Ecopunk! - speculative tales of radical futures by Liz Grzyb

Steven Amsterdam’s Things We Didn’t See Coming (2009), Sue Isle’s Nightsiders (2011) and James Bradley’s Clade (2015) demonstrate the versatility and effectiveness of this frame. The works of three other Australian writers that use this approach are examined in the exegesis. This format, in tandem with the cognitive estrangement often produced by science fiction (SF), provides an ideal fictional vehicle for exploring possible consequences and responses to climate change. The mosaic’s interlinked short stories mirror the many interconnected facets that make up global climate change. Two core subjects of inquiry underpin the creative work, “Watermarks”: the mosaic novel and science fiction. Likewise, the iterative process of practice-led research shares a thematic parallel with the interrelated structures of the mosaic and climate change.

Both the creative work and exegesis use a bricolage approach, which has structural resonance with the mosaic and the wide-ranging, interconnected elements of climate change. This thesis employs practice-led research to add to this fictive exploration, comprised of a work of mosaic science fiction and exegesis. Australian writers are using speculative fiction and “climate fiction” (cli-fi) to explore possible ramifications for their island nation, and the world, in a future affected by man-made climate change. With the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere now over 400 parts per million, Earth’s ecosphere is sliding over the edge of irrevocable destabilisation.

R.The Earth has entered a new epoch, dubbed the Anthropocene, in which the actions of human beings are changing the global ecosystem in dramatic and potentially catastrophic ways.

The incredible line-up includes some of Australia’s best science fiction writers: These stories explore meteorological, agricultural and biological technologies, alternative histories, arcologies and communes, the beauty in flooded cities, innovations in cross-continental travel, animals on the verge of extinction, androids, reality tv shows, new food sources, environmental refugees, blurring the divide between humans and animals, and above all, friendship, family and love.Įcopunk! 19 optimistic tales selected by two award-winning editors, showing how humanity can survive and flourish, despite the looming uncertainty from climate change.

Description edited by Liz Grzyb and Cat Sparks

Ecopunk! - speculative tales of radical futures by Liz Grzyb