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Waiting for the End of the World
In a bleak futuristic city where an elite regime controls all human activity, sixteen-year-old Manfred escapes to the hills and experiences visions of an ancient past and a doomed future which force him to seek safer ground.
- GenresScience Fiction
206 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1983
1 person is currently reading
25 people want to read
About the author
Lee Harding
48 books8 followersLee John Harding is an Australian author, founder of the Melbourne Science Fiction Club and published in Science Fantasy Magazine, New Worlds and Science Fiction Adventures. He used the name of Harold G. Nye as a pseudonym for some of his works and has won the Ditmar Award, the Alan Marshall Award, the Australian Children´s Book Award and the Australian Science Fiction Award. ' to 'Lee John Harding is an Australian author, founder of the Melbourne Science Fiction Club and published in Science Fantasy Magazine, New Worlds and Science Fiction Adventures. He used the name of Harold G. Nye as a pseudonym for some of his works and has won the Ditmar Award, the Alan Marshall Award, the Australian Children's Book Award and the Australian Science Fiction Award.'
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 9, 2019
Odd, and another book that attempts to transplant the Anglo experiences to our ancient nation. A few mentions of the First Nations, and a great observation about the power of the media to control and influence. The ending feels like it should be the beginning....
May 17, 2020
Written in 1983 and set in 21st century Australia. There's a lot in here about self sufficiency and the interactions between farmers and refugees from a dysfunctional city. I found the writing style and dialogue very formal which didn't seem to match the main characters who are young people.
March 1, 2015
Was a bit of a Lee harding fan in the 80s so I grabbed this when it came out. Easy and quite enjoyable to read but not the same clever concept as Displaced Person.
November 28, 2015
A lot of this story was jarring.
This story is supposedly set in Australia, but for me there was very little atmosphere of Australia. It could easily have been set in Britain. I only know it was set in Australia, because we were told so. Much of the description of the landscape, the supposed memories of the characters, etc, were more British than Australia. Why didn’t the author just be done with pretending this is an Australian story and set it in Britain, as it appears that’s where his heart really lies?
Moving on from that, there were many examples of problems with logic. Without an infrastructure to back up the escapees from the city, resources would be limited and their use of the resources that were there, would need to be frugal. How then can a candle (and two I think on one occasion), be allowed to burn all night? There are no shops to go and buy another. They would have to be made from limited resources; more likely fat, as bees wax is a more luxurious item. In such a situation the time a candle would be allowed to burn would be very limited. Fat candles also smoke, and would anyone really want to sleep with a smoky candle all night in their bedroom? The fat could be rendered down to make it harder, but would hard work then be wasted! Then there was the indiscriminate shooting of bullets. Again, how will they be replaced easily? Do they have an arms factory down the road, where a quick swipe of a credit card buys more bullets? One of the characters was using flour to bake with. That must have been hard work; growing the wheat, harvesting it, grinding it to flour; all before it could be used to bake with. Same with paper. In a primitive society paper is precious, so drawing maps to see if they could be remembered on precious paper would be considered wasteful. Drawing on the ground would be more likely, or using chalk on boulder. It's why slates were used in schools, because paper was too expensive to be used and discarded.
I was also going to ask how the city dwellers were supported, but that was sort of explained at the end, which was frustrating, because that left me the reader to believe the cities couldn't exist throughout much of the book, weakening the storyline. That explanation should have happened early in the story.
Kathy makes stain glass items, but no mention is made of how she melts the solder, or for that matter, where she gets the solder from. There is no electricity for a soldering iron, so she must heat it in a fire, but no mention is made of this. But, with needing to grow wheat, harvest it, mill it, plus grow other food, etc, etc, how can she find the time to make stain glass objects? Frivolous things like this have no place in survival situations. They are for when a certain standard of civilisation prevails.
A lot of information in the story to me reads as though the author got it from books, rather than personal knowledge. The information on the bush comes across to me very much like this, but then I read the author lives in the Dandenong Ranges, so unless he doesn't get out much, he must know the bush and it is the distant writing style.
When the patrol comes in the earlier part of the story and Liz is captured, the other two run towards her. Stupidly in a story is annoying. There was nothing they could do to help, but get into trouble themselves.
And dreams that tell the future! Groan!!
The final ending is weak, and does appear to me there should be a follow-up story, to get the ending which should have been.
I am giving this story two, because it wasn't so bad that I didn't finished it, but an annoying story for me, with its logic not better considered.
This story is supposedly set in Australia, but for me there was very little atmosphere of Australia. It could easily have been set in Britain. I only know it was set in Australia, because we were told so. Much of the description of the landscape, the supposed memories of the characters, etc, were more British than Australia. Why didn’t the author just be done with pretending this is an Australian story and set it in Britain, as it appears that’s where his heart really lies?
Moving on from that, there were many examples of problems with logic. Without an infrastructure to back up the escapees from the city, resources would be limited and their use of the resources that were there, would need to be frugal. How then can a candle (and two I think on one occasion), be allowed to burn all night? There are no shops to go and buy another. They would have to be made from limited resources; more likely fat, as bees wax is a more luxurious item. In such a situation the time a candle would be allowed to burn would be very limited. Fat candles also smoke, and would anyone really want to sleep with a smoky candle all night in their bedroom? The fat could be rendered down to make it harder, but would hard work then be wasted! Then there was the indiscriminate shooting of bullets. Again, how will they be replaced easily? Do they have an arms factory down the road, where a quick swipe of a credit card buys more bullets? One of the characters was using flour to bake with. That must have been hard work; growing the wheat, harvesting it, grinding it to flour; all before it could be used to bake with. Same with paper. In a primitive society paper is precious, so drawing maps to see if they could be remembered on precious paper would be considered wasteful. Drawing on the ground would be more likely, or using chalk on boulder. It's why slates were used in schools, because paper was too expensive to be used and discarded.
I was also going to ask how the city dwellers were supported, but that was sort of explained at the end, which was frustrating, because that left me the reader to believe the cities couldn't exist throughout much of the book, weakening the storyline. That explanation should have happened early in the story.
Kathy makes stain glass items, but no mention is made of how she melts the solder, or for that matter, where she gets the solder from. There is no electricity for a soldering iron, so she must heat it in a fire, but no mention is made of this. But, with needing to grow wheat, harvest it, mill it, plus grow other food, etc, etc, how can she find the time to make stain glass objects? Frivolous things like this have no place in survival situations. They are for when a certain standard of civilisation prevails.
A lot of information in the story to me reads as though the author got it from books, rather than personal knowledge. The information on the bush comes across to me very much like this, but then I read the author lives in the Dandenong Ranges, so unless he doesn't get out much, he must know the bush and it is the distant writing style.
When the patrol comes in the earlier part of the story and Liz is captured, the other two run towards her. Stupidly in a story is annoying. There was nothing they could do to help, but get into trouble themselves.
And dreams that tell the future! Groan!!
The final ending is weak, and does appear to me there should be a follow-up story, to get the ending which should have been.
I am giving this story two, because it wasn't so bad that I didn't finished it, but an annoying story for me, with its logic not better considered.
July 29, 2011
Absolutely enthralled and haunted me throughout my teenage years. A sad yet very uplifting coming of age set against post apocolyptic Australia and Tyranny .
Often strange but ultimately page turning.
I re read it often .
Often strange but ultimately page turning.
I re read it often .
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews