Review: Martin Land & Isherwood Williams, Fathers of the Future?
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 26, 2011
Slow to start..? uhmmm, yeah, ok, thats a fair remark..But once started it keeps going very well..For reference, I read "Earth Abides" when I pulled it from a library shelf at Aptos, Jr. High school in San Francisco in about 1950.. And, as referenced on the back cover of "Selection Event" NO, I never forgot that book, especially as I am a San Francisco Native and I was as familiar with the City as any 13/14 year old kid with a bicycle and a little black chow/cocker cross mutt named Rex could be in 1950.. To the point that I recently bought a new copy of "Earth Abides" and enjoyed it 60 years later..Now, "Selection Event" does miss an opportunity or two and fails to go as far as it should have.. For instance, did Mr. Wightman never heard of diesel generators..? or perhaps his characters never heard of fuel tanker trucks..? Or solar powered livestock water pumps for out in the fields..?Let us also not forget Chickens..! They breed like rabbits, lay eggs and provide a chicken for every pot..So that, about midway through, my thoughts turned to writing (laughable, i know and probably copyright infringment) a new character or two into this narrative to arrive on the scene and take Martin Land and his merry band, to a more logical conclusion, perhaps a bit like "Ish Williams" did, sitting on the bay bridge, as the last American, handing off his hammer..You readers of this "review" should buy the book, read it, ignore the leftist drivel,  and enjoy it.. Hopefully Mr. Wightman will write a followon novel of the future history of coastal California and Martin Land and his tribe of survivors..Since Amazon allows reviews to be edited, I'll think on this and probably add some to it..(ctrl-A, ctrl-C, click on "Preview your review" just in case!)rev 1.04