When research turns into storytelling with something meaningful at heart

When I started writing Victims of Hothouse Earth, I had honestly never thought about how much research I was doing along the way. For me, it was simply a natural part of the process – I wanted to understand the contexts my characters find themselves in, and I wanted to make sure the challenges they face felt believable.

It wasn’t until several reviewers began to point out that the books were “thoroughly researched” and that you “learn something without it feeling heavy,” that I realized just how much the research actually matters.

To test this, I decided to make a list of the sources I had used for the first three novels in the series. The result surprised even me: 32 books and 84 articles and reports form the foundation of my first three novels (the complete list can be found at the end of this article).

Knowing too much – and saying too much

One of my beta readers and fellow author, Christian Engkilde, once said to me:

“You know so much that you find it hard to keep quiet about it.”

That hit the mark. Because that is exactly my weak spot – I want to share everything I’ve learned, and it can easily become too much. Christian reminded me that I need to trust the reader to draw their own conclusions from what’s written. And he’s absolutely right. That’s why I constantly work on limiting the theoretical knowledge in my books and instead let it shine through dialogue, action, and visual descriptions.

When facts become fiction

I see it as a balancing act: On one hand, I want my stories to be exciting, human, and character-driven. On the other hand, I’m passionate about giving the reader insight into the many facets of the climate crisis. This is where the research does its quiet work in the background. The facts serve as the foundation, but the story is what drives the book forward.

That’s probably why several reviewers have said that you learn something along the way – without it feeling like sitting with a textbook. To me, that is the greatest compliment I can receive.

Why I do it

I don’t write climate novels to lecture, but because I believe stories can open eyes and create understanding in a way that dry facts rarely can. If the reader also comes away with new knowledge, that’s only a bonus.

And maybe that’s exactly where the magic happens: when research becomes storytelling.

This is my reading list for Victims of Hothouse Earth Volumes 1–3:

Books:

1. Bill McGuire: Hothouse Earth - an inhabitants guide

2. Dennison Berwick: Savages - The Life & Killing of the Yanomami

3. Tim Flannery: The Weather Makers - The history and future impact of climate change

4. Yuval Noah Harari: Sapiens - A Brief History of Humankind

5. Al Gore: An unpleasant thruth

6. James Lovelock: Gaia

7. James Lovelock: Revenge of Gaia

8. Ralf Heselhaus: Poison-Arrow Frogs

9. Jürgen Todenhöfer: My Journey into the Heart of Terror

10. Puk Damsgård: Do you see the Moon, Daniel

11. Magnus Bodin Hansen: Djævlen sover aldrig - mysteriet om latinamerikas mange mord

12. Marina Nemat: Prisoner of Tehran - a Memoir

13. Martin Williams: When the Sahara was green

14. Jason Hickel: Less is More - How degrowth will save the World

15. Jakob Sheikh: Vi tabte - Hvordan jihadismen besejrede Vesten og hvordan vi kommer videre som tabere

16. Jane Goodall & Douglas Abrams: The Book of Hope

17. Ulrike Hermann: The End of Capitalism: Why Growth and Climate Protection Are Incompatible — and How We Will Live in the Future

18. Elizabeth Kolbert: The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History

19. Robert Zola Christensen & Sebastian H. Mernild: Da kulden forsvandt: Beretninger fra klimafronten

20. Sebastian H. Mernild: Isbogen - Hvordan isen har formet vores verden og kommer til at forandre alt

21. Bent Jørgensen: Dyreskæbner

22. Arne Arp: Xingú

23. Mark J. Plotkin: The Amazon - What Everyone needs to know

24. Theresa Scavenius: Klimastaten - Om hvorfor klimakrisen ikke bliver løst - og hvad vi kan gøre ved det

25. Hakon Mielche: Amazonas

26. Ed Stafford: Walking the Amazon - 861 days

27. Dave Goulson: Silent Earth - Averting the Insect Apocalypse

28. Kristian Leth: Håb - Et forsvar for fremtiden

29. Solveig Roepstorff: Klimapsykologi

30. Bill Gates: How to avoid a Climate Disaster - The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs we need

31. Åsne Seierstad: The Bookseller of Kabul

32. Åsne Seierstad: A Hundred and One Days: A Baghdad Journal

Articles & reports:

1. Denise Slater: Water scarcity in Brazil - A Case Study (Marine Corps University Press)

2. Ben Turner: Tropical rainforests could get too hot for photosynthesis and die if climate crisis continues, scientists warn (Live Science)

3. Fred Pearce: The Upper Atmosphere Is Cooling, Prompting New Climate Concerns (Science)

4. Jonathan Watts: The Amazon effect_ how deforestation is starving São Paulo of water (The Guardian)

5. International Cryosphere Climate Initiative: State of the Cryosphere Report 2023

6. UN Habitat: Sao Paulo A tale of two cities 

7. Bernardo M. Flores et al: Critical transitions in the Amazon forest system (Nature)

8. River Blindness declines along Brazil - Venezuelan Border (www.cartercenter.org)

9. Regnskove i risiko for overophedning - kan miste evnen til at lave fotosyntese (www.videnskab.dk)

10. Niklas Asp Nielsen: Nyt atlas fra IPCC bryder klimaet ned i byggeklodser: Klimaforandringer berører hver en krog af kloden (www.videnskab.dk)

11. Mere metan i atmosfæren kan være tegn på, at Jordens klima er i gang med et alvorligt skifte (www.videnskab.dk) 

12. Lina M. Valencia, PhD: Harlequin toads - Jewels of the Tropics (www.rewild.org) 

13. Lost harlequin toads (www.rewild.org) 

14. Scott Mistler-Ferguson: Ipé Trees - The most expensive timber in Brazils Amazon (www.insightcrime.org) 

15. World Resources Institute: Help for São Paulo’s Complex Water Woes_ Protect and Restore Forests (www.wri.org) 

16. Fernanda Wenzel: Extreme drought pushes Amazon's main rivers to lowest-ever levels (https://news.mongabay.com) 

17. Elise Kjørstad: Dødelig varme og ekstremt nedbør: Sådan bliver verden, hvis temperaturen stiger med 3 grader, ifølge forskerne (www.videnskab.dk)

18. Juan Pratginestos: Climate change in the Amazon (www.wwf.org) 

19. Amnesty International: Indigenous People (www.amnesty.org)

20. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (www.iucnredlist.org) 

21. World Resources Institute: 3 Maps Help Explain São Paulo, Brazil’s Water Crisis (www.wri.org) 

22. ‘Verdens lunger’ er en myte: Skovbrandene i Amazonas er ødelæggende, men de udtømmer ikke Jorden for ilt (www.videnskab.dk)

23. Nick Cunningham: Unrest Brewing In Oil Producing Countries (The Fuse)

24. Udenrigministeriet: Økonomiske udviklingstendenser i Mellemøsten og Nordafrika

25. Anne Marie Mosbech: Minitema Algeriet - Haves: rig oliestat - Søges: Ny teknologi (Udenrigsministeriet)

26. Thomas Jasrawi: FN’s Menneskerettighedsråd åbner for at anerkende klimaflygtninge (GlobalNyt)

27. Virginia Mura: Living at the edge of the world: Stories of Sahrawi refugees (www.africaportal.org)

28. BBC: Moria migrants: Fire destroys Greek camp leaving 13,000 without shelter

29. UNHCR Danmark: Syriske flygtninge lider under ekstreme vejrforhold (FNs Flygtningeorganisation)

30. Ben Harner: How to Make Sea Salt (www.instructables.com) 

31. How did African tribal people make clay pots? (www.gateway-africa.com) 

32. Ritzau: Algeriet efterlader 13.000 migranter i Sahara (Berlingske)

33. DW: Climate change allows terrorists to thrive (www.dw.com) 

34. Globalis: Al-Qaeda (www.globalis.dk) 

35. Emily Boulter: Algeria’s battle against terror (Global risk insights)

36. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica: Boko Haram

37. Kangdim Dingji Maza: Challenges of Combating Terrorist Financing in the Lake Chad Region:  A Case of Boko Haram (SAGE Open)

38. Camilla Wass: Flygtninge fra Afrika strander i Maghreb (Dansk - arabisk partnerskabsprogram)

39. Loveday Morris et al: Found at an Islamic State training camp: bunk beds, weapons manuals, steroids (The Washington Post)

40. Sebastian Stryhn Kjeldtoft et al: Frankrigs årelange kamp mod militant islamisme (Information)

41. From Brazil to Spain, how Algeria’s port of Oran fits into the cocaine drug trade (www.theafricareport.com) 

42. Christina Anagnostopoulos: Islamic State : the Funding Dilemma (Le Journal International)

43. Globalis: Islamisk Stat (www.globalis.dk)

44. CNN: Kidnapped captain told ransoms may go to Boko Haram

45. Kvinden i Koranen (www.islamstudie.dk)

46. Amnesty International: Nigeria: Boko Haram brutality against women and girls needs urgent response – new research (www.amnesty.org)

47. Shia Waves: Nigerian women narrate details of kidnapping and torture in the Boko Haram terrorist camps (www.shiawaves.com) 

48. Signe Marie Cold-Ravnkilde: Sårene fra Malis krig bløder stadig (GlobalNyt)

49. Norman T. Lihou: Terrorist Indoctrination Turning People Into Killers (LinkedIn Post)

50. Mark Townsend: The core Isis manual that twisted Islam to legitimise barbarity (The Observer)

51. Hassan Hassan: The secret world of Isis training camps  ruled by sacred texts and the sword (The Observer)

52. Hamoon Khelghat-Doost: Women of the Caliphate: the Mechanism for Women’s Incorporation into the Islamic State (JSTOR)

53. World Meteorological Organization: 2020 on track to be one of three warmest years on record (www.wmo.int) 

54. Damian Carrington: Avoid Gulf stream disruption at all costs, scientists warn (The Guardian)

55. Peter Møller: Boblende søer, et kæmpe hul i jorden og en hær af isbjørne - her er klimaet ved at ændre verden (TV2)

56. Marina Romanello et al: The 2021 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: code red for a healthy future (The Lancet)

57. Kristoffer Lassen Jørgensen: El Niño på trapperne: Kan have stået bag global hungersnød for over 100 år siden (Ingeniøren)

58. Emilie Aagaard et al: Forskere overraskede: Ny El Niño kan være på vej (DR)

59. Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research: From dry to wet: Rainfall might abruptly increase in Africa's Sahel (Science Daily)

60. World Meteorological Organization: Global temperatures set to reach new records in next five years (www.wmo.int)  

61. John Abraham: Global warming is intensifying El Niño weather (The Guardian)

62. Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research: Gulf Stream System at its weakest in over a millennium (www.pik-potsdam.de) 

63. Ruth Mottram: Hvor meget og hvor hurtigt stiger havet? Hvor meget og hvor hurtigt stiger havet? Hvor meget og hvor hurtigt stiger havet (www.videnskab.dk)

64. Illustreret Videnskab: Hvordan opstår El Niño?

65. Trine Villumsen Berling: Hvordan undgår vi en europæisk energikrise i fremtiden? (DIIS)

66. Kristian Sjøgren: Hvornår kommer den næste istid? (www.videnskab.dk)

67. IPCC Report Chapter 3: Sub-Saharan Africa has experienced the dramatic consequences of climate extremes becoming more frequent and more intense over the past decades

68. Rolf Haugaard Nielsen et al: Kollaps af Golfstrømmen kan gøre Norden til en dybfryser (www.videnskab.dk)

69. Francesco S.R. Pausata, et al: The Greening of the Sahara: Past Changes and Future Implications (Cell Press)

70. Dan Shepard: Global warming: severe consequences for Africa (Africa Renewal)

71. UNHCR: Climate change and disaster displacement (FNs Flygtningeorganisation)

72. Kylie Andrews: What causes an ice age and what would happen if the Earth endured another one? (ABC Science www.abc.net.au)

73. Cheryl Katz: Why is an ocean current critical to world weather losing steam? Scientists search the Arctic for answers (National Geographic)

74. UN Environment: World’s governments plan to produce 120% more fossil fuels by 2030 than can be burned under 1.5°C warming (www.unenvironment.org) 

75. Cameroon Culture (www.africanweddingtraditions.com) 

76. Cameroon (www.everyculture.com)

77. Leon Usigbe: Drying Lake Chad Basin gives rise to crisis (Africa Renewal)

78. Efik mythology (www.religion.wikia.org) 

79. Fula people (www.wikipedia.org) 

80. HubPages: Fulani Marriage: The Fulani Tribal Marriage ceremony (www.discover.hubpages.com) 

81. World Wildlife Fund: Lake Chad flooded savanna (www.worldwildlife.org)

82. Rasmus G. Svaneborg: »Jeg kan efter 20 års forskning hverken be- eller afkræfte, at hekse findes« (Information)

83. Musgum, Mulwi in Cameroon (www.joshuaproject.com) 

84. Habitat info: Saving space for Africa’s vultures (www.savageandgray.co.uk)