Learned about a new #scifi genre today - #SolarPunk
"Solarpunk stories take place in futures where humanity, technology, and nature live in harmony rather than in conflict."
TBH, it sounds a lot like #StarTrek which makes me think I will love this genre!
Who are the #authors in this genre?
https://www.tor.com/2021/09/30/the-solarpunk-future-five-essential-works-of-climate-forward-fiction/
@aehdeschaine @liztai I don't think of solarpunk as a fiction genre as much as an artistic aesthetic tbh
similar to steampunk, people thought it was a literary thing because of that one Sterling novel but the lasting influence was more about the art and design style that came out of it
@liztai Hey Elizabeth! Glad you found out about solarpunk, it's for sure a literary and aesthetic genre that is still growing.
I write fiction and non fiction about solarpunk and DIY articles about tech and how it intersects with the ecology and social change.
I wrote three solarpunk interactive short stories, Under the Array, Above the Crest, and To the Left of the Corner Store.
@liztai Solarpunk is just getting started, but I'm writing it as well as many others. I highly recommend Solarpunk Magazine to get a sampling of short works.
I have more recs on my website: https://susankayequinn.com/hopepunk-solarpunk
My Nothing is Promised series is near-future solarpunk (hopepunk climate fiction): https://susankayequinn.com/series/nothing-is-promised
@liztai I think of hopepunk as a broader term — I've written hopepunk that hasn't had anything to do with climate. Solarpunk is hopepunk that's specifically climate fiction... although there are some darker solarpunk stories that I would say aren't really hopepunk.
Glad to hear more folks are writing in these genres!
@liztai You might be interested in the hopepunk author panel I've organized — it's coming up next week! (Jan 24th 7pm EST, will be recorded)
Registration link: https://watertown-ma.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_TV9EwW_STMGGpdhtLlvfRA
Do you wish you felt more hopeful about the state of our world? Then you'll want to hear from Renan Bernardo, Brianna Castagnozzi, Susan Kaye Quinn, and T. K. Rex—they're writing hopepunk stories that challenge us to look up from our doomscrolling and envision a future filled with defiant optimism! About the Panelists: Renan Bernardo is a sci-fi and fantasy writer from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He has stories published in multiple languages and magazines, including Apex Magazine, Solarpunk Magazine, Podcastle, and Daily Science Fiction. Brianna Castagnozzi is the co-editor-in-chief of Solarpunk Magazine. Her work has been published in Stonesthrow Review, Shawangunk Review, Entropy, and Clarkesworld. Susan Kaye Quinn is an environmental engineer/rocket scientist turned speculative fiction author who now uses her PhD to invent cool stuff in books. She writes hopepunk climate-fiction full-time and believes being cozy/gentle/healing is radical and disruptive. Sue's hopepunk can be found in DreamForge magazine and Grist's Imagine 2200 contest. T. K. Rex is a science fiction and fantasy author of mostly British and Ashkenazi descent, raised by witches in the western states and currently pretending to be a Silicon Valley tech worker for purely research purposes and not at all because she still owes $40,000 in student loans. You can find her mostly non-cynical, mostly climate-themed stories in Strange Horizons, Asimov's, Reckoning, and elsewhere.
@liztai @susankayequinn Sounds cool. I just found out there's a #solarpunk genre and until never heard of #hopepunk. The original #punk was an act of rage against a dominant conformist establishment. It's kind of too bad that it now requires the equivalent just to have and demonstrate some hope for the future.
Do you have any links to your work?
@seldoncrisis @liztai Writing hopepunk, daring to have stories that aren't dystopias, that not only show but demand a better future, is definitely a defiant act!
You can find my works on my website — my hopepunk cli-fi series, Nothing is Promised, as well as my short fiction. And there's a page that talks more about hopepunk/solarpunk (if you're interested) including recs!
https://susankayequinn.com/
@liztai "The Actual Star" by Monica Byrne is also very good.
@liztai *waves*
It’s like Star Trek in a sense, but more like what Earth might be like in the Star Trek universe.
For a good quick intro to #solarpunk I recommend checking out the stories from the Imagine 2200 contest, especially “Seven Sisters” and “A Holdout in the Northern California Designated Wildcraft Zone”. https://grist.org/fix/imagine-2200-climate-fiction-2022/
For novels, A HALF-BUILT GARDEN by Ruthanna Emrys and THE FIFTH SACRED THING by Starhawk.
I like that genre and look forward to it.
@liztai @pospi @Dunstable @BrightFlame @orionkidder @sarenaulibarri @lastinnett @MellowTigger @caryn @overcaffeinatedsquirrel @PariMoonForest @susankayequinn @seldoncrisis @hydroponictrash @aehdeschaine @technomancy
Thanks for starting this thread. I'm curious to see people's recommendations for solarpunk and lunarpunk short stories.
@billadler
Lunarpunk: Myriad had a "Moonrise" flash fic edition out in Dec but it's for Patreon subscribers: https://www.patreon.com/posts/moonrise-myriad-75829843
Solarpunk: beyond the recs already in this thread, Foxhunt by Rem Wigmore, and
Arboreality by Rebecca Campbell (finalist for Philip K Dick award, 2023)
You all took part in a lunarpunk thread last month. In case you missed it, @solarpunkgnome is hosting a blog convo at Solarpunk Station on #spirituality, #lunarpunk, & #solarpunk. My essay is the first one up: https://solarpunkstation.com/2023/02/16/the-nonbinary-nature-of-solarpunk-lunarpunk/ More essays to follow by others!
@seldoncrisis @billadler @liztai @pospi @Dunstable @orionkidder @sarenaulibarri @lastinnett @MellowTigger @caryn @overcaffeinatedsquirrel @PariMoonForest @susankayequinn @hydroponictrash @aehdeschaine @technomancy
The fediverse succumbing to centralization .. a valid fear.
You don't happen to know about some elaborate text, discussing this issue and possibly comparing to scuttlebutt?
@essollteskalieren haha alas not so much. But I wish there was one?
Actually there would probably be many on SSB itself. If you search for #Planetary or "planetary social" you may uncover some good stuff, since they're the first commercial player on the network and have been met with some contention by decentralisation maximalists.
@liztai
The answer is 100% in the first paragraph of this article. Ursula K Le Guin, The Goddess of #SolarPunk.
Tatterdemalion by Sylvia Linsteadt comes to mind. She is such a good writer.
I will not read doomsday 💩 which is just Armageddon rehash. I had gotten away from SciFi altogether bc of that, but thanks for the reminder.
As someone who wants to get into the genre - where should I start?
@dan When I started writing hopepunk/solarpunk back in 2020, I blogged my way through discovering the genre. You might find that blog post series helpful: https://susankayequinn.com/2022/05/hopepunk-musings.html
Or my page on hopepunk/solarpunk with recs: https://susankayequinn.com/hopepunk-solarpunk
@liztai I... can't believe I haven't heard about ANY of the books on this list, considering I've been following the solarpunk subreddit. Very glad to have come across this!
If you or others you know might be interested in solarpunk comics, I'm 200 pages into one right now called Key to the Future's Fate!
(http://www.keytothefuturesfate.com/keytothefuturesfate/page-0/)
I'm also a huge fan of the series Song for Cantalagua!
(https://tapas.io/series/Cantalagua)
Book-wise, I'm looking forward to reading Psalm for the Wild-Built!
@liztai one of my favorites is Freedom (TM) by Daniel Suarez, I also recommend its prequel Daemon just to set up the story which is more of a... tech thriller? Or something? Not sure. But I love the vision of Freedom!
Also recommend LeGuin; The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas is a short story that will rend your heart. Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower series has the vibe of solarpunk even tho Sower is establishing it in the face of apocalyptic darkness. Excited to hear what you come across!
@liztai - I've just recently found out about this genre, too! And I'm happy to have found a more hopeful alternative than the cyberpunk and post-apoc I've consumed in the past (not that some of it isn't awesome - @GreatDismal - I've been a fan of your work for decades, but some days your handle is a little too on the nose).
Here's a list of recommended and likely good candidates that I've found (but not read, yet).
Ursula K LeGuin
Always Coming Home (1985)
The Dispossessed (1974)
Ernest Callenbach
Ecotopia (1975)
Alaya Dawn Johnson
The Summer Prince
Poul Anderson
Orion Shall Rise
Kim Stanley Robinson
Pacific Edge (1990)
New York 2140
Starhawk
The Fifth Sacred Thing (1993)
Nina Munteanu
A Diary in the Age of Water
Becky Chambers
Monk and Robot series
A Psalm for the Wild-Built (2021)
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy (2022)
Sylvia Linsteadt
Tatterdemalion
Anthology
Solarpunk: Ecological and Fantastic Stories in a Sustainable World (2012)
Wings of Renewal: A Solarpunk Dragons Anthology (2015)
Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation (2017)
Glass and Gardens (2018)
Octavia E Butler
Earthseed series
Parable of the Sower
@drewadwade @liztai @GreatDismal
There's also the Solarpunk Magazine that has some great issues: https://solarpunkmagazine.com Definitely worth the read!
Solarpunk is the main genre I write as well.
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