Friday 17 February 2023

#Blogtour No More Fairy Tales: Stories To Save Our Planet edited by D.A. Baden

It's a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour No More Fairy Tales: Stories To Save Our Planet edited by D.A. Baden.

About the Author/s

Author/Editor Bio – D.A. Baden is Professor of Sustainability at the University of Southampton and has published numerous book chapters and articles in the academic realm, and a eco-themed rom-com Habitat Man. She wrote the script for a musical, performed in Southampton and London in 2016, and has written three other screenplays. 

Denise set up the series of free Green Stories writing competitions in 2018 to inspire writers to integrate green solutions into their writing (www.greenstories.org.uk). Denise has written three stories for this anthology, and co-written two others. The Pitch is adapted from her novel Habitat Man. Follow on dabaden.com and @DABadenauthor

Authors: Brian Adams, Paolo Bacigalupi, Rasha Barrage, Brian Burt, Jenni Clarke, Lyndsey Croal, Sara Foster, Howard Gaukrodger, Matthew Hanson-Kahn, Martin Hastie, Andrew Dana Hudson, Elizabeth Kurucz, Nancy Lord, Kim Stanley Robinson and Steve Willis.

About the book

A collection of inspiring, funny, dark, mysterious, tragic, romantic, dramatic, upbeat and fantastical short stories. These 24 stories are written by a variety of authors, with the aim to inspire readers with positive visions of what a sustainable society might look like and how we might get there.

The stories are diverse in style, ranging from whodunnits to sci-fi, romance to family drama, comedy to tragedy, and cover a range of solution types from high-tech to nature-based solutions, to more systemic aspects relating to our culture and political economy.


Review

Anthologies with a theme based in realism, especially when the core topic is climate change, saving the environment and preserving the future of our planet and our species, can tip the audience one way or the other. The balance between fiction and reality or in this case speculative futuristic scenarios versus natural resources and a return to a less wasteful lifestyles, will either draw the reader or they will lose interest.

I have to say I was more than pleasantly surprised by the stories, the variety of scenarios, and perhaps most importantly the viability of many of the suggestions. It's the kind of climate fiction that will resonate and inspire, and even leave the reader with an element of hope.

A way forward through the systemic learned behaviours and abuse of the planet we live on. Much more likely to rally than the concept of superglue and obstruction. Often written with the keen eye of climate specialists the stories are a fascinating view into what our world, lifestyles and strategies could be going forward - solution focused strategies.

As I was reading the book I was already thinking about who I was going to recommend this to and buy the book for. It's a bold adventure, a compelling read that wanders the border of speculative futuristic fiction, realism, energy and action we need in the right here and now.

Kudos to the author of Efficiency by the way for capturing the absolute farce and gaslighting of the consumer by the energy companies that is currently going on and for incorporating it into the story. It's a memorable and remarkable read.

Buy No More Fairy Tales at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher ‏: ‎Habitat Press, pub date 2 Nov. 2022. Buy at Amazon com. Buy via Habitat Press.

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