Through the lives of university students, the novel provides an in-depth understanding of the complex interconnections of industry and environment that impact us globally and individually. In a book-within-a-book, Professor Katja Nickleby provides a comprehensive explanation of "Panarchy": collapsing social and ecological systems. Her "adaptive cycle" comprises rapid growth (r), conservation (K), release (O) and reorganization (a). Late-K denotes the point of vulnerability. The rising consciousness of the students, and threatening political and economic forces, empower them to defend local forests and the future of the community.
The students' activism makes the reader confront their own ability to react to issues. How far would you go to force leaders to change their policies? When your lives and homes are destroyed by escalating events, such as extreme weather, power failure, epidemics, fuel and food shortages - how do you rebuild a sustainable community that survives to the next generation?
Late-K Lunacy is disturbingly prophetic, and its complexity is mirrored in events round the world today. In the end the author is hopeful that communities will have the resiliency to rebuild in a world stripped of modernity.
