And Lately, The Sun by Jacob Ashton: book review

And Lately, The Sun: Speculative Fictions for a Climate-Thrashed World (2020) is a collection of 20 stories from around the world about ‘functioning futures.’ The foreword describes the collection as ‘an ecosystem together. There is symbiosis, heterogeneity, evolution, parasitosis, commensalism, apoptosis, transformation – the mechanisms of nature.’

The futuristic stories are near-future and far-future. They mention the green tax, biotech start-ups, climate change, tree dwelling, farming, soil analysis pods, drones, e-bikes, windpower, laboratories, pollution, ethics, solarpunk, biological research, ‘forgottenwoods’ and asteroseismology.

Many stories start with the birth of the next generation of chidren, plants, and animals – eggs, wombs, pods, seeds, etc. – and most are cross-generational. The styles differ between authors – magic realism, scientific, conversational, and speculative fiction.

The tales are based in Australia, Botswana, Brazil, China, India, Italy, North America, the Netherlands, Romania, Singapore, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

There’s something for everyone in this collection.

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MARTINA NICOLLS

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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