recent read; CEMETERY WORLD

CEMETERY WORLD by Clifford D. Simak

Keith West's recent posts on Simak spurred me to dig this out and read it.

This book is a throwback to the era of Cold War science fiction. Its story is told in 150 pages. A quick, fun read. I enjoyed most of it though it invoked some time travel near the end which felt out of place.

In the far future, generations after the "Final War" and the migration into space, Earth has become a huge cemetery. The Cemetery Corporation make good money as a tourist destination, pilgrimage destination, and final resting place for those who can afford it.

But the Earth isn't yet *all* cemetery. There are people who work for Cemetery who still live there. And there are still some outcast groups and monsters of the past to be found in the wilderness.

Artist Fletcher Carson arrives to create a great work of art from the impressions and experiences of visiting Mother Earth and Cemetery. Along with archaeologist Cynthia, and Elmer, the robot, they head into the wilds, encountering strange wonders, and sabotage at the hands of Cemetery. The corporation wants *their* version of the story told, not Carson's independent study.

Maybe the story isn't classic or even Simak's best but it breezes along nicely.

The world needs more stories with 8-foot robots named Elmer.

CEMETERY WORLD is out-of-print in the US but frustratingly available in the UK as an ebook from the Gollancz SCI FI GATEWAY imprint. (I really wish more of those ebooks would be made available to North American consumers.)

Cold War memories

Last night, we had heavy weather in our county. Rain thunder and wind. Potential for tornadoes. Some places had damage, fortunately we did not.

Some of my friends reported their smartphone weather apps squawking in the middle of the night.

But for me, it was a little different.

We leave our daughter’s radio on the classical station overnight. I was awoken at 3:30AM by the emergency broadcast signal. The old-fashioned way.

I thought about it this morning and realized that is the first time in my life I’ve heard that signal for real and not just as a test. I can remember having afternoon cartoons interrupted by that squeal for testing. For someone who grew up in New England, hearing that signal for real was a little weird. In the midwest or South or areas more prone to tornadoes or other bad weather, you might have heard the signal otherwise.

This heightened weather awareness in our local media came a few years ago when a tornado touched down and there were fatalities. Tornadoes are still a very rare phenomena around these parts, though we get our share of wind microbursts. But now we get reports and weather notices and live hype, of course.

Pondering it a little more, I probably rarely thought of that signal as weather-related. Growing up under the Cold War, if we were ever to hear that signal for real - it was more likely that the missiles would be flying, and we would be screwed.