Solarpunk Creatures

by Christoph Rupprecht (Editor), N. R. M. Roshak, Lauren C. Teffeau

A newly sentient AI inhabits a Roomba to escape from their research office, and a robotic dog hunts for rain in a drought-ridden world. A murder of crows disrupts production on a solar farm, and a young woman communes with a telepathic fungal network to protect a forest. A suspicious cat follows bees across the rooftops of a solarpunk city, and a rabbit hitches a ride to the Grand Canyon to fulfil a prophecy. The path toward better futures is one we must walk alongside other creatures, negotiating the challenges of multispecies justice. Solarpunk Creatures introduces a whole new cast of more-than-human organic and digital, alien and fantastic, tiny and boundlessly large.

Genres: Anthologies, Short Stories, Solarpunk, Science Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy

365 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 16, 2024

Reviews

[Kaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a lovely, optimistic collection of stories about human interactions with other types of beings. I was very impressed by the overall quality of the stories - there were a few I didn't care for, but on the whole I thought they were very readable and engaging. The range of settings and beings was also commendable, including AI, environments, and both real and fantastical critters. Some favorites: "The Business of Bees", "Water Cycle", "AI Dreams of Real Sheep - More at 8", "Thank Geo", "Hopdog", and "Leaf Whispers, Ocean Song". There is also some art, which looks very interesting but which I wasn't really able to examine in detail because I was reading on my phone.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an eARC.

[Jay W · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books that's almost painfully sincere, it can even be hard to read with how determined and genuine and hopeful the protagonists are. It's a series of short stories that imagine a more sustainable way of life in harmony with nature, and it's everything from people moderating arguments between different birds, to revitalizing a desert climate. My favourite stories are the hare & prickly pear, the one with the poet roomba, and the love story with language. They were all such delightful reads with good triumphing and people being patient and joyous about discovery. 

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers for the e ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Larakaa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading these short stories a lot. So many different ideas and takes on what a solar punk future could look like with a focus on living beings other than humans but almost always connected to us.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75, rounding up. I really like the premise of Solarpunk Creatures, an anthology featuring "more-than-human protagonists: organic and digital, alien and fantastic, tiny and boundlessly large." The editors note that a key theme of the collection is "nonhuman agency" and the negotiation involved in diverse species making community and living together.

It is hard to rate this collection as, inevitably, I enjoyed some stories more than others; one I didn't finish for 'content warnings' related reasons, and two I did not finish just because they didn't hold my attention. The rest, I enjoyed. A few favourites include:
-"Sonora's Journey" by Kai Holmwood - a personification of a desert as a protagonist, and an interesting structure
-"The Business of Bees" by Andrew Knighton - a cat protagonist, so of course I loved it
-"AI Dreams of Real Sheep - More at 8" by Commando Jugendstil and Tales from the EV Studio - a linguistic classification program gains sentience
-"Quarropts Can't Dance" by Rodrigo Culagovski - hilarious song and dance battle
-"Leaf Whispers, Ocean Song" by Tashan Mehta - beautiful story of beyond human language, grief, and communing with those around us

Content warnings: animal cruelty / violence against non-human animals, animal death, human death, grief, violence, sexual harassment, child abuse, mention of sexual assault of a child (in the past, not graphic)

Thank you to World Weaver Press & NetGalley for providing an ARC for me to review.

[MC · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 / 5.0

These stories have all my love. Every one was fun, fantastical, and solarpunk (the new steampunk I think). I especially loved the Threadloom, so imaginative and entertaining.

This is for anyone that needs some whimsy and inventive fantasy. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for access to this eARC.

Until Next Time,
MC

[Shel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this collection of stories so much. I was so excited when it was being put together. I definitely thought that the genre, optimistic science fiction based on renewable energies, needed more animals included. Do we envision our best future with animals? Absolutely.

The cover of this book is gorgeous and I loved the first story Threadloom by N.R.M. Roshak which featured the creature depicted on the cover. I love how it immediately immersed us in the creature's perspective and imagined a creature as a fellow creator with humans, working to envision art.

Are we able to imagine the impact of human actions on other-than-human animals? Yes. This perspective continued in Sonora's Journey by Kai Holmwood and The Colorful Crow of Web-of-Life Park by Sandra Ulbrich Almazan.

I loved how the stories included perspective of microbes, plants, and wetlands and imagined fantasy creatures to share reimagined fantasy solarpunk worlds.

In AI Dreams of Real Sheep-More at 8 by Commando Jugendstil and Tales from the EV Studio the featured creature is an AI who wants to look after sheep and read nature poetry. Part of me wanted more focus on the biological cat and sheep in the story, but I loved this view of what AI could be and desire and the exploration of this: "People have the right to live in a body that allows them to live with dignity and joy."

Solarpunk is political by nature and even in ideal futures there continue to be struggles. I loved how the authors imagine politics that work and humans who want to cooperate and work together. I loved the political explorations in An Inconvenient Unicorn by Geraldine Briony Hunt and The Wetlands Versus the Mayor by Jerri Jerreat.

Because it spoke to my own experience in animal rescue, I loved the Hopdog by Rimi B. Chatterjee which envisioned a rescue from the creatures point of view. I loved the word denfeeling for the safe place we desire and the vision of Arfabad where dog-souls live in the City of Love.

Such a wonderful and inspiring collection!

[Todd S · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot recommend this collection enough to readers seeking either solarpunk or stories written from a non-human perspective.

I was drawn in by the wild cover, but stayed for the bizarrely beautiful stories that really stretched the definition of what defines as a 'creature.' While many of the stories presented were cozier and more traditional solarpunk experiences (animal lovers will adore 'Hopdog' and 'Threadloom', for example), I was mostly interested in the stories that involved even more non-traditional narrators, which also took a 'harder' sci-fi approach.

My top 5 stories were as follows, from 5th favorite to top favorite:

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5. 'Quorum Sensing' by Calliope Papas, perhaps the coolest setting of any story, and easily the 'spaciest' story in the collection, set in a biodome on Jupiter's moon Europa.

4. 'An Inconvenient Unicorn' by Geraldine Briony Hunt, showcasing the potential and power of fantasy in solarpunk, which I never considered before or expected to enjoy. Wonderfully fun story!

3. 'Hunting for Rain' by Lyndsey Croal, featuring the POV of a robot designed to search for rain in a drought-ridden (and possibly dystopic) desert, proof that a setting does not need to be a green utopia to be solarpunk.

2. 'Water Cycle' by Lauren C Teffeau, an elegant and innovative observation written from the perspective of... water!... so beautiful and insightful with how it describes our planet's hydrosphere which pervades every single aspect of weather and biology. (This and the number 1 story reminded me of some of my favorite non-human narrative stories written by my favorite author, Ted Chiang, which is the highest praise I can give).

1. 'Flyby' by the poet Pria Sarukkai Chabria, I lack the words to describe how beautiful this piece was to me. Describing the path and observations of a comet with a billion-year orbit, this is a miraculously-written poem in the guise of hard science fiction, this is my favorite story in the collection. Though I am biased being a lover of less traditional 'story' structures such as this and 'Water Cycle' (written more as treatises than traditional stories), I am not exaggerating when I say this art simply MUST be experienced by any lover of poetry, space, or the immense scale of time that could only be experienced by something as ancient as a comet.

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I appreciate the editors of this collection putting such a diverse range of stories in this collection so that I could find these unique gems which satisfied my sometimes-picky taste in science fiction. The editors - and especially the authors, who all seem important players in envisioning a better world and making that world a reality - truly understand solarpunk as a genre to its core, in that it is more a philosophy than a genre, a way of learning and a way of acting. Thank you to them, and Netgalley, for letting me discover these stories and writers in exchange for an honest review.

[Mark D'Gabriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solarpunk Creatures by Christoph Rupprecht (e-book) is part of a series of books containing Science Fiction short stories on ecology and interspecies relationships that reflect today’s issues. Based on the Introduction, you might expect it to be a scholarly literary work, but I got no such vibe from it. Instead, it was a set of engaging tales made to draw you in and make you consider where we are and where we may go.

Each piece is set somewhere around Earth, with a couple off-planet, predominantly in the US. Most feature young female protagonists. They are equally setting-based and character-based, with vivid descriptions of the settings. The stories are interspersed with nature-based art in various media.

There are several related themes throughout the book. Primarily, the stories are about Earth's ecological demise and possible renewal. Many are optimistic, but not all. Some are trying to resurrect the current society, while others chart a path to an evolution of society. Key is that everyone and everything contributes to life and whether or not it survives the Anthropocene period.

They all reflect different parts of nature communicating, how humans have impacted the biosphere from varying points of view. There’s the hope that, in the future, humans will learn from their mistakes and use their brains and tech to fix Earth for all, or accept help from those who know better, before it's too late.

I quite enjoyed the book, although it’s not my regular fare. I decided to read it to acquire different perspectives and styles, and it certainly met my expectations. I recommend it to anyone interested in Science Fiction or science, especially biology or ecology, or looking for entertaining prose with food for thought.

Below are brief synopses of each story, but BEWARE! They contain spoilers!

===========================================================================
THREADLOOM
Weaves (no pun intended!) together tech and nature into a pleasant tale of young & old people changing their views when confronted by unprecedented change, even when stressed by deadlines.

SONORA'S JOURNEY
A wistful story of the rejuvenation of an ever-growing desert thanks to ecological reclamation work, almost too late, reflected by a mother's death-defying journey to find water for her children.

KELP GARDENS AND STORMWATER STREAMS
Amusing brief piece from the future of 100+ years from now, describing how we seem to finally learn how to coexist.

THE COLORFUL CROW OF WEB-OF-LIFE PARK
An intriguing and hopeful tale of cross-species acceptance, offering hope that tech will benefit nature, not decimate it.

THE BUSINESS OF BEES
A cat discovers that bees have somehow learned to bend human tech to their purposes, whatever they are.

NIGHT FOWLS
Humans and fauna work together intelligently and find that interspecies communication is the key, while relearning old lessons about conflict and sacrifice.

WATER CYCLE
The climate crisis from water's point of view.

MICROBIA
Another alternative future showing how some brave and creative people have worked to salvage hope from a bleak world after ecological disaster.

RABBITS, RIVERS AND PRICKLY PEARS
Two teens and a sentient hare find fruit and hope at the edge of their world.

HUNTING FOR RAIN
There are no more dogs, but Hunter is a good boy, helping his people survive.

AI DREAMS OF REAL SHEEP - MORE AT 8
The first sentient AI just wants to herd sheep and write poetry. Not much to ask for.

AN INCONVENIENT UNICORN
The farm is now desert. So what if we sell it for energy production and housing? Can even a unicorn bring things back?

QUORUM SENSING
A refugee to Europa, in pain from a war not hers, makes peace with her gift, despite the fear of an alien organism.

FLYBY
Comet Izumi watches and listens to life over the eons of its existence in the solar system.

QUARROPTS CAN'T DANCE
Every sentient species has dancers and con-artists.

THANK GEO
Society has collapsed, then we found out that we're just one part of an intelligent global network of life, working together for all. How will humans, with a really bad history, and others interact?

OUR MINDS SHARE A CITY
This new job requires a unique relocation.

HOPDOG
Humans can be cruel and uncaring, so they train dogs to be the same. But dogs still remember the joy of the pack and desire its safety.

SOLAR MURDER
Crows can be nasty and intelligent creatures, with good memories. But securing energy is just too important.

MOTH CITY (DIVERSITY) - Project entry #17 and KOMBUCHA ATOLL (ADAPTATION AND INGENUITY) - Project entry #21
Pockets of humanity start to learn about the true web of life, but there’s a long way to go.

THE WETLANDS VS THE MAYOR
We can still learn from foolish old-fashioned political priorities and save nature... and ourselves.

LEAF WHISPERS, OCEAN SONGS
A love story between two people and the whole planet. Very deep and moving.

[Judy & Marianne from Long and Short Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

A better world is possible.

“The Colorful Crow of Web-of-Life Park” showed what happened after an epidemiologist’s pet parrot was accidentally released and went to live with a murder of crows in a ecologically-friendly city just as a dangerous new strain of the flu began circulating in the avian population there. I enjoyed the rising tension in this story as Veronica attempted to create a vaccine for this type of flu and find her lost bird. She had a limited amount of time to fulfill her goals, and I couldn’t wait to see if she succeeded. The ending was also well written and suited all of the characters nicely.

As someone who is fascinated by those communication buttons some people have trained their pets to use, I loved the fact that “The Business of Bees” was written from the perspective of a cat who was frustrated by the lack of choices in her buttons and her humans’ inability to understand how concerned she was about the weird bees in their yard. When she left home to follow the bees and see where they went, I imagined all sorts of scenarios she might find herself in. The author’s imaginative take on how cats think and why bees could be so alarming made it hard for me to stop reading.

The title of “Quarropts Can’t Dance” was just as good as the storyline itself. Li desperately wanted to use a boombox and some fresh dance moves to entertain those who passed by, but not everyone was interested in that sort of Earthling tradition. It was amusing to see how the various species reacted to this spectacle and how Li changed once they realized that their act maybe wasn’t having the effect they hoped it might.

One of the biggest reasons why I gave this anthology a five-star rating had to do with the wide variety of creatures and writing styles that were included in it. Some of them appealed to me more than others because everyone’s tastes are different, but I can’t help but to admit that all of them were well written and compelling. There were no weak spots here in my opinion, and that’s an incredibly difficult thing to accomplish. The editor did an excellent job of curating this collection. I can’t wait to see what he and all of the contributors might release next.

Solarpunk Creature was the perfect distraction.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Several years ago, World Weaver Press published the collection Multispecies Cities: Solarpunk Urban Futures, exploring concepts of "more-than-human urban coexistence and kinship." In Solarpunk Creatures, the editorial team goes one further, imagining not just human alliance with other species, but expanding the definition of what it means to be a living thing. Largely set in worlds dealing with climate change or its aftermath, these stories delve into relationships with animals, AIs, and even landscapes as living, thinking entities with which we must learn to cooperate.

Just like the last volume, I love Solarpunk Creatures's ultimate optimism - that in a world seemingly growing more and more precarious through ecological collapse and predatory capitalism, there are still ways to heal and persevere without resorting to gas wars and football-pads-and-assless-leather-chaps ensembles. What saves the Earth in these stories is not just thoughtful sustainable infrastructure, but acknowledging the agency of the creatures and landscapes around us. Deserts seek sustenance for their children, swamps fight fascism, and interstellar fungi try to show how fun they really are. Many stories are more thought-pieces than anything else, sprinkled with illustrations and art instillations imagining a less human-centric world. Particular favorites were Sandra Ulbrich Almazan's 'The Colorful Crow of Web-of-Life Park', where a formally-pet parrot runs away to join a murder, and 'AI Dreams of Real Sheep - More at 8' (by the expansively named collectives Commando Jugendstil and Tales from the EV Studio) where a poetry research AI "comes out" as a person, and then goes on the run for fear that people will think they're one of "those AIs".

All in all, this is a lovely, positive, thought provoking collection. I hope World Weaver Press continues to showcase unique stories like these, inspiring what a kinder, healthier world may look like. Thank you to them and LibraryThing for furnishing a review copy of the ebook.

[Philip Rutherford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solarpunk Creatures is an anthology of short stories and art works about humans, animals, plants, machines, aliens and ecosystems that are striving to create sustainable futures–integrating nature, diversity and community. It is immersed in the solarpunk genre–the more optimistic cousin of dystopian or cyberpunk fiction–which commonly involves renewable energy sources such as solar and a do-it-yourself punk style counterculture.

I love the idea of solarpunk and I especially liked this anthology because of the amazing array of more-than-human perspectives. Since everything is connected in a sustainable system, it makes sense to consider all points of view–not just the human ones. Many stories are told by non-humans which I found interesting, exciting, mind-bending and something truly new in a world where the same narratives are churned out over and over.

There are amazing lifeforms, such as the weaving creature in “Threadloom,” the sentient community of a slime mould in “Our minds share a city” and the giant octopus in “Leaf whispers, ocean song.” Interesting takes on communicating with birds are in the “Night Fowls” mystery and the more antagonistic “Solar Murder”. There is the epic quest of a rabbit in “Rabbits, Rivers, and Prickly Pears” and an incredible description of the memories of trees in “Thank Geo”. “Sonora’s Journey,” allows us to feel what it’s like to be a desert, “The Wetlands versus the Mayor,” lets us dance like an ecosystem, in “Fly by” we sit on a comet and in “Water Cycle” we become water itself. I also liked the faithful robotic dog in “Hunting for rain” and the dog caves in “Hop dog”, the A.I. poet in “A.I. dreams of real sheep” and the fantastical setting of a colony on Jupiter’s moon Europa in “Quorum sensing”.

In fact there are too many great stories to mention here and many beautiful and inspiring artworks. I loved the Solarpunk Creatures vision and especially how it opened my mind to thinking like a non-human.

[Maki]

Some first impressions on my faves from the collection and some general feedback. I’ve just finished it so thoughts may change!

📝 Starting off strong with the intro - this was great and I actually wish there was more of it! I enjoyed the oversight of the editors and would’ve liked to have read more of their thoughts on the theme.


🦠 I really enjoyed the world building journal excerpts and accompanying illustrations by Christoph Rupprecht and Yen Shu Liao. I thought that ‘Microbia’ by the Centre for Militant Futurology and ‘Quorum Sensing’ by Calliope Papas both did especially good jobs at portraying humans as stewards not gods, which meant that the agency of the nonhuman characters was made clear.

☄️ I looooved Priya Sarukkai Chabria’s experimental story about Comet Izumi. So gorgeous! I’m a sucker for cosmic stories that speak to the insignificance of individual human experiences within the incomprehensibly huge, ancient, messy, beautiful, ever-unfurling multi-species tapestries of life and death. I reread this one immediately after finishing it.

🌊 Another one that has a similar vibe to Chabria’s story, my favourite of the collection, and honestly one of the best short stories I’ve ever read, was ‘Leaf Whispers, Ocean Song’ by Tashan Mehta. Not much to say other than it’s a perfect sequel to Ursula K. Le Guin’s ‘The Author of the Acacia Seeds’ and that I’m buying Mehta’s novel immediately.

✏️ In terms of what I would’ve liked more of - I would have liked to have seen more stories about nonhumans rejecting humanity and/or more stories that directly grapple with the harm and violence that is at the heart of so many human-nonhuman relationships — including processes of domestication and conservation.

That being said, I really do appreciate the work of the editors and writers in making this book happen! In the wake of intensifying global climate crises and species extinctions, this work is super needed (and sadly uncommon), and I am fervently hoping for more!

[Jacqie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anthologies are always a bit of a risky business- you never know what you're going to get. I was pleasantly surprised by this one.

Solarpunk is an inherently optimistic genre since it's based on the assumption that people will get through the mess that we are in now and will become more in tune with the earth, more community oriented, and generally just nicer and better. The stories in this volume generally follow that concept and having something hopeful to read was very soothing.

The first story is illustrated on the cover. A loombeast named Threadloom (these creatures are living looms that help their weavers craft) wants to make his own patterns instead of always following someone else's lead. He leaves his house (shared with a grandmother and granddaughter who work with him) and heads off into the woods, causing worry and chaos, at least for a little while.

There was a lot of creativity in these stories. Creatures included: an aware Sonoran desert ecosystem or wetland ecosystem, crows, bees, various microbes and fungi, AIs, a rescued fighting pit dog, and more. There's some sadness in the stories too; a fighting pit dog, even rescued, has a dark past. Themes I noticed across most of the stories had to do with finding a way to communicate past barriers or assumptions.

There were also several representations of art in the book. I wasn't expecting that but it was a nice change of pace and I enjoyed getting a visual representation of solarpunk in addition to the stories.

I'd say this one is worth a read if you're interested.

[haley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solarpunk Creatures places at the helm of each story non-human perspectives — and the book spans a whole multitude of creatures (and even elements like water or ice) leading the way and trying to survive. From sentient roombas and mythical loombeasts to robot dogs and singing octopuses, we're treated to a series of stories by different authors looking to give voices to the notoriously silent.

It's not often you read fiction from the point of view of animals or trees, and while it can take a minute to get used to — when it's done poorly, it comes off as cutesy and saccharine — it can truly open your eyes to new feelings and new ideas.

I mean this honestly, as even I, a hardcore cat person, found myself moved nearly to tears by the story told from the vantage point of a former fighting dog that learns to love and be loved in a futuristic sanctuary for survivors. (See? It sounds too cartoony in print, but in the skilled hands of a writer who knows what they're doing, it just works.)

And while we may never get to fully understand non-human beings or create new languages with them, we can at least art to open our minds and help us empathize with the beings we share this world with.

[Groucho42 · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of short stories seemingly written by mental children. They spend so much focus on hammering a message that logic and plot just don't matter. In some, the writing was almost good, such as the weaving one, but most weren't.

The final one that made me give up was about halfway through. The main character was a rabbit who thinks like a human, knows things about human culture there's no way a rabbit would know, and even uses the idiotic plural pronoun for an individual. This is SF, Zhe or Ze is known; and only children refuse to use is.

[Punky Broomster · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solarpunk Creatures is a collection of stories about futuristic animals, fungi, robots, and the like. The synopsis really gives a piece of every story within it.

Overall, some of the stories were fun and memorable, while others were forgettable. I always enjoy a collection of short stories. It’s fun to hop from one world to the next. This is a solid 3/5 stars.

[Jay C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Been working my way through this one for a while now. Good anthology of Solarpunk genre stories. My favorites were”Threadloom”, “An Inconvenient Unicorn,” “Our Minds Share a City,”and “The wetlands Versus the Mayor” which I just finished this morning.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Christoph, YOU GOT ME WITH THE ROOMBA! Can't wait to ready your story!!!

[Tammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I only give anthologies 5 stars if every story deserves it. This book meets that criteria for greatness.

[Jacqueline Nyathi · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you read Multispecies Cities: Solarpunk Urban Futures, then you’ll love Solarpunk Creatures. If you didn’t, but get tired of reading dystopia in scifi, and also wonder if there’s a better, happier vision for the future, then solarpunk is your jam; and this, along with Multispecies Cities, is an excellent entry-point into the genre.

There are so many great stories here—writing prompts gone wildly adventurous. I loved:

The Business of Bees by Andrew Knighton is a delightful story that centres a curious cat and really clever bees.
Quarropts Can’t Dance by Rodrigo Culagovski made me laugh out loud.
Hunting for Rain by Lyndsey Croal, about a robotic dog that hunts for rain;
The Colorful Crow of Web-Life Park by Sandra Ulbrich Almazan, which is about life from a bird’s perspective.
Threadloom by N. R. M. Roshak, about art made by a—well, it’s not a machine, and it’s not an animal; perhaps something in-between.
Rabbits, Rivers and Prickly Pears by Justine Norton-Kertson follows a rabbit on an epic adventure across the desert.
AI Dreams of Real Sheep—More at 8 by Commando Jugenstil and Tales from the EV Studio is about LIN.C.O., an AI poet who wants to be recognised as a person.
Solar Murder by A. E. Marling was another amusing story, until it was scary.
The Wetlands Versus the Mayor by Jerri Jerreat was cool because the wetlands won.
I love this series from World Weaver Press because each time I read or re-read a story, I come away thinking differently about the world, about the species we co-exist with, and about our future. Highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and to World Weaver Press for early access.

[Chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review was made possible via an ARC through NetGalley

Solarpunk Creatures is a collection of stories and art set in a solarpunk setting and exploring the possibilities of how different organisms can live together. The contributors to this anthology include a collective, published authors from a variety of cultures, and artists who focus on sustainability.

Threadloom by N. R. M. Roshak is a story about an artistic loombeest who wants to make new creations while the grandmother who owns them wants to make a traditional quilt and the granddaughter wants to make the loombeest happy.

My favorite was An Inconvenient Unicorn by Geraldine Briony Hunt, an exploration of giving the land back to nature and the creatures who were previously there when corporations actually follow through with their goals to prioritize the environment.

Other stories include the journey of a comet, a roomba who achieves sentience and wants to be a shepherd, and humans who are connected to different species to keep the peace and create a utopia. Many of the art pieces are explorations of different ideas of what a solarpunk world could look like.

I would recommend this to fans of solarpunk and those who want to dip their toes into the subgenre.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoy short story anthologies that are all on a theme but include stories from a variety of authors, and this one really fit the bill. The stories were all clearly united by the common theme of imagining a sustainable future where humans live as one equal part of a connected and diverse ecosystem rather than placing themselves above all others, but took the concept in radically different directions, leading to a story collection that felt hopeful, expansive, and thought-provoking. I especially liked the story (the name escapes me at the moment) that was told from the perspective of a dog who had been used for dogfighting. The conception of that world and its warmth for all organisms growing and healing from trauma and entering into community made me cry. In a time where I and many others feel afraid for our future, stories like this help give us hope that a better, sustainable future is possible and give us a vision to work towards rather than resigning ourselves to the bleak visions of the future that we fear and predict. With so many systems of power working against humanity, the planet, and the ecosystem, it is nice to read stories that affirm the fact that there is goodness, hope, and infinite collaborative potential within humanity.

[Kestrel B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really loved a handful of the stories, but as with all compilations, there were more that felt like they needed polishing. My largest issue is with the intro, it could do a better job at describing what Solar Punk is instead of summarizing subsequent stories. It's also theory dense and hard to follow, even for an avid anti-capitalist and decolonial theory reader like myself. For optimistic short stories, it really swerved the tone. The entirety of the collection just isn't strong enough to convince hardcore or new sci-fi readers to pick it up, I feel.

The ones I loved:

Threadloom, by N.R. Roshak
The Business of Bees, by Andrew Knighton
AI Dreams of Real Sheep- More at 8, by Commando Jugenstil
Night Fowls, by Ana Sun
Microbia, by the Center for Militant Futurology

[Jay W · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books that's almost painfully sincere, it can even be hard to read with how determined and genuine and hopeful the protagonists are. It's a series of short stories that imagine a more sustainable way of life in harmony with nature, and it's everything from people moderating arguments between different birds, to revitalizing a desert climate. My favourite stories are the hare & prickly pear, the one with the poet roomba, and the love story with language. They were all such delightful reads with good triumphing and people being patient and joyous about discovery. It's a book built from, and about, love.