Hey folks, appologies if this has been asked before (although surprisingly I couldn’t find a similar post) - what solarpunk book, film, game, tv, etc recommendations does every have?
I’m only just discovering the genre, looking for some good starting points!
We also have a dedicated community here: https://slrpnk.net/c/fiction
Oh nice! I didn’t know about it- thanks for the link
I think Nausicaa or the valley of the wind would qualify, despite being more of a post-apocalyptic setting the overall morality of the film is very in line with solarpunk.
Edit: Here’s the opening scene to give you a sense of it: https://youtu.be/4YklSnS-P78?si=mzAao7YeQsodHOg_
Becky Chambers’ “Monk and Robot” series is very cozy solarpunk fiction.
Ecotopia is a fun one because it hits all the notes but predates the genre.
Murder in the Tool Library is a favorite of mine because the setting is awesome and aspirational while feeling real and human, and because the murder mystery plot is a change from the usual ecofiction.
The solarpunk TTRPG Fully Automated! is free (libre and gratis) and has several sections devoted to its setting and worldbuilding that helped me understand a bunch of solarpunk concepts by seeing them in practice and to start thinking much bigger with my own fiction. It also has some good advice on creating engaging plots in an aspirational solarpunk setting where a lot of the usual problems have been solved.
Also check out Coyote and Crow for a Solarpunk TTRPG
nausicaä and the valley of the wind. environmentalism shows up a lot in miyazaki’s work, but nausicaä is the most direct about it and aligns with solarpunk in its messaging and themes.
Second this recommendation
Also, it has good examples of nonviolent bravery.
- Ecotopia - Ernest Callenbach
- The Dispossessed - Ursula K LeGuin
- Walkaway - Cory Doctorow
- The Lost Cause - Cory Doctorow
- Sunvault - multiple authors
- Psalm for the Wild Built - Becky Chambers
I really like Murder in the a tool library by Ae Marling and The Lost Cause by Cory Doctorow.
“Always Coming Home” by Ursula K Le Guin.
Check out the card game ‘Earthborne Rangers” too.
Idk if it’s solarpunk per se but I dearly loved “The Overstory” by Richard Powers fair warning it’s not a happy piece of fiction
‘Woman on the Edge of Time’ by Marge Piercy is the most solarpunk novel I’ve read so far. Fiction, that is. And it’s early '70s!
Oh, one more to consider: Reckoning Press is more climate fiction than explicitly solarpunk, but it was one of the things that got me to give solarpunk a chance.
Annalee Newitz The Terraformers novel.
I havent’t read Sunvault yet but you should check it out.
The Wikipedia page has now a lot of interesting references : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solarpunk
Also check the philosophical/political books cited in the manifesto.
Been playing Re:Fresh nice little game. Chill 3D platformer
Solarpunk magazine is a great place to start https://solarpunkmagazine.com/