The Nitrogen Fix (Magill’s Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature)
At a glance:
- Author: Harry Clement Stubbs
- First Published: 1980
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Science fiction—cautionary
- Time of Work: About 4000
- Setting: Near Boston, Massachusetts
- Genres: Long fiction, Science fiction
- Subjects: North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Future, New England, Boston, Agriculture, Bioengineering or biotechnology, Environment or environmental health, Aliens, space, Massachusetts
- Locales: Boston, MA
The Plot
Set in the Blue Hill area near Hal Clement’s home, this novel recounts the effects of catastrophic changes in the environment after two thousand years of scientific tinkering with genetic engineering in order to increase the number and quality of nitrogen compounds. The result is a major energy crisis. By the time of the novel, the process has produced large concentrations of nitric acid in the ocean and numerous new compounds that behave unpredictably and explosively. The only native life species that has survived on Earth is a remnant of nomadic humans who must...
[The entire page is 669 words long]
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