a very british apocalypse.
there is the apocalypse of john wyndham, of j.g. ballard, of m. john harrison's running down. for all the utopias there are dystopias but also apocalypses where the new world cannot yet be made, but the old world can be destroyed.
of course 1970ies tv was rife with it - the changes, survivors, practically every episode of dr. who because in the 70ies collapse was all around.
the three day week, GB75, a fairly secret army...
the 80ies and 90ies there were tedious years of progress (during which, strangely, the material bases of peoples lives were systematically undermined). in 2008 yet another financial crisis hit, followed by brexit, followed by covid, all symptoms of a shrinking malaise.
and here we are...
horsemouth's far future village band reading list
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to be frank horsemouth can remember next to nothing about this book. other than it features a world where the protestant reformation never happened and the catholic church maintained a stranglehold on the development of technology (this may not be as factually correct as people imagine it to be).
anyway it is set in modern times - but modern times where the best technology available is the steam-driven traction engine.
horsemouth is pretty sure he has it somewhere in the garage. he's had a look. he can't see it. he'll try again later. there's always a danger he has returned it to the commonweal (to the book boxes).
the world of the far future village band
well it's hot. hot and dry or hot and luxuriant. kind of a cross between the dark ages and shogunate japan. rice is the main crop grown around the inland lakes (such as remain uncontaminated by saltwater). the sea-levels have risen but rivers have silted up (or been dammed also) creating inland lakes and seas.
kind of like richard jefferies after london.
a strangely accented french seems to be the lingua franca (or perhaps that's just for puppet shows).
there seem to be lots of dances. lots of animal based dances. lots of flute ensembles.
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