Something that is quite interesting to me is a certain dualogy within the few novels that have been released for the genre is that there are basically two different kinds of novels there - and then there is Fox Hunt, but let me first talk about the novels there are.

Now, mind you. This list involves only novels that according to my information were written to be Solarpunk Fiction, rather than novels written at times before the invention of Solarpunk, that the label was later applied to. And these novels are:

The Biodome Chronicles by Jesikah Sundin (a Solarpunk vs Cyberpunk story)

The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson (Solarpunk YA)

Foxhunt by Rem Wigmore (a Solarpunk action novel)

Seeds of the Swarm by Sim Kern (a story focusing on establishing Utopia)

Another Life by Sarena Ulibarri (kinda an anthology in a meta narrative and with a heavy philosophical focus)

When We Hold Each Other Up by Phoebe Wagner (a story about a Solarpunk society emerging after ecocide)

Now, it might be that I am overlooking some books here, especially as most Solarpunk publishing is happening within the context of Indie publishing and self publishing. So, if I do not hear about it through social media, I will probably not hear about it at all. And sure, I can go through Amazon and look at books tagged as "Solarpunk", but I am just guessing.

Outside of that, there is only the many, many anthologies that have been released, but I will not generally talk about them right now.

Now, I generally have the feeling that a lot of Solarpunk writers are like me: Oh, I have a story idea for a Solarpunk novel, but... I am not quite motivated to write it. Pretty much all writers I have been in contact with who were at some point writing a Solarpunk novel have put that project on pause to write something else. (Which is probably an issue for another day.)

But no, what I wanted to talk about is: Of those six books above I have read three so far. The first three. The first two I would actually categorize as romances. While both Biodome and Summer Prince involve of course the dystopia/utopia connundrum happening, they both have very much the same feel I would argue a lot of the dystopian YA novels that were released around the same time as those two novels (earlier half of the 2010s) had to me. Sure, there is a story, but in the end the books have a strong core in the main relationships.

Foxhunt also had a romance, but it really felt more tertiary to the plot and was not a focus of the story for the most part.

As I said, I have not read the other three novels yet. But yeah, this is what I can say about it. And I do wonder...

I am honestly not quite sure whether those first two novels were written as Solarpunk. I know that at the very least The Summer Prince was marketed under the tag, but that is pretty much where my knowledge ends.

It makes sense though, that those books came out at the time they did. They were just riding the dystopia high related by the Hunger Games, nothing else. And because of that there are the romance subparts there.

But here is the thing: In some way romance is a strange viability marker. No matter what kind of base idea exists, there is a romance subgenre that deals with it. Because no matter how much pretty much everyone derides the romance genre, it is actually the best selling genre of literature there is. If you look at the fiction genres, there is romance (including smut), then there is mystery/crime, then there is nothing, and then there is everything else in terms of both sales and the number of stories there is. Romance sells more books than fantasy or scifi can dream off. But at the same time Romance has crossover with pretty much every other genre, because Romance can happen in any genre.

Let's face it, the different between most superhero movies and a romance is the central focus of the story. You absolutely could restructure the Iron Man movies in a way to make them romance movies that happen to also feature one of the main couple to be a superhero.

And yes, there is a ton of superhero romance out there in the book market. Because no matter what concept there is: There is romance of it.

Now, I will openly admit: Cyberpunk is also a genre where at least the English and German market does not have a whole lot of romance. Sure, there is some, but not a whole lot. (Japanese Cyberpunk ironically has spawned a whole lot more romance - but again, a topic for a later date.)

But it is interesting to me. Romance is fairly accessible in terms of the SP market, and I note that it is interesting how there is little in terms of Solarpunk romance out there. Now there is the question: Is this because the main audience for Romance does not know much about Solarpunk - or because they don't gel with it.

I don't have the answer for this. But I cannot keep but wondering.

Yes, the theme in my weblog this week very much is "transport in Solarpunk". And this brings me now to the top scifi solution that a lot of folks try and come up with in terms of the issue of the car-centric infrastructure. It is a common trope in fiction, and often enough you will have people trying to figure out how to make it work in the real world: Flying cars.

The logic is fairly simple here: Well, flying cars do not need infrastructure in terms of streets, right? So we can actually build less car-centric infrastructure and still allow everyone to get around, right? RIGHT?!

And what can I say? ... Wrong.

I honestly do not remember what Youtuber it was, but some guy from the Netherlands once made this great video on what would be needed to make flying cars work - and how it would just create more streets and make everyone less safe.

See, the issue is, that you absolutely never could have the cars fly everywhere. It would be bloody unsafe. For once: In areas with a lot of flying cars, you would want some order there with the cars flying in some sort of corridor so that they would not collide and stuff. So basically you still would have streets - only that they are off the ground. Heck, a lot of Scifi film maker instinctively understand that. In SciFi worlds with flying vehicles, you will usually still see traffic. lol

And even outside of population centers... You just cannot have the cars flying around everywhere. Again: It would be hard to prevent accidents. Especially as breaking in mid-air is a lot harder, because of the lack of friction. And also: If you have an accident or just a problem and underneath is nowhere safe to land, you are in trouble. You would fall down onto some forest, or maybe into a lake, or a river, or something else - and not only probably die, but also harm the environment, and it would be hard to get to you to save you.

So, the flying cars would need to be regulated to corridors for flying - and hence... It would just be streets again. Infrastructure.

And don't forget: Flying cars usually have to land to park. So, parking lots would still be a problem either way. Meaning, that, yeah... There would not be a huge improvement over all. Not in infrastructure, and definitely not in safety.

Bonus: If cars could fly, terror attacks would become even easier to plan through. I mean, we already have the issue because of drones right now.

I've known about solarpunk for awhile now, but I've just got around to reading and researching more about it, and as I've seen other people throw around their own ideas I thought I could, too.

OK, so:

My headcanon is basically that at the beginning of the movement there are still socio-economic divides.

The upper classes are, of course, environmentally friendly, but in a detached sort of way. The architecture/fashion is a minimalistic version of art nouveau, very stylised and "clean". Everything is made from bio-plastics, enhanced natural material and environmentally friendly man-made fabrics. All of this is intertwined with nano-tech, solar power, bio-luminescent lighting. I suppose they would have a strict vegan diet, or something even more radical, like only consuming bio-engineered liquids and solids which contain all the necessary nutrients. An intellectual and individualistic lifestyle prevails. Some could revere nature in a very post-religious/spiritual, almost philosophical way (understanding the earth is a living eco-system and that we are just a small part of it, how mother nature is more powerful than man). Cultures, languages and customs are amalgamated into a huge central globalised unified culture They are eco-friendly without actually getting "down and dirty".