Author’s Awareness of Climate Change Inspires High-Octane Sci-Fi Adventure

The Burning Years by Felicity Harley

If you are drawn to intriguing visions of the future based on extensive scientific research, consider The Burning Years: Until This Last Quartet: Book 1 by Felicity Harley.

In the year 2060, Sophie, a top female scientist, dismantles the government weather modification program and steals the male and female trans-humans who hold the promise of extended life. While the remaining inhabitants of Earth are forced to design new underground habitats in order to survive a harsh, overheated world, Captain Rachel Chen, takes the worldship Persephone to Proxima Centauri, hoping that this new star system will provide a refuge for the survivors of the human race.

The book is the first in a five-book series, Until This Last. The next book, Homo Deus, will be published in October and continues the narrative story with an Indiana Jones-style journey across parts of a desertified world to find an ancient source of energy.

In this recent interview, the author gives more perspective on the driving themes in her book.

Q: The theme of survival is central to The Burning Years. What inspired you to explore a future where humanity is pushed to the brink by environmental collapse?

A: I am extremely concerned about the effects of climate change on our planet. These effects are driven by the excessive use of fossil fuels, and the fact that we do not have enough political will to slow it down sufficiently or stop it. I am also concerned that we will turn to geo-engineering as a solution to the problem, rather than cutting back on consumption and the use of fossil fuels. 

Q: Tell us about your protagonist, Sophie. What drives her? Her decision to dismantle the government’s weather modification program is pivotal. How did you conceptualize the ethical and moral dilemmas she faces with this?

A: It’s well known that once we geo-engineer the weather, we cannot just stop. If we do there will be a dramatic increase in warming on the surface of the planet. Sophie must decide whether the surface of the Earth, which she thinks of as a living thing, is able to heal on its own once she sabotages the government-run weather modification programs. It’s a calculated risk she takes, based on her knowledge and understanding of climate science. 

Q: Captain Rachel Chen’s mission to Proxima Centauri introduces the idea of seeking refuge beyond Earth. What challenges and possibilities did you envision for humanity in a new star system?

A: If we are lucky enough to find a planet like ours within what is known as the goldilocks region of a star or stars, which we can reach using current and near future technology, we could be successful in finding a new planetary habitat for humans to migrate to.  

In addition, if we are successful in back engineering the non-human craft that are known to be in the hands of various governments around the world, we will then be able to use a technology that has not yet been developed on this planet, to reach other potentially habitable planets many light years away from us. These planets are much farther away than Proxima Centauri which is only 4.2 light years from Earth and can be reached using nuclear fusion technology.

Q: The concept of trans-humans with the potential for extended life is fascinating. How do these beings influence the broader narrative?

A: The two bio-engineered trans-humans Inanna and Rajeev, whose lifetimes span the five-book series, are just the beginning of an ongoing exploration I undertake throughout the series of various methods that could be used by scientists in the future to extend human life. Walton, the main antagonist in books 2, 3 and 4, is modeled on the current slew of tech bros and will stop at nothing to find ways to extend his life. 

My two transhuman characters, Inanna and Rajeev, live for hundreds of years and influence the broader narrative and arc of the story by bringing a deep wisdom to their actions, and exceptional scientific knowledge to their work.  

Q: The world in 2060 is drastically different, with underground habitats and a harsh, overheated environment. What research or creative processes did you undertake to create this world?

A: To create the underground environments that I explore, I researched a great deal of current and future potential technology and science. Key among the elements I used in developing these worlds was the work of Dr. Rachel Armstrong, who is pioneering the concept of living architecture. This includes research into developing artificial biology systems that exhibit the qualities of near-living systems. Her research into protocells is a pioneering effort. If taken to completion, chemical protocells that are like biological ones will allow us to produce renewable buildings, renewable clothing, and clean energy.

As for descriptions of what the Earth’s surface will be like in 50 years, these were based on current scientific predictions of what will most likely happen in various regions of the world, if temperatures increase by 4 degrees Celsius.

Q: Your novel touches on the dynamics between technology, government control, and individual agency. How do you hope readers will reflect on these themes in the context of our current world?

A: I hope readers will understand that current science and technology will be essential to humans’ ability to survive in artificial environments, if the surface of the planet is destroyed by nuclear war or climate change. This includes food, light, health, longevity, heat, water and consumable renewables. I do not emphasize advanced forms of artificial intelligence, since I do not believe they are essential to our future survival on this planet.

I deliberately overemphasize the dangers of plutocratic governments in my books, and I hope readers will connect the plutocrats I describe in them to the very real threat the current ones pose to western democracies, particularly those in the U.S. who use their money to unduly influence the political process.  

These plutocrats, like Putin, also exist all around the world. China is no different to Russia, and an authoritarian government is in place there that continues to protect the interests of the political and economic elites, who in effect are the real ones who lead the country, behind the scenes.  

It is this global system of pseudo-religious, techno-plutocratic, authoritarianism that I warn so strongly about in my books. I use my non-human planetary characters, who are first introduced in books 2, 3, 4 and 5, to suggest more cosmic perspectives that do not include petty tribalism. Across all five books these characters challenge our human-centered views with ones of their own that are enormous and enlightening. They do not, for instance, understand how we have destroyed our planet and have willingly adopted a philosophy of mutually assured self-destruction. In my books this is what keeps them from engaging fully with us, even though they agree, as the series evolves, to share an important highly advanced form of energy with us. They suggest true peace amongst humans could be based on the shared recognition that our common good requires active cooperation based on a new set of ethics.  

I give a great deal of power to individual choice and agency in the books, as my human characters use their empathy, knowledge and courage to create and imagine societies and systems which give everyone in them individual creative freedom. This freedom, however, is always tempered and regulated by what is in the best interests of the entire planetary human race, not just the few who currently control nation states and governments. In other words, “E Pluribus Unum, “out of many, one.”

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