So I have a confession to make here. I actually rarely get on with ‘hard’ Scifi. I dont know what it is but I struggle to get into it. Which is a shame because I want to be that kind of nerd.
I cut my teeth on science fiction. Particularly Doctor who. And this was when Doctor who had been off the air for about a decade. My parents would rent out VHS tapes of the old show from the local library stem and would watch and re watch them for hours.
I fell in love with Doctor Who because of its central messages; That hope will triumph over cincisim, that curiosity is better than brutality, that romanticism, compassion and intelligence will win out over violence and selfishness. The world can be better if you just fight for it.
Now the interesting thing is with the revival of the show, a common comment has been the new series of doctor who is actually more ‘science fantasy’ than science fiction.
It relies more on tropes found in fantasy works, but they are given the aesthetics commonly associated with science fiction. Most of the technology seen in the show behaves more like magic.
This brings me on to something that’s been wandering about my brain. Whenever I try and plot out fictions themed around a solarpunk setting I struggle because I want my solarpunk in may ways to be ‘hard’ scifi.
The biggest value of solarpunk is that it can show a positive future but i want that future to be realistic and within reach. I want the creation of a better world to feel ‘earned’.
The solutions to the climate crisis and the ravages of colonialist injustice can’t be gifted to us. It requires the application of human ingenuity and human compassion.
But the huge fantasy nerd in me still demands wonder.
And so I often find myself thinking of a solarpunk world with fantastical elements. Occult forces, hauntings, pagan gods, the mystery and magic of nature returning once the world had been restored to equilibrium.
I suppose this would be more Lunarpunk, or possibly better described as solar-fantasy.
Now, this genre-mixing isn’t new. As Steampunk grew in popularity the existence of the sub-genre of ‘gaslamp fantasy’ became popular. This would take a steampunk setting and often add in fantasy elements. Often his helped explain why history diverged from our timeline. For a good example of these, I would recommend the works of Gail Carriger.
I think at the end of the day I need to let go of my internal prejudice around ‘soft’ sci-fi and just write what I enjoy. After all, what’s the point of artistic expressions like writing if it doesn’t come from a place of fulfilment?
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If you’ve seen Star Trek DS9, I think it’s one of the most solarpunk settings for scifi that I’ve seen in the mainstream. The station is better for its diversity, and science and religion co-exist. It fits my philosophy that science and spirituality answer different questions of our existence, and thus need not be in conflict.
There’s plenty of war and other themes that I probably wouldn’t consider solarpunk in the show, but I think it does a good job of striking the fantasy/scifi balance.
That’s one of the things I really like about the solarpunk community itself. There are witches and geneticists talking about what they do and a general sense of mutual appreciation between them.
I’m very much the same. I have been very pleased with how easily people with a purely material viewpoint and those with a more metaphysical inclination get on well in the community And i kind of hope people with such different viewpoints coming together can produce some really interesting results.
I used to enjoy DS9, but i never truly got really invested in a startrek series until voyager, but I can totally see all the solarpunk elements for the earlier seasons.
When I was studying chemical science I suffer a psychotic disease. In the full delusion I understood (a kind of personal revelation) that I liked (I like) scifi because of the effect of science in the society. After that I left chemical science and I go study to sociology.
*sorry about my english
*I went to study sociology.
I mean that I understood that it’s about people, relationships and feelings. Technology is only (“only”) an element that can be represented with another element like magic or an unicorn or a ring of power.
That is a really interesting revelation to have from your ordeal.
And yeah, fantasy elements are really good for exploring the affects of the world through metaphor.
What’s the issue with straying from labels? Is there a particular style, world or “outcome” that you’re trying to achieve?
The labelling side of things is something I’ve hit while coming up with newsletter (https://beamspun.exmosis.net) that covers a more “spiritual” aspect of change that I want to explore, as well as the technology and social sides that go with it. Hope is good, and highlighting new tech is good, but I do believe that ultimately we need to redefine the relationship we have with ourselves and our *sense of identity*, and the rational thinking of science and the group thought required at a political level are often a slow or ineffective way to even analyse this, let alone address it.
The newsletter is solarpunk, but not solarpunk – I’m a little afraid of being restricted by such labels, but on the other hand the labels are useful for gaining attention, and giving people an idea of content.
Just write what you like and sort out the description of it later – it’ll be more personal, and all the more powerful for it…
The Fifth Sacred Thing and its sequel City of Refuge by Starhawk are classic examples of solarpunk fantasy for me. They portray a solarpunk utopia of peace and inclusion, with the protagonists having magical power and a pagan worldview but the world itself largely runs independent of magic.
However, I do recommend this book with caution, as it is one of the darkest books I’ve ever read. It asks the question if utopia can triumph over dystopia and the dystopia in question does its utmost to break them, so trigger warning for racism, racial slurs, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, rape, pedophilia, death of children, attempted genocide, torture, fascism, and war. It does ultimately end in triumph for the utopia, but the path there is horrific.
The first book is also very firm on nonviolence as the solution to everything which can rub people the wrong way. The sequel is better about this and acknowledges that violence from the oppressed is not the same as violence from the oppressor, but still greatly prefers pacifism.