The Ruins of Earth

by Thomas M. Disch (Editor), Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (Contributor), Gene Wolfe (Contributor)

Man is at last waking up to the terrible damage he is inflicting on his environment. The various routes to disaster have already been charted.
But the damage still goes on.
This collection of stories by leading science-fiction writers - each committed to a human vision of society - attempts to take the ecological inquiry one stage further. To indicate why we are destroying our world - and what the possible consequences for us all may be.

Contents:
- Introduction (1971) by Thomas M. Disch
Part 1: The Way It Is
- Deer in the Works (1955) by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
- Three Million Square Miles (1971) by Gene Wolfe
- Closing with Nature (1970) by Norman Rush
Part 2: Why It Is The Way It Is
- The Plot to Save the World (1970) by Michael Brownstein
- Autofac (1955) by Philip K. Dick
- Roommates (1971) by Harry Harrison
- Groaning Hinges of the World (1971) by R. A. Lafferty
Part 3: How It Could Get Worse
- Gas Mask (1964) by James D. Houston
- Wednesday, November 15, 1967 (1971) by George Alec Effinger
- The Cage of Sand (1962) by J. G. Ballard
- Accident Vertigo (1971) by Kenward Elmslie
- The Birds (1952) by Daphne Du Maurier
Part 4: Unfortunate Solutions
- Do It for Mama! (1971) by Jerrold Mundis
- The Dreadful Has Already Happened (1971) by Norman Kagan
- The Shaker Revival (1970) by Gerald Jonas
- America the Beautiful (1970) by Fritz Leiber

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies, Post Apocalyptic

318 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1971

About the author

Poet and cynic, Thomas M. Disch brought to the sf of the New Wave a camp sensibility and a sardonicism that too much sf had lacked. His sf novels include Camp Concentration, with its colony of prisoners mutated into super-intelligence by the bacteria that will in due course kill them horribly, and On Wings of Song, in which many of the brightest and best have left their bodies for what may be genuine, or entirely illusory, astral flight and his hero has to survive until his lover comes back to him; both are stunningly original books and both are among sf's more accomplishedly bitter-sweet works.

In later years, Disch had turned to ironically moralized horror novels like The Businessman, The MD, The Priest and The Sub in which the nightmare of American suburbia is satirized through the terrible things that happen when the magical gives people the chance to do what they really really want. Perhaps Thomas M. Disch's best known work, though, is The Brave Little Toaster, a reworking of the Brothers Grimm's "Town Musicians of Bremen" featuring wornout domestic appliances -- what was written as a satire on sentimentality became a successful children's animated musical.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice but not outstanding anthology of dystopian stories set in the immediate future (the book was published in 1971), broken into four different categories: The Way It Is, Why It Is The Way It Is, How It Could Get Worse, and Unfortunate Solutions. The authors include Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Harry Harrison, Gene Wolfe, Philip K. Dick, Fritz Leiber, and others. My favorites were by George Alec Effinger and, of course, The Birds by Daphne du Maurier.

[Checkman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This anthology is set in the "immediate future" and the theme is one of ecological collapse. Assembled in the early 1970's when the enviroment was suddenly on everyone's mind and therefore a hot seller.It was edited by Thomas M. Disch. Disch was an author famous for his intelligent and original fiction as well as his cynical and satirical outlook.He also suffered from depression and would eventually kill himself in 2008.I added that last bit because it can explain much about this anthology that he edited. It's unrelenting in it's pessimism.

If this anthology is anything to go off of most thought we were doomed and more than likely ecological collapse would occur before the dawn of the 21st Century. Well here we are at the start of 2014 and we're still chugging along. As I type this review I am looking out at a very clear blue sky and the air is safe to breath without the assistance of a respirator. I have yet to eat any Soylent steaks, the cities are not radioactive mausoleums and my children are reaching adulthood without any mutations. The years 1984, 1995 and 2000 have come and gone as has 2012. Incidentally I'm still waiting for my flying car as well. Not in sight yet.

This is always a problem for science fiction stories that are set in the future - especially the near future with dates. The stories in this anthology are uniformly dark and offer no hope. Many of them are intelligent and well written, but the unrelenting pessimism can be a bit of a grind after awhile. In addition ,in 2014, they have the effect of making one realize that things are not necessarily destined to always get worse.

The stories were written in the sixties and early seventies and reflect the time. I suppose it could be argued that such stories might have helped to scare and influence people to change some behavior and develop new technologies and sciences. It's a strong possibility actually. There will always be problems and there will always be those who say we aren't doing enough or going about it all wrong and sometimes I'm one of those people, but this anthology will show that the Human race isn't necessarily a myopic/suicidal species.

An interesting anthology, but dated badly.

[Nadienne Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an...intriguing...collection of science fiction stories, some of which illustrate the horrifically over-populated, over-polluted, and nearly dead world of the 1990s, where 35 million people inhabit New York and live with stringent food and water rations...

Interestingly, the world is never really destroyed in any of these stories, or really on the brink of destruction, it's just kind of a little sucky. Oh, I take it back...there was one which is written in the format of the last person on Earth writing a journal, where a "disaster" killed everyone, but the disaster remains undescribed, as the journal writer states that whatever new replacement race inhabits the Earth will already know what happened - and often states that he knows they'll be some kind of insect.

I read this whilst on a recent camping/boating vacation, and I feel like this review isn't doing it justice and I have forgotten quite a bit, as I didn't take any notes or update as I read it...I'll have to revisit it later.

[EmBe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Möglicherweise die erste Anthologie mit "grünen" SF-Geschichten. Das Thema Ökologie drang damals mit Macht in die Gesellschaft vor. Die Öko-Bewegung bekam ein Sprachrohr im Parlament der BRD.
Die Geschichten sind mir nicht mehr so klar in Erinnerung, wiewohl ich an dem Thema damals wie heute stark interessiert bin. Aber keine war schlecht. Und das Cover gefiel mir auch.
Bastei-Lübbe hat damals eine Reihe von sehr interessanten thematischen Anthologien herausgebracht: Schwarze Löcher, Erotik und das Jenseits bekamen so Raum.

[Reader · Rating 1 out of 5]

Here’s another review that’s really a warning to future readers. Don’t bother with this trashy collection.

Introduction - pretty good, maybe even gets your hopes up that there will be some important SF in here to illuminate or spark an idea that could lead to the solution of some of society’s problems.

Deer In The Works - already read this in Welcome to the Monkey House. It’s Vonnegut, it’s readable. Not his best though.

Three Million Square Miles - 2

Eww, no. Hopeless and pointless. Boredom warning!

Closing with Nature - DNF

I can see what Dion was talking about with the author of this story using a slur. Unacceptable. The story was already bland, but once that came out so effortlessly I didn’t even want to see where it was going. Wack.

The Plot to save the world - 3.5

Cool idea here that actually feels a little hopeful at first. But there were weird questionable bits like the last story and then it just peters out so quickly at the end it wasn’t even worth it to begin with.

Autofac

It’s PKD so it’s going to be better than most or all of the other stuff here. Better to find a collection of his short stories with this in it than to get this book to read his work.

Room Mates - 2

Yikes! Bleak as hell. There’s just no hope at all in this story as it gets darker and darker as it goes on, but the situation at the end is more annoying than anything.

Groaning Hinges of the World - 4

See my review of the PKD story except replace PKD with Lafferty. It’s gruesome, but amazing and important. There’s a reason he mentions “the Germanies” in here.

Gas Mask - 3

This is the one about the traffic jam (that lasts for days)… The writing is decent but it’s pretty obvious what’s going to happen.

Wednesday, November 15, 1967 - 1

This story is pointless and pretentious! So wack! Stories included in this book were not required to have plots, as this one proves.

The Cage of Sand - 2

Meh. Mars is on earth because of some dumb astronaut ideas and some people want to stay in the quarantined zone. Yawn.

Accident Vertigo - 1, actually 0

This was complete nonsense. Unintelligible. Another “story” that was focused more on experimenting with writing style than actually telling a story. The only problem was the (writing) experiment failed.

The Birds (by Thomas Disch) - 2

Well-written but hastily put together. Bleak for bleakness sake. The story of some sad birds.

Do it for mama! - 2, no 1, maybe less than that…

A lame story about fascism and dog-hating. But sadly it seems to be encouraging those two things.

The Dreadful has blah blah blah - 0

Drugs, drugs, drugs. Hey kid - want some drugs? Here! Take that! Another unintelligible story about a future where everyone seems to be on drugs, written by someone who probably never tried any with no plot or trajectory to follow. Just awful.

The Shaker Revival - 1

Like, whoa man, dig this - in the future everyone is into sex and drugs and being a consumer except for the kids who get into this crazy rock band called the Shakers. Because once they’re into The Shakers they become New Shakers themselves, saying no to hate, war, money and sex! Then they go live on a rock and roll commune where they speak in tongues and fix hot rods. And most New Shakers make this decision to run away from home at 15! No one over 30 allowed.

Yeah, if that isn’t the most dated and unlikely concept of SF to demonstrate a possible “utopia” I don’t know what is. This story was horrendous.

America the Beautiful - 3

Very well-written account of a future United States that has seemingly conquered all its problems, but not quite. I liked the critique of Americans' Puritanical nature. At the same time it didn't really do enough to get me thinking in any new ways. Still, one of the best stories in this collection.

Overall, this book has maybe 3 or 4 stories worth reading if you haven't come across them already in other collections. But the rest of the stuff that fills in the gaps is sheer time-wasting crap. There is nothing to get out of any of it and the same goes for the dated intros to each story. Pass on this.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was really good. Although, it bugged me as much as I enjoyed it. From the title alone, it's obvious that it's a dark collection of stories by the name alone. Still, some of these stories hit the nerves a little hard.
My best example of this has to be Jerrold J. Mundis' "Do It For Mama!" Although, I can see something like this happening, it scares me a little to know that this could happen. If you haven't read it, (no spoilers here) it revolves around man's best friend. I love animals, especially dogs & this one grated on my nerves a little. Still, it was a really good story. With authors like Daphne du Maurier, R.A. Lafferty & George Alec Effinger, this book gives you your money's worth. Dark science fiction, which makes you consider horrible scenarios. I love that tinge of horror added to it.
The only reason I liked this book so much, was that it was so dark. "Wednesday, November 15, 1967" for example, made me cringe just a little. I don't remember the last time a horror movie even startled me, but this story was unsettling. It doesn't just show the darkness we're capable of. It shows the darkness already inside us. It tears at your nerves, not so much frightening you, but making you uncomfortable & making you question your own resolve & moral integrity.

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

A near-future science fiction anthology of established writers edited by Thomas M. Disch.

[Dion · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolutely awful. There was only one story in it worth reading - Birds by Daphne Du Maurier whom I think was the only female author in the entire anthology - and the rest were either bland or outright terrible.

One story featured a New York that had outlawed dogs apart from service animals and went into grotesque detail about normal human beings banding together to kill other people's dogs. That was probably the most disgusting one and I was unable to finish reading it.

Another story features a man stuck in a traffic jam, which is at least somewhat interesting, and another talks about a world covered with smog, but those were the only other two stories that were even remotely memorable.

There's very little diversity in the sense that it's mostly white straight protagonists with an instance of homophobia where the POV char - a female - hopes that it's not a gay place she's going to, except she uses a slur instead of gay.

[Royce Ratterman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good for back in its day and the related topics covered in this collection of short stories.
Read for personal historical research. I found this work of interest and its contents somewhat inspiring - star rating relates to the book's contribution to my needs.
Overall, this work may be a good resource for the researcher, enthusiast, and those looking into the issues displayed in this work.

[Leo McPherson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Five stars for 'Autofac', by Philip K. Dick.

Four stars for 'Wednesday, November 15th, 1967', by George Alec Effinger

Four stars for 'Roommates' by Harry Harrison.

One star for all the others.

[Konstantine · Rating 2 out of 5]

really expected a lot better from the lineup in this

[Jay Mathias · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly quite enjoyable! Tons of inspiration here for speculative fiction and sci-fi. It’s always interesting to hear the earlier voices heralding climate collapse, especially within the realm of fiction. My favorites were ‘Deer In The Works’ K Vonnegut, ‘Closing With Nature’ N Rush, ‘Autofac’ (my most favorite) P. K Dick, ‘The Cage of Sand’ JG Ballard, ‘The Birds’ D du Maurier , and ‘Do It For Mama!’ JJ Mundis

[Zach S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many of the stories are forgettable. However, there are a few gems such as Vonnegut's, Harrison's, and PKD.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good stories of the end of the world via environmental problems.

[Douglas Barker · Rating 3 out of 5]

SciFi short stories from the early 60's with some interesting takes on the future and mostly without clean endings. Something to kill time on some work flights.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short Stories

[Lera · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some fine authors but I have little recollection of this one, apart from a feeling of general grimness.