looking for 1980's sci-fi short story about deadly air pollution
November 12, 2018 7:52 AM Subscribe
I'm reading (pirated? on Youtube anyway) audiobooks in Russian, and came upon an American story (translated into Russian) which I can't seem to find with a Google search. I'd like to find it in English. Author is William Powers and they title the story something like "Nothing To Breathe".
It's in a short story collection of American and Polish authors, which makes me think that the anthology was published in the Soviet Union and not in the authors' countries. They give a mid-1980's publication date for the anthology in the audio.
The story I'm looking for is by William Powers, is set in America, and has postapocalyptic and Cold War themes, which I'm guessing makes this the William Powers of the short story Allegory which has been discussed here before. It's title is translated as "Nothing to Breathe".
It's a story of the (near)end of civilization. A yellow cloud of deadly smog has engulfed most of the American cities and is growing. Citizens have responded by wearing gas masks in public (otherwise you die), installing energy-consuming air filters and other appliances in their buildings which ultimately contribute to the pollution problem, and driving from air-conditioned 'bubble' to 'bubble' with little regard to how their individual actions are contributing to the problem.
The heroes are the Observation Bureau (or something like that)- an agency tasked with measuring the height and spread of the cloud. The heroes attempt to warn Congress and the President that the only way to stop the disaster is to cut back on all modern electricity usage. The hitch is that the military arm of the government is attempting to suppress information on this disaster from leaking out to the rest of the world lest the Soviets and Chinese use it to attack a weakened US.
The pollution overwhelms all attempts at control, the electrical grid goes down, society collapses, marauding bands of criminals kill people over respirator cartridges, and a very small number of people are left alive a few months later when the cloud dissipates after industry has collapsed.
The story has some great descriptions of the yellow cloud of smog and pollution. Given what's been happening in San Francisco in the last few days as a result of the northern california fires, I've wanted to share it with friends but I can't even find in fo on the author. Anyone have ideas on where to look for this in ENglish?
incidentally if you speak Russian, this is the youtube audio of the anthology I'm talking about
It's in a short story collection of American and Polish authors, which makes me think that the anthology was published in the Soviet Union and not in the authors' countries. They give a mid-1980's publication date for the anthology in the audio.
The story I'm looking for is by William Powers, is set in America, and has postapocalyptic and Cold War themes, which I'm guessing makes this the William Powers of the short story Allegory which has been discussed here before. It's title is translated as "Nothing to Breathe".
It's a story of the (near)end of civilization. A yellow cloud of deadly smog has engulfed most of the American cities and is growing. Citizens have responded by wearing gas masks in public (otherwise you die), installing energy-consuming air filters and other appliances in their buildings which ultimately contribute to the pollution problem, and driving from air-conditioned 'bubble' to 'bubble' with little regard to how their individual actions are contributing to the problem.
The heroes are the Observation Bureau (or something like that)- an agency tasked with measuring the height and spread of the cloud. The heroes attempt to warn Congress and the President that the only way to stop the disaster is to cut back on all modern electricity usage. The hitch is that the military arm of the government is attempting to suppress information on this disaster from leaking out to the rest of the world lest the Soviets and Chinese use it to attack a weakened US.
The pollution overwhelms all attempts at control, the electrical grid goes down, society collapses, marauding bands of criminals kill people over respirator cartridges, and a very small number of people are left alive a few months later when the cloud dissipates after industry has collapsed.
The story has some great descriptions of the yellow cloud of smog and pollution. Given what's been happening in San Francisco in the last few days as a result of the northern california fires, I've wanted to share it with friends but I can't even find in fo on the author. Anyone have ideas on where to look for this in ENglish?
incidentally if you speak Russian, this is the youtube audio of the anthology I'm talking about
Best answer: The archive also has a photographic scan of that story, which is more readable than the computer-generated full text!
posted by moonmilk at 8:36 AM on November 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by moonmilk at 8:36 AM on November 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
Side note: there was no copyright legislation in the USSR until 1984, so all works published there until then can't be pirated by definition.
This won't apply to non-Soviet works, nor I assume to the work of voice actors. So I guess your YouTube series could be pirated in that respect.
posted by tel3path at 9:26 AM on November 12, 2018
This won't apply to non-Soviet works, nor I assume to the work of voice actors. So I guess your YouTube series could be pirated in that respect.
posted by tel3path at 9:26 AM on November 12, 2018
Response by poster: Yep, I put the (?) after "pirated" because I assume that copyright laws are different, or that youtube doesn't realize that these files fall under some kind of modern Russian copyright. The internet is FILLED with Russian audiobook files (both on youtube and on Russian bookseller websites and some dedicated audiobook sites). Recently when I've run out of Audible.com credits and am low on funds to buy more, Ive taken to looking for a Russian translation of whatever it is I want to read.
posted by twoplussix at 9:38 AM on November 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by twoplussix at 9:38 AM on November 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: sorry to threadsit. Is it possible this author is also this scientist?
https://www.amazon.com/William-T.-Powers/e/B001IC9C2G/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_8?qid=1542044440&sr=8-8
He doesn't seem to be well known as a science fiction author.
posted by twoplussix at 9:43 AM on November 12, 2018
https://www.amazon.com/William-T.-Powers/e/B001IC9C2G/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_8?qid=1542044440&sr=8-8
He doesn't seem to be well known as a science fiction author.
posted by twoplussix at 9:43 AM on November 12, 2018
It is definitely the same person. His archives are at Northwestern https://findingaids.library.northwestern.edu/repositories/6/resources/1279/collection_organization and the collection description says it contains a box of his science fiction writings.
Here's the listing for that novella https://findingaids.library.northwestern.edu/repositories/6/archival_objects/380102
posted by interplanetjanet at 10:16 AM on November 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
Here's the listing for that novella https://findingaids.library.northwestern.edu/repositories/6/archival_objects/380102
posted by interplanetjanet at 10:16 AM on November 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by the webmistress at 8:26 AM on November 12, 2018