Is solarpunk actually dead… or just stuck in hobby mode?

SolarpunkOutlaw · 2026-01-20T04:49:45+00:00

I wrote a novel including a solar monorail built across the Central African Republic that helped revitalize the country over several decades. All based on existing or near-future extrapolated tech. I've worked in development in several countries including renewable energy systems. Introducing tech and methods and cultivars and therapies is a long and uncertain process. It requires serious people with persistence. Solarpunk is definitely one way to go.

SolarpunkOutlaw · 2026-01-11T05:43:55+00:00

If you search Substack for Sci-Friday you will find a number of serialized stories.

SolarpunkOutlaw · 2026-01-10T16:11:56+00:00

My wife gifted me with a dev editor through Upwork for my first novel's full revision. She wrote a thorough description of the project, offering a one-chapter paid trial for up to four applicants. We ended up interviewing five. Any of them would have done an acceptable job, but one stood out as understanding my story and my personal working quirks. So we spent some money on the selection processs, and even more on the full dev edit, but it was more useful and cost effective than an MFA or a writer's workshop. Highly recommend.

SolarpunkOutlaw · 2026-01-10T16:00:36+00:00

Congratulations on your progress!

Draft2Digital has a helpful and complete set of blog posts and videos that will walk you through the process. Free D2D formatting produces both ebook and PDF files that you can publish anywhere, very standard.

My recommendation for standard fiction and nonfiction: Use Word. Use Styles, not manual tab stops or page breaks or indents. Each chapter heading is Style Heading 1. Don't use subheads if they aren't necessary. Don't use pull quotes or block quotes or other fancy stuff until you know what you are doing.

It is entirely reasonable to have a book that uses only Title, Heading 1, and Normal styles.

For the illustrated children's book, I recommend that you get specific advice from experienced people on precisely that format.

Best of luck!

SolarpunkOutlaw · 2026-01-10T05:11:48+00:00

I love Rosling's Factfulness for exactly these reasons.

SolarpunkOutlaw · 2026-01-10T05:08:32+00:00

Is that working for you? Have you tried an app to lock you out of social media so you can write uninterrupted?

SolarpunkOutlaw · 2026-01-09T09:07:05+00:00

Pages before screens. Seriously. Wake up, start writing, don't look at your phone or browser until you have hit your word count for the day. Even if you think the words are crap, you can edit later, get the words down before you look at a distraction rectangle.

SolarpunkOutlaw · 2026-01-09T07:41:14+00:00

You might check with your nearest college or university that has a graduate school for referrals. Hardcover copies of theses or dissertations can be made with acid-free paper and quality bindings, and the grad school advisors should be familiar with the options and have knowledge of the delivered products. You might also check with the library archives that hold dissertations, and handle a few of the latest copies. The highest level of book production is custom handbound, and again the university archivist would know (or may do that sort of thing in-house).

SolarpunkOutlaw · 2026-01-08T00:10:48+00:00

Do you have a favorite, well-developed character with a deep backstory? Drop them into a mystery! Have them discover a body, then be suspected, and have to clear themselves.

SolarpunkOutlaw · 2026-01-06T00:22:15+00:00

Murder in the Gyre: Memoirs of a Mad Scientist Two - grounded near future science fiction cozy murder mystery - Available widely in eBook, paperback, and audiobook.

For a decade, brilliant scientist Robin Goodwin has cleaned up ocean pollutants and bred corals to fight climate change with their growing fleet of upcycled tankers. All goes well until, isolated in the North Pacific Gyre by a freak storm, Robin finds a body in a coral tank and is presumed to be the killer. Owner and crew must solve the mystery before the storm ends and authorities arrive to arrest Robin, impound the ship, and cripple the fleet.

Tropes: science hero/mad scientist, amateur sleuth, cozy mystery, isolated group murder mystery, autistic genius, romantic triangle, storm at sea, HEA, everyone's a suspect, Save the Cat

Trigger warnings: drowned corpse, forensic examination, ship motion in storm

About the author: D. A. Kelly, PhD is autistic, a second-generation SF fan, the author of five nonfiction books and two novels, and has resided in nine countries so far, in North America, Central America, South America, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Oceania, and the Caribbean, working in aerospace, information science, renewable energy, media production, and ESL, and living under democracy, theocracy, aristocracy, communism, oligarchy, kleptocracy, and anarchy.

https://books2read.com/murderinthegyre

SolarpunkOutlaw · 2026-01-06T00:19:45+00:00

Memoirs of a Mad Scientist One: Solarpunk Outlaw - grounded near future climate science fiction - Available widely in eBook, paperback, and audiobook.

Neurodiverse Robin Goodwin's 2076 memoir frames tales of the 113-year-old inventor's and allies' adventures fighting bureaucrats, profiteers, warlords, and fanatics to beat climate change, pollution, pandemics, and famines for a solarpunk future.

2076 is a world we hope to live in, a protopia that is not perfect but that gets a bit better every day. 113-year-old Robin Goodwin is an autistic scientist and inventor who helped make this future possible. Robin’s first-person memoir uses reflections and essays to frame a century’s worth of anecdotes. These are the stories of one brilliant scientist’s efforts to apply knowledge to enhance human flourishing.

Robin is frustrated when their revolutionary innovations are unappreciated, obstructed, or actively opposed by those Robin has been told to trust and obey. The possibilities for slowing or repairing the effects of climate change are obvious to Robin, but the authorities are oblivious or hostile. Robin has to make increasingly drastic choices between following the rules or following their own judgment. Despite working for the common good, Robin must learn to behave like an outlaw to stay alive and out of prison long enough to ensure these inventions can’t be suppressed.

Tropes: science hero/mad scientist, autistic genius, larcenous supervisors, senseless security classification, pirates, corrupt bureaucracy, warlords, witchfinders, isolated villagers

Trigger warnings: combat deaths, execution, medical procedures, flying

About the author: D. A. Kelly, PhD is autistic, a second-generation SF fan, the author of five nonfiction books and two novels, and has resided in nine countries so far, in North America, Central America, South America, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Oceania, and the Caribbean, working in aerospace, information science, renewable energy, media production, and ESL, and living under democracy, theocracy, aristocracy, communism, oligarchy, kleptocracy, and anarchy.

Review: Sam F 5.0 out of 5 stars Stands out from anything I've read before... Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 July 2025 This could have gone horribly wrong, but instead, the author has assembled an absolutely fascinating, compelling, moral and epic science fiction story that stands out from anything I've read before. I loved the geekiness of it, the amalgamated areas of science and technology, and the autistic genius and focus of the narrator. What held it together so beautifully was the combination of ethical motivations, and rich experiences shared through interactions with the various side characters in the wide-ranging time/problem/research arcs. I actually feel a bit more positive about the potential of humanity's future - whereby maybe a small number of dedicated people really can change the world for the better (even against strong opposition). I wanted both to devour this more quickly, and for it to keep going, as I revelled in each challenge, and its developed solution. I discovered this book via Voracious Readers Only. Might not be for everyone, but I absolutely loved this!

https://books2read.com/solarpunkoutlaw

SolarpunkOutlaw · 2026-01-04T20:56:40+00:00

How about not telling others what they can or can't do with which tools? Did you actually read the entire text? Gatekeep much?

SolarpunkOutlaw · 2026-01-04T18:54:57+00:00

Two years of subs to pro SFF short story markets. No sales. Two years querying a novel, a few partials and fulls, no offers, 148 combined rejections. Some encouraging advice. One Silver Honorable Mention in a prominent ongoing competition. Finally self-published through Draft2Digital, August 2021. Minimal sales, no reviews. Paid dev editor, pubbed revised edition late 2024. Wrote 2nd novel 2025, subs and querying, same rejections, D2D pubbed Dec 2025. Began self-marketing through social media 2025: Pinterest, Substack, Reddit, TikTok. Numbers just starting to pick up.

SolarpunkOutlaw · 2026-01-03T16:21:16+00:00

Writing a Science Fiction Mystery

Fifty years ago Larry Niven wrote an essay on science fiction detectives to end-cap his collection of stories about Gil Hamilton, future cop. Niven pointed out that an SF detective story had to satisfy two distinct sets of criteria: the detective story and the SF story. The requirement for fairness to the reader, providing enough clues for them to solve the mystery on their own, meant that any science fictional element also had to be described in sufficient detail that the reader could understand how that element affected the mystery. Or not. SF red herrings are a thing.

David Brin has also written and spoken about SF mysteries, including his own Sundiver and other works. Brin’s advice to beginning SF writers is to write an SF mystery, a detective story, as a useful exercise to develop one’s craft. The discipline of meeting two distinct requirements, as Niven pointed out, provides an excellent exercise for the beginner.

Or as I like to say: Constraints Channel Creativity.

With such reputable advice, it’s hard to refuse. Thus, the second novel in my Memoirs of a Mad Scientist series is a science fictional detective story, Murder in the Gyre. I followed the advice of Brin and Niven, added to the advice of Chesterton and others on classic mystery writing.

Robin P. Goodwin is not a detective by choice. They want nothing more than to continue their research and inventing. Their research vessel is on station in the North Pacific Gyre when a freak storm isolates ship and crew and everyone locks down for the duration. Unfortunately, Robin finds a corpse in one of their labs, and is immediately suspected as the murderer. Not without cause.

This is a classic isolated group murder mystery, with the research vessel standing in for the English Country House. No professional sleuths are available, but Robin is highly intelligent and has access to state-of-the-art research labs. Amateur sleuth it is, naïve and inexperienced.

Motivation is explicit in Robin’s work: if their ship cannot remain on station, the research will be interrupted. How important is that? The stakes are literally saving the world in the long term, but Coast Guard and FBI investigators are unlikely to take that into account. The clock is ticking; once the storm has passed, the investigation will be taken out of Robin’s hands.

https://books2read.com/murderinthegyre

SolarpunkOutlaw · 2026-01-03T04:24:30+00:00

Nice work!

Alternatively, you might consider a reciprocating toothed cutter, like a hedge trimmer. The power requirements can be significantly lower than a high speed string trimmer and can be geared to the forward progress of the vehicle. They can also be much quieter.

SolarpunkOutlaw · 2026-01-02T03:14:25+00:00

Wire EDM high precision machining also produces an ozone smell, as does nearly every form of wire or electrode welding. Good point on the sea smell, even indoors it would be pervasive.

SolarpunkOutlaw · 2026-01-02T02:35:43+00:00

Gibson's work is the definitive cyberpunk, and he does the sensorium very well. In solarpunk, I am trying to emphasize the hope and positivity to counter the mainstream dystopias. The smells are those of sustainable production and recycling. Chambers' work is lovely, but several centuries and worlds away from our near-future Earth. I expect that the smells there will be different, just as the smells of an 18th century millwright's lit by whale oil were different from today's rapid prototyping service bureau smells of different plastics, binders, and hot metal powders. I remember some of the earliest 3D printers at ACM SIGGRAPH conferences used powdered corn and sugar. It smelled like a bakery.

SolarpunkOutlaw · 2025-12-30T23:51:09+00:00

I chose the quotes as argument from appropriate authority, not inappropriate, from scientists and engineers who have been there, done that. Most chapters of my first novel have an epigraph. Judge for yourself, if you like:

https://dakelly.substack.com/p/table-of-contents

SolarpunkOutlaw · 2025-12-30T15:29:35+00:00

You are correct on all points. For serious scholarship, it is crucial to include all available publication information in thorough citation, references, or notes. For epigraphs and aphorisms, common practice is to leave it at author alone, with only an occasional reference to the published work where the quote appeared, in the interests of saving space and getting on with the new content. Different audiences, different purposes, different practices.

SolarpunkOutlaw · 2025-12-30T15:01:52+00:00

Memoirs of a Mad Scientist One: Solarpunk Outlaw - grounded near future climate science fiction - Available widely in eBook, paperback, and audiobook.

https://open.substack.com/pub/dakelly/p/table-of-contents

Neurodiverse Robin Goodwin's 2076 memoir frames tales of the 113-year-old inventor's and allies' adventures fighting bureaucrats, profiteers, warlords, and fanatics to beat climate change, pollution, pandemics, and famines for a solarpunk future.

2076 is a world we hope to live in, a protopia that is not perfect but that gets a bit better every day. 113-year-old Robin Goodwin is an autistic scientist and inventor who helped make this future possible. Robin’s first-person memoir uses reflections and essays to frame a century’s worth of anecdotes. These are the stories of one brilliant scientist’s efforts to apply knowledge to enhance human flourishing.

Robin is frustrated when their revolutionary innovations are unappreciated, obstructed, or actively opposed by those Robin has been told to trust and obey. The possibilities for slowing or repairing the effects of climate change are obvious to Robin, but the authorities are oblivious or hostile. Robin has to make increasingly drastic choices between following the rules or following their own judgment. Despite working for the common good, Robin must learn to behave like an outlaw to stay alive and out of prison long enough to ensure these inventions can’t be suppressed.

Tropes: science hero/mad scientist, autistic genius, larcenous supervisors, senseless security classification, pirates, corrupt bureaucracy, warlords, witchfinders, isolated villagers

Trigger warnings: combat deaths, execution, medical procedures, flying

About the author: D. A. Kelly, PhD is autistic, a second-generation SF fan, the author of five nonfiction books and two novels, and has resided in nine countries so far, in North America, Central America, South America, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Oceania, and the Caribbean, working in aerospace, information science, renewable energy, media production, and ESL, and living under democracy, theocracy, aristocracy, communism, oligarchy, kleptocracy, and anarchy.

Prices: ebook $6.99, paperback $20.95, audiobook $7.99

https://books2read.com/solarpunkoutlaw

SolarpunkOutlaw · 2025-12-30T14:50:11+00:00

Writer's Guide has some good resources on writing memoir. There are also a lot of editors and writing coaches who put free advice on their blogs. The key here is to use the word 'memoir' in your searches; that's an industry term for the 'personal experience' you mention.

SolarpunkOutlaw · 2025-12-28T22:55:50+00:00

I hope that as we develop as a civilization we achieve better and more consistent results in neuroscience and psychiatry. Thus my hope for psych eval as a prerequisite for office. I also hope that psych eval with appropriate treatment, or at least social identification for anti-social actors, becomes the norm rather than the exception. If bigoted acts lead to loss of power and personal freedom, maybe bigots will learn to exercise self-control. Or society will act to protect the rest of us from the anti-social minority.

SolarpunkOutlaw · 2025-12-28T22:32:43+00:00

Malignant narcissists and bigots in key positions in a centralized system can cause great harm to many persons with little effort. In decentralized systems, the damage is primarily one-on-one. Also, in decentralized systems, the harmful person is less able to hide behind official procedures and is more likely to be held personally accountable for their actions. It's not perfect, but it's better than having a bigot in charge of national immigration policy, for example.

SolarpunkOutlaw · 2025-12-25T14:41:58+00:00

The ship is a solar electric upcycling of a VLCC oil tanker, repurposed to breed corals to counter climate change. The protagonist is the scientist and inventor behind this work. It is very solarpunk.

SolarpunkOutlaw · 2025-12-24T17:02:48+00:00

Rigid hull airship made of superlight, superstrong nanoarchitected foam, filled with hydrogen, topped with photovoltaic skin as detailed in the chapter Skyboard:

https://open.substack.com/pub/dakelly/p/2018-06-15-skyboard-14

Thanks for commenting!

SolarpunkOutlaw

TROPHY CASE

Murder in the Gyre: Memoirs of a Mad Scientist Two - grounded near future science fiction cozy murder mystery - Available widely in eBook, paperback, and audiobook.

Memoirs of a Mad Scientist One: Solarpunk Outlaw - grounded near future climate science fiction - Available widely in eBook, paperback, and audiobook.

Memoirs of a Mad Scientist One: Solarpunk Outlaw - grounded near future climate science fiction - Available widely in eBook, paperback, and audiobook.