#hothouse

The Charlie Parker Quintet - Hothouse, Live (1952)

I read this sci-fi novel from 1962 recently. Bc a sci-fi lovin booktuber I like talked about it a few times (Bookpilled) and wow was it ever worth it. It is just SUCH a fascinating iteration of a far-future Earth.

Earth has stopped turning, so it has one half in permanent sun and one in permanent darkness. The land in the sunlit half is covered by one single, enormous tree. There are almost no animal species anymore, just plant life that is able to move around and eat prey like animals once did. Humans are now little green men a few feet tall, nowhere near the top of the food chain, and not very numerous.

The book follows a handful of humans just trying to live (many die or are never seen again). There are spider threads connecting the Earth and the moon, and giant spider-like 'vegetables' that travel on these threads and 'eat' radiation in space. Willow trees live in sand and attack prey from below. There is an unseen, singing creature(?) in a volcano whose voice compels creatures to jump in and kill themselves. You just have no idea what future-evolution horror or oddity the characters will encounter next.

'Hothouse' refers to the planet itself because it is so crammed with organic matter and energy now. Near the end some characters witness what looks like a green column of energy spontaneously appear over a forest, reaching up into space. Like if the energy on Earth is 'static electricity' and generated a spark or something. They also witness a solar flare bc the sun is near to exploding. Not in their lifetimes. But for a sun's lifetime, soon.