So glad to see another optimistic climate novel coming! For a while, Steve and I were feeling very lonely. Our book, Fairhaven - A Novel of Climate Optimism, is usually paired with Ministry for the Future by KSR, which is great of course, but the latter is a very grim read. Looking forward to seeing more from you! https://habitatpress.com/fairhaven/
So on point, Solitaire 👏 can’t wait to read Godstorm as well.
As someone who’s been converted to this school of thought, I’ve been grappling with another question: which sci-fi should we be reading and prioritising today?
I’ve been jamming with the idea of a 2x2 matrix that maps sci-fi along a 'dystopian vs. utopian' axis, and a 'normalising vs. critical' axis. I thought this framework would be a useful way to distinguish between dystopias that collapse into doom-porn vs. those that imagine resistance and reform, and ‘lazy’ utopias that feel like complacent fantasies, vs. those that offer practical imagination (e.g. the ambiguous utopia).
It also acknowledges the merits of different sub-genres of sci-fi, like cli-fi but also those speculative works focused on justice, power and identity, like Le Guin's work.
Would love to know what you think of this framework.
Hah! Great minds think alike. I played with a similar one years ago (around the time Breitbart was attacking me for writing about sci-fi) - but my Y axis was ‘journey’ and ‘destination’ on if the story set out HOW the good/bad future was reached or just started from that reality.
The research tends to suggest though that it doesn’t matter WHAT we read, more that we live in imagination. A romance or mystery novel does that as well as sci-fi methinks.
Thank you for kind words about Godstorm - I hope you enjoy it 🤩
Oh snap! 🧠 I can see why ‘journey vs. destination’ is a powerful framing. Lends itself well to exploring change from a character-driven lens, like with the hero’s journey.
Fascinating that genre doesn’t matter as such. I guess what I find special about sci-fi is that it’s both imagination and speculative planning. I like that it immerses us in a controlled environment and plays with various macro drivers of change, naturally overlapping with strategic foresight.
My dad printed out the Breitbart article and hung it in the loo - he said if folks like that were attacking me, then I must be doing something right :-)
I wholeheartedly agree! As I work on my own first novel, a very personal tale about defeating what seemed to be a set of insurmountable obstacles, I find myself gaining a deeper understanding of how story is so much of what we are. Narrative is the key to saving the world. I’m very much convinced of that.
I’m reading Chistopher Brooker’s “The Seven Basic Plots” at the moment and finding it incredible. I highly recommend it if you’ve not read it already.
So glad to see another optimistic climate novel coming! For a while, Steve and I were feeling very lonely. Our book, Fairhaven - A Novel of Climate Optimism, is usually paired with Ministry for the Future by KSR, which is great of course, but the latter is a very grim read. Looking forward to seeing more from you! https://habitatpress.com/fairhaven/
Thanks Jan - I've been compiling a list of climate fiction - there's a lot out there! Fairhaven is definitely on the list.
Also this of course! https://climate-fiction.org/
This is a great resource (although, as usual, almost all of them are very gloomy): https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/key-books-climate-change-niall-enright-ma-cantab-fei-cem-vsele/
So on point, Solitaire 👏 can’t wait to read Godstorm as well.
As someone who’s been converted to this school of thought, I’ve been grappling with another question: which sci-fi should we be reading and prioritising today?
I’ve been jamming with the idea of a 2x2 matrix that maps sci-fi along a 'dystopian vs. utopian' axis, and a 'normalising vs. critical' axis. I thought this framework would be a useful way to distinguish between dystopias that collapse into doom-porn vs. those that imagine resistance and reform, and ‘lazy’ utopias that feel like complacent fantasies, vs. those that offer practical imagination (e.g. the ambiguous utopia).
It also acknowledges the merits of different sub-genres of sci-fi, like cli-fi but also those speculative works focused on justice, power and identity, like Le Guin's work.
Would love to know what you think of this framework.
Hah! Great minds think alike. I played with a similar one years ago (around the time Breitbart was attacking me for writing about sci-fi) - but my Y axis was ‘journey’ and ‘destination’ on if the story set out HOW the good/bad future was reached or just started from that reality.
The research tends to suggest though that it doesn’t matter WHAT we read, more that we live in imagination. A romance or mystery novel does that as well as sci-fi methinks.
Thank you for kind words about Godstorm - I hope you enjoy it 🤩
Oh snap! 🧠 I can see why ‘journey vs. destination’ is a powerful framing. Lends itself well to exploring change from a character-driven lens, like with the hero’s journey.
Fascinating that genre doesn’t matter as such. I guess what I find special about sci-fi is that it’s both imagination and speculative planning. I like that it immerses us in a controlled environment and plays with various macro drivers of change, naturally overlapping with strategic foresight.
Also Breitbart can do one 🗑️
My dad printed out the Breitbart article and hung it in the loo - he said if folks like that were attacking me, then I must be doing something right :-)
I wholeheartedly agree! As I work on my own first novel, a very personal tale about defeating what seemed to be a set of insurmountable obstacles, I find myself gaining a deeper understanding of how story is so much of what we are. Narrative is the key to saving the world. I’m very much convinced of that.
I’m reading Chistopher Brooker’s “The Seven Basic Plots” at the moment and finding it incredible. I highly recommend it if you’ve not read it already.
Congratulations Nico! What a journey 🤩 I do love the Seven Basic Plots. And I’d recommend Story Genius by Lisa Cron if you haven’t found her yet!