Civilization has collapsed! Long live civilization!

In April Raines’ "warm, friendly" post-apocalyptic future, people get around by rickshaw on eroded roads, cinnamon is an exotic treat, and orphans are common. But one idea that was in its pioneering days in today’s western culture – co-operative housing and semi-communal living – has now become the defining institution of a stabilizing new society.

As our story opens, three friends are travelling from one community to another with some trade goods. Interactions between the visitors and their host communitarians are congenial, though sometimes awkward. Everyone has a vague idea of what’s expected of them, and feel their way through the rest. Characters are distinct, but everyone is pretty nice, fair, and decent. So far, there is not really any conflict in the story.

And this makes me wonder, where is this story going to go? There is a lot of potential.  As someone obviously well versed in the cohousing movement, probably April Raines has read the fascinating magazine, Communities, in which people living in intentional communities (everything from egalitarian communes to simple land co-ops) contribute frank, warts and all, discussions of the challenges and rewards of co-operative living . And they make it clear, it’s far from easy, and requires conscious and continuing effort to make it work. Most intentional communities fail, fall apart, disperse. In the future, failure may not be an option.

Any issue of Communities Magazine would give a plethora of ideas as to where internal conflicts in this story could come from. Of course, there’s also lots of potential for external threats in a post-apocalyptic scenario. I’m not saying this story should turn into MAD MAXX. It’s refreshing to read a more positive take on the near future.  But maybe it should be a little more like THE DISPOSSESSED. So far everything’s been pretty sunny. Without dealing with the clouds that would realistically be there, this tale will be limited in what it can teach us, and readers will find it hard to sustain interest.

The story is on presently on hiatus for the birth of a baby. I hope April Raines is perculating some exciting new ideas as she rocks the cradle.

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Interesting idea for a story – a post-acolyptic world without zombies, mutants or marauding bands.  Good use of surviving resources and technology in the first chapter.

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