"With Hope And Horror, Climate Fiction Writers Depict the Future"

To those in the know, Cli Fi was a thing several years ago. But now climate fiction has become a really big thing. After seeing the movie "The Day After Tomorrow" in 2004, one expert said the only thing he found unbelievable was that the Dick Cheney character admitted he had been wrong.

"Mitchell Zukor, the fictional protagonist of Nathaniel Rich's novel "Odds Against Tomorrow," is consumed by probabilities. A disaster forecaster by profession, he agonizes over the likelihood of impending heat waves, floods and drought. Microburst storms terrify him, so he takes solace in calculating risks of elevator failures. His future existence is structured -- and caged -- by the equations in his head.

They are taken to an extreme in Zukor, but anxieties over the future are nonetheless relatable. Who hasn't, at some point, been unnerved by a car fatality statistic or felt unease in the pitch of a lightning storm? Through Zukor and his tortuous calculations, Rich tackles a question as old as the story of Noah: How do we, as prescient beings, find balance in a world increasingly threatened by catastrophe?"

Nathanael Massey reports for ClimateWire May 2, 2014, in the second part of a two-part series.

SEE ALSO:

Part One: "'Voice Mails From the Future' Elicit Personal Views on Dealing With Climate Change" (ClimateWire: Julia Pyper)

"Global Warning: the Rise of 'Cli-Fi'" (Guardian: 5/31/2014)

"Cli-Fi: Birth of a Genre" (Dissent: Summer 2013)

"So Hot Right Now: Has Climate Change Created A New Literary Genre?" (NPR: 4/20, 2013)

"Fiction Prof Fascinated By Rise of Cli-Fi" (Taipei Times)

"Cli-Fi Books" website

Wikipedia article on "Cli fi"