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Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation by Brontë Christopher Wieland, Phoebe Wagner
neblig's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
A anthology of solarpunk works. I knew that solarpunk often means to hope, but these stories showed the wide range of hope in the face of disaster - or even in a final end (such as the last story).
Overall a great inspiration to read more solarpunk, and to take direct action in your community and local environment right now!
Overall a great inspiration to read more solarpunk, and to take direct action in your community and local environment right now!
elliel_nook's review against another edition
I had to return it to the library before I was able to finish it. It was an ILL. It's so good though!
rubybastille's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This was my first time reading cli-fi or solarpunk and it was a pretty solid and diverse introduction. I was surprised by the level of “punk” in solarpunk, but then as Audre Lorde put it, “the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.”
I would like to have seen more stories that imagine a healthy environment accomplished through human intervention, more in line with the definitions of solarpunk, as opposed to the mostly postapocalyptic stories about a post-environmental-crisis Earth and the struggle to repair it. I associate solarpunk with hope, and not very many of these stories left me feeling hopeful.
Highlights for me were the pieces by C. Samuel Rees, Tyler Young, Chloe N. Clark, Maura Lydon, Sara Norja, and A. C. Wise.
I would like to have seen more stories that imagine a healthy environment accomplished through human intervention, more in line with the definitions of solarpunk, as opposed to the mostly postapocalyptic stories about a post-environmental-crisis Earth and the struggle to repair it. I associate solarpunk with hope, and not very many of these stories left me feeling hopeful.
Highlights for me were the pieces by C. Samuel Rees, Tyler Young, Chloe N. Clark, Maura Lydon, Sara Norja, and A. C. Wise.
austinbeeman's review against another edition
4.0
Sunvault is a collection that seems designed to introduce and promote a new subgenre of science fiction - Solarpunk. A reaction to the negativity and dystopianism of much of modern SciFi, Solarpunk tries to present positive view of the future. To quote the forward by Andrew Dincher.
SF that examines the possibility of a future in which currently emerging movements in society and culture such as the green movement, the Black Lives Matter movement, and certain aspect of Occupy Wall Street coalesce to create a more optimistic future in a more just world.
I don’t know how well these stories fall into that mold. Certainly some of them do, but many do appear to still be dystopias. Also the collection is generally positive, but doesn’t really have any exceptional stories and many that I have rated “Good” barely cross that threshold.
A few of the best are: Last Chance by Tyler Young, A Catalogue of Sunlight at the End of the World by A. C. Wise, and Pop and the CFT by Brandon Crilly.
Note: The table of contents lists art works and poetry. I have not included those works for review, because I don’t consider myself qualified to rate them in any meaningful way.
Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation is rated 70%.
11 good / 6 average / 3 poor.
The Boston Hearth Project by T.X. Watson
Good. A Shadowrun-Cyberpunk style action tale of a crew that occupies an event center to protect the homeless from winter.
Speechless Love by Yilun Fan, trans. S. Qiouyi Lu
Good. A gentle love story with a twist. Two people in their own floating pods connect around congee and Chinese culture.
Strandbeest Dreams by Lisa M. Bradley and José M. Jimenez
Good. An unconventional mixture of poetry and prose detailing the technological hunt for an animal.
Teratology by C. Samuel Rees
Good. In the future, women go out fishing, looking for genetic abnormalities, and quietly commenting on the state of the world.
Eight Cities by Iona Sharma
Poor. No memories of this story. Nothing I recall
Dust by Daniel José Older
Average. A gender-fluid character has a connection to an asteroid.
The Death of Pax by Santiago Belluco
Average. Story that posits giant kaiju-like monsters as humanities future, but people are still people.
Last Chance by Tyler Young
Good. A wonderful and wrenching tale of children prepared to save the world from destruction. One of my favorites in the collection.
The Desert, Blooming by Lev Mirov
Good. A detailed and exciting story about what ecological reconstruction might look like.
The Trees Between by Karyn L Stecyk
Average. Another rebuilding the environment story. This time focuses around trees and seismic activity.
Boltzmann Brain by Kristine Ong Muslim
Average. A series of updates from a Scandinavian Global Seed Bank.
The Road to the Sea by Lavie Tidhar
Good. A beautifully written story of a child and mother who voyage to take a look at the sea.
The Reset by Jaymee Goh
Good. An ingenious method of almost-time-travel is applied with dramatic disruption to every person on earth.
Pop and the CFT by Brandon Crilly
Good. A dystopian story about ecological taxes applies to families after the death of a loved one.
You and Me and Deep Dark Sea by Jess Barber
Poor. A man returns to an ecologically destroyed California Coast and finds new life and love.
Thirstlands by Nick Wood
Average. A journalist in a water-poor future Africa, struggles to balance security and his relationships.
Solar Child by Camille Meyers
Good. A small scientific outpost, afloat on the ocean and beset by danger, hosts an very wealthy visitor. And genetically enginnered pterodactyls.
The Colors of Money by Nisi Shawl
Average. Spies and family betrayal admit a future Zanzibar.
The Herbalist by Maura Lydon
Poor. One character buys basil from another character?
A Catalogue of Sunlight at the End of the World by A. C. Wise
Good. A great ending to this collection. A man writes love letters to his deceased wife as the rest of his family - and the world - leaves a dying earth on a generational starship. Heart warming and tragic at the same time.
SF that examines the possibility of a future in which currently emerging movements in society and culture such as the green movement, the Black Lives Matter movement, and certain aspect of Occupy Wall Street coalesce to create a more optimistic future in a more just world.
I don’t know how well these stories fall into that mold. Certainly some of them do, but many do appear to still be dystopias. Also the collection is generally positive, but doesn’t really have any exceptional stories and many that I have rated “Good” barely cross that threshold.
A few of the best are: Last Chance by Tyler Young, A Catalogue of Sunlight at the End of the World by A. C. Wise, and Pop and the CFT by Brandon Crilly.
Note: The table of contents lists art works and poetry. I have not included those works for review, because I don’t consider myself qualified to rate them in any meaningful way.
Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation is rated 70%.
11 good / 6 average / 3 poor.
The Boston Hearth Project by T.X. Watson
Good. A Shadowrun-Cyberpunk style action tale of a crew that occupies an event center to protect the homeless from winter.
Speechless Love by Yilun Fan, trans. S. Qiouyi Lu
Good. A gentle love story with a twist. Two people in their own floating pods connect around congee and Chinese culture.
Strandbeest Dreams by Lisa M. Bradley and José M. Jimenez
Good. An unconventional mixture of poetry and prose detailing the technological hunt for an animal.
Teratology by C. Samuel Rees
Good. In the future, women go out fishing, looking for genetic abnormalities, and quietly commenting on the state of the world.
Eight Cities by Iona Sharma
Poor. No memories of this story. Nothing I recall
Dust by Daniel José Older
Average. A gender-fluid character has a connection to an asteroid.
The Death of Pax by Santiago Belluco
Average. Story that posits giant kaiju-like monsters as humanities future, but people are still people.
Last Chance by Tyler Young
Good. A wonderful and wrenching tale of children prepared to save the world from destruction. One of my favorites in the collection.
The Desert, Blooming by Lev Mirov
Good. A detailed and exciting story about what ecological reconstruction might look like.
The Trees Between by Karyn L Stecyk
Average. Another rebuilding the environment story. This time focuses around trees and seismic activity.
Boltzmann Brain by Kristine Ong Muslim
Average. A series of updates from a Scandinavian Global Seed Bank.
The Road to the Sea by Lavie Tidhar
Good. A beautifully written story of a child and mother who voyage to take a look at the sea.
The Reset by Jaymee Goh
Good. An ingenious method of almost-time-travel is applied with dramatic disruption to every person on earth.
Pop and the CFT by Brandon Crilly
Good. A dystopian story about ecological taxes applies to families after the death of a loved one.
You and Me and Deep Dark Sea by Jess Barber
Poor. A man returns to an ecologically destroyed California Coast and finds new life and love.
Thirstlands by Nick Wood
Average. A journalist in a water-poor future Africa, struggles to balance security and his relationships.
Solar Child by Camille Meyers
Good. A small scientific outpost, afloat on the ocean and beset by danger, hosts an very wealthy visitor. And genetically enginnered pterodactyls.
The Colors of Money by Nisi Shawl
Average. Spies and family betrayal admit a future Zanzibar.
The Herbalist by Maura Lydon
Poor. One character buys basil from another character?
A Catalogue of Sunlight at the End of the World by A. C. Wise
Good. A great ending to this collection. A man writes love letters to his deceased wife as the rest of his family - and the world - leaves a dying earth on a generational starship. Heart warming and tragic at the same time.
claireargent's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.75
quirkycatsfatstacks's review against another edition
4.0
First things first: I received an ARC of this in exchange for an honest and fair review.
Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation is a collection of a variety of creations (short stories, poems, and artwork) all along the same theme; as the title suggests, the theme is Solarpunk and Eco Speculation. I’ll be honest with you here, I had never heard of either of these until I got approached to review this book. Needless to say, it was a pretty happy discovery for me, and I now have something new to follow.
The first thing I thought upon seeing this cover (which is beautiful, by the way) is “what on earth is Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation?!” After a quick google search I learned that Solarpunk is a movement or statement of intent for hope for the future. Basically it’s imagining a future where humans have sorted things out properly (saving the environment and learning to live with it, etc). Eco-Speculation is writing (or any other form of expression really) with the focus of the environment or climate in mind, it is often speculative, which is where the name comes from.
Despite this preliminary research, I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I dove into Sunvault. I am delighted to say that I was pleasantly surprised; Solarpunk really does live up to its description and was much more uplifting and hopeful than I expected. It was a refreshing change from not only my reading life, but my day-to-day life as well.
Sunvault rotates between short stories, poetry, and artwork in a perfect balance that manages to keep one interested throughout - though I’ll admit some of the short stories really made me want more – trust me when I say I’ll be following up with those authors! My favorite stories included Speechless Love, Dust, the Death of Pax, Last Chance, the Trees Between, and Solar Child.
That being said, for the sake of honest; like any collection out there, there will be some hits and some misses. I felt that there were more hits or decent stories/works than anything else, which is always the best one can hope for.
The description of Sunvault makes it sound like there will be following anthologies; which is pretty exciting. I can assure you that I will be keeping up with any future volume that comes out, as I’m too curious not to!
For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks
Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation is a collection of a variety of creations (short stories, poems, and artwork) all along the same theme; as the title suggests, the theme is Solarpunk and Eco Speculation. I’ll be honest with you here, I had never heard of either of these until I got approached to review this book. Needless to say, it was a pretty happy discovery for me, and I now have something new to follow.
The first thing I thought upon seeing this cover (which is beautiful, by the way) is “what on earth is Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation?!” After a quick google search I learned that Solarpunk is a movement or statement of intent for hope for the future. Basically it’s imagining a future where humans have sorted things out properly (saving the environment and learning to live with it, etc). Eco-Speculation is writing (or any other form of expression really) with the focus of the environment or climate in mind, it is often speculative, which is where the name comes from.
Despite this preliminary research, I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I dove into Sunvault. I am delighted to say that I was pleasantly surprised; Solarpunk really does live up to its description and was much more uplifting and hopeful than I expected. It was a refreshing change from not only my reading life, but my day-to-day life as well.
Sunvault rotates between short stories, poetry, and artwork in a perfect balance that manages to keep one interested throughout - though I’ll admit some of the short stories really made me want more – trust me when I say I’ll be following up with those authors! My favorite stories included Speechless Love, Dust, the Death of Pax, Last Chance, the Trees Between, and Solar Child.
That being said, for the sake of honest; like any collection out there, there will be some hits and some misses. I felt that there were more hits or decent stories/works than anything else, which is always the best one can hope for.
The description of Sunvault makes it sound like there will be following anthologies; which is pretty exciting. I can assure you that I will be keeping up with any future volume that comes out, as I’m too curious not to!
For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks
heavenlyspit's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
freoduweard's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
newfoundblob's review against another edition
2.0
I would give this 2.5 stars. There are some stories that I enjoyed and I really liked the setup of the volume. It was interspersed with short stories, poems, and artwork all related to Solarpunk.
The problem is that only a minority of the stories are well-written, those that are suffer from cliched tropes, and few fit the themes of Solarpunk. I recognize that Solarpunk is a new genre and thus is not well defined. This collection was one of the first of this genre so I tried to be more generous about fitting the hopeful image of Solarpunk. Unfortunately, it fails to follow its own definition they set in the introduction
Almost all of the stories involve a world that has already been made uninhabitable. The hope is that after most of humanity is dead then we can start again, which I feel contradicts the creation of a "more optimistic future."
I love the dystopian and apocalyptic genres, but what makes Solarpunk great is that it is about imagining better futures and then committing action to do them (that is the punk aspect). This book does not do that with only a few exceptions. It imagines a future where humanity failed to meaningfully contain the climate crisis. It inspires a vague hope, but not the motivation to change the present. If anything, it inspires apathy for our current situation.
The problem is that only a minority of the stories are well-written, those that are suffer from cliched tropes, and few fit the themes of Solarpunk. I recognize that Solarpunk is a new genre and thus is not well defined. This collection was one of the first of this genre so I tried to be more generous about fitting the hopeful image of Solarpunk. Unfortunately, it fails to follow its own definition they set in the introduction
"[Solarpunk] a new movement in SF that examines the possibility of a future in which currently emerging movements in society and culture such as the green movement, the Black Lives Matter movement, and certain aspects of Occupy Wall Street coalesce to create a more optimistic future in a more just world." (7)
Almost all of the stories involve a world that has already been made uninhabitable. The hope is that after most of humanity is dead then we can start again, which I feel contradicts the creation of a "more optimistic future."
I love the dystopian and apocalyptic genres, but what makes Solarpunk great is that it is about imagining better futures and then committing action to do them (that is the punk aspect). This book does not do that with only a few exceptions. It imagines a future where humanity failed to meaningfully contain the climate crisis. It inspires a vague hope, but not the motivation to change the present. If anything, it inspires apathy for our current situation.