(The novella is as cheap as I can make it. Amazon won't allow it to go up for free on a permanent basis.)
Solarpunk is a relatively new branch of sci-fi. It's a hopeful counterpoint to the constant dystopia we see in fiction now. It's a sci-fi subculture that envisions a world where not only do we survive Climate Collapse, but build something beautiful in the process. Something that focuses less on controlling resources, and more on creating them, in ways that are personal, creative, and good for the whole world.
What I really love about Solarpunk is that the term itself seems to have evolved organically from multiple sources. The whole subculture is based around the idea that people can succeed on their own, without a huge infrastructure sucking the earth dry, just for people to have a chance. Solarpunk is a commitment to the idea that you can have sci-fi level tech alongside home farms and handmade clothes, and have both be beautiful and vital.
I knew I wanted my next novel to be part of this new genre, but I had never written anything like it before. As a result, I created this novella. It's something of a prototype for a future novel-length story; where a young woman is forced to leave a mass produced dystopian city, and instead embrace creativity, community, and joy with a Solarpunk community. Three things that are running all too low, both in her world, and her own.
The big question in any speculative sci-fi is: How far to take it? When Star Trek TNG came out in 1987, they bragged that a 24th Century Starship had a Two Terabyte computer. I have something five times that size sitting on my desk right now. So for this story; I elected to use technology that’s already available. You will find links in the story, that reference what's already being used.
As it is set in the future; you can assume that there have been improvements and innovations in all of them. What’s experimental today can be commercially available a generation later; and successfully homemade by skilled amateurs a generation after that. But the technology involved has already gone beyond the ‘proof of concept’ stage; and I have provided links to demonstrate.
The point of this story is to demonstrate what could be done. Solarpunk doesn't need a 'magic wand' technology to be invented first.
(Copyright Matt Stephens 2020. Cover Image By Canva)