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Greensword
Says Hugo/Nebula Award Winner, Robert J. "Science fiction has always been a great vehicle for biting satire and social commentary, from H. G. Wells' The Time Machine right on up to Donald Bingle's engrossing GREENSWORD. Bingle is a terrific writer."
From Library "The author of Forced Conversion demonstrates his talent for dark comedy in the style of Kurt Vonnegut and Victor Gischler. Bingle takes aim at both sides of the global warming controversy, addressing global complexities in comedic trappings for a cautionary tale that belongs in most libraries."
They're about to save the world; they just don't want to get caught doing it.
Zeke, Milo, and Brandon are struggling to keep their environmental protest group, GreensWord, alive. It impresses chicks and sure beats getting jobs as corporate serfs in the real world. But their chief benefactor, movie star Matthew Barrington, threatens to cut off funding unless they stop global warming before his Malibu beach house slides into the storm-tossed ocean. In their desperate effort to save the beach house and their organization, the GreensWord trio is willing to try almost anything. No plan is so illegal, so risky, or so stupid that they won't lend it an ear. But nothing is fast enough to stop global warming in time ... until they think of the unthinkable solution.
And although they may be crazed fanatics, they've watched enough T.V. to think they know exactly what to do to foil any investigation of their noble crime. And if their drastic solution to global warming means they also take out the reigning internet tycoon and his monopolistic software company, that's just organic frosting on the vegan cake.
One person can make a difference in the world.
Of course, three people with a plan to stop global warming overnight can make a big difference.
GREENSWORD is a dark comedy about the environment, extremism, stupid criminals, and the lengths to which people will go to avoid getting a real job.
Says USA Today Bestselling Author of the Warlands trilogy, Elizabeth A "I loved GREENSWORD. The characters made me laugh right out loud, but the actions of this group of half-cocked people, with a half-assed plan, had me gasping in horror as their implausible schemes became all too plausibly real. Suddenly, the twists of the chilling plot had me turning the pages, unable to look away from the macabre tale and yet still chuckling guiltily as the story reached its terrifying climax in a horribly real way. GREENSWORD is a darkly humorous, gripping thriller that combines environmental imperatives, terrorist activities, and sex in ways that still make me wake up in a cold sweat, months after reading the book, convinced that it could happen."
From the American Library Association's "A novel about three slacker environmentalists may seem an unlikely vehicle for edge-of-the-seat suspense, yet Bingle's satirical ecoterrorist thriller just might haunt readers' nightmares for days. Zeke, Milo, and Brandon are twentysomething conservationists whose only claim to fame, aside from a little TV footage spotlighting their faltering environmentalist organization, GreensWord, is their dubious relationship to action movie star Matthew Barrington. Desperate to save his lavish Malibu beachfront property from global-warming-induced surf damage, Barrington cuts GreensWord a million-dollar check, stipulating that its recipients do something about the ecological crisis immediately. Their ensuing, hare-brained schemes to put the money to good use only generate legal woes until they hit upon one that seems fool-proof ... Needless to say, nothing goes quite as planned, and Bingle's storytelling acumen makes the scenario all too chillingly plausible."-- Carl Hays
A Tale of Extreme Global Warming, a darkly comedic eco-thriller from the author of Net Impact and Forced Conversion.
From Library "The author of Forced Conversion demonstrates his talent for dark comedy in the style of Kurt Vonnegut and Victor Gischler. Bingle takes aim at both sides of the global warming controversy, addressing global complexities in comedic trappings for a cautionary tale that belongs in most libraries."
They're about to save the world; they just don't want to get caught doing it.
Zeke, Milo, and Brandon are struggling to keep their environmental protest group, GreensWord, alive. It impresses chicks and sure beats getting jobs as corporate serfs in the real world. But their chief benefactor, movie star Matthew Barrington, threatens to cut off funding unless they stop global warming before his Malibu beach house slides into the storm-tossed ocean. In their desperate effort to save the beach house and their organization, the GreensWord trio is willing to try almost anything. No plan is so illegal, so risky, or so stupid that they won't lend it an ear. But nothing is fast enough to stop global warming in time ... until they think of the unthinkable solution.
And although they may be crazed fanatics, they've watched enough T.V. to think they know exactly what to do to foil any investigation of their noble crime. And if their drastic solution to global warming means they also take out the reigning internet tycoon and his monopolistic software company, that's just organic frosting on the vegan cake.
One person can make a difference in the world.
Of course, three people with a plan to stop global warming overnight can make a big difference.
GREENSWORD is a dark comedy about the environment, extremism, stupid criminals, and the lengths to which people will go to avoid getting a real job.
Says USA Today Bestselling Author of the Warlands trilogy, Elizabeth A "I loved GREENSWORD. The characters made me laugh right out loud, but the actions of this group of half-cocked people, with a half-assed plan, had me gasping in horror as their implausible schemes became all too plausibly real. Suddenly, the twists of the chilling plot had me turning the pages, unable to look away from the macabre tale and yet still chuckling guiltily as the story reached its terrifying climax in a horribly real way. GREENSWORD is a darkly humorous, gripping thriller that combines environmental imperatives, terrorist activities, and sex in ways that still make me wake up in a cold sweat, months after reading the book, convinced that it could happen."
From the American Library Association's "A novel about three slacker environmentalists may seem an unlikely vehicle for edge-of-the-seat suspense, yet Bingle's satirical ecoterrorist thriller just might haunt readers' nightmares for days. Zeke, Milo, and Brandon are twentysomething conservationists whose only claim to fame, aside from a little TV footage spotlighting their faltering environmentalist organization, GreensWord, is their dubious relationship to action movie star Matthew Barrington. Desperate to save his lavish Malibu beachfront property from global-warming-induced surf damage, Barrington cuts GreensWord a million-dollar check, stipulating that its recipients do something about the ecological crisis immediately. Their ensuing, hare-brained schemes to put the money to good use only generate legal woes until they hit upon one that seems fool-proof ... Needless to say, nothing goes quite as planned, and Bingle's storytelling acumen makes the scenario all too chillingly plausible."-- Carl Hays
A Tale of Extreme Global Warming, a darkly comedic eco-thriller from the author of Net Impact and Forced Conversion.
- GenresScience Fiction
261 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
5 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
Donald J. Bingle
103 books100 followersDonald J. Bingle (sometimes credited as Don Bingle) is the author of Frame Shop, a mystery thriller set in a suburban writers' group, Net Impact, a spy thriller which incorporates real-world conspiracy theories, Wet Work, the follow-up adventure to Net Impact, GREENSWORD, a dark comedy about global warming, and Forced Conversion, a military science fiction novel set in the near future. He is also the co-author (with Jean Rabe) of The Love-Haight Case Files, an urban fantasy about the legal rights of supernatural creatures in a magical San Francisco. He has also written a variety of short fiction in the fantasy, science fiction, horror, and comedy genres, and also in gaming material, including stories in the Dragonlance and Transformers universes and in a variety of DAW themed anthologies. Many of his published stories have been collected by theme in his Writer on Demand TM series. He was the world's top-ranked player of RPGA Classic roleplaying game tournaments from 1985-2000.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 19, 2009
What if you had to save the planet? Not next century, not next decade, but now. What would you do? How far would you go?
A small environmental group, funded by a wealthy actor, is threatened by losing all their funding unless they do something NOW to stop global warming, so the actor's beachhouse doesn't slide into the ocean. There's only one plan that would work - but is it worth it?
GREENSWORD (subtitled "A Tale of Extreme Global Warming") explores this kind of fanaticism in a darkly funny - and appropriately horrific - kind of way. And risks pissing off a lot of people along the way. I'm going to take a look at the plot, the characters, and the philosophy of the book.
The plot is just intricate enough to keep it from being predictable, the pacing is spot-on. I found myself wanting to find out what happened next throughout the whole book. I really can't say more than that without spoilers; let's just sum up by saying that this book really could happen.
The main characters - the members of GreensWord - are only slightly exaggerated cariactures of some "socially conscious" media stars and activists. Zeke is a zealous (wannabe) leader fed up with the sellout lobbying environmentalists, Milo is fervently anti-capitalist (unless they make good first person shooters), and Brandon is very much the geeky number-crunching vegan environmentalist. They are to real environmentalists I've known like Beavis and Butthead were to my metalhead friends when I was growing up. And true to that comparison,
there's quite a bit of humor throughout. Some of it is through the characters, but there's also a few Easter eggs for the observant reader. I had more than a few LOL moments as I was reading.
The secondary characters really shine; we get to know quite a few other characters throughout the book. They're all quickly characterized - and done well enough that they're all distinct. There are no "extras" in this world. In many ways, I know as much about Dalton, Malbranche, Maggie, and unlucky Guiterrez as I do about Zeke, Brandon, and Milo.
And that might be the weakness of the book. Brandon is easily the most sympathetic of the protagonists, but not that's not saying much. I found myself more emotionally invested in the stories of the secondary characters - even ones that were "onscreen" for just a few pages - than in the members of GreenSword.
That also explains why I don't have as much of a problem with the philosophy of the book. In the acknowledgements, Mr. Bingle asks "Can you make fun of the guys on your side of the debate too?" I don't think the members of GreenSword *are* on my side of the debate; they're selfish people using the green movement for personal gain. In that way, they're just as bad as any corporate "greenwashing" campaign. For example, I saw a cafeteria recently reducing the number of napkins given to customers in order to "go green"... while still serving food on styrofoam plates. Canada made impossible commitments with the first round of Kyoto talks - thus making everyone question their level of real committment. This book is not a panacea to the "Drill Baby Drill" contingent either. I suspect Mr. Bingle would be easily capable of skewering the fallacies of their arguments as well.
Until he does so, I recommend the graphic novel Concrete: Think Like a Mountain as an equally powerful counterpoint to GREENSWORD.
GREENSWORD serves as a cautionary tale of letting one's dogma get in the way of thinking things through. It is a darkly humorous, plot-driven book that can make you seriously think about the way you view the environment and environmentalism.
A small environmental group, funded by a wealthy actor, is threatened by losing all their funding unless they do something NOW to stop global warming, so the actor's beachhouse doesn't slide into the ocean. There's only one plan that would work - but is it worth it?
GREENSWORD (subtitled "A Tale of Extreme Global Warming") explores this kind of fanaticism in a darkly funny - and appropriately horrific - kind of way. And risks pissing off a lot of people along the way. I'm going to take a look at the plot, the characters, and the philosophy of the book.
The plot is just intricate enough to keep it from being predictable, the pacing is spot-on. I found myself wanting to find out what happened next throughout the whole book. I really can't say more than that without spoilers; let's just sum up by saying that this book really could happen.
The main characters - the members of GreensWord - are only slightly exaggerated cariactures of some "socially conscious" media stars and activists. Zeke is a zealous (wannabe) leader fed up with the sellout lobbying environmentalists, Milo is fervently anti-capitalist (unless they make good first person shooters), and Brandon is very much the geeky number-crunching vegan environmentalist. They are to real environmentalists I've known like Beavis and Butthead were to my metalhead friends when I was growing up. And true to that comparison,
there's quite a bit of humor throughout. Some of it is through the characters, but there's also a few Easter eggs for the observant reader. I had more than a few LOL moments as I was reading.
The secondary characters really shine; we get to know quite a few other characters throughout the book. They're all quickly characterized - and done well enough that they're all distinct. There are no "extras" in this world. In many ways, I know as much about Dalton, Malbranche, Maggie, and unlucky Guiterrez as I do about Zeke, Brandon, and Milo.
And that might be the weakness of the book. Brandon is easily the most sympathetic of the protagonists, but not that's not saying much. I found myself more emotionally invested in the stories of the secondary characters - even ones that were "onscreen" for just a few pages - than in the members of GreenSword.
That also explains why I don't have as much of a problem with the philosophy of the book. In the acknowledgements, Mr. Bingle asks "Can you make fun of the guys on your side of the debate too?" I don't think the members of GreenSword *are* on my side of the debate; they're selfish people using the green movement for personal gain. In that way, they're just as bad as any corporate "greenwashing" campaign. For example, I saw a cafeteria recently reducing the number of napkins given to customers in order to "go green"... while still serving food on styrofoam plates. Canada made impossible commitments with the first round of Kyoto talks - thus making everyone question their level of real committment. This book is not a panacea to the "Drill Baby Drill" contingent either. I suspect Mr. Bingle would be easily capable of skewering the fallacies of their arguments as well.
Until he does so, I recommend the graphic novel Concrete: Think Like a Mountain as an equally powerful counterpoint to GREENSWORD.
GREENSWORD serves as a cautionary tale of letting one's dogma get in the way of thinking things through. It is a darkly humorous, plot-driven book that can make you seriously think about the way you view the environment and environmentalism.
February 9, 2009
GREENSWORD, a novel by Donald Bingle is one of those stories that works on so many levels. First of all, you hope to god it will never come true. The story centers on what a tiny environmental group is willing to do for the cause they believe in—stopping global warming.
You can read the GREENSWORD and just think about what’s happening on the page, but there’s much more there. Bingle examines the nature of the modern American thinking about how to solve problems today. You go for the quick solution, the expedient one, right? This novel of both hilarious and frightening fiction explores the insanity of the our modern world and points out how a “noble” idea can be taken so far you lose sight of the original goal. It shows that even the best of intentions might be a tad misguided. It pokes fun at our world and makes you wonder about the state of the planet in a whole new way.
In my final analysis, I was drawn into the book and couldn’t put it down. Despite the fact that I disliked most of the characters, I was intrigued by them and secretly rooted for them even though I knew I shouldn’t. Keep in mind that many of these characters are not meant to be liked. They are there to serve the story and entertain, of which they do an admirable job.
I judge a lot of books by their ability to make me keep reading. This one did. I simply had the need to see what happened next. I read the whole thing it two sittings, reading the last 200 pages in the second sitting. It’s a short book, just over 250 pages, so it’ll be a quick read either way. If you aren’t able to pick up a copy, ask your library to order one for you, then sit back and enjoy an extreme tale of global warming.
Happy reading,
Paul Genesse
Author of The Dragon Hunters
Book Two of the Iron Dragon Series
www.paulgenesse.com
November 23, 2019
Is there any hope these days of staving off global climate disaster? GreenSword has the answer. Unfortunately. In Donald J. Bingle’s “tale of extreme global warming”, this California environmental group is ready to pull the trigger on a scheme to reverse current climate trends overnight. The group GreenSword’s three all-too believable jamokes make the transition from non-violent protestors to the most reviled eco-terrorists in history, and for all the wrong reasons: Zeke wants to keep their wealthy sponsor happy in order to keep the money coming in. Brandon wants to boost his ego and raise their status among the public. And Milo, well, he just wants to get laid.
These are the types that Bingle skewers with the same barbed pen he uses on fools and fakes in most of his prose. The situation of climate change is real enough, however, so the thrilling plot moves forward with alarming alacrity. Readers will find themselves laughing at the dark humor, moments before wondering at the scary potential for real cataclysm. Apparently we can turn climate change around. But how many have to die in the process?
These are the types that Bingle skewers with the same barbed pen he uses on fools and fakes in most of his prose. The situation of climate change is real enough, however, so the thrilling plot moves forward with alarming alacrity. Readers will find themselves laughing at the dark humor, moments before wondering at the scary potential for real cataclysm. Apparently we can turn climate change around. But how many have to die in the process?
June 2, 2013
I found this book when researching for my list of global warming fiction books I recently started at my blog:
http://k.lenz.name/LB/?p=9415
This belongs in the category of "books that propose a solution" in that list.
Let's list things I liked about this book first.
Bingle makes the three activists nuking Seattle look very much like real persons, with a lot of inner conflict. In the first half of the book, the reader doesn't know yet of their large-scale crime. Bingle manages to create sympathy for the group.
That's in strong contrast to Crichton's "State of Fear", the most harmful book in history. That book also has environmental terrorists, but those are just caricatures.
In real life, the motives of people fighting global warming are complicated. I think Bingle did an excellent job with character development.
It was also quite a lot of fun to read this.
Too bad the solution proposed would not really work.
There are also a couple of minor plot holes. Of course it would be impossible for these three clowns to get a real nuclear warhead. Of course Milo would not have activated any voice recording software in the first place, and he would have checked if the computer was actually shut down. He did seem to be moderately smart in the rest of the novel. And I also rather doubt that someone would just give a million dollars to GREENSWORD, no strings attached, after their less than stellar performance until that point.
Anyway, I liked this book. I have added it to the list at my blog, and to the Goodreads "climate change fiction" list.
http://k.lenz.name/LB/?p=9415
This belongs in the category of "books that propose a solution" in that list.
Let's list things I liked about this book first.
Bingle makes the three activists nuking Seattle look very much like real persons, with a lot of inner conflict. In the first half of the book, the reader doesn't know yet of their large-scale crime. Bingle manages to create sympathy for the group.
That's in strong contrast to Crichton's "State of Fear", the most harmful book in history. That book also has environmental terrorists, but those are just caricatures.
In real life, the motives of people fighting global warming are complicated. I think Bingle did an excellent job with character development.
It was also quite a lot of fun to read this.
Too bad the solution proposed would not really work.
There are also a couple of minor plot holes. Of course it would be impossible for these three clowns to get a real nuclear warhead. Of course Milo would not have activated any voice recording software in the first place, and he would have checked if the computer was actually shut down. He did seem to be moderately smart in the rest of the novel. And I also rather doubt that someone would just give a million dollars to GREENSWORD, no strings attached, after their less than stellar performance until that point.
Anyway, I liked this book. I have added it to the list at my blog, and to the Goodreads "climate change fiction" list.
Read
October 6, 2011I haven't listed any rating, since this is my own book, but I hope you enjoy this darkly humorous eco-thriller that skewers extremists on both sides of the global warming debate. See www.donaldjbingle.com for more about my writing, including my other novels, Net Impact (a spy thriller that mixes cutting edge technology with real-world conspiracy theories) and Forced Conversion (a near-future, military scifi thriller about Earth after most of humanity has converted to virtual reality), as well as my many stories in various anthologies and in my Writer on Demand collections.
December 7, 2011
I must have read a different book, but I didn't like this one at all. It was supposed to be funny--and it wasn't. On top of it, I didn't like any of the characters which doesn't do much for me.
--Leisa
--Leisa
January 12, 2013
It was pretty good, could see a lot of it happening. The end was fast and a little anticlimatic.
April 13, 2017
Technically, I didn't finish the book. I gave up about page 86 due to a lack of plot and being bored by the characters. It would be interesting to read/watch the watch story as the screenplay it was originally supposed to be.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews