It's Apocalypse Monday, MKF! (1/13/03)

[darkmagicwillow]

I've got another "what if" question for the Kittens, and Willow and Tara too.

What would you do if this was the first Monday after the Apocalypse? Whatever it was, plague, demons, aliens, mayors, or zombies, they're gone now, and it has left the world mostly intact if almost entirely depopulated. On the bright side, you don't have to go to work or school this morning, all the infrastructure works for the moment, and there's plenty of canned goods and bottled water for when it doesn't. Any durable, material good is free for the taking, but all of society's bonds have been broken, good ones and bad ones, and human contact is a gift almost beyond price and it could be dangerous out there.

How do you survive in this world? Where do you go? Who do you try to find? Do you have a good combination of technical and practical knowledge to make a comfortable home in this brave new world? There's always libraries ... and bookstores, all the books in the world free for the asking, if you don't. Will you try to build a new community from the kitten board while the internet still remains? Oh, and no, you don't begin having one of two different dreams.

What would Willow and Tara do assuming that Buffy isn't there for whatever reason? They've faced the possibility of an apocalypse before, but never the actuality of one. Leaving Sunnydale might be difficult with cars abandoned on the roads, but perhaps bikes or motorcycles would work though the latter could be dangerous with its potential for getting hurt with no available doctors or hospitals.

[samiamiguess]

Apocalypse huh?
Well, firstly I would of course check on my loved ones. Finding my partner and cat remarkably scratch free I would then be drawn to the local store (the one that is never shut so an apocalypse is not a problem) for a 6-pack of beer.

Watching the light refract from the fallout the three of us take our time, drink our beer and consider our options (of course my cat drinks beer, hes my cat, but it wasnt intentional).

With the empty cans I would then make a high frequency antenna system in some McGyver type way. Id then be able to connect it to my GPS and incorporate the satellite system to relay my signal to the world in an attempt assess the damage and any distress signals. Whilst Im at it Id make it dual band such that Id finally have the wireless internet connection to my laptop Id been meaning to get, thus being able to go online and of course check on the kitten board to see if there are any pens updates, oh I mean emergencies.

Finding ourselves free of obligations the three of us would then head off to pastures new to spend the rest of our days in Northern Alaska where everything seems to have an uncanny knack of growing older than anywhere else in the world. (Either that or the ability to be buried alive yet able to revive itself once unearthed from the frozen depths.)

Here an extremely old and wrinkled Inuit man would hence inform me that I am indeed dead, along with the rest of society.

Oh well, the beer was nice.

Sonya

[Still Waters Run Deep]

Of course, all the people we know and like, and all our family came through it all intact

This 'Day of the Triffids' has been part of my nightly dream cycle ever since I was 13 and read the above book. Of course it never gets resolved, it just changes with whatever situation arises

I suppose tonight the variation will be me emerging from wherever I am and finding a lost and bewildered Tara [or Amber] in need of comfort.
From there we go on to greater and better things, together, just the two of us against the world.............

[WebWarlock]

sorta apocalyptic.

It is "The Mis-adventures of Hello Cthulhu".
doggerel.wuice.net/index....2002-08-14

Sick and twisted.

Warlock

[darkmagicwillow]

I'll throw out one more question here: what's your favorite apocalypse story?

Mine is still Stephen King's [i:0c76d2c56f]The Stand[/i:0c76d2c56f]. As flawed as it is, the first half is an amazing book, one of my all time favorites as he gets you into the human consequences of the superflu for everyone. Interestingly, I read his book [i:0c76d2c56f]On Writing[/i:0c76d2c56f] recently and found that he got blocked for quite a while at exactly the point where I start having problems with the story. The new idea that got him unblocked just didn't fit with the rest of the story though I can understand how it helped him get to an ending.

Some other favorites: George Romero's [i:0c76d2c56f]Dawn of the Dead[/i:0c76d2c56f], where the protagonists took over a shopping mall to hide from the zombies outside with everything that they'd need, SM Stirling's [i:0c76d2c56f]Island in the Sea of Time[/i:0c76d2c56f] where the island of Nantucket is dropped into the Bronze Age, perhaps annhilating our entire timeline, and George Stewart's [i:0c76d2c56f]Earth Abides[/i:0c76d2c56f], another plague novel where humanity loses its culture over a few generations in the resource abundant low population future.


Warlock, "Hello Cthulu" was hilarious. Poor little Cthulu, trapped in a world not of his own making.

Here's a short poll a friend sent me today: Which SF writer are you?.

Apparently I'm most like Gregory Benford, "a master literary stylist who is also a working scientist," which is cool as he's one of my favorites. I'm picky about the physics being mostly right which makes things like Star Trek almost unbearable to watch. My friend was James Tiptree Jr (real name Alice Sheldon), another of my favorites.

[La]

The Stand is one of my favorite apocalypse stories, but a more recent one that I like for some strange reason is from Reign of Fire (the movie with Matthew McConaughey and Christian Bale). It's dark and dreary, just like I would think the apocalypse would be. But of course the happy ending is all happy and green grass and rebuilding, like it should be

[Ittybittykitty]

Hmmmm, well I'd round up my dog and remaining family and set foot for Montana. Don't ask why, I just have always wanted to go there.

BTW I heard that there was some slanderous talk about me being some kind of ho. That's ridiculous! *Goes off to snog* *ahen* Anyway my new computer wont let me into the kitty chat room, it's rather upsetting. Sadly I can no longer be the chat ho I was. *sigh*

[darkmagicwillow]

Everyone wants to go someplace cold! Though I love the moutains, Alaska and Montana aren't places I want to be when the electric grid and gas pipelines fail. I'm moving south, at least for the winter. Perhaps I'll lead a nomadic lifestyle, going to Arizona in the winter and living in Oregon in the summer.

I'd love to go to Italy, but I don't know how to fly and I'm sure if I'd attempt a transatlantic flight if I did though the GPS satellites are going to work for a few more decades. It would be fun to be wonderfully eccentic and move into Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli or to live on the Palatine Hill in the ruins of the emperor's palaces.

[technopagan78]

DMW, I am with you on The Stand. I tend to lose interest as the book turns from things falling apart to the big showdown between good and evil, but the first half is marvelous, especially the bits about how the plague spreads.

As for what would technopagan do? I would hightail it for the high desert with my housemate, our laptops and enough food and water to last us for a few days. Needless to say, we'd be dead under the Joshua Trees by the end of the week.

Getting back to apocalypse novels, another favorite of mine is Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower: the image of people wandering northward on California's empty freeways is incredibly powerful. My favorite "post-apocalypse" novel is Unquenchable Fire, by Rachel Pollack. In the novel, the goddess has decided to revisit the earth, and returns in many various forms. Pollack's novel is set 80 years later, when "America" has recovered from the destruction (the goddess is not happy with us) and a whole new bureaucracy has formed around "Living Masters," "Tellers" and the recitation of the "prime pictures." One of the best conceits: the FBI has become the "Spiritual Development Authority." In some ways, America is the same, but in other ways it is profoundly different. People are subject to the near constant intrusion of Benign Ones, Malignant Ones and Ferocious Ones. They practice a faith that is incredibly complex. While the novel is not everyone's cup of tea, I have to say that Unquenchable Fire is one of the best explorations of "spirituality with teeth" that I've ever read. (Oh, and the sequel, Temporary Agency has a young adult protagonist who is a lesbian and absolutely adorable. If a film version were ever made, AB would be perfect as Ellen.)

[xita]

I'd say I am pretty useless without electricity someone better be running that or else, I am out luck. Live off my body till I exhausted that fuel lol. I imagine Willow and Tara have many more skills to get by, Willow with the technology and I bet Tara can grow anything.

And I am now back at work folks

[seurat]

There was a Charlton Heston movie many moons ago in which he played one of the last survivors of an earth scourged by some horrible plague. He lived in an apartment building he'd rigged up for safety and comfort, and he's taken the trouble to "save" many of the world's greatest artworks to keep him company. So, to save time and effort, maybe i'd go to Paris - ok, no easy task itself under the circumstances - and live in the Louvre. Or take it it turn, musee de Pompidou, Prado, Hermitage etc. Wouldn't be much fun without company though.

Ah, end of the world books. So many to chose from. But I always liked The Furies by Keith Roberts in which huge mutated wasps (yes, I know...) begin to ravage the landscape, taking the surviving humans as captives. I believe there were some devastating earthquakes involved too. A great, if not terribly cheery, read.

[Kalita]

I'll go with the above-mentioned Day of the Triffids. I've always had a soft spot for Wyndham, and that's one of my favourites of his.

[darkmagicwillow]

Ah, Paris. The Louvre would be tempting, as would the British Museum across the channel and you can swim that, right? (-; Living in a musem would be cool. Perhaps the Uffizi in Florence for me though, sleeping in a room full of Botticellis, or maybe I'd live in the Medici Palace and move the Botticellis to my bedroom there. Decisions, decisions...

Like Xita says though, we'd want electricity to live so I'd spent some time in the library reading about do it yourself solar or windpower though maybe oil's the way to go as there's no shortages any longer.

Technopagan, I think all of Octavia Butler's novels are apocalypses now that I think about it. Her Xenogenesis trilogy is my favorite where a group of aliens whose technology is completely intuitive and biological finds Earth after a nuclear war. I haven't read the one you mentioned though.

Kalita, I still haven't seen [i:516406168c]Triffids[/i:516406168c]...

[Patches]

Apocalypse huh, interesting, with the infrastructure in place still? Well, first thing I'd do is grab my towel, a copy of the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galexy, find several sturdy axes, advanced first aid books and supplies (lots of matches and lighters) a guitar and head out of town; along the way gathering up the stragglers to form a rag tag fleet and establish a base in some remote area and start stock piling supplies and training homing pigeons. And, while I loath guns, given our new place, somewhere near the bottom of the food chain, guns would be required for protection only.

Frequent forays into the cities for books on medicine, farming, animal husbandry, mechanics, building solar or wind power generators, weapons in the form of bows and arrows and cross bows, skis and snowshoes, clothing etc. as well as hitting up antique shops for pre-electric tools. Once everything is up and running, try to collect the rest of the stragglers and hit the fertility clinics and raid the stores (I mean truely, if one is to rebuild the human population, one needs a larger gene pool from which to draw - and, btw, none of this Handmaiden's Tale crap - each to his or her own gender preference(s) and no ritualization of rape). Further forays into the city for every book anyone can lay their hands on, as well as stripping out the U-Brew Beer and Wine stores.

Sorry guys, but the new society would be matriarchial. I was going to go into the whole argument for the Hunter/Gatherer society, but I think heading down that road would require _way_ to long a disclaimer, and get me into _way_ too much trouble. I, of course, would be the leader - lacking any practical, techincal or mechanical skills, it is only logical.

Xita, you needn't worry, energy will be in ready supply - as will the plumbing. Did I forget to mention books on plumbing? Flushies are a necessity and would be the second order of business.

Our motto: from each according to their ability, to each according to their need. The law, one simple rule: do not bother anyone else.

Willow and Tara I think, would be doing much the same thing in their universe. Of course, they would do it much better, being all witchy goodness.

As for fav. apocalypse story, I too liked Day of the Triffids, 'course then again, there's anything David Suzuki has written on what we're doing to our environment.

[taralicious]

Seurat-The name of the Charlton Heston movie in question is "Omega Man", I believe.
He made several of them in the early 70's but this was the one where he was holed up in the apartment building fighting off vampires and other once-human creatures mutated by the apocalypse in question.
My favorite of his, not really apocalypsy though, has to be "Soylent Green" which was paid homage in Season Sux's episode "Doublemeat Palace" with the immortal line: "SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!"
As for where I'd go, London is my choice. A chance to see and perhaps salvage parts of the world's greatest monuments and historical records.
Willow and Tara would hole up somewhere safe and continue on as usual together.

[xita]

ooh patches thank you, cause I sure would kind of freak I think.

I liked the stand, I like a lot of the twilight zone end of the world stories. The man with all the books, then he breaks his glasses, that would be my luck.

[tommo]

Oooh I loved The Omega Man. I also loved the version that the Simpsons did too.

I'm still pondering this one you know. I hate the thought that I'm the last person left after an Apocalypse. Don't I get to keep at least one person? That way, we wouldn't notice if the world ended because we'd be too busy having sex.

[darkmagicwillow]

Ooh, Patches, a guitar? Are you planning to go to Las Vegas and challenge for the Kingship now that Elvis is dead? Wait, that was the plot of [i:c7fdd9a8bf]Six String Samurai[/i:c7fdd9a8bf], another of my favorite apocalypse movies. It's not too easy to find, but it's a great film.

A hunter/gatherer society is the best we've come up with in a lot of ways, but neighboring agricultural peoples will always outpopulate you and force you off the good lands into arid spaces. Of course, if people lose the ability to make guns, you will eventually be able to swoop down upon them with your hordes of horse archers and dominate the world the Mongol way. But that's a century or more away...

taralicious, [i:c7fdd9a8bf]The Omega Man[/i:c7fdd9a8bf] was good. I'd forgotten the title when it was mentioned earlier.

Xita, I liked that Twilight Zone episode. Hmmm...maybe I should go out and buy more glasses today. Mine are starting to get scratched anyway.

Ruth, sure, you can save one person. And it's only fair to assume Aly and Amber make it if Willow and Tara do, right? (-;

I forgot my favorite pre-apocalypse writer, who shows what it's like just before it all collapses. John Brunner's [i:c7fdd9a8bf]Stand on Zanzibar[/i:c7fdd9a8bf], about overpopulation, and his [i:c7fdd9a8bf]The Sheep Look Up[/i:c7fdd9a8bf], about environmental destruction. They're a little too realistic and hence depressing to read.

[Patches]

DMW Oh, I wasn't thinking along the nomadic theme, women would be responsible for agrian needs, but not restricted (of course) Humm, a roving hoard of women in the Amazon tradition was more what I had in mind. And the neighbouring pastoral communities wouldn't have a chance to out populate us, since we'd have all the genetic material we need to build the gene pool from the fertility clinics. We'd simply, assimilate them - and I'll stop there because this is sounding way too much like the Borg. Ah, yes, I could be King (god knows, much to my chagrin, I've been called 'sir' enough times in my life )

And damn, I forgot the turkey baster - can't start a civilization without a turkey baster!

Edited to fix spelling mistakes

[miss calendar]

Strange all these mentions of 'The Day of the Triffids'. It used to be one of my favourite books and I'd just decided to re read it, spurred on by a rather stolid TV adaptation showing on a UK cable/satellite channel at the moment. Another John Wyndham post apocalyptic novel I enjoyed was 'The Chrysalids'. I know I've enjoyed other interpretations of the post-apocalypse scenario but my brain's gone blank at the moment (except for the original 'Planet of the Apes' !) I'd forgotten about James Tiptree Junior till you mentioned her darkmagicwillow but she's a writer I always loved, do you know of anything she's written in recent years?

As for if I survived an apocalypse, well I probably wouldn't survive long unless I managed to hook up with some people with more practical skills. ( I can't see any of my skills being much in demand except perhaps for massage and healing). First I'd look for family, friends and my cat and this may sound bizarre but another priority would be to retrieve my viola. ( I guess I'd have to be pragmatic and leave behind the Steinway grand I'm babysitting). I'd check out communications, get myself some wheels, water, food, clothes, blankets, somewhere secure to stay. Raid the library/bookshops for relevant how to books, begin collecting useful tools. And I'd probably do a fair amount of meditating to try and maintain emotional/psychological equilibrium. But basically if I didn't join up with others very soon I'd be dead.