The Change

As S.M. Stirling's series of books expanded, it became known as The Emberverse Series, but the first three were called The Change because they reflect a world that suddenly, due to a change in earth's first and second laws of thermodynamics, must rework how civilization is ordered-- or not. The three I have read are called: Dies the Fire; The Protector's War; and A Meeting in Corvallis. In them, there is some speculation about what might have led to the change, but mostly it's about how to survive it.

For those who chortle at the idea of civilization collapsing or perhaps of a revolution, something that takes away all the rules we have known, these are good books to read, just to think about what that might actually mean. My favorite was the first, Dies the Fire, which establishes the primary characters and how they react to a new world order.

The story begins in Corvallis, Oregon, and simultaneously in a plane flying over a rugged wilderness in Idaho. These characters eventually come together in the Willamette Valley as they fight to make life good in ways that require all new learning.

Well not quite all new, for those who had previously enjoyed learning the use of anachronistic weapons, who had always wished they lived in a time when swords, bows, axes, and spears were the weapons of choice, who were Lord of the Rings fans, suddenly what might have been out of place to our time became exceedingly handy in the new time. The knowledge of this kind of warfare became as important or more so than learning how to produce food without modern technology.

With The Change, life in the city of Corvallis becomes difficult at best. Singer of folk music and Wiccan High Priestess, Juniper Mackenzie, with a small group, immediately heads for the Cascade Mountains to her land, which they will build into a stronghold.

Juniper's new community will become known as the mystical Clan Mackenzie. Wicca is the religion that binds them together using rituals and celebrations that she had learned from before but which now become a part of their power to protect their community from marauders.

Pilot Mike Havel was flying a family to a ranch in Montana when his small plane quit working. Together this group joins together with others to form a fighting band known as the Bearkillers. Sometimes your reputation for being fearsome could be as important as your skills. They fight their way from Idaho to land one of their members owned near Salem.

What made this series so interesting to me (besides being written in country I know well) is thinking how would I survive if the tools I have assumed I'd always have, like automobiles, airplanes, guns, electricity, none worked? What would I do if the culture with which I am familiar suddenly collapsed? Couldn't happen, you say. Well it has before.

When I used to play the game Risk with my kids, I often would lose because I enjoyed putting together the niceties of a culture while the others were building up their armaments. Even in that simple game, isolation helped, but weapons made the difference for how long you played.

Disaster brings out the worst and best in people. Some see any catastrophe as a time to attack others, to rob and steal. In Dies the Fire, the city of Portland is brutally forged into a new kingdom. In the Willamette Valley, roving bands become cannibals. For some the failure of technology becomes their chance to gain power and remake their world and not in a way that most of us would consider desirable.

Others banded together to make life as good and sweet as it is possible, but even they had to learn to fight. The basic production of food had to be totally rethought as to how it would be acquired, shared, and stored (no refrigeration)-- then protected from those who would steal it and kill the possessors.

We might never face such a time in our own lives, we can certainly hope we would not, but these books (more follow in the Emberverse series), make one wonder how exactly would we do if the world, as we have known it, changed totally? Do we have the strength, courage, and skills to survive or would we be among those who just sat down and waited to die?

(Incidentally the Change happened-- dum de dum dum-- March 17th)