Solarpunk: Short Stories from Many Futures

by Francesco Verso (Editor)

A new, collectable anthology of futurist reads, featuring solarpunk stories to give a hope that empowers individuals and communities to work together for a better future.

In this near future anthology, Solarpunk explores the many ways individuals and resilient groups can fight gentrification, expropriation, abuse and loss of identity, starting within local communities, ultimately to embrace the whole world.

Solarpunk traces a path, rough and tortuous, towards a change now perceived by many as a necessity. “Nobody will give us the future” – seem to say these short stories edited by Future Fiction's Francesco Verso. Solarpunk brings stories without borders, from across the Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, the UK and USA. Authors are Jerri Jerreat, Ken Liu, Thomas Badlan, Ciro Faienza, Brenda Cooper, Renan Bernardo, Jennifer L. Rossman, Sarena Ulibarri, Gustavo Bondoni, Lucie Lukacovicova, Ingrid Garcia, Andrew Dana Hudson and D.K. Mok.

The Flame Tree Beyond and Within short story collections bring together tales of myth and imagination by modern and contemporary writers, carefully selected by anthologists, and sometimes featuring short stories from a single author. Overall, the series presents a wide range of diverse and inclusive voices with myth, folkloric-inflected short fiction, and an emphasis on the supernatural, science fiction, the mysterious and the speculative. The books themselves are gorgeous, with foiled covers, printed edges and published only in hardcover editions, offering a lifetime of reading pleasure.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Climate Change, Solarpunk, Climate Change Fiction, Anthologies

Kindle Edition

Expected publication July 1, 2027

About the author

Francesco Verso (Bologna, 1973) is a multiple-award Science Fiction writer and editor. He has published: Antidoti umani, e-Doll, Nexhuman, Bloodbusters, Futurespotting and I camminatori (made of The Pulldogs and No/Mad/Land). Nexhuman and Bloodbusters have been published in Italy, US, UK and China. I camminatori will be published by Flame Tree Press as The Roamers in Spring 2023. He works as editor of Future Fiction, scouting and translating the best SF from 12 languages and more than 30 countries. He’s the Honorary Director of the Fishing Fortress SF Academy of Chongqing. He may be found online at www.futurefiction.org.

Reviews

[Sage Agee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review forthcoming in the Spring issue of Earth Island Journal ✨

[Joshua · Rating 3 out of 5]

A real mixed bag (as expected for an anthology).

The first set of stories felt more like dystopian stories with renewable energy than what I’d call Solarpunk.

The last set were much more Solarpunk. But some of them were also some of the worst stories I’ve ever read in my life.

The Spiral Ranch was fun and captured the feeling of the setting well, as did Drawing the Line and especially the Lighthouse Keeper. As an entomologist and arachnologist I appreciated The Spider and the Stars, although I felt like the story could have done with a lot more time in the oven.

Some of the stories felt more like treatises from the writers, and I usually agreed with their points but felt that the actual story was lacking. Oil and Ivory was one; Have Space Bike, Will Travel was awful.

Kind of confused at the way that anarchocapitalist ideas like bitcoin are said to be representative of Solarpunk in the intro and in Byzantine Empathy. Feels counter to what Solarpunk is in my mind.

[cap · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wish I could rate this higher, but a lot of these stories were not up my alley — while all were written in (mostly) competent prose, many seemed focused more on futuristic sci-fi ideas than on character, which made it tough for me to connect. Highlights include Ciro Faienza's 'The Soma Earth' and Andrew Dana Hudson's 'The Lighthouse Keeper'. Most of the others, like Ken Liu's 'Byzantine Empathy', Renan Bernardo's 'Anticipation of Hollowness', Jennifer Lee Rossman's 'Oil and Ivory', Francesco Verso's 'The Maestro of Small Things', and Ingrid Garcia's 'Have Space Bike, Will Travel' are not skeptical enough of science and technology for my taste, and often (with the exception of Liu's and Bernardo's stories) have perfect and therefore uninteresting protagonists who lack significant emotional journeys.

[Victoria Gettinger]

Too preachy

[Donna Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

To be reviewed in BSFA Review.

[Mihai M · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

some stories were a good solid 4, but some were genuinely awful writing (sorry but true).