Foreseeable Future

by Howard Libes

In the second book of The SEEDER Series, Mar Jeps’ life is transformed forever on Breeze Celebration, and she faces an epic challenge. With the environmental crisis worsening, the fate of the Kodan species has been placed in Mar’s hands. She attempts to produce change for the better as one of the most powerful people on the planet, but she is thwarted at every turn. She is threatened by the Leader and the forces of the Global Assembly. She struggles against the powers of greed and corruption rooted in Kodan society. The execution of her partner is used as leverage to keep her at bay. What will Mar do? How will she avert personal tragedy and the destruction of Kodan civilization? How will she make the foreseeable future a reality?

670 pages, Paperback

Published July 30, 2020

About the author

Howard Libes tapped into his lifelong obsession with science fiction and just finished The SEEDER series. Currently the trilogy —WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS, FORESEEABLE FUTURE, WHAT YOU WILL— are available on Amazon.

Howard has been a writer for over 30 years and is a graduate of the University of Oregon Creative Writing Program. He edited the 2,300-page manuscript of If They Move … Kill’em: The Life and Times of Sam Peckinpah by David Weddle (Atlantic/Grove Press) and worked as a collaborator — writer and interviewer — on Among the Mansions of Eden: Tales of Love, Lust, and Land in Beverly Hills by David Weddle (William Morrow/HarperCollins). He has been a freelance writer for many publications including Los Angeles Times Magazine.

Reviews

[Adam Wendt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a hard book to put down once I started reading it. Foreseeable Future is the second book in the SEEDER series. It is about a planet-wide environmental screw-up that continued for generations until it was too late to fix. This book picks up right where the previous book, When All Else Fails (WAEF), left off. With Vanderlord’s plan to save the Kodan people set in motion, we find everyone scrambling to keep out of the scarred hands of the vengeful Global Assembly.

Early in the book, each chapter spins together a series of flashbacks that provide a vivid and compelling picture of the forces that have shaped each of the characters, the dying world they inhabit, and the authoritarian regime they fear. For example, in the first chapter from Orn’s perspective, the author provides a detailed look at his savage upbringing and how he becomes the feared interrogator that he is. The author even involved the family dog, and we will have to wait to find out if the “brick” makes a return appearance in the next book in the series.

The mid-point in the story is a mystery in space and a thriller on the planet. The plot is propelled forward by interweaving chapters with Yor and Mado solving a life or death mystery in outer space, and everyone on the planet Koda trying to figure out who knows what, while also staying alive.

At a certain point in the latter part of the book, everything starts moving pretty fast. A cascade of events begins that diverges from the original plan, and once again, everyone is scrambling to make sense of it all. Unfortunately, as with most authoritarian police states, people end up dying, even characters that we have grown to love.

This book drives home the point that it may be too late to save the planet, but people will always try to survive, no matter who, what, or how many people they have to sacrifice. If the author reads this, I am looking forward to the next one.
Thanks

[Sean Nobel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m so glad this new book came out! I read the first in the series, When All Else Fails, and loved it. I’m a big sci-fi fan and this story is so much more. It has plenty of action and many surprising twists and turns, but what puts it a cut above is the way each character is richly developed, regardless of which side of the conflict they’re on. Howard Libes has a deep and vivid imagination and has built an immersive world not dissimilar from our own in which political and environmental strife have created a line between those seeking necessary solutions and those simply trying to cling to power at all costs. This, of course, creates obvious parallels with human history. I was riveted throughout. Highest recommendations.

[Lynda · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Planet's Fate in Her hands

While the story takes place on Koda, I loved discovering some parallels with our life on planet Earth. The central characters are depicted with depth, and even the bad guys are given a chance to "explain themselves." Long a fan of science fiction, I was elated to find in one of the central characters, Mar Jeps, a woman of great intelligence as well as empathy. She soon realizes that the fate of the planet rests in her hands. My one disappointment was that I reached the end of the story and didn't want it to end. I hope the author, Howard Libes, is working hard on the next book in the series at this very moment!

by Lynda Lanker

[Dustin Lanker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, and this second volume did not disappoint. In fact, it picks up speed, vividly expanding the entire story with depth, and a highly cohesive creative vision. It is hard to put down, arranged and told in such a way as to maintain its grip and tension. The format, of chapters switching from character to character in their focus and perspective, draws out revelations in a delicious way, expertly and enticingly leading from one to the next. And, as I think should be the case with such speculative fiction, it rings scarily familiar and relevant. I highly recommend both books.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a time of intolerable politics and ecological collapse, the Kodan people must find a way to survive. Their choices are poor (leave the planet or live in artificial spaces), their heroes smeared by their government, and they are divided along class lines. Sound familiar? The Foreseeable Future propels the story started in When All Else Fails; the politics ramps up, the culture and landscape of Kodan are brought to life, we get some powerful backstory on WAEF characters and meet some fascinating new ones. Raise a glass of malrap to this and the next book!

[Frankyflowers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just like the first book in the Seeder Series, The Foreseeable Future drew me in and kept me turning pages until the end. The environmental and political parallels this series draws to our own potential future makes this book even more intriguing and suspenseful. I love that much of the fate of the planet's future lies in the hands of a strong female character, Mar Jeps, and she does not disapoint! I am excited for the next book in the Seeder Series!

[Tina Cole · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a good book! Foreseeable Future is a painfully propitious tale of societal and environmental mismanagement. I love the strong, smart heroine, Mar, and the hero, Mado, is just the type of Being you want on your side when shit hits the planetary fan. The deep interpersonal relationships and vivid other world/our world descriptions suck you in and don’t let go. Until the last page, we are drawn on by the sometimes sweet, sometimes sordid tale. The next book in the series can’t come soon enough!

[Kim Harper-Kennedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The saga of the dying planet Koda and the Vanderlord family's efforts to save it continues with more excellent action and political intrigue. The parallels between Koda and our own current state on Earth and in the United States are at times uncanny but also poignant. As with the first book, this one builds up to a dramatic cliff hanger at the end, leaving me wanting the third installment sooner rather than later. Highly recommended for people who enjoy science fiction and futuristic genres.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can see much more sophistication in Howard's writing of this second volume in the series. Also see many similarities between The Leader's leadership style and that we have experienced over the past 4 years in this country.