The term cli-fi was alien to me until I read Kim Stanley Robinson's novels. Most recently The Ministry for the Future - highly recommended, by the way.
The Ministry for the Future - I already heard that of it from several people. I need to add it to my reading list. It seems to leave quite an impression.
It really is outstanding in its scope and science, utterly eye-opening in the way Robinson looks at the climate crisis over the coming decades and how humanity is finally driven to find solutions. I had the opportunity to interview Robinson recently - fascinating mind.
I read a few more of his, one called New York 2140. It tells the story of life in New York after the melting of polar ice caps. Fascinating to see how, in Robinson's mind, humanity will continue to live in a partially submerged NYC. Quite an inventive story.
I'm getting so excited to read one of his books. I can’t remember any other book spreading like this through word of mouth in the past years.
Though I fear a bit reading cli-fi books while I attempt to write cli-fi myself. I don't want to steal too much or be too influenced. We’ll see how it goes.
Well - there really are just these two ways of looking at it. Nietzsche was always cautious about books, saying that: "During the time that I am deeply absorbed in my work, no books are found within my reach; it would never occur to me to allow any one to speak or even to think in my presence. For that is what reading would mean."
But while I find Nietzsche insightful and in his last work even funny - for the life of me I wouldn't want to emulate his ways. Of course there are times when we immerse ourselves and want nothing but our own thoughts - but I think we have the capacity to read and enjoy books, be inspired or touched by them - and still deliver original work. So go ahead, enjoy The Ministry of the Future. :-)
You gave me some food for thought here 😄 After reflecting on it during the day I realized that indeed reading is the main fuel for my imagination. It also helps me develop more in depth secondary worlds and overcome writers block. So I’ll go ahead and read some pages before before I fall asleep 😴
It’s the only book spreading by word of mouth that I heard of in the past years. I’m also very intrigued. And the expectations are getting quite high. 😄
You won't be disappointed. I think it's far from a literary masterpiece - but it's still epic storytelling that looks at the coming decades of the climate crisis from often surprising angles. It's genuinely not the main characters that drive the story, but humanity, the unfolding horrors, the seemingly insurmountable challenges, the efforts to change the gears of humanity and capitalism to tackle what may absolutely become a climate-positive future.
Interesting, I read that in the climate fiction genre you cannot have a classical protagonist because climate change is not an issue that can be solved by a single hero. I liked your observations in this sense about the book. Though I was a bit disappointed when you said it’s not a literary master piece. I have quite high expectations of this book already 😅
Hello from a fellow speculative writer! I'm so excited to read your stories and updates and see how your journey unfolds. 💖 I think it's so important to create stories about re-visioning this mess our world is in--both to see to the truth, and to bring some hope back to our thoughts about the future. I can't wait to read your additions to the canon.
Hi Elnora, welcome to my little corner on Substack 🤗 I was very apprehensive about including climate change in my fiction writing. I honestly thought that it's not a topic for fantasy stories. But after reading 'The Great Derangement' I've changed my mind. More people should use their craft to reflect on the world, the good, the bad and the ugly.
I've never read The Great Derangement, I'll have to put it on my list. I've read The Uninhabitable Earth, and that was terrifying enough for ten lifetimes. I'm glad your mind was changed--fantasy is a great setting for cli-fi. So many of the typical denizens of fantasy stories are tied so deeply to the land they inhabit--dryads and their trees, unicorns protecting their forests, undines in their lakes, etc--it seems natural to contemplate what happens to them when the climate changes. Have you looked into lunarpunk at all? It's a new subgenre branching off from solarpunk that feels a little more on the fantasy side than straight solarpunk. Of course I say that, but one of the seminal solarpunk works is Wings of Renewal: A Solarpunk Dragon Anthology! There is more than enough room for fantasy stories in cli-fi.
That’s exactly what Amitav Ghosh writes in The Great Derangement: we need to resort back to more fantastical elements in storytelling in order to write cli-fi. The current so-called ‘serious literature’ is too fixated on realism, the everyday experience of the individual, and the hero's journey. There won’t be a single hero rescuing us from climate change or simply destroying our planet by over-exploitation of resources. Alone the role of nature as an agent of change and a force to be reckoned with changes the modern narrative. I anyway never thought that we should ‘master nature’. Also not in the supremacy of the human species. We are part of nature ourselves. Always were, always will.
I love love love love love this, and completely agree that while stories need a narrator, they don't need a savior. I, too, am interested in stories that show cooperative--maybe even systemic!--work and problem solving to overcome our challenges. And I like the idea of thinking of nature not as an antagonist in stories, but as another collaborator to worth with. Yay! Very excited to see how you work with these ideas--I have trouble myself getting concrete stories out of such grand wonderful notions. 😊
I know what you mean very well. I’m currently stuck halfway through a story and I’m planning on reading a book about animism to be able to finish it. I know the plot, I have a draft, but I don’t have the answer to what motivates the characters to do what they do? I thought that I would be able to write the story without answering every single question into detail. But the lofty ideas need to take a concrete shape and it’s not always easy. I’ll try my best not to disappoint with the execution of my stories too much 😅
Hey, the best we can do is try and learn and try again! And attempt to enjoy the journey along the way. 💖 No disappointment here, just interest in seeing how you grow!
Climate change (better termed climate crisis) is definitely par for the course for sci-fi and fantasy--welcome to the club Claudia! My first novel was directly inspired by my frustration with various intergovernmental and non profit conferences and events I used to attend, and their host organizations' lack of meaningful action on multiple fronts, from deforestation of the Amazon to human rights. I do feel we storytellers can inspire many more hearts.
Thank you for dropping by Birgitte. My journey started by looking at the world and reading books. It’s eye-opening to read that yours started at the public events that are supposed to help us get out of this mess. Did you stop attending such conferences altogether? I'll definitely go check your book.
Effectively, yes, except when such events are action-oriented. I'm still very much involved in sustainability and have also gotten more involved on the legislative side—served as a communications director for one of our Congressional candidates last year and now support a group that works on state level policy, and we're very active. We've been able to move the needle, against a lot of odds. Little by little, all those raindrops are what creates a rainstorm :)
I have never read (or considered reading) stories about climate change, but this sounds promising and exciting! Looking forward to reading some of this when I get a moment!
This all sounds fantastic, really excited to read more. Can I ask, you mentioned your MA, I’ve been considering doing something similar, how did you find it?
Yes, I did an MA in screenwriting in the following context:
1. I took a sabbatical and did a combination of traveling, studying (my degree was online with live classes, and 1:1 feedback sessions from the professors/lecturers) and working part-time.
2. I wanted to study something completely for myself and had this idea of writing a book but didn't know where to start.
3. I didn't mind spending the money on myself.
I don't think I would be here writing without that experience and I wish I would've put more work into it at the time. This being said, it was all for a hobby/passion project. It's very hard to make money with this degree (I don't). And you don't need it to write.
Thank you for your thoughtful answer. I think doing something just for you is perfectly valid. I think that’s what I want to do. You never know where things might lead! You’re doing great work on here, I’m loving reading your stuff!
Given your proclivities for dystopian worlds, you might want to check out the non-fiction story of Billy Bumbo’s dystopian life! https://billybumbo.substack.com
Thank you, I already started reading some of your stories. Good luck with everything! My stories will turn from dystopia to utopia. I hope and wish the same for you 🙏
So happy to have stumbled across this via your comment earlier today. I'm really excited to see this journey evolve and can't wait for the first story from There Is Hope.
This was an excellent, insightful and sincere article that puts everything in context.
First time I've come across the term Cli-Fi, but I hope to see that used more.
Thank you, Nathan and welcome to the journey! Happy to hear that you enjoyed the introduction to my writing project. And I'm looking forward to your feedback and insights. ☺️
Thanks for outlining your writing journey! Looking forward to reading those stories.
From the books I read with a strong climate element I remember The Windup girl quite vividly. Also, the recent movie Vesper (co-produced in Lithuania and shot in Lithuanian swamps) might be an interesting watch for you.
Hi Oleg, thanks for reading and the book and film recommendations. I just realized that I didn’t think about the films touching the topic of climate. IO comes to mind.
I’m curious, what is your most vivid impression from the Windup Girl? I’ll add it to my cli-fi reading list.
I think for me it's the magnitude of changes that render the world so much different from the one we have. A world where energy is scarce as there are no fossil fuels left to burn. Where you have to generate energy by pedalling to even run your computer.
Thank you. I was interested in what stayed with you. I also don't remember most of the plot of Oryx and Crake. It will probably feel like I’d never read it when I'll pick it up again. But the bits that stayed were quite impactful.
The term cli-fi was alien to me until I read Kim Stanley Robinson's novels. Most recently The Ministry for the Future - highly recommended, by the way.
The Ministry for the Future - I already heard that of it from several people. I need to add it to my reading list. It seems to leave quite an impression.
It really is outstanding in its scope and science, utterly eye-opening in the way Robinson looks at the climate crisis over the coming decades and how humanity is finally driven to find solutions. I had the opportunity to interview Robinson recently - fascinating mind.
I read a few more of his, one called New York 2140. It tells the story of life in New York after the melting of polar ice caps. Fascinating to see how, in Robinson's mind, humanity will continue to live in a partially submerged NYC. Quite an inventive story.
I'm getting so excited to read one of his books. I can’t remember any other book spreading like this through word of mouth in the past years.
Though I fear a bit reading cli-fi books while I attempt to write cli-fi myself. I don't want to steal too much or be too influenced. We’ll see how it goes.
Well - there really are just these two ways of looking at it. Nietzsche was always cautious about books, saying that: "During the time that I am deeply absorbed in my work, no books are found within my reach; it would never occur to me to allow any one to speak or even to think in my presence. For that is what reading would mean."
But while I find Nietzsche insightful and in his last work even funny - for the life of me I wouldn't want to emulate his ways. Of course there are times when we immerse ourselves and want nothing but our own thoughts - but I think we have the capacity to read and enjoy books, be inspired or touched by them - and still deliver original work. So go ahead, enjoy The Ministry of the Future. :-)
You gave me some food for thought here 😄 After reflecting on it during the day I realized that indeed reading is the main fuel for my imagination. It also helps me develop more in depth secondary worlds and overcome writers block. So I’ll go ahead and read some pages before before I fall asleep 😴
Two people have told me it's a must read, and now your comment. I'll have to read it now.
It’s the only book spreading by word of mouth that I heard of in the past years. I’m also very intrigued. And the expectations are getting quite high. 😄
You won't be disappointed. I think it's far from a literary masterpiece - but it's still epic storytelling that looks at the coming decades of the climate crisis from often surprising angles. It's genuinely not the main characters that drive the story, but humanity, the unfolding horrors, the seemingly insurmountable challenges, the efforts to change the gears of humanity and capitalism to tackle what may absolutely become a climate-positive future.
Interesting, I read that in the climate fiction genre you cannot have a classical protagonist because climate change is not an issue that can be solved by a single hero. I liked your observations in this sense about the book. Though I was a bit disappointed when you said it’s not a literary master piece. I have quite high expectations of this book already 😅
Hello from a fellow speculative writer! I'm so excited to read your stories and updates and see how your journey unfolds. 💖 I think it's so important to create stories about re-visioning this mess our world is in--both to see to the truth, and to bring some hope back to our thoughts about the future. I can't wait to read your additions to the canon.
Hi Elnora, welcome to my little corner on Substack 🤗 I was very apprehensive about including climate change in my fiction writing. I honestly thought that it's not a topic for fantasy stories. But after reading 'The Great Derangement' I've changed my mind. More people should use their craft to reflect on the world, the good, the bad and the ugly.
I've never read The Great Derangement, I'll have to put it on my list. I've read The Uninhabitable Earth, and that was terrifying enough for ten lifetimes. I'm glad your mind was changed--fantasy is a great setting for cli-fi. So many of the typical denizens of fantasy stories are tied so deeply to the land they inhabit--dryads and their trees, unicorns protecting their forests, undines in their lakes, etc--it seems natural to contemplate what happens to them when the climate changes. Have you looked into lunarpunk at all? It's a new subgenre branching off from solarpunk that feels a little more on the fantasy side than straight solarpunk. Of course I say that, but one of the seminal solarpunk works is Wings of Renewal: A Solarpunk Dragon Anthology! There is more than enough room for fantasy stories in cli-fi.
That’s exactly what Amitav Ghosh writes in The Great Derangement: we need to resort back to more fantastical elements in storytelling in order to write cli-fi. The current so-called ‘serious literature’ is too fixated on realism, the everyday experience of the individual, and the hero's journey. There won’t be a single hero rescuing us from climate change or simply destroying our planet by over-exploitation of resources. Alone the role of nature as an agent of change and a force to be reckoned with changes the modern narrative. I anyway never thought that we should ‘master nature’. Also not in the supremacy of the human species. We are part of nature ourselves. Always were, always will.
I love love love love love this, and completely agree that while stories need a narrator, they don't need a savior. I, too, am interested in stories that show cooperative--maybe even systemic!--work and problem solving to overcome our challenges. And I like the idea of thinking of nature not as an antagonist in stories, but as another collaborator to worth with. Yay! Very excited to see how you work with these ideas--I have trouble myself getting concrete stories out of such grand wonderful notions. 😊
I know what you mean very well. I’m currently stuck halfway through a story and I’m planning on reading a book about animism to be able to finish it. I know the plot, I have a draft, but I don’t have the answer to what motivates the characters to do what they do? I thought that I would be able to write the story without answering every single question into detail. But the lofty ideas need to take a concrete shape and it’s not always easy. I’ll try my best not to disappoint with the execution of my stories too much 😅
Hey, the best we can do is try and learn and try again! And attempt to enjoy the journey along the way. 💖 No disappointment here, just interest in seeing how you grow!
Climate change (better termed climate crisis) is definitely par for the course for sci-fi and fantasy--welcome to the club Claudia! My first novel was directly inspired by my frustration with various intergovernmental and non profit conferences and events I used to attend, and their host organizations' lack of meaningful action on multiple fronts, from deforestation of the Amazon to human rights. I do feel we storytellers can inspire many more hearts.
Thank you for dropping by Birgitte. My journey started by looking at the world and reading books. It’s eye-opening to read that yours started at the public events that are supposed to help us get out of this mess. Did you stop attending such conferences altogether? I'll definitely go check your book.
Effectively, yes, except when such events are action-oriented. I'm still very much involved in sustainability and have also gotten more involved on the legislative side—served as a communications director for one of our Congressional candidates last year and now support a group that works on state level policy, and we're very active. We've been able to move the needle, against a lot of odds. Little by little, all those raindrops are what creates a rainstorm :)
I have never read (or considered reading) stories about climate change, but this sounds promising and exciting! Looking forward to reading some of this when I get a moment!
Thanks a lot for your feedback Liba. It is indeed a new genre but maybe you already read some books that are today considered climate fiction.
This all sounds fantastic, really excited to read more. Can I ask, you mentioned your MA, I’ve been considering doing something similar, how did you find it?
Yes, I did an MA in screenwriting in the following context:
1. I took a sabbatical and did a combination of traveling, studying (my degree was online with live classes, and 1:1 feedback sessions from the professors/lecturers) and working part-time.
2. I wanted to study something completely for myself and had this idea of writing a book but didn't know where to start.
3. I didn't mind spending the money on myself.
I don't think I would be here writing without that experience and I wish I would've put more work into it at the time. This being said, it was all for a hobby/passion project. It's very hard to make money with this degree (I don't). And you don't need it to write.
Thank you for your thoughtful answer. I think doing something just for you is perfectly valid. I think that’s what I want to do. You never know where things might lead! You’re doing great work on here, I’m loving reading your stuff!
Excellent overview and interesting subject matter. Keep up the great work, Claudia!!
Thanks for dropping by and leaving a note, Winston! 🙏
Cli-Fi you say! This is an unknown genre to me. Happy to hitch my cart to your wagon and enjoy the ride!
Welcome on board! I hope that you'll enjoy the ride.
To start on climate fiction you can go here: https://claudiabefu.substack.com/p/the-fiction-of-climate-change - there's a reading list at the end.
Given your proclivities for dystopian worlds, you might want to check out the non-fiction story of Billy Bumbo’s dystopian life! https://billybumbo.substack.com
Thank you, I already started reading some of your stories. Good luck with everything! My stories will turn from dystopia to utopia. I hope and wish the same for you 🙏
So happy to have stumbled across this via your comment earlier today. I'm really excited to see this journey evolve and can't wait for the first story from There Is Hope.
This was an excellent, insightful and sincere article that puts everything in context.
First time I've come across the term Cli-Fi, but I hope to see that used more.
Thank you, Nathan and welcome to the journey! Happy to hear that you enjoyed the introduction to my writing project. And I'm looking forward to your feedback and insights. ☺️
I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS!!!!!!
Thank you so much, Elle! I'm excited about writing it. 😀
Thanks for outlining your writing journey! Looking forward to reading those stories.
From the books I read with a strong climate element I remember The Windup girl quite vividly. Also, the recent movie Vesper (co-produced in Lithuania and shot in Lithuanian swamps) might be an interesting watch for you.
Hi Oleg, thanks for reading and the book and film recommendations. I just realized that I didn’t think about the films touching the topic of climate. IO comes to mind.
I’m curious, what is your most vivid impression from the Windup Girl? I’ll add it to my cli-fi reading list.
I think for me it's the magnitude of changes that render the world so much different from the one we have. A world where energy is scarce as there are no fossil fuels left to burn. Where you have to generate energy by pedalling to even run your computer.
https://www.npr.org/2014/05/09/311119356/in-a-changing-climate-science-fiction-starts-to-feel-real - here's a concise review (I would love to share more of my thoughts but I don't remember the book that well).
Thank you. I was interested in what stayed with you. I also don't remember most of the plot of Oryx and Crake. It will probably feel like I’d never read it when I'll pick it up again. But the bits that stayed were quite impactful.