The above quote is by Quilty Quilterton on Bluesky. It’s something I read that made my imagination and determination soar after the US election. I smiled when reading the statement, knowing all too well that I already understand that art is the oar that guides me through dystopian rivers. Keep on keeping on, all you authors, musicians, filmmakers, painters, all you people who tell better stories. Without art, our imagination and awe begin to dwindle. We need these things to survive the upcoming years.

News for 2025

My goals at Dragonfly.eco are to explore world ecofiction and diversity in nature-based literature, give readers a wide reading sample and book recommendations, and freely promote authors. The site will be 13 in August, and I’m as an engaged, if not more, since the day I began the site. I will have a few changes this year, including:

• I won’t commit to a monthly world spotlight anymore. It might still happen, but it’s getting tougher to organize the older I get. My professional career has picked up more in the past year, and my free time is also spent doing other things, like rowing/running, reading more novels with the Rewilding our Stories Discord, and writing a new novel.

  

• For the Indie Corner, I now have a series of set questions for participating authors. They can choose 5-7 of 11 potential questions to answer. I think this will free up my time when trying to think of specific questions for each book and will give authors more of a choice of the types of things they want to talk about.

• The newsletter will have a new section titled “Flashback,” which will feature a past article or spotlight I’ve done at Dragonfly.

• I will also have a focus this year on Appalachian stories. It’s an area I have so many good memories of, and this year we are visiting again.

World ecofiction spotlight

I talk with Grist's creative director Tory Stephens, focusing on the recent anthology Metamorphosis, which includes 12 stories from the Imagine 2200 initiative. Linked in the chat is my previous interview with Africa Risen editors, which includes Sheree Renée Thomas, editor of Metamorphosis. She's done so much iconic, beautiful work, but even her book forewords and introductions are intriguing.

These stories are grounded in soul, a deep communion with the belief that we can—and must—rebuild our relationship with the planet. -Omar El Akkad, author of What Strange Paradise

The stories take place around the world, including Mexico, China, Siberia, and Jamaica, and they follow Afro-, Asian, Indigenous, Latinx, disabled, feminist, and queer futurisms.

Book of the month

I’m reading two books this month but have only finished one so far: Night Magic by Leigh Ann Henion, which I talked about some in December’s newsletter. Leigh Ann writes about her Appalachian journeys finding magic that happens in dark, at night, including synchronous fireflies, owls, salamanders, bats, and bioluminescent fungi (known as foxfire or fairy fire). I highly recommend this nonfiction book if you want to be inspired by the natural world and learn about how our light pollution interferes with night ecology.

Flashback

This is a new section of the newsletter that looks at my previous work at Dragonfly. In April 2019, I wrote about George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire books, which started with the novel A Game of Thrones. I wanted to look at the ecology in the novels, particularly the first novel, and include it in the world ecofiction spotlight. I wrote the article as I was awaiting the 8th season of the television series (based on the first five novels; the 6th and 7th novels are forthcoming). I titled the article “The Beautiful and Dangerous Ecology in A Song of Ice and Fire”.

I had a great time writing this spotlight as I was a huge fan of the books and the show, while also being interested in the natural ecology and, as with any story, I knew that environment steers and helps to determine human survival, so, like, we can’t ignore or it take everything from it.

Resources

• In case you’ve missed these exciting resources, including newest books at Dragonfly.eco, check ‘em out!

  • LinkTree: Find out more about me.

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

  • Our environmental/nature song-of-the-week playlist goes back to 2015, but a new playlist is coming in 2025.

  • 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.

  • 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.

Copyright 2024 Mary Woodbury