Panic! In The Winter

Remember readers? I don't mean people who read, I mean those books we were given for English class in elementary school. They were filled with a selection of what I now realize were really short stories.

One time, around grade seven or eight, we did a brief unit on science fiction, using the four or five stories in our reader's sci-fi chapter. I loved science fiction, but that was a little awkward to me. Most of my English teachers thought Stephen King was the epitome of science fiction. And the selection of SF stories in the readers was never good. It's hard to write science fiction in such a short form, and the editors of the reader were constrained by the need to keep it accessible to young people who may not be familiar with the tropes of the genre. And in our case, there's the further constraint of finding Canadian short science fiction.

In one story, I don't really remember anything about it, except one line.  It was a throw-away reference to the fact that there were very few wooden items in the home of the protagonist, because they were sacrificed in "the panic winter of '96." (I may be wrong on the year, but it was some time in what was then the future, but is now the past.) That line bugged me for a variety of reasons that I couldn't articulate at the time. But I'll try now.

First of all, it seems to be a betrayal of sci-fi principles. Contrary to non-fans, SF isn't really techno-utopian, and indeed, is open to the possibilities of science and technology not overcoming challenges, or even being the challenge that does us in. But envisioning humanity being sent into disaster by bad weather? That just seemed silly and unrealistic, like a non-SF writer accustomed to historical fiction would resort to.

But worse, the line is just so damn Canadian. It's been observed that Canadian literature is centred around (some would say contained by) the idea of survival against the elements. This seemed to be the most grievous example possible. Even in a science fiction story set in the future, they found a way to fit survival in as a theme.

Of course, about ten years later, there was the ice storm in Quebec that crippled the power supply for days in the dead of winter, and forcing millions to find improvised ways of getting heat.

Then I was just walking through Victoria Park here in Kitchener. With the weather warming up, crews are getting to the work of cleaning up the damage from this year's ice storm. Seeing the trees that have been removed or cut back, I'm only now realizing the extent of the damage. So, although I have not been pushed to burning my furniture for warmth, I guess a severe winter storm can have a lasting impact on even our modern world.  My apologies to you, Canadian science fiction author I don't remember the name of.