The cryogenic freezing of the dead in hope of a eventual revival has long been the province of cranks and crazies. However, when two frozen mountain gorillas are successfully revived, cryogenics suddenly becomes a viable medical technology. The first humans are revived soon thereafter and though most of them have financial difficulties not to mention problems adjusting to the new world in which they find themselves, their successful revival nonetheless sparks a run on cryogenic freezing with unforeseen social and financial consequences…
This short story of 2300 words chronicles the cryogenics boom of the mid to late twenty-first century.
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Some background information:
Some background information: A History of the New Ice Age
- A History of the New Ice Age is a short story of 2300 words. This story is a digital premiere and has never been published previously.
- This story was written as part of the July short story challenge. The idea was to write a short story per day in July 2015.
- A History of the New Ice Age was inspired by one of Chuck Wendig’s writing prompts. The idea was to write a story incorporating two words spat out by a random word generator. The generator gave me the phrase “frozen servant”, which sparked a story idea about rich people having not just themselves, but also their servants cryogenically frozen. And yes, the parallels to the Egyptian pharaohs who also tried to take their worldly possessions (sometimes including loyal retainers) with them into the afterlife are intentional.
- I also tried to extrapolate the social and economic consequences that cryogenics as a viable method of beating death would have.
- The story itself takes the form of a factual article chronicling the timeline of a cryogenics boom in the mid to late twenty-first century.
- The fate of teen pop star Amber McQueen, whose revival is financed by a wealthy and elderly admirer who wants to marry her, was inspired by Will McIntosh‘s novella “Bridesicle” and his novel “Love Minus Eighty”.
- The cover is stock art by Tawng.