Didn’t plan on publishing my solarpunk novel this week. But it feels like the time for a story that’s radically hopeful.
We outlive capitalism. In a post-scarcity society, people do things not out of desperation but for joy. Xavi loves nothing more than putting on a silicon tail and swimming as a mermaid. She performs for children. Xavi encourages them and their parents to protect the clean water of the city’s canals. A community treasure, she is the first person who comes to mind when excited doctors develop a surgery to turn someone into a merperson. Xavi pioneers it, pushing the boundaries of transhumanism.
Then the mermaid goes missing.
A local citizen detective discovers Xavi had texted them “help” the night before, when their devices were silenced. The Citizen Detective Society mobilizes across the globe. They hope to crowdsolve the mermaid’s location and soon. Every passing hour reduces the probability they’ll discover her alive.
You can find the ebook on this indie site as well as the two more mainstream ones.
Just wanted to drop a note and say I binged this and then Murder in the Tool Library in 2 days. What a nice little universe you've built! I had never even heard of smashwords before your mention, but I've made a couple of other purchases in the last few days and will certainly use it to try and build a big enough library to distract me for the next 4 or 5 years :)
Out of curiosity, do you have any recommendations for other solarpunk or similarly utopian indie fiction?
@will_a113 @AEMarling I finally started reading Missing Mermaid today. Grabbed me right away, AE. (btw, my solarpunk, cli-fi book The Working is also on smashwords... and elsewhere)
I’m delighted you enjoyed your visit to New Tollan. I recommend Solarpunk Creatures and Solarpunk Summers anthologies.