Novel in progress

Hi. Two cups of coffee into the day. Great fair trade coffee from Guatamala, roasted in Tucson.

I mentioned yesterday that I am writing a fiction novel about the year 3000. In that year, when the novel opens, people belong to federated governments depending on the biome in which they live. (A biome is a large area of land or water that can be characterized by its dominant plant forms - temperate forest, tropical forest, desert, tundra, grasslands, plankton.) So, if you live in the Atacama or Patagonian deserts in South America, you are affiliated with people in Australia (central deserts); Mongolia, China (Gobi and turkestan deserts); Saudia Arabia and Iran/Iraq (Arabian, Iranian, and Thar deserts); North America and Mexico (Sonoran Desert, Mojave Deserts); Africa (Sahara, Kalihari, Namib deserts). In this way, people are linked across the globe with mutual concerns about the environment that supports their way of life.

In the year 3000 people recognize a key role of humans as earth keepers, of being responsible for what is taken for human use - a profound shift away from our current way of thinking in most developed nations. In the frame of reference of people whose relatives survived the dramatic earth changes of the 21st century, due to climate change and overharvesting world resources, this makes perfect sense.

Another sea change in human organization came about in response to the human community's desire to avoid violent conflict at all costs. Following Iroquois governmental structure, the world community decided that marriages should take place across biomes, and not within them. So, if you are from the desert, you can not marry someone from a desert biome. This means that people in any biome will hesitate to bring war or violence against other biomes because they will be populated with their relatives!

The story opens in Alice Springs, Australia as we meet Fran and Ridley. Fran is getting ready to attend the Federated Deserts of the World's annual conference. She is the newly elected Chairwoman.

That's all for now. Peace to all who read this blog....

Susan