Green themed fiction - from agriculture to conservation > Likes and Comments
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The fight to save the oldest trees and spotted owl nesting places hots up when someone is found dead, inflaming tensions between lumberjacks and conservationists.
See my full review.
Track of the Cat
Per Clare's excellent recommendation on another thread, I just read the first of Nevada Barr's "Anna Pigeon Mystery" novels. Awesome! The stark, haunting scenery of Guadalupe Mountains National Park, where this novel is set, reminds me of the settings for Tony Hillerman's Navajo Mysteries.
I'm looking forward to the two Anna Pigeon novels set on Isle Royale / Lake Superior next. Thanks for the tip, Clare! ;-)
Wait until you reach
.Awesome describes it well.
Heartily recommended for botanists: an intelligent mystery series set in California.The Dandelion Murders
The Bulrush Murders
The Shy Tulip Murders
The Tumbleweed Murders
I have added Ready Player One
to the shelf. This book is set in a post-oil world, only in 2045. The climate has shifted and American society is so horribly affected - as we learn, so are other nations - that people live in stacked trailers with a solar panel or two, or huddle homeless on city streets. The many people who choose to escape into online worlds are called the missing millions.
This is cyberpunk, a sub genre of SF which says that as technology increases the living conditions become less desirable. Specifically, thanks to an early influencer novel Neuromancer, it is often inferred to be about people choosing to live life in online worlds because their real world life is miserable, impoverished or crowded.
I'm promoting a book, but it's not mine, and it's free. I just found this thriller on Bookfunnel about diving and reef preservation, so I have invited the author to join our Group. Whether he has time or not, I suggest downloading the book while it's available. This will open in a Kindle app on your computer or in other ways you choose.http://books.bookfunnel.com/mystery-a...
Cayman Cowboys: Reefs Under Pressure
I just found this free today on Kindle. The series provides short cosy mysteries about different zoos. Whether or not we agree on individual animals being kept in captivity, we can see that well-run zoos are a strong force for conservation. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B014GRKH0K/
This is the UK store and following the link should be okay for anyone, as Amazon will ask if you want to be taken to your local Amazon store. You need to do that to buy a Kindle book.
An SF story about All Summer In A Day - short, by Ray Bradbury, a master of short form. Free to read.http://staff.esuhsd.org/danielle/engl...
Currently at 99 cents. https://www.amazon.co.uk/River-Run-Fo...
A forensic geology mystery around rafting in the Grand Canyon. I've treated myself, the reviews are good and the concept is great.
River Run
Here's a great interview with one of my personal writing heroes, Kim Stanley Robinson, about his vision of climate change. His Mars Trilogy remains one of the original masterworks of eco-fiction.A SCI-FI AUTHOR’S BOLDEST VISION OF CLIMATE CHANGE: SURVIVING IT
Kim Stanley Robinson
Make Use Of kindly gives us tips on organising the massive stores of books on Kindles. Doesn't apply to my Kindle which is too old. Apart from being able to delete a book and re-download it another time.
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/organiz...
I recommend checking MUO any time you have a query about personal tech. They give straightforward explanations.
Christine Goff
tells me her bird themed mysteries have been reissued.
I have read most of them; my favourite is Death of a Songbird which looks at migratory birds in the Americas and shade-grown coffee.
Pulp Friction Apple Cider Slaying Julie Anne Lindsey
More cosy mysteries. These are set in an apple orchard and cider shop, with forays into open countryside.
The House on Bloodhound Lane Virginia Lanier
First book in an excellent series about a bloodhound handler who tracks people who have got lost in swampland. You'll feel you were there.
I've just started reading Barn 8 by Deb Olin Unferth which the blurb describes as ecofiction and compares to The Monkey Wrench Gang which is one of my all time favourites.
Thanks Viv, sounds interesting. If you enjoy
come back and ask us to add it to the bookshelf!
Hi all! I was so excited to come across this thread because I've been looking for fiction that features conservation. The lists on Goodreads are mostly nonfiction! I have created a list specifically for this, so please add fiction books that you think really feature conservation action and the effect of anthropogenic impact on species. I want to expand my TBR list for this :) thanks! goodreads.com/list/show/151685.Wildli...
Hi Lovis, thank you for contributing!I'll certainly add to that list as I get time. I read a mix of fact and fiction on the theme. Most recently :
A Solitude of Wolverines Alice Henderson
and
No Place for Wolverines Dave Butler
Wolverines are the new wolves.
those look great! thank you! definitely add those when you get a minute :)
wow you have quite the library of conservation fiction Clare! you added over 50 books! I'm going to be very busy getting through these, looking forward to it
Maybe it’s already on the bookshelf, but I read recently a book by a Norwegian author, Maja Lunde, called The History of Bees. It take place on three time periods, 1852, 2007, and 2098. Bees are at the centre of it all. In the first two periods it’s about bee keeping, but the lack of bees in the last one. I liked it a lot, but I know some reviewers have said it is a bit slow moving.
Thanks for the rec, this sounds like an interesting book. I can add it to the shelf.
The Inland Sea
This one will be coming out in January 2021. I find the tale strongly written but of the literary persuasion rather than cli-fi thriller; we are shown how climate change is overheating, and killing, Australia's citizens. Through the experience of one college-age young woman, we see the emergency services becoming overwhelmed - she takes the calls in a cell centre. Added heat means added power use for air-con, and cold beers.
This is a tale for adults and contains many personal situations.
Madeleine Watts
Here is a free book which makes all the better reading. The author Victoria Tait encourages us to share the link.
https://dl.bookfunnel.com/xc0gzuafm7?...
Fowl Murder
Set in Kenya, a murder mystery. Those are guinea fowl on the cover.
I have added to the Group bookshelf Good Endeavour: A Maryland Family's Turbulent History 1695-2002. By Ned Tillman.
Ned is a Group member who has now written several environmental themed books, including a dystopian The Big Melt.
Above we had a rec from Hákon for a book by Maja Lunde. I haven't got that one yet but read her book on Przewalski's Horses, part of the same series. This is an adult book and quite depressing, but interesting and worth a look. Maja Lunde
Saw this via Climate Fiction Writers League, Clare, and thought of you. You may already be familiar with this writer, who hails originally from Donegal, and this novel based on a real-world climate crime of massive proportions that took place in northwest Ireland? Sounds tragic but intriguing:
Not familiar, will take a look.
Thanks to Arlene Williams
for making some excellent points for writers to bear in mind, while reviewing Waiting for the Night Song Julie Carrick Dalton
"One of the biggest delights in this book is the author’s skill with words, especially the description of the New Hampshire woods, painting a vivid picture of this idyllic setting and the main character's connection to it. Dalton uses imagery well, and I liked how she extended that talent to the struggle the protagonist, Cadie, experiences in her quest to resolve the guilt she's buried since childhood. Describing internal emotions is always a challenge for writers, but Dalton succeeds as she explores Cadie’s longings and anxieties while trying to reestablish her relationship with her long-lost best friend, Daniela. There is a lot of heart in this story, and I like stories with heart.
What I want to talk about briefly are two questions I was left with after finishing the book. The first is about research. Dalton references research in her story since the main character is an entomologist studying the spread of bark beetles into the Northeastern United States because of climate change. I know about bark beetles because this insect has decimated large swaths of the forests in the West where I have lived. Climate change is exacerbating drought in the West, which makes these forests more susceptible to beetle attack, killing the pines and fir, leaving them prone to fueling extreme fires.
I was very interested in the premise that the beetles are spreading and are now creating fire hazards in New Hampshire as well, but I wasn’t sure if this was futuristic or present day. As I tried to find more information on the web, I wished there had been some back matter in the book to guide me. And so, my first question is:
Should climate fiction include back matter for readers who want to know more, or isn’t this necessary for a fiction story?
My second question is whether climate fiction has a duty to suggest climate solutions, even small ones, within the action and plot. At times I was bothered that this entomologist, who was so concerned about climate change, didn’t seem to be making choices that would reflect that. What kind of car did she drive? I don’t know. Did she eat organic food or try in any way to shop sustainably? I have no idea. Was she thinking of solutions to climate change beyond warning everyone about the potential for fire disaster? It didn’t come through in the novel at all. To me it seems out of character that someone so concerned would not even be making a few lifestyle choices to help solve a problem that is the focus of her life’s work. So, my second question is:
Is it enough to just raise the issue of climate change or should climate fiction also incorporate, even through minor details, choices that model solutions?
For the second question, my inclination is to say yes, solutions need to be part of the story. It doesn’t have to be heavy-handed. In my own climate fiction mystery, my main character buys an e-bike. It’s a minor part of the story, not very significant to the plot, but it’s modeling a choice that can be made by readers if it suits their ability and needs.
Concerning the first question about research, I am torn. Perhaps it might work for authors to include links on a web page about their books instead of in the book itself. Climate fiction is already susceptible to the criticism that it is preachy, and back matter is commonplace for nonfiction, but not for fiction. Would adding back matter rile the critics? Each author must decide, but I can only say that this reader would appreciate back matter."
In answer to the above, many writers do include links or references. One is Carolyn Wilhelm in climate related books. A thriller writer Barry Eisler also does this to prove his scenes are set in the potential present day and not far-fetched. His books are for adults, I recommend The God's Eye View as a good example of his references.Alice Henderson gives us a heroine who is vegetarian, as do other environmental writers.
Very interesting questions about writing. If solutions are included they need to be a very real part of the story in order to get more people interested in what the author is trying to say. If the solutions are just thrown in there some readers who are looking to be entertained by the book will come away dissatisfied as they might feel they are being preached to. If you want your book to be read by fewer people and to be read mainly by people who already believe what you are writing then you can just throw solutions into the story.
While the idea of entertaining people with your serious book might be unsettling, it does create a bigger readership and from there some people would want to find out more and encourage others to read the story.
The idea of buying an eBike seems simple but it isn't. The question becomes are you responsible for telling them to buy an eBike with an expensive UL approved battery or just let it go and buy the eBike with the cheapest battery price, The price between approved and not approved is a couple of hundred dollars.
The problem is that the not approved battery is an unexploded bomb waiting to go off. You need to store the bike outside of a building or structure that can catch on fire. The problem with that is if you store eBike out in the open, more than likely it won't be there the next morning.
The Tenth Saint by D.J. Niko is a thriller involving archaeology and environmental issues, which deserves a read. 
Clare wrote: "Thanks to Arlene Williamsfor making some excellent points for writers to bear in mind, while reviewing [book:Waiting for the Night Song|5320592..."
Thanks Clare for mentioning my post. Anyone can sign up for my free newsletter or just read the posts online at www.climatestorygarden.com. Those who subscribe can read a free review copy of my climate fiction mystery: The EarthStar Solution.
Robert wrote: "Very interesting questions about writing. If solutions are included they need to be a very real part of the story in order to get more people interested in what the author is trying to say. If the ..."I would say that solutions are not just thrown in if they are details in a story, for instance mentioning that a character zooms off in an electric car or decides not to pick meat from the restaurant menu today because they want to start eating less meat after noticing the wildfire smoke from the fire up north. We all need details in a story, so we can find appropriate places to insert the solutions.
As for E-bikes, I don't think we need to overthink this. It would seem a bit strange to not be able to mention e-bikes as a minor detail when there are plenty of other dangerous products that people buy or use each day, such as driving a car or flying in a plane or using a cell phone that could ignite if the wrong charger is used, etc. Even walking down the road or (in the US here) just going to the grocery store or to elementary school can be a dangerous activity because of mass shootings, but authors don't need to warn people of those dangers in their books.
And when you compare the possibility of an e-bike fire to the dangers we face in the future from climate change, there just isn't any comparison.
The romance is set against a backdrop of forest fires and hummingbirds.The Christmas Hummingbird by Davis Bunn
A mystery with a theme of seeds. When a big firm moves into a disaster-struck Haiti and offers GM seeds, the farmers would have no option but to buy new seeds each year. Instead a small group called Sister Seeds has been distributing heirloom seeds for free.
Whether this has a bearing on the death of one of the group, in America, remains to be discovered.