Free Fiction Forever
Thank you, patrons of the imagination!
I don’t know what happened to me in the past eight months but it’s been kind of a rollercoaster 😅. It’s not a midlife crisis, because I had that three years ago when I turned forty. In the words of Bilbo Baggins, I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.
Spring flew by in a haze, filled with projects and deadlines, as well as some anxiety over the fact that I need a break from my job to take care of my health before the bread remains unbuttered. Long story short, this is my last week at a job that I love with great colleagues and friends. I’ll be gone for at least six months and up to one year depending on how well I recover. It hasn’t been an easy decision, but life gave me lemons, so, like Beyonce, I made Lemonade 🍋.
Some of that refreshing juice will flow into this newsletter. Kanpai 🙌!
The past twenty months have been a beautiful journey with you. In April 2023, I started publishing my cli-fi series There Is Hope, and the first story, Human Island, went out to 149 subscribers. In May 2024, this newsletter reached 2,000 subscribers 🥹. Story Voyager has also been a Substack featured publication, a Lunar Awards winner for science fiction, and appeared on Feedspot’s top 15 cli-fi blogs.
Story Voyager wouldn’t exist without you. Thank you for being here 💚!
Ever since I started writing this newsletter, I’ve been trying to find my jam. Finally, after many months of experimenting, I decided that going forward, Story Voyager will be a fiction publication. This means that, I will stop publishing climate non-fiction essays. Instead, all my reading and research will flow into my fiction writing. I believe in the power of storytelling. Stories help us make sense of the social and environmental challenges we face today and their implications for future generations.
Stories inspire us to imagine a better world!
This spring, I released two short cli-fi stories, Illegal and Smuggler, and this upcoming Sunday, I’ll start publishing a cli-fi mini-series, The Dust Pirates, that will run from June 30th to July 10th. The Dust Pirates is the third short story from my cli-fi series There Is Hope and it takes place in Central Europe around the year 2550. The fact that I release this mini-series during the hot European summer is not a coincidence.
In the summer of 2023, the world experienced record-breaking heatwaves, but Europe, as a continent, is at great risk from climate change. The warmest decade on record, between 2013 and 2022, saw a global average surface temperature increase of 1.13 to 1.17°C compared to pre-industrial levels, but in Europe, the temperature increase was 2.04 to 2.10°C. In his book The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming, David Wallace-Wells wrote that Central Europe could turn into a Dust Bowl.
In The Dust Pirates, I imagine life in the Dust Bowl of Central Europe around the year 2550 CE.
Turning Story Voyager into a fiction publication means that I can focus my time and effort on writing and publishing fiction. This is exciting, as I have many story ideas at various developmental stages that I want to write and publish in the upcoming years. I’m in for the long haul, I hope you are too🌟!
So far, everything I have published here has been free of charge. Thank you for subscribing, reading, liking, commenting and sharing my work. Your presence and support have been essential on my journey so far, and I’ll continue to rely on you just as you can rely on me to deliver fresh stories directly to your inbox.
Going forward, Story Voyager will continue to offer Free Fiction Forever!
Sci-fi short fiction and book reviews will be published monthly. Serialized fiction will be published seasonally. The offer is rounded with monthly sci-fi book reviews & recommendations, curated annual sci-fi reading lists, and a pop-up book club where we read a book together like we did here.
The Dust Pirates is the first seasonal mini-series offered exclusively to Story Voyagers subscribers. I will publish the last two short stories from my cli-fi series There Is Hope as a seasonal mini-series until the end of 2024. You will also receive monthly cli-fi short stories placed in the There Is Hope universe.
Catch up on There Is Hope before Dust Pirates comes out this Sunday!
My contribution to the ongoing fight against climate change and environmental destruction is raising climate and environmental awareness through storytelling. If you know someone who would enjoy these stories please help me spread the message by sharing this newsletter with your friends & family.
For those readers feeling generous, Story Voyager also has a monthly or annual paid subscription option that you can cancel anytime.
For only $5/month or $30/year, you can become a patron of imagination and support this fiction project. The funds will go toward publishing my first book, There Is Hope.
I hope that through this new offering, both free and paid readers will be enriched by my worlds and stories, inspiring us to create a better future for our planet every day. In the upcoming year, I will have more time to write and share my work with you, and I hope that you’ll continue with me on this beautiful journey.
See you around 😘!
—Claudia
Glad to hear you're taking some time out for your health and that your job is supportive of that break. That's great to hear. Do take care of yourself, Claudia.
You know I'm here for your fiction, so this is all great news for me! 🤗
I love this news, Claudia! We're all better off with more of your fiction. I'm certain you'll continue to grow a fan base of readers who appreciate your work.