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"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
Otherworldly but remarkably familiar, ancestral but firmly rooted in alternate futures, these twelve innovative stories—winners of the Imagine 2200 climate fiction contest organized by Grist—offer a glimpse of a future built on sustainability, inclusivity, and justice. A beekeeper finds purpose and new love after collaborating on a bee-based warning system for floods. An Indian family preserves its traditions through food, dance, and the latest communication fads. After an oceanic rapture, a lone survivor adapts to living in a tree on a small island with a vulture he befriends. Flickers of hope, even joy, illuminate these alternate realities.
Curated by Grist, the leading media organization dedicated to foregrounding stories of climate change, Metamorphosis is a visionary and speculative collection. Immersive, thought-provoking, and often surprising, these stories serve as a springboard for exploring how fiction can help us envision a tomorrow in which we flourish and thrive.
Praise for Metamorphosis
“This anthology is essential climate fiction.”—Earth Island Journal
“Unlike climate change fiction that depicts dystopian and apocalyptic worlds, these stories craft different visions for humanity’s future, ones that offer hope.”—Justine Payton, Reckoning
“Moving beyond the too-simple axis of hope and despair, Metamorphosis: Climate Fiction for a Better Future represents a necessary kind of literature—stories that contend with both where we’re headed and where we want to go. There are radical reimaginings of the world on almost every page of this collection, written by authors who represent some of the most exciting new names in speculative fiction. But more than pragmatism or prescriptivism, 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
“Humanity is facing a moment in its existence that demands all of the species’ faculties for imagination, hope, language and sympathy. It may be close to the last moment. The twelve stories and speculations in this volume suggest that survival and well-being are indeed within reach, if we exercise the qualities that best make us human.”—Ken Kalfus, author of 2 A.M. in Little America
“Too often, climate change narratives center the privileged and ignore the world’s most vulnerable communities. But this slim yet culturally expansive collection offers a necessary framework for the future, one that does not simply think about adaptation or tech or policy but embraces the hope and possibility of perhaps our greatest asset: one another. Imaginative, heartbreaking, and hopeful all at once—a crucial and beautifully humane climate fiction entry.”—Sequoia Nagamatsu, author of How High We Go in the Dark
“Metamorphosis is both astonishing and reassuring—these stories, written by people scattered all across Earth, dare to imagine a future where humans survive. There are no perfect Utopias or simple solutions here. And yet there is hope that we will find many pathways toward sustaining the ecosystems that sustain us.”—Annalee Newitz, author of The Terraformers
Editor’s Note by Tory Stephens
Introduction: A Memory of the Future by Sheree Renée Thomas
The Metamorphosis of Marie Martin by Nadine Tomlinson
To Labor for the Hive by Jamie Liu
Seven Sisters by Susan Kaye Quinn
A Holdout in the Northern California Designated Wildcraft Zone by T.K. Rex
The Lexicographer and One Tree Island by Akhim Alexis
And Now the Shade by Rich Larson
Accensa Domo Proximi by Cameron Ishee
Cabbage Koora: A Prognostic Autobiography by Sanjana Sekhar
A Seder in Siberia by Louis Evans by
The Imperfect Blue Marble by Rae Mariz
By the Skin of Your Teeth by Gina McGuire
The Blossoming by Commando Jugendstil
Notes
Acknowledgments