Pendulum varies the cause of disaster from that of nature run amok to human society run amok - an obvious fictional response to the social transformations taking place in wstern civilisation during the late 1960's. But with few alterations the effect is the same. More people survive. Yet once more society is reduced to savagery, to endure again the insanity and agony of social evolution that in past history did not teach their lessons well enough. These pieces are variations upon several principal themes.
Human civilization is fragile and vulnerable.
It cannot survive catastrophe either from natural causes or incompetent government. In the event of catastrophe the few who survive will be winnowed again by good health, knowledge of basic tools and nature, and the ability to kill other human beings, however relunctantly, out of necessity. Simultaneously, they must have the ability to love and form, once again, wholesome social contracts. Billions die in these stories, but hope and human potential have the final determination in each of them. Somehow, mankind will recover and rebuild, though Pendulum , the latest of the novels, insists that it will not be swift.