When Shells Crumble

by Chris Carlsson

The inventor of the Hempattery quits her corporate job to pursue her visionary biotech experiments only to find a back-burnered idea of hers was stolen, bioengineered, and disseminated by mysterious biohackers, leading to a new malleable fungus that takes on properties no one expected. The Robertson family, a sprawling black San Francisco clan, finds itself at the heart of this swirling urban saga. From the 101-year-old matriarch through her youngest son Frank, a UCSF cop, to the urban farming granddaughter Janet, sons and daughters move through this strangely familiar San Francisco.

470 pages, Paperback

Published October 25, 2023

About the author

Chris Carlsson, executive director of the multimedia history project "Shaping San Francisco" (foundsf.org), is a writer, publisher, editor and community organizer. He was a founder of the ground-breaking magazine Processed World, and helped launch the monthly bike-ins known as Critical Mass that have spread to five continents and over 300 cities. Carlsson has edited and authored numerous books, including Reclaiming San Francisco: History, Politics, Culture.

Reviews

[Leander McNeely · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chris Carlsson paints a vivid vision of San Francisco under a facist occupation. Chocked full of local lore and far flung concepts, it all comes together in a riveting story of how resistance achieves persistence in a rapidly deterorating political and environmental climate.