Solarpunk Press interviewed by Sunvault

Faith Gregory, editor of Solarpunk Press, was interviewed by Sunvault, the upcoming solarpunk anthology, and that interview went online today! 

Even though Sunvault is closed for submissions, Solarpunk Press is another paying market looking for solarpunk stories! We talked with co-founder Faith Gregory about what solarpunk means to them.

Sunvault:  What drew you to solarpunk and what still inspires you?

Faith Gregory: Honestly, I wasn’t initially interested in Solarpunk. Watson and I worked on the same college newspaper, and they kept bringing it up to me as something I should look into. The idea didn’t really stand out to me, but when they finally got me to look into the community and read some posts, I started to see how important the idea of optimistic speculative fiction is, and that small movements like these are key in changing the socio-political landscape of our respective communities, and how our communities interact with each other.

Keep reading...

Leigh Alexander on the "Intimacy Economy" -- signal boost→

Leigh Alexander's recent article, Good Morning, User! Welcome to the New Intimacy Economy (originally posted on Medium but linked here from New York magazine's website) struck me as important both to the position of solarpunk in the world as it exists, and to the way we run Solarpunk Press and what we're trying to do. (That is: trying to be accessible, but trying not to act like a fake-friend-company.)

Pretending at closeness is really the only way forward for anyone who wants to make money on the internet. As such, watch as organizations pretend, with increasing intensity, that they are individuals. Start counting how many times platforms, services, and websites entreat you in human voices, with awkward humor, for money. Watch as the things we expect to be invisible, utilitarian, start oozing emojis and winky-smileys. Even Silicon Valley, global epicenter of whitewashed empathy voids and one percenter sci-fi wank fantasies, is going to pretend it cares about you. Especially Silicon Valley. Ugh.