Films of the month

The entire quote is “I believe climate change and the Sixth Great Mass Extinction—which we are in the middle of, and which has been caused by us—are the stories of our time. I think about them all the time. So, when I sat down to write my first novel, they had to inform the writing and the story,” something author Peter Heller, speaking of The Dog Stars, told me back when I wrote an article about the book in 2013. Thirteen years later, here we are, the world having changed quite drastically.

Think Progress said of the novel, which is about a virus that wipes out humanity:

It is a piece of literary fiction that is likely to be a best seller.

It is a dystopic future tale that is nevertheless full of beauty.

It is a moving novel that illustrates the horror of climate change, without ever mentioning climate change.

A movie based on the novel is coming out on August 28th, and I’m really looking forward to it.

Another visual experience I can’t wait for is Season 2 of “3 Body Problem”, also coming this year, based on The Three Body Problem novel by Cixin Liu, which I wrote about in the March 2024 newsletter.

Ecofiction spotlight

Thirteen years ago, I also began the climate change author spotlight, which featured Heller’s novel, among many others. I’ve since morphed that series into the world ecofiction spotlight, and this month, thanks to Nightwood Editions, we explore Wildfire Verses by Sakiru Adebayo.

In the past thirteen years, wildfires have increased. Smoke and fire are our way of life.

Written in the aftermath of the 2023 McDougall Creek wildfire, Wildfire Verses (poetry) chronicles the experience of displacement and the emotional toll of living through a climate disaster. Drawing on his evacuation from Kelowna, BC during the fire, Sakiru Adebayo explores what it means to become a climate refugee while reflecting on the unequal impacts of a warming world. Urgent yet ultimately hopeful, these poems call for collective action, resilience, and a renewed sense of responsibility toward one another and the planet.

Thirteenth anniversary

Dragonfly.eco turns thirteen this month. Hard to believe I’ve stuck with anything that long, though my partner and I also celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary this year.

What began as a place to explore climate-change novels grew into a larger site that curates all kinds of art, mostly fiction, that views our planet’s changing ecological systems through a creative, storytelling frame of reference. So, happy birthday to us!

I’ll sneak in the flashback section here.

Ever have a book that just keeps haunting you? One of my favorites in the last thirteen years is You Will Speak for the Dead, a transformative, fungi body horror novella from Shirley Jackson Award winning author R.A. Busby. It’s not the only book that continually pops up in my head that makes me think, “wow, that was powerful”, but it has some of the weirdest, sweetest, and horror-like scenes in it, which I haven’t forgotten. You can read my interview with the author here.

Summertime

What I’ve been getting into lately:

• The garden is abundant and wild this year, despite some heatwaves (one is happening now).

• I partially restored an old whiskey barrel, and we rearranged our living room to fit it in there. I was inspired by my grandfather who was a foreman at a cooperage in Louisville, Kentucky. He had a few whiskey barrels in his house, and my brother recently let me know when he died they found cases of bourbon in his basement as well. Though I was there for the funeral, and we stayed at his house, I hadn’t known that. That’s part of my Kentucky roots.

• We built a porch swing, and I love sitting out there.

• Crickets started singing at our house on July 30th.

• I recently rewatched the director’s cut version of Woodstock: 3 days of peace and music and remembered just how much I love Richie Havens and Ten Years After (with Alvin Lee).

Resources

• Rewilding Our Stories: A Discord community where you can find resources, reading, and writing fun in fiction that relates strongly to nature and environment

• Reddit: Rewilding our Stories. A new subreddit that needs your voice and a new moderator.

• Book recommendations: a growing list of recs

• Eco/climate genres: They’re all over the place, and here’s an expanding compendium

• Inspiring and informative author quotes from Dragonfly’s interviews

• List of ecologically focused games

• List of eco/climate films and documentaries

• Eco-fiction links and resources

• Book database: Database of over 1,100 book posts at Dragonfly.eco

• Turning the Tide: The Youngest Generation: Fiction aimed toward children, teens, and young adults

• Indie Corner: The occasional highlight of authors who publish independently

• World Eco-fiction Series: Climate Change and Beyond: This series travels the planet exploring fictional stories close to natural landscapes and wildlife, often with environmental concerns.

• Artists & Climate Change. This site is no longer being updated but still has a wealth of info. I was a core writer for their team, and I’m both honored and grateful. Look for my “Wild Authors” series there.