In Jeff VanderMeer’s ‘Absolution,’ climate adaptation meets cosmic horror

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Ten years after his celebrated “Southern Reach” trilogy, novelist Jeff VanderMeer is out with a surprise prequel.

“Absolution” tells the origin story of a mysterious zone called “Area X” that subsumes a coastal community modeled on the Florida panhandle.

While the surreal apparitions and strange beasts of “Absolution” are visions of cosmic horror, the supernatural world of Area X reflects the author’s real-world anxiety about climate change.

Here & Now’s Chris Bentley talks to VanderMeer.