New Book Mention: The Flesh of Your Future Sticks Between My Teeth

There's a relatively new genre out there called cli-fi, a mash up of "climate" and "science fiction."  Pfft, I've even written about a couple of novels from this shelf, namely Star's Reach (by John Michael Greer, not so coincidentally the editor of this anthology) and more recently Termination Shock.  It's up-and-coming, enough that there are several periodicals devoted to it.  Naturally some of these veer into the hypocritically endarkened ends of the world, and as such have set themselves up for mockery.  Which brings us to a short satirical collection, The Flesh of Your Future Sticks Between My Teeth: Stories from the Gristle Cli-Fi Parody Contest.  You can read up on the inspiration and history of this weird amalgamation here (be sure to follow the several links back to the origin story), but let's just dive right in on the stories themselves.  First and foremost to keep in mind is that these stories are not intended to be good, they are intended to satirize the gunk that is already being published.  On to the dirty dozen!

• Tell It to the King of Sweden, Honey: An American golddigger takes on a Greta Thunberg stand-in.
• A Modest Contribution: unwittingly made by the sort of people who'd resort to suspended animation to avoid onrushing hard times.
• Kathy vs. the Barbarian Horde: After their high-tech defense system crashes, Berkley deals with the local desert warlords in a farcical manner that's a pretty fair reflection of analogous past events.
• Human-Derived Product: Amusingly dry.  Don't read this one after a heavy meal.
• A Chi Town Doctor:  In which a quasi-doctor navigates Mad Max-esque gang-run Chicago.  The closest this collection has to a straight-up story, it's only just enough over the top that you can tell it's a parody.
• How the Conspiracy Theory Generator Saved the World:  AI-enhanced dogs do their very best to save their beloved humans.  Because that's what dogs would do.
• Atlanta Is Broken:  A Quest to restore the last remaining data center to functioning order, if only the repair crew can ignore all those damn Confederate flags.
• The Penitent Lands:  Sensitivity training language and attitudes run amok in a near-future Paris.
• The Recalcitrant Savior:  A novel yet gut-wrenching solution to our energy problems.  100-proof satire!
• Scions of the High Road:  Like a bad road trip with a gang of glam rock opera characters.
• The Merchant of Progress:  Another "the sleeper awakes" type story.
• Power to the People:  Never forget the law of conservation of energy, because it'll come back to get ya.

Some of these are intentionally bad, some are more obliquely satirical, all worth the read.  It's a mad, mad mixed-up greasl-fueled ride.  Only take it if you want it.  Get yours here.