Harare Review of Books

365 pages.

First published January 16, 2024 (World Weaver Press)

SFF/solarpunk.

If you read Multispecies Cities: Solarpunk Urban Futures, then you’ll love Solarpunk Creatures. If you didn’t, but get tired of reading dystopia in scifi, and also wonder if there’s a better, happier vision for the future, then solarpunk is your jam; and this, along with Multispecies Cities, is an excellent entry-point into the genre.

There are so many great stories here—writing prompts gone wildly adventurous. I loved:

• The Business of Bees by Andrew Knighton is a delightful story that centres a curious cat and really clever bees.
• Quarropts Can’t Dance by Rodrigo Culagovski made me laugh out loud.
• Hunting for Rain by Lyndsey Croal, about a robotic dog that hunts for rain;
• The Colorful Crow of Web-Life Park by Sandra Ulbrich Almazan, which is about life from a bird’s perspective.
• Threadloom by N. R. M. Roshak, about art made by a—well, it’s not a machine, and it’s not an animal; perhaps something in-between.
• Rabbits, Rivers and Prickly Pears by Justine Norton-Kertson follows a rabbit on an epic adventure across the desert.
• AI Dreams of Real Sheep—More at 8 by Commando Jugenstil and Tales from the EV Studio is about LIN.C.O., an AI poet who wants to be recognised as a person.
• Solar Murder by A. E. Marling was another amusing story, until it was scary.
• The Wetlands Versus the Mayor by Jerri Jerreat was cool because the wetlands won.

I love this series from World Weaver Press because each time I read or re-read a story, I come away thinking differently about the world, about the species we co-exist with, and about our future. Highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and to World Weaver Press for early access.

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