Writing the Future I Long For

Guest Blog by BrightFlame

My story in Solarpunk Creatures, “Thank Geo,” is set in the Threads, the interconnected communities I write, and where I’d love to live.
 
I first glimpsed the Threads during a trance journey led by my dear friend Starhawk—author, activist, permaculture designer—amidst a weekend workshop we co-taught. Participants worked with narrative to craft their stories for bringing forward just, resilient futures. We toured those futures during the imaginary journey, and I saw bits and pieces of what I’ve since fleshed out and named the Threads.
 
Everyone is considered kin in the Threads since mutualism and interconnection across the Web of Life are foundational. While I picture the Threads in the far Northeast of Turtle Island, they could be anywhere.
 
I’ve written more than a dozen stories set in the Threads, each exploring different timeframes and different problems and aspects of community. “Thank Geo” takes place about 150 years from now and brings in a very different character than the other stories. Humans connect to all kin through the Forest’s communication network courtesy of mycorrhizae. So all of my Threads stories have non-human characters, often trees and mycelium. “Thank Geo” is the first to bring in this particular form of kin.
 
Indeed, “Thank Geo” explores the question, Who do we humans call kin?
 
I’ve continued offering similar Storying the Future workshops to mundane and magical audiences because in order to create our desired futures, we need to first imagine them. I hope Solarpunk Creatures helps you tap into the solarpunk future you long for and inspires you to action.
 
By the way, Starhawk has inspired me for decades. Have you read her novel The Fifth Sacred Thing and its sequel, City of Refuge? These are solarpunk from before we used the term. Starhawk not only writes solarpunk, she lives it. See Earth Activist Training.

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​BrightFlame (she/they) writes, teaches, and makes magic for a just, regenerating world. Her fiction appears in Solarpunk Magazine and in several acclaimed anthologies, and her debut novel, The Working, is forthcoming  from Water Dragon Publishing (Summer 2024). She’s known for her teaching in the worldwide pagan community and co-founded the Center for Sustainable Futures at Columbia University that features her nonfiction. Musings, doodles, and more at https://brightflame.com