By Dan Bloom
CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan — Richard Friedman, an Ohio man who uses some of his free time to pen warnings about climate change issues, is the author of a novel, Escape from Canamith, and while it’s part sci fi and fantasy, it also fits neatly into the rising new genre of climate fiction, also dubbed “cli fi.”
The facts he presents in a PR package are powerful: ”Every passing minute, at least 51 acres of tropical forests are destroyed; well over 50 tonnes of fertile soil are washed or blown off crop lands; more than 35, 000 barrels of oil are consumed and conservatively, humans add 12, 000 tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. To think that these grave statistics occur every sixty seconds on planet Earth and that most of them have changed for the worse, leaves agitated concerns as to whether the Earth has not reached an advanced state of dystopia.”
So with Escape to Canamith: Templeton’s Ark, this Ohio mensch sets his sights on waking up humanity. It’s a well thought-out story, with settings and dialogue that are sharp. In addition to being an entertaining read, it’s tale of heroism about the bond of family and the will to survive. Bestseller? Not yet, but Friedman put his heart into the novel and a second one is on the way, too, he told the San Diego Jewish World in a recent email.
Friedman, as I learned from our online conversation, is not only is a committed writer, he is also a humorist of sorts. I asked him a few questions about his life in Ohio, as a married man with children (MMWC), and he told me a few stories.
“I met my wife on Yom Kippur in 1985,” he said. “Don’t tell the rabbi, but we both both left our seats when the sermon started. We were the only two adults walking around…the two of us and a bunch of 13 year old kids. Still married, so I guess I’m a good listener.”
Richard’s day job to pay the bills?
“I own a business that monitors people on GPS tracking for the court system. We keep track of them and report back to the court if they screw up,” he said. “We also install breathalyzers in the cars for people with too many DUIs. The client must pass a breath test before the car will start. I meet a lot of bizarre people, as you can imagine. It’s a nice business, but it’s not ‘get-rich money’. In my own little way, I’m keeping drunk drivers off the road. I like to say that I’m saving Ohioans during the day, and the rest of the world at night.
“At night is when I head to the basement and write,” he explained. “My wife was kind enough to give me twenty square feet near the furnace to write my novels.”
Climate change is something that deeply concerns Friedman.
“I feel strongly about it as a real threat, and even more so than the pollution that has already destroyed so much of our world. We poison the water, the air, the ground, it’s horrible. I wanted to write about it, and years ago thought of an ecological story with a Twilight Zone‘ style ending. Actually, I thought of the ending first, then wrote the novel. The book was a labor of love. No matter how many copies I sell, the book is done.”
Writing a novel is not a piece of cake, Friedman said. “It was a challenge to complete the book,” he said. “It took about four years before it was finished. First a first draft, then a second draft, then I found an editor who helped me fix the manuscript, then another re-write, then I tried — in vain — to get a literary agent, and finally I self-published the book a year ago.”
“What a thrill it was to see my book published, I must tell you,” he added, noting: ”Outside the birth of our kids, probably the greatest moment of my life when that book went on Amazon in the middle of the night. A big storm rolled through northeast Ohio as the book hit the internet. It was like a sign from Mother Nature telling me that I had done good.”
“I’ve written a second cli fi novel now, too, but it’s not published yet. It was recently edited and I will try to find an agent who will like it enough to get it published in the traditional way. This time, for the second book, instead of a Rod Serling twist, it’s a time travel story.”
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Bloom is Taiwan bureau chief for San Diego Jewish World as well as an inveterate web surfer who develops many stories via Internet correspondence. He may be contacted at dan.bloom@sdjewishworld.com