Carbon Dreams
First edition
AuthorSusan M. Gaines
LanguageEnglish
GenreFiction
PublisherCreative Arts Book Company
Publication date
2000
Pages368
ISBN0-88739-306-3

Carbon Dreams was Susan M. Gaines's first novel, published in 2000 and reissued in 2022.[1] It was an early example of realist climate fiction, "science in fiction,"[2][3] and what is now known as Lab lit.[4][5]

Synopsis

Set in the 1980s, the story follows the organic geochemist Tina Arenas, who studies climates of the distant geologic past— but her data has unexpectedly modern implications. As she struggles to obtain research funding, Tina finds herself being dragged into the media spotlight on global warming and falling in love with a local organic farmer, who has his own ideas about climate, the media, scientific funding, and commitment. Set in the early 1980s, when the oil industry was beginning its climate change denial campaign, CARBON DREAMS is the story of one scientist’ s struggle to reconcile her conflicting responsibilities to science, to society, and to her own loved ones.[6]

The novel is seen as one of the earliest to deal with the global climate-change debate and how science theory is used in various ways by policy-makers.[7][8]

Influences

Gaines has stated that Norman Rush’s Mating (1991), Rebecca Goldstein’s The Mind-Body Problem (1983), and A.S. Byatt’s Possession (1992) influenced her thinking and broadened her conception of what a novel could do.[9]

Reception

The novel received praise from reviewers at the San Francisco Chronicle,[10] Booklist,[11] and New Scientist.[12]

References

  1. ↑ "Editions of Carbon Dreams by Susan M. Gaines". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
  2. ↑ Tabak, Eline D. (2019). "Science in Fiction: A Brief Look at Communicating Climate Change through the Novel". RCC Perspectives (4): 97–104. ISSN 2190-5088. JSTOR 26760170.
  3. ↑ Wilson, Elizabeth K. (June 4, 2001). "NOVELIST COMBINES C02 AND ROMANCE". Chemical and Engineering News: 81.
  4. ↑ Rohn, Jennifer (2005-03-07). "What is Lab Lit (the genre)?". LabLit.com/article/3; Published 7 March 2005. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
  5. ↑ Pilkington, Olga A. (2017-07-03). "Popular Science Versus Lab Lit: Differently Depicting Scientific Apparatus". Science as Culture. 26 (3): 285–306. doi:10.1080/09505431.2016.1255722. ISSN 0950-5431. S2CID 151960774.
  6. ↑ "Carbon Dreams". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2022-01-05.
  7. ↑ Schneider-Mayerson, Matthew (2017-12-28), Greenwald Smith, Rachel (ed.), "Climate Change Fiction", American Literature in Transition, 2000–2010 (1 ed.), Cambridge University Press, pp. 309–321, doi:10.1017/9781316569290.021, ISBN 978-1-316-56929-0, S2CID 134625493, retrieved 2023-12-21
  8. ↑ Slovic, Scott (2008). "Science, Eloquence, and the Asymmetry of Trust: What's at Stake in Climate Change Fiction". Green Theory & Praxis: The Journal of Ecopedagogy. 4 (1): 107–108. doi:10.3903/gtp.2008.1.6.
  9. ↑ Susan M Gaines official website
  10. ↑ Christensen, Reviewed by Thomas (2001-03-04). "She Blinded Them With Science". SFGATE. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
  11. ↑ Carbon Dreams, by By Susan Gaines. | Booklist Online.
  12. ↑ Mcdonald, Maggie (June 9, 2001). "It's only a paper June". New Scientist. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
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