A post-apocalyptic story about a farmer, a robot and... a polar bear?

Blazing Reader,

In Ed Tom’s article about Rising eco-anxiety he wrote:

"It might be argued that the greatest crisis facing mankind, other than increasing populations of polar bears, is an anxiety pandemic."

When researching my novel All the Humans are Sleeping, I came across reports that, rather than a decline in these ferocious furry mammals, the indigenous population of Canada’s northern territories were experiencing a dangerous excess. As Bjorn Ljorm, president of the Copenhagen Consensus Center and author of The Skeptical Environmentalist, states in his controversial 2024 New York Post article:

"At the start of this century, the polar bear was the emblem of climate apocalypse.... And then in the 2010s, campaigners just stopped talking about polar bears. Why? Because after years of misrepresentation, it finally became impossible for them to ignore a mountain of evidence showing that the global polar bear population has increased substantially from around 12,000 in the 1960s to around 26,000 in the present day."

So, why was I researching polar bears for my cyberpunk novel? Because All the Humans are Sleeping is partly set in polar bear country — namely, the Canadian north. Here's an excerpt from Chapter 6.02:

"Peter closed his eyes for a second, remembering how the helicopter had raced them to the Churchill military base on the west shore of Hudson Bay. Before Agenda 2030, Churchill had been a popular arctic port town for tourists in the summer months. People called it the 'Polar Bear Capital of the World.' True to its nickname, Peter spotted a polar bear on its barren shore, as they flew in. The massive white creature with its black snout and eyes raised a furry paw. It appeared to be waving at them, oblivious of the dark nuclear skies they were bringing with them from the south."

As far as what happens to that polar bear, I can’t say. He doesn't appear again in the story. Maybe he survives World War III and finds his way into the sequel.

Now, if you suffer from eco-anxiety, you may find my post-apocalyptic story about a farmer, a robot and a polar bear somewhat therapeutic (or completely devastating). You can get a free sample at AllTheHumansAreSleeping.com.

John C.A. Manley

PS Please share this post with all your polar bear-loving friends and family members.

John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona, All The Humans Are Sleeping and other works of philosophical fiction that are "so completely engaging that you find yourself alternately laughing, gasping, hanging on for dear life." Get free samples of his stories by becoming a Blazing Pine Cone email subscriber.