🌞 Welcome to a future Earth where the Sun's on a never-ending high and plants have taken over every nook and cranny. Imagine a world where all animals (except for social insects and a few human tribes) are just a memory. That's the crazy, plant-eat-plant world of HOTHOUSE by Brian Aldiss .
Publication Details:
Author: Brian Aldiss
Genre: Science Fiction
Publisher: Faber and Faber
First Published: 1962 in the UK
Awards: 1962 Hugo Award for Best Short Fiction
The Plot Thickens:
🌳 Humans are hanging on in the canopy of a giant banyan tree — talk about treehouse living! They make their move to the Moon thanks to some massive spider-like plants called Traversers. On the Moon, they become the 'Flymen,' planning to kidnap Earth kids for survival.
💥 Along the way, Toy’s tribe faces all sorts of wild threats, from parasitic trees to a Siren-like creature. Gren, Toy’s heir, even goes full symbiote with a sentient fungus called a morel. They meet a prophetic fish (yep, you read that right), and just as things heat up (literally), the Sun’s getting ready to wipe the slate clean.
Themes to Chew On:
Survival in a Green Hell 🌿
Evolution Gone Wild 🧬
Symbiotic Relationships 🌱🧠
Critical Reception:
Mixed Bag: While James Blish wasn’t feeling the science, Floyd C. Gale thought it was a mind-blowing spectacle.
Legacy:
🚀 Inspired the Gamma World RPG
📖 Transformed into the comic Hom by Carlos Giménez
Ready to brave the Hothouse? This tale’s got it all: adventure, danger, and a whole lot of green!
Our Pick
Hothouse Hardcover – January 1, 2022
The Sun is Going Nova...And in the boughs of the huge banyan tree that covers one face of the Earth, millions of years hence, the last remnant of humanity battle for survival with huge carnivorous plants and grotesque insect life...That steaming infernal forest and its fantastic denizens are powerfully visualised. It is a work of genuine creative imagination - Kingsley Amis, The Observer A real work of art - Daily Telegraph
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