Looking for books with a solarpunk flavor. To start things off I'd suggest Chambers' "A Psalm for the Wild Built' and Doctorow's "Lost Cause."
Anyone have favorite or go-to books to suggest?
Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach
Always Coming Home by Ursula K. LeGuin (I'm currently reading this!)
The Dispossesed by Ursula K. LeGuin
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers
I read The Dispossessed in college an eon ago. I didn't see it as all that positive an outlook. But it has been a minute. After I posted this last night I noticed the literature tag and saw another Lit post that mentioned A Prayer. I hadn't realized that Chambers was writing it a series. Psalm was such a good self contained story. In fact, the main character reminded me a lot of Boxer from Animal Farm. Don't get me wrong, I was enthralled and read it straight through in what was one Hyperfocused setting, but I found it more heartbreaking than enticing. I'll have to give it a re-read.
The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
A Half Built Garden by Ruthanna Emerys
The Parable of the Sower and Parable of Talents by Octavia Butler
The Past is Red by Catherynne Valente
The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
This novel contains THE most harrowing description of a climate emergency I've ever read. It was visceral, and inescapable, and made me realize that things may seem bad now but they can get SO much worse. It's a weird book that isn't quite sure what it wants to be, but taken in parts and as ideas, it's amazing.
See a lot of my solapunk favorites. I'd also add:
- Gamechanger by L.X. Beckett
- Murder in the Tool Library by A.E. Marling
- Notes From the Burning Age by Claire North
And I can lay down a ton of short story collections if you're interested.
The Lost Cause is like most recent Doctorow output, a little TOO YA to be feel adult, and a little too cutesy to be really impactful. It's like Walkaway, but in extreme. Which sucks because the ideas it presents are valid, it's just he always packages them like he's re-writing Big Brother (one of his best works) and it comes off as hollow.
My list would be:
The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson
A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers
A Prayer for the Crown-shy by Becky Chambers
The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson
The Massive by Brian Wood (graphic novel series)
Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller
What is Social Ecology - Murray Bookchin One of the most well thought out models for bringing human civilization in line with the natural world. I’m surprised Bookchin doesn’t get that much discussion around here since the society he envisions is the definition of Solarpunk.
More praxis, highly recommend Community by Peter Block.
Some good recommendations here already so I'd just like to add The Future by Naomi Alderman--it specifically tackles a transition from the dystopian to the utopian.
Consolidating the recommendations and de-duping here.
Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach
Always Coming Home by Ursula K. LeGuin (I'm currently reading this!)
The Dispossesed by Ursula K. LeGuin
The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson
A Half Built Garden by Ruthanna Emerys
The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
Parable of Talents by Octavia Butler
The Past is Red by Catherynne Valente
A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers
Gamechanger by L.X. Beckett
Murder in the Tool Library by A.E. Marling
Notes From the Burning Age by Claire North
The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson
The Massive by Brian Wood (graphic novel series)
Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller
What is Social Ecology - Murray Bookchin
Community by Peter Block
The Future by Naomi Alderman
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