by J. Scott Coatsworth, Bryan Cebulski, Rachel Hope Crossman, Jana Denardo, J.G. Follansbee, Ingrid Garcia, Jennifer R. Povey, Mere Rain, D.M. Rasch, Holly Schofield, Anthea Sharp, Alex Silver

Genre:  near-future, anthology, solarpunk

The Dust Cover Copy

We’re a world beset by crises. Climate change, income inequality, racism, pandemics, an almost unmanageable tangle of issues. Sometimes it’s hard to look ahead and see a hopeful future.

We asked sci-fi writers to send us stories about ways to fix what’s wrong with the world. From the sixty-five stories we received, we chose the twelve most amazing (and hopefully prescient) tales.

Dive in and find out how we might mitigate climate change, make war obsolete, switch to alternative forms of energy, and restructure the very foundations of our society.

The future’s not going to fix itself.

The Scene

Worldbuilding

I’ll start this review with my honest emotional reaction: this is a book I needed right now. Each author has brought us a world that might not be Utopia, but is doing pretty good. Amazingly happy, in some cases. Scrappy and resilient in others. Several stories make me wish there was a novel work to go with them; the world they portray has plenty of room to expand.

Throughout the work, a motto from the first story, Rain’s In Light, in the anthology rings. ‘No lost causes’. You see that echoed as the characters in Coatsworth’s Rise bring a drowned Venice back up to the surface of a risen Mediterranean and begin to restore it. You see it in Silver’s Upgrade as a character makes painful choices about integrity and humanity, in Crossman’s A Forest For The Trees as the trees themselves speak and a new Svalbard becomes refuge for a better future. And you see it in Denardo’s A Homestead At The Beginning Of The World, where alien invasion and the destruction of our society allows the silver lining of a sort-of clean slate, and the reformation of the Indigenous Nations of America. Nothing is perfect. A lot of work needs doing. But there are no lost causes.

The Crowd

Characterization

Whether it’s the incredible will and resolve of Rinna in Sharp’s Ice In D Minor or the effervescent family energy and wonderful community feeling of Garcia’s Juma and the Quantum Ghost (probably one of my favorites in the collection) or the delightfully crotchety Julie in Schofield’s The Call Of The Wold, each story introduces you to fun, well-rounded and interesting characters.

Writing Style

This anthology is a chocolate box assortment of stories, each with its own pleasures and flavor. Each has something to offer you, and every one is a treat.

The Moves

Plot

Given that this is an anthology, I won’t dive too deep into any single plot. Some stories surprise. Some enlighten. Some uplift. All satisfy.

Overall Rating

This is the kind of anthology we need to see a lot more of.
Pick it up. You’ll be glad you did.