Paulo Bacigalupi
One of my favorite futurist authors. This novel is a near-future foretelling of life after the water collapse in the Southwest U.S. We are introduced to a world where Texas has collapsed and the massive refugee exodus has resulted in states closing their borders to any travel. California has become the political behemoth, primarily because it has senior water rights to the Colorado river, and the economy to support isolation. Las Vegas has a super-aggressive manager who is protecting their water rights, and has at her disposal the 'Water Knives' of the title as enforcers. In this world, Phoenix becomes the proxy battle ground between California and Vegas. What is particularly interesting is the world created by Bacigalupi is one that can be envisioned as realistic in the next decade. There are no futuristic weapons, or sci-fi miracles. Instead, this is a novel about human nature and the decisions that people make under duress. It is also interesting that there are no solutions here. This is not a cautionary tale, designed to show how poor decisions by people led to a problems that could be avoided. Instead it is a story of fait accompli. The fact that already too many people live in the desert of the southwest, and are already overusing water from aquifers that were filled tens of thousands of years ago, will inevitably lead to the water scarce situation described in this novel. The inevitability is what makes this both engaging and terrifying as a current resident of the Southwest.
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