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Greenhouse Summer
The world of the future faces an out of control ecosystem in the form of overpopulation, pollution, and other environmental disasters, forcing Earth's government to convene for an emergency meeting. 15,000 first printing.
317 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1999
5 people are currently reading
154 people want to read
About the author
Norman Spinrad
366 books217 followersBorn in New York in 1940, Norman Spinrad is an acclaimed SF writer.
Norman Spinrad, born in New York City, is a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science. In 1957 he entered City College of New York and graduated in 1961 with a Bachelor of Science degree as a pre-law major. In 1966 he moved to San Francisco, then to Los Angeles, and now lives in Paris. He married fellow novelist N. Lee Wood in 1990; they divorced in 2005. They had no children. Spinrad served as President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) from 1980 to 1982 and again from 2001 to 2002.
Norman Spinrad, born in New York City, is a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science. In 1957 he entered City College of New York and graduated in 1961 with a Bachelor of Science degree as a pre-law major. In 1966 he moved to San Francisco, then to Los Angeles, and now lives in Paris. He married fellow novelist N. Lee Wood in 1990; they divorced in 2005. They had no children. Spinrad served as President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) from 1980 to 1982 and again from 2001 to 2002.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
January 16, 2021
Tra cent'anni, nel nostro futuro, cosa ci sarà?
Vero, io quasi certamente non ci sarò, e così la maggior parte delle persone che conosco. Ma qualche bambino, figli piccoli di amici e amiche, forse sì. Ecco, la mia paura, da prima che Spinrad scrivesse questo romanzo il cui punto di forza è la forte capacità predittiva ecologica e sociale, è che il futuro immaginato da Spinrad si realizzerà.
Il fatto è che questo scenario non sarà una apocalisse, ossia un cambiamento veloce e repentino, bensì, a livello globale, abbastanza lento da permettere alle persone di rendersene appena conto, ma abbastanza veloce da cambiare tutto.
Un romanzo fatto più per farci pensare a quello che stiamo facendo del globo terrestre, che per farci leggere qualcosa di valido letterariamente? No.
La prima parte è pesantemente vera, ma letterariamente la storia regge bene, è godibile e ben scritta.
4 stelle.
Vero, io quasi certamente non ci sarò, e così la maggior parte delle persone che conosco. Ma qualche bambino, figli piccoli di amici e amiche, forse sì. Ecco, la mia paura, da prima che Spinrad scrivesse questo romanzo il cui punto di forza è la forte capacità predittiva ecologica e sociale, è che il futuro immaginato da Spinrad si realizzerà.
Il fatto è che questo scenario non sarà una apocalisse, ossia un cambiamento veloce e repentino, bensì, a livello globale, abbastanza lento da permettere alle persone di rendersene appena conto, ma abbastanza veloce da cambiare tutto.
Un romanzo fatto più per farci pensare a quello che stiamo facendo del globo terrestre, che per farci leggere qualcosa di valido letterariamente? No.
La prima parte è pesantemente vera, ma letterariamente la storia regge bene, è godibile e ben scritta.
4 stelle.
October 29, 2021
From least annoying to most annoying, my beefs with this book are:
I don’t think a publishing date of 1999 excuses the crappy climate science here. There were plenty of models back then that more or less predicted where we are now and so we know there are no winners in climate change, not even temporary ones.
The smart-allecky tone, blunt humor, and ethnic types don’t help.
Pages of dialogue that involve one supposed mentor saying, “Think!” and a protagonist saying, “that means...” before just dumping a lot of exposition. OK. I don’t like spy stuff or geopolitical thrillers; I don’t even like James Bond or John Le Carre, so this amateur hour stuff kind of swung between boring and full on cringe, like when a Mossad guy claims an ideological connection to kibbutzim and says “shalom” as some kind of password. Gag.
But the absolute worst thing about this book is the sex. Not the letters-to-penthouse style of the sex writing, but the juvenile jokes and the not-quite-willing honeypot plot. Chemical “aphrogas” raises questions about consent that are just ignored. We lift our heads to get some fresh air after these spicy interludes only to be slammed back into, “Think!” dialogue and comical Siberians who have profited from global warming ... that’s not a thing. Siberia has it worse, even. We’re all screwed.
Spinrad has a lot of books I have been meaning to read, and even though this one had all these annoying things, I will try another.
I don’t think a publishing date of 1999 excuses the crappy climate science here. There were plenty of models back then that more or less predicted where we are now and so we know there are no winners in climate change, not even temporary ones.
The smart-allecky tone, blunt humor, and ethnic types don’t help.
Pages of dialogue that involve one supposed mentor saying, “Think!” and a protagonist saying, “that means...” before just dumping a lot of exposition. OK. I don’t like spy stuff or geopolitical thrillers; I don’t even like James Bond or John Le Carre, so this amateur hour stuff kind of swung between boring and full on cringe, like when a Mossad guy claims an ideological connection to kibbutzim and says “shalom” as some kind of password. Gag.
But the absolute worst thing about this book is the sex. Not the letters-to-penthouse style of the sex writing, but the juvenile jokes and the not-quite-willing honeypot plot. Chemical “aphrogas” raises questions about consent that are just ignored. We lift our heads to get some fresh air after these spicy interludes only to be slammed back into, “Think!” dialogue and comical Siberians who have profited from global warming ... that’s not a thing. Siberia has it worse, even. We’re all screwed.
Spinrad has a lot of books I have been meaning to read, and even though this one had all these annoying things, I will try another.
January 7, 2019
I was surprised at first that this book had received so little attention, since Spinrad does have a rep (he's in one of Ellison's Dangerous Visions anthologies, etc., etc.) But after 100 pages or so, I understood why. There's not much to work with here: wealthy patrons and service providers (services in every sense) arrange a high-profile conference on climate change at which a surprise (not much of one) is planned. And that's about it.
This is the sort of thing William Gibson or J.G. Ballard can pull off brilliantly by populating the story with asides full of social commentary and unexpected cultural significance. Other authors could at least fall back on witty banter and engaging conversation that can keep the reader distracted from the fact that this is a story about unpleasant people at a largely uninteresting event that is unlikely to lead to any real change in its world. Unfortunately, Spinrad doesn't take either approach.
What we get instead is pedestrian dialogue littered with clichéd phrases that manage to make a boring premise feel even more drawn out. When characters aren't talking, we get overly long descriptions obsessed with conspicuous consumption of extremely expensive material culture--always rendered in that sarcastic style that sold many issues of Wired back in the late 90s but now feels irritating and very dated. There's sex but not interesting sex, and the characters have attitudes and affects in the place of personalities. Were the book considerably shorter or at least slightly more unconventional, this would be enough for a passing entertainment, but instead the book exhausts the reader's patience well before its conclusion.
Not outright awful enough to merit a one star but uninspired and easily skipped.
This is the sort of thing William Gibson or J.G. Ballard can pull off brilliantly by populating the story with asides full of social commentary and unexpected cultural significance. Other authors could at least fall back on witty banter and engaging conversation that can keep the reader distracted from the fact that this is a story about unpleasant people at a largely uninteresting event that is unlikely to lead to any real change in its world. Unfortunately, Spinrad doesn't take either approach.
What we get instead is pedestrian dialogue littered with clichéd phrases that manage to make a boring premise feel even more drawn out. When characters aren't talking, we get overly long descriptions obsessed with conspicuous consumption of extremely expensive material culture--always rendered in that sarcastic style that sold many issues of Wired back in the late 90s but now feels irritating and very dated. There's sex but not interesting sex, and the characters have attitudes and affects in the place of personalities. Were the book considerably shorter or at least slightly more unconventional, this would be enough for a passing entertainment, but instead the book exhausts the reader's patience well before its conclusion.
Not outright awful enough to merit a one star but uninspired and easily skipped.
August 3, 2022
Es las sich gut, aber es war irgendwie auch enttäuschend, weil nicht so viel geschah. Auf eine Klima-Konferenz, der Klima-Wandel ist in der nahen Zukunft im vollen Gange und manche Länder haben durchaus davon profitiert, tauchen beunruhigende Prognosen des weiteren Verlaufs auf, doch wird ein politisches Interessenspiel daraus gemacht, die Gefährdung der Menschheit tritt in den den Hintergrund. Dabei zeigen manche Akteure vollen Körpereinsatz. Insgesamt nicht Fisch, nicht Fleisch.
Der Roman ist 1999 erschienen, aber Spinrade hat schon 1991 in "Russischer Frühling" den Klimawandel in seine Zukunftsentwürfe eingebaut, dort allerdings noch optimistischer.
Der Roman ist 1999 erschienen, aber Spinrade hat schon 1991 in "Russischer Frühling" den Klimawandel in seine Zukunftsentwürfe eingebaut, dort allerdings noch optimistischer.
May 28, 2020
Climate change is a common speculative-fiction trope these days, but when Norman Spinrad wrote this in the late 90s, hardly anyone was doing it. He wasn’t the first SF writer to tackle the topic, of course, but reading it now, it’s clear he was well ahead of the curve. Then again, leave it to Spinrad to write a climate apocalypse novel that’s light on epic disaster and heavy on sex, drugs, corporate conspiracies and 60s counterculture philosophy.
That’s not to say Spinrad’s future is optimistic. The polar caps are gone, parts of Earth are uninhabitable, and what nation-states are left have little power, which is split between The Big Blue Machine (a cabal of rich corporations), “Green” syndicalists and Bad Boys, a syndic run mainly by the mafia and the triads. Meanwhile, several top climatologists have predicted that a sudden acceleration of global warming dubbed “Condition Venus” may be imminent. This is the backdrop for the main story, in which PR flack Monique Calhoun is assigned to manage an emergency UN climate conference in Paris to determine how long they have before Condition Venus kicks in, and what can be done to reverse it. The twist: The Big Blue Machine is funding both the conference and the PR for the first time, and everyone from Mossad to Russia wants to know why. Monique is recruited by Mossad to find out by liaising with Eric Esterhazy, who runs a luxury riverboat for Bad Boys that is outfitted with wall-to-wall surveillance.
It’s somewhat messy in terms of the sociopolitical backdrop, though it’s typical of Spinrad in that he tends to design his futures as allegories, not plausible outcomes. But his exposition is somewhat muddled, which make the allegiances and motivations of Monique, Eric and other key players hard to grasp at times – you really just have to shrug and go with it. Also, even by Spinrad standards, the sexual chemistry between Monique and Eric is ludicrous. That said, Spinrad uses his characters to raise ethical dilemmas – how far would you go to save the planet? Do the ends justify the means? And do we really need to wait until we know an outcome for certain before we take action? So as flawed as the novel is, Spinrad at least offers a different and thought-provoking take on the climate-apocalypse genre.
That’s not to say Spinrad’s future is optimistic. The polar caps are gone, parts of Earth are uninhabitable, and what nation-states are left have little power, which is split between The Big Blue Machine (a cabal of rich corporations), “Green” syndicalists and Bad Boys, a syndic run mainly by the mafia and the triads. Meanwhile, several top climatologists have predicted that a sudden acceleration of global warming dubbed “Condition Venus” may be imminent. This is the backdrop for the main story, in which PR flack Monique Calhoun is assigned to manage an emergency UN climate conference in Paris to determine how long they have before Condition Venus kicks in, and what can be done to reverse it. The twist: The Big Blue Machine is funding both the conference and the PR for the first time, and everyone from Mossad to Russia wants to know why. Monique is recruited by Mossad to find out by liaising with Eric Esterhazy, who runs a luxury riverboat for Bad Boys that is outfitted with wall-to-wall surveillance.
It’s somewhat messy in terms of the sociopolitical backdrop, though it’s typical of Spinrad in that he tends to design his futures as allegories, not plausible outcomes. But his exposition is somewhat muddled, which make the allegiances and motivations of Monique, Eric and other key players hard to grasp at times – you really just have to shrug and go with it. Also, even by Spinrad standards, the sexual chemistry between Monique and Eric is ludicrous. That said, Spinrad uses his characters to raise ethical dilemmas – how far would you go to save the planet? Do the ends justify the means? And do we really need to wait until we know an outcome for certain before we take action? So as flawed as the novel is, Spinrad at least offers a different and thought-provoking take on the climate-apocalypse genre.
December 2, 2021
I consider myself a Spinrad fan. I was excited to dive into this book, but it failed to take off for me. The characters were all poorly created, the plot was shallow and half put together, and the settings were mentioned as placeholders but never flushed out. A weak book by a brilliant writer.
August 9, 2019
From 1999, and still ahead of the approaching realities. It also shows that the apparent reality, and possible solution are not what anybody expects.
November 19, 2011
Somewhere around the end of the 21st century, Monique Calhoun works as a spin doctor for a public relations 'syndic' known as Bread & Circuses. She is chosen to promote a mysteriously-funded UN conference on climate change in Paris. There she meets Eric Esterhazy, captain of a steamboat-cum-nightspot and low-rung operative in a barely-legitimate mafia-style organisation called Bad Boys. Monique's client is the Big Blue Machine, a corporate collective selling "climatech" remedies for global warming, while Eric is a catspaw of the Green faction, the rich who get richer by exploiting the new opportunities that a changing climate provides. Monique utilises the luxurious and heavily-bugged facilities of Eric's pleasure-boat to spy on conference delegates, and finds herself in an uneasy dance with Eric and his opposing interests as they both try to figure out whether the Earth is doomed, and what to do about it.
Spinrad paints this post-warming future in meticulous detail: the southward-crawling Sahara has become unsurvivably hot; Manhattan, protected by a high wall, is five metres below sea level; and in Paris, crocodiles bask by the Seine, vines creep up the Eiffel Tower and parakeets wheel above the Tuileries (whatever they are). The machinations of the Blue and Green movements are equally intricate, and the book has something of the intrigue (if not the grace) of John le Carré. Admirable as this density of detail is, it made for a slow read. I regretted too that having constructed this world, Spinrad exhibited so little of it: after opening scenes in Libya and New York, the bulk of the book is confined to Paris, though both the setting and the plot could surely have provided a little more globe-trotting action.
Typically, Spinrad supplies sex, sensationalism and savvy cynicism. Here Monique surveys the climatech 'solutions' on offer at the conference's trade show:
Welcome colour is provided by a pair of hard-drinking super-rich shamans from Siberia "the Golden", the world's new breadbasket, and by a zombiefied mathematician whose lunatic ramblings could save or damn humanity; and there's plenty of humour along the way too. It is a book with a point though, conveyed through a clever climax that, whilst more than a tad contrived, bleakly reflects a symmetry of moral and commercial interests in suppressing knowledge of the effects of our own hubris. Douglas Adams would have nodded sadly.
Spinrad paints this post-warming future in meticulous detail: the southward-crawling Sahara has become unsurvivably hot; Manhattan, protected by a high wall, is five metres below sea level; and in Paris, crocodiles bask by the Seine, vines creep up the Eiffel Tower and parakeets wheel above the Tuileries (whatever they are). The machinations of the Blue and Green movements are equally intricate, and the book has something of the intrigue (if not the grace) of John le Carré. Admirable as this density of detail is, it made for a slow read. I regretted too that having constructed this world, Spinrad exhibited so little of it: after opening scenes in Libya and New York, the bulk of the book is confined to Paris, though both the setting and the plot could surely have provided a little more globe-trotting action.
Typically, Spinrad supplies sex, sensationalism and savvy cynicism. Here Monique surveys the climatech 'solutions' on offer at the conference's trade show:
Suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere by reforesting every available meter with Qwik-grow trees. Or with a new gene-tweaked hemp supposedly able to thrive in desert extremes. Or by enriching oceanic nutrient upwellings with iron to increase photosynthetic plankton.
Would you buy a used planet from these people?
Welcome colour is provided by a pair of hard-drinking super-rich shamans from Siberia "the Golden", the world's new breadbasket, and by a zombiefied mathematician whose lunatic ramblings could save or damn humanity; and there's plenty of humour along the way too. It is a book with a point though, conveyed through a clever climax that, whilst more than a tad contrived, bleakly reflects a symmetry of moral and commercial interests in suppressing knowledge of the effects of our own hubris. Douglas Adams would have nodded sadly.
September 27, 2025
Written in 1999, this is Norman Spinrad's impassioned scream of "For Fuck's Sake Cool The Fuck Down!"to the residents of earth for the planet. Set a century hence when the seas have risen by tens of metres and large parts of the globe are uninhabitable, a climate conference is taking place in a humid Paris where a new and radical (and possibly unethical) model of the future climate is to be unveiled. But what will it reveal? Is the Earth doomed to the Condition Venus scenario or is there still time to stop the inevitable biosphere destruction? Russian megatycoons and Bad Boys syndics are desperate for a look at the forecasts before its release...but to what end? A satisfying read with a suitably political ending (which may not please all readers). Take heed.
January 19, 2018
This late 1990s book deals with climate change issues, including whether the Earth will reach a Venus-like condition upon passing a tipping point, as well as evolution of our economy to where "syndics" or syndicates, corporate behemoths, replace some governance roles of countries, in a complex story motivated by corporate greed and disparaged advances in technology. The key protagonists aren't written to walk the line very well between areas of intelligence/expertise and those where they fall short, which makes them unbelievable at some points, and the resolution of the story was convoluted enough that the motivations become confusing and the ending uncertain.
March 24, 2023
La prima metà del libro è di una noia mortale..
L'autore si sofferma per pagine intere in descrizioni inutili di ambienti, capi di vestiario, e palazzi, purtroppo senza aggiungere niente alla profondità della narrazione.
La situazione migliora verso la metà del libro, quando si capisce realmente la sua natura: un romanzo di spionaggio industriale con elementi fantascientifici piuttosto soft.
Per quanto la storia sia attuale e moderatamente interessante, i personaggi sono veramente blandi, i dialoghi al limite del ridicolo e la narrazione è lenta e noiosa...
Sconsigliato.
L'autore si sofferma per pagine intere in descrizioni inutili di ambienti, capi di vestiario, e palazzi, purtroppo senza aggiungere niente alla profondità della narrazione.
La situazione migliora verso la metà del libro, quando si capisce realmente la sua natura: un romanzo di spionaggio industriale con elementi fantascientifici piuttosto soft.
Per quanto la storia sia attuale e moderatamente interessante, i personaggi sono veramente blandi, i dialoghi al limite del ridicolo e la narrazione è lenta e noiosa...
Sconsigliato.
July 21, 2022
While a topical novel in terms of addressing the global warming phenomena, I think I would have liked this book with a little less sex, and a little more intrigue. Not a terrible read, but the sex seemed to be tacked on and unnecessary to the plot.
March 16, 2024
For a book that's supposed to be about the end of the world from climate change, it's actually just about political intrigue.
October 6, 2024
TImely!
September 27, 2012
In the late 21st century, global warming has altered the climate of many parts of the world. Siberia is a rich food-producing area, New York has built dikes around Manhattan to keep it from being under water, and Paris is the new New Orleans, climate-wise, complete with alligators in the Seine. The areas that have benefited from the warmer climate aren't interested in returning to the old status quo without a really good reason. Unfortunately, there might be one.
The United Nations is holding a conference, sixth annual, to dither and debate about whether to do anything. The problem is that the ecosystem has never been successfully modeled on any computer, in order to figure out what to do to fix the problems. Individual scenarios can be analyzed, but not the whole thing.
Suddenly, the companies who make equipment used for various high-tech environmental modifications are acting like this conference is the last chance before things go crash. What do they know that everyone else doesn't? Is it the end of the world, or just an ad campaign?
Siberian industrialists, public relations firms, the Mossad and a truly unique form of organized crime all clash with science, technology and something close to religious ecstasy in this bizarre tale.
Some reviewers have criticized the sex scenes. While over the top, they actually establish important things about two of the characters, and foreshadow plot points which are important later in the book. My own verdict is: slightly clumsy, but not gratuitous.
Does the story all work? No. The book is not a classic, but was still worth the ride. As with any good science fiction story, it's about people, and their reaction to an alien setting. Unfortunately, this alien setting is an Earth that seems on its way to becoming something else...
The United Nations is holding a conference, sixth annual, to dither and debate about whether to do anything. The problem is that the ecosystem has never been successfully modeled on any computer, in order to figure out what to do to fix the problems. Individual scenarios can be analyzed, but not the whole thing.
Suddenly, the companies who make equipment used for various high-tech environmental modifications are acting like this conference is the last chance before things go crash. What do they know that everyone else doesn't? Is it the end of the world, or just an ad campaign?
Siberian industrialists, public relations firms, the Mossad and a truly unique form of organized crime all clash with science, technology and something close to religious ecstasy in this bizarre tale.
Some reviewers have criticized the sex scenes. While over the top, they actually establish important things about two of the characters, and foreshadow plot points which are important later in the book. My own verdict is: slightly clumsy, but not gratuitous.
Does the story all work? No. The book is not a classic, but was still worth the ride. As with any good science fiction story, it's about people, and their reaction to an alien setting. Unfortunately, this alien setting is an Earth that seems on its way to becoming something else...
October 8, 2019
Wow! I read the 1-3 star reviews for GREENHOUSE SUMMER book and it's like those folk and I didn't read the same book. But then, I consider Spinrad one of our finest living writers and am pretty much a sucker for anything he writes.
Hell's Belles, I consider PASSING THROUGH THE FLAME to be the best rock & roll novel ever written (along with Lew Shiner's GLIMPSES) and many people write it off as a failed romance!
If you want to read a trilogy written in the '90s about all our tomorrows, try GREENHOUSE SUMMER along with Spinrad's RUSSIAN SPRING and DEUS X. Grimly right on . . .
Hell's Belles, I consider PASSING THROUGH THE FLAME to be the best rock & roll novel ever written (along with Lew Shiner's GLIMPSES) and many people write it off as a failed romance!
If you want to read a trilogy written in the '90s about all our tomorrows, try GREENHOUSE SUMMER along with Spinrad's RUSSIAN SPRING and DEUS X. Grimly right on . . .
July 12, 2012
This book started slow, but I took it with a grain of salt. Soon the story drew me in - Future Earth is in the midst of an ecological disaster and is being exploited for political means and commercial gain; Big gangsters and even bigger egos competing for big profits.
I was happily reading until about two hundred pages or so in, when it suddenly turned into ridiculous soft-core porn. After that, I wasn’t interested enough to find out how it ended.
I was happily reading until about two hundred pages or so in, when it suddenly turned into ridiculous soft-core porn. After that, I wasn’t interested enough to find out how it ended.
September 20, 2015
A forza di violentarla, la terra si ribella e, in uno slancio di orgoglio, ci mette di fronte al nostro destino: natura batte umanità 2-0. Ma prima della resa dei conti c'è tempo per sfruttare la situazione. I soliti noti fanno profitti sulla pelle dei soliti ignoti. La fabbrica del terrore ecologico è sempre a pieno regime e la storia ci sarebbe anche, ma la resa narrativa è loffia e fuorviante.
August 14, 2016
Le début avait l'air intéressant, et le livre a continué à me surprendre jusqu'au premier tiers. Le thème de base, une Terre inhabitable, me plaisait plutôt. Suggérer plutôt qu'expliquer était une bonne décision.
Je l'ai fini parce que je devais le finir. Je ne sais pas pourquoi je me suis infligée cela. Il devient compliqué à suivre, pas ultra cohérent, et un peu moins intéressant.
Je l'ai fini parce que je devais le finir. Je ne sais pas pourquoi je me suis infligée cela. Il devient compliqué à suivre, pas ultra cohérent, et un peu moins intéressant.
May 22, 2015
During a conference on global warming"," two people attempt to uncover a secret which could destroy efforts to save the Earth. But the conclusion they reach is no conclusion at all!I really hate New Wave SF!
February 10, 2016
Got about 50 pages in and had to stop. Unnecessarily complicated word choice and sentence structure. Unconvincing dialog. The only reason it got two stars instead of one is some good, dry wit peppered in.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews