins craft literary thrillers that detail the devastation of climate change and global pandemics. Cory Doctorow, author of “Little Brother” and “Homeland,” presents a disturbing, if still hopeful, vision of the future in “Walkaway.” Set in the mid-21st century, when anyone can 3-D print pretty much whatever they need in terms of food, shelter and clothes, the novel follows a trio in their 20s — Hubert, Seth and Natalie — as they abandon the world of corrupt plutocrats and leave behind their possessions, debts, jobs and dysfunctional families. The pioneering walkaways must navigate cities ruined by industrial flight and landscapes wrecked by climate change. Doctorow has given a lot of thought to the practical and political underpinnings of his fictional world, and he mostly assumes his readers will be able to keep up with him. Character say things like, A pod of mercs and an infotech goon pwned everything using some zeroday they’d bought from scumbag default infowar researchers. For all the disasters it details, “Walkaway” imparts a genuine conviction that the world can be a better place, if only we would work to make it so. After decades as an author and anthologist well respected within the field of speculative fiction but not as well known outside it, Jeff VanderMeer broke through to a wider popular audience with the Southern Reach trilogy, begun in 2014. The first volume now being adapted for the screen by director Alex Garland, the trio of novels — “Annihilation,” “Authority” and “Acceptance” — was set in a mysterious, dangerous, walled-off segment of the Florida coast and played to its author’s fondness for surrealistic biological horror. VanderMeer follows the trilogy with “Borne,” a stand-alone novel set in the near-future ruins of a city once ruled by a defunct biotech company. The narrator, a young scavenger named Rachel, spends her days searching for useful bits of protein or metal, always on the lookout for Mord, a gargantuan flying bear who terrorizes the inhabitants of the city and the wastelands surrounding it. VanderMeer’s apocalyptic vision, with its mix of absurdity, horror and grace, can’t be mistaken for that of anyone else. Inventive, engrossing and heartbreaking, “Borne” finds him at a high point of creative accomplishment. Charlie is a nice guy and a sensitive soul, but the novel is thoroughly tough-minded in its exploration of what it means to live and die in the 21st century. [...] the narrative picks up speed, keeping the reader racing toward revelation of Charlie’s ultimate fate. The author of “The Sudden Appearance of Hope” and “The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August,” Claire North is the pen name of young-adult writer Catherine Webb, who also publishes as Katie Griffin. No matter what she calls herself, North is an exciting voice in contemporary fantasy, and “The End of the Day” should be a welcome calling card from her to many new readers.