Reviews, press, events and ratings below this book intro

MULTISPECIES CITIES - SOLARPUNK URBAN FUTURES 

Edited and introduced by Christoph Ruprecht, Deborah Cleland, Norie Tamura, Rajat Chaudhuri, Sarena Ulibarri

Cities are alive, shared by humans and animals, insects and plants, landforms and machines. What might city ecosystems look like in the future if we strive for multispecies justice in our urban settings? In these more-than-human stories, twenty-four authors investigate humanity’s relationship with the rest of the natural world, placing characters in situations where humans have to look beyond their own needs and interests. A quirky eco-businessman sees broader applications for a high school science fair project. A bad date in Hawai‘i takes an unexpected turn when the couple stumbles upon some confused sea turtle hatchlings. A genetically-enhanced supersoldier struggles to find new purpose in a peaceful Tokyo. A community service punishment in Singapore leads to unexpected friendships across age and species. A boy and a mammoth trek across Asia in search of kin. A Tamil child learns the language of the stars. Set primarily in the Asia-Pacific, these stories engage with the serious issues of justice, inclusion, and sustainability that affect the region, while offering optimistic visions of tomorrow's urban spaces.

ISBN-13: 978-1734054521
Anthology: Approx. 100,000 words / 330 pages
Published by: World Weaver Press (USA) (April 2021)

"Listen: A Memoir" by Priya Sarukkai Chabria
"By the Light of the Stars" by N. R. M. Roshak
"Old Man's Sea" by Meyari McFarland
"Deer, Tiger, and Witch" by Kate V. Bui
"Vladivostok" by Avital Balwit
"The Exuberant Vitality of Hatchling Habitats" by D.A. Xiaolin Spires
"Untamed" by Timothy Yam
"It is the year 2115" by Joyce Chng
"A Rabbit Egg for Flora" by Caroline M. Yoachim
"Iron Fox in the Marble City" by Vlad-Andrei Cucu
"Mariposa Awakening" by Joseph F. Nacino
"A Life With Cibi" by Natsumi Tanaka
"Children of Asphalt" by Phoebe Wagner
"Down the River" by Eliza Victoria
"Becoming Martians" by Taiyo Fujii
"Abso" by Sarah E. Stevens
"In Two Minds" by Joel R Hunt
"Arfabad" by Rimi B. Chatterjee
"The Mammoth Steps" by Andrew Dana Hudson
"Wandjina" by Amin Chehelnabi
"The Streams Are Paved With Fish Traps" by Octavia Cade
"Crew" by E.-H. Nießler
"The Songs That Humanity Lost Reluctantly to Dolphins" by Shweta Taneja
"The Birdsong Fossil" by D.K. Mok

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Reviews, press, events, academics, university courses, teaching, interviews, ratings and news

1. University teaching, course and syllabus inclusion

i) Stories and Introduction to the book is part of this course at Florida Atlantic University offered by Stacey Balkan (Summer 2022: World-Making through Climate Fiction) 

ii) Stories from the book taught by Alex Lockwood at Sunderland University (UK)


iv) Included in the syllabus of College of Charleston, South Carolina (USA)


2. Listings and nominations

i) The book is listed in `The Definitive Climate Fiction Reading List' by  Grist (USA)

ii) The book is a finalist shortlisted for the Utopia Awards.  

3. Reviews, academic references, interviews 

i) Author and Editor interviews in Scroll (India)

ii) Scholarly essay in Public Books (USA)

iii) Discussed in this paper in journal Estudios humanísticos. Filología (Spanish) `FROM THE FANTASTIC POSTHUMAN TO ECOMODERN REALISM: A CARTOGRAPHY OF SOLARPUNK SCIENCE FICTION" 

iv) Stories from the book used in this gamified backcasting exercise - video game for an M.A. thesis by Reetta Rossi with illustrations by Kaisa Hyvärinen

v) Review in Utopian  Studies (Scholarly Publications Collective) 

vi) Review in Solarpunk Italia (Italy) 

vii) Review in Publishers Weekly (USA)

viii) Review by 
Leanne Ogasawara in Books on Asia (Japan)

ix) Opinion piece by Lidia Zuin in Tab (Brazil, in Portuguese)

x) The book is discussed in `Towards an Anti-Antiutopia: Solarpunk Cities and the Precarity of Our Urban Future' by Phillip Crosby in Enquiry - The ARCC Journal of Architectural Research  

xi) Discussed and referenced in `Envisioning the Ecological Future: Three Perspectives of the Beaten Tracnullk' by Christian Arnsperger and Agnieszka Soltysik Monnet in Text Matters: A Journal of Literature, Theory and Culture

Reviews of Spellcasters

Chaudhuri's prose is lucid; unexpected twists inform this part psycho-logical thriller and part climate fiction.' The Telegraph


Reviews of Multispecies Cities

Listed in `The Definitive Climate Fiction Reading List’' Grist (US)

`Joyously ambitious solarpunk ... excels when entwining relational nuance with keenly handled futurist ideas ... number of gems for fans of climate fiction' Publishers Weekly

`Filled with a polyphony of voices ... Engaging introduction' Leanne Ogasawara, Books on Asia (Japan)


Reviews of The Great Bengali Poetry Underground

`Excellent translation ... Hard to find flavour of a culture in ferment' Scroll

`Translator seems to have masterfully reproduced in English the sting and beat of the original Bengali versions' Indian Literature journal (Sahitya Akademi)

`What comes across in the translations, from the very beginning, are the poems' distinctive Bengali origin' Daily Star (Bangladesh)

`Social-existential cares are interwoven with allusions to local or national issues ... will subtly shift our perception as to the currents of Bengali underground poetry' New Indian Express


Reviews of Calcutta Nights

`Masterfully translated' The Telegraph

`Important from the point of view of culture studies' Indian Literature journal

`Fascinating as a document of the 20th century city'  Trisha Gupta, India Today

`Flawless translation ... retains racy flavour' Sajni Mukherji, Outlook magazine

`Translator craftily balances archaic words with new ones, never upsetting the tonal authenticity of a period piece.' Scroll

`A unique cosmopolitan setting' Business Standard

`Excellent translation ... a crisp read' Ganesh Saili, New Indian Express

`A tale of beauty and decadence' South China Morning Post

`Interesting ... for readers interested in history and the Asian experience of transition to modernity.' Asian Review of Books, Hong Kong

`A guidebook to the dark dens of eeriness' Press Trust of India (PTI)

`What a punch this little volume packs' India Abroad News Service of India (IANS)


Reviews of The Butterfly Effect

`Propels the accumulated anxieties of a city into a shape-shifting future vortex' Anjana Basu, Outlook magazine 

`Explores a Ballardian near-future' Amy Brady, Words Without Borders

`Genre-bending' Amy Brady, Houston Chronicle, USA

`Projects the tropes of a new politics of imagination ... a new eco-sophy is created'Krishnan Unni. P, Indian Literature, Sahitya Akademi 

`Indian novel's story parallels the deadly coronavirus outbreak' Times of India (news)

`Compelling' UNI

`A magic box ... brings Allan Poe to mind' Scroll

`Ten Works of Environmental Literature from Around the World' Book Riot, USA(listing)

`A wild ride, with brilliant and Ballardian descriptions' Eco-fiction

`Vivid storytelling dovetails with a playful structure' Bengaluru Review

`Fifty Must-Read Novels about Eco-Disaster' Book Riot, USA (listing)

`Around the World in 80 Books' Dragonfly Ecofiction (listing)


Reviews of The Best Asian Speculative Fiction

`A necessary and successful conglomerate' The Telegraph

`An important contribution to an ever-expanding and dynamic literary form' Southeast Asian Review of English (SARE), Malaysia

`More than just fantasy' Pune Mirror-Times of India (listing) 

`South Asian Studies Summer Reading List', Prof Mou Banerjee, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA (listing) 


Reviews of Hotel Calcutta

`Sheer power of storytelling' The Telegraph

`A persuasive artist...Hotel Calcutta invites a hungry, urgent reading' Asian Review of Books

`A very innovative frame story' Journal of Commonwealth Literature

`An astounding work that interrogates the myriad surfaces of reality' Indian Literature, Sahitya Akademi

`A dazzling "wall of stories" in Calcutta' The Sunday Guardian

`Very urban and 21st century' Sanjukta Dasgupta

`Chaudhuri tells us something also of the 'art' of the story.' Anu Kumar, The Thumb Print Magazine

`A web both classical and new.' Spark Magazine

`A writer to watch out for' Sushma Joshi, Kitaab

`His themes reveal a deep fascination with human response to the extraordinary’ Helter Skelter

Goodreads


Reviews of Calculus

`Might set a new trend in fiction writing' (in Bengali) Ekak Matra

Reviews of Amber Dusk

`A heady mix of experiences' The Telegraph  

`A memorable novel of East-West encounter' Amitava Roy 

`Another type of writing emerging within Indian English writing' Indian Literature, Sahitya Akademi (JSTOR)

`Praised for its evocation of Calcutta and Paris' Journal of Commonwealth Literature 

`Surrealism explored ... A gifted writer of fiction' Deccan Herald  

`A delicately crafted story about love, loathing and the quest for peace in a time of intolerance' The Statesman  





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