So my novel The Bird Saviors is set in the “near future,” which I always thought to be something like five to ten years from now, but some of the calamities forecast in the story are unfolding right now—particularly an ongoing threat of serious wildfires. The Waldo Canyon fire near Manitou Springs, which is a nice suburb of Colorado Springs, was particularly scary, in that at one point they ordered an evacuation for the entire town, though now I think they’ve got that fire under control. There are various fires still raging, the High Park fire in particular, and it seems daily we hear of new fires: While I was in town today I heard of a new fire near the small town of Wetmore, which is only 25 miles away. In The Bird Saviors there are several big fires raging, and the air is often choked with smoky fog, as it is here. Last night I woke at three o’clock in the morning to a strong smell of smoke, and it was just the wind shifting and bringing the smoke into our area from west of us. The other big prophecy in the novel is a return to Dust Bowl conditions, due to drought, and that also seems to be happening: Our roads are choked right now with grasshoppers, which thrive in drought conditions, as we’re having right now. Economic meltdown and chaos is in the background of the story, and that’s certainly ongoing, and until the Europeans solve their problems, it will continue, no doubt. Now I’ll just hope the part about the bird flu pandemic is simply an exaggeration . . . .
Here’s a picture of a fire last June that was about 10 miles north of my home.
