The novel “Perihelion Summer” by Greg Egan was published for the first time in 2019.
Matt Fleming and some of his friends have set up the Mandjet, a mobile aquaculture rig that is self-sufficient. They did it to be prepared for the worst-case scenario when Taraxippus, a black hole that is about to pass through the solar system, comes near the Earth.
Despite the risks of catastrophe on Earth following the passage of Taraxippus, Matt and his friends receive mostly indifferent reactions if not ridicule for the construction of the Mandjet. In the end, the black hole turns out to be a pair whose passage alters the Earth’s orbit in a subtle way but enough to alter the seasons. The possibility of sailing with the Mandjet to Antarctica when Australia is hot to the limit of livability makes it very useful.
In mythology, Taraxippus (in Latin), or Taraxippos (in Greek), was a demon that made horses go wild. Greg Egan uses the name to refer to the black hole that turns out to be a pair that doesn’t exactly make the Earth’s orbit go wild but alters it enough to alter the climate globally.
The novel follows the attempts of Matt Fleming and some of his friends to prepare for the worst-case scenario by setting up a rig that ensures its crew’s self-sufficiency. Before Taraxippus passes, they’re among the few who prepare for a case in which such a passage causes earthquakes.
Greg Egan focuses on the protagonists, so he only shows some reactions of Matt’s family and some of his acquaintances between indifference and mockery. You can imagine certain reactions on social media between conspiracy theories, Facebook pages with images taken from official sources and modified to try to prove that there’s no danger, and so on. The author chose to write a story that, from this point of view, is without frills and without digressions.
Greg Egan is one of the most important writers of hard science fiction and sometimes in his stories the scientific elements are central and are developed in a very thorough way. From this point of view, “Perihelion Summer” is very simple, as it mainly tells the reactions of the characters to the changes that occur very quickly as a consequence of the alteration of the Earth’s orbit.
The new world situation is a sort of soft catastrophe, in the sense that there’s no event such as an earthquake that kills people who are in the area that gets struck but their lives are affected in various negative ways. Summer in Australia becomes even hotter than it’s now, reaching the limits of human endurance. However, most of the inhabitants try to continue their lives normally, at least until the problems can no longer be ignored.
The term resilience seems to have become trendy in recent years, but in “Perihelion Summer,” humanity tends to show more obtuseness than resilience. Matt Fleming and his friends are ordinary people who have made their own way because the majority did nothing to address the crisis risk and as a consequence, it seems that the various national governments also remained indifferent, even with the excuse of avoiding spreading panic. Matt’s mother is an example of that majority and seems to be totally obtuse, with a refusal to see the new reality. It’s not a nice portrait of that majority or humanity in general.
Having ordinary people as protagonists has consequences in the actions of these characters as well. This is not a story of heroic acts in facing the difficulties of the crisis to achieve a rebirth of human civilization. This is a novel that is short by today’s standards which tells of small daily acts of survival, even of passive resistance. Despite the protests of Matt’s mother, the only possibility is to adapt to the new conditions.
“Perihelion Summer” offers a depressing prospect, a bitter pill Greg Egan forces readers to swallow. If you have the courage to swallow it, this novel can offer you food for thought about a future humanity might be forced to face even without black holes passing through the solar system. It’s available on Amazon USA, UK, and Canada.
