No More Fairy Tales: Stories to Save the Planet
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.
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My Review
Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy of this book. Thanks to the blog tour organiser for organising it.
I thought I’d review this book slightly differently. It’s an anthology of 24 short stories. I’m going to make comments on each of them briefly and then sum up at the end.
Efficiency – I need a novel length book with this as the start! Lucy is such a snarky AI. I also want more background on James and his family, and their work to be energy independent.
Climate Gamers – The main character is a bratty gamer who learns a lesson through gaming. It’s not a bad idea though; the sort of collaborative work that could produce solutions to the problems we’re facing is essential and if turning things into a gaming competition gets people engaged then why not?
The Pitch – Definitely the first chapter of a longer novel.
Blue Nation – Interesting. Sort of a press conference about making the ocean a sovereign nation.
The Desert Spiral Initiative – Lovely story, excellent idea.
The Envelope – I cried.
The Carboni – This is a chapter from a pre-existing novel, that has been reprinted to suggest a way of making carbon currency
Oasis – A look at the ideas in ‘Blue Nation’ in action, following events on one of the ocean oases.
The Award Ceremony – A story of personal growth.
Come Help Me – Love on the high seas.
Refreeze The Arctic – A drunken idea to implementation.
Ground Up – Finding purpose after dreams are lost.
Frackers – Taking old skills and using them for good.
The Assassin – Knitting needles at mid-afternoon during a citizens jury.
Our Shared Storm -Excerpt from a novel, getting the wealthy to hand over their money.
Drambers – Another chapter from Kim Stanley Robinson’s Ministry for the Future, building on events in The Carboni.
Suck It Up – A new type of tree, a story of young love.
Mangrove Maj – A rich man makes a change.
Project Slowdown – Another chapter from Kim Stanley Robinson’s Ministry for the Future, building on events in Drambers. Changes have come.
The Caretaker – A diver tells us about the changing reef.
Mostly For You – A cleaner finds herself changing how she works after a date.
The Forest Awaits – Grief and hope in Scottish seas.
Penang Fairhaven – A Visitor’s Guide – The outcome of Oasis
Saving The Titanics – Girl Guides save the day! And how we can apply the lessons to climate change anxiety.
Overall comments:
This collection of short stories and chapters moves from the problem to the solutions and how they might play out. I cried more than once, and yet I found it uplifting. The solutions, whether technological or natural are there, we just need to get on with it.
I like the idea of protecting forests (land or sea), restoring the oceans and mangrove protection. We can help the natural world and try technological solutions. I’m sure the refreezing of glaciers idea is science fiction at the moment, but there’s no harm in giving it a go. I also love the idea of making the Ocean a Nation. I would move to an Oasis immediately.
I think the personal carbon credits are a quite interesting concept. I’d do alright out of them, since I don’t have children or pets (now, I’m grieving), I don’t drive and use public transport or walk everywhere, I only really go away once a year and that’s by train, I don’t buy new electronics until I absolutely have to. My love of chocolate and salmon might be expensive though…
I think everyone needs to read this anthology.
Author 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 https://www.dabaden.com/ and @DABadenauthor
Social Media Links –
@DABadenauthor, @GreenstoriesUK, FB/insta greenstoriessoton, www.dabaden.com
Everything Is Better With Dragons 