Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation. edited by Phoebe Wagner & Bronte Christopher Wieland. 2017
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.
How do I arrive at a rating?
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.
