“I write for the same reason that I breathe—because I have to.”  Isaac Asimov

Climate Fiction Books ~ Romantasy

by Mary Flodin

 

Best Novels about Climate Change

Some of the best Cli-Fi novels were written long before the term “Cli-Fi” was coined. “Cli-Fi” as a descriptor for novels about climate change has come into use fairly recently, but climate fiction, that is — novels where climate change itself is a driving force of conflict in the plot — has been a sub genre of literature for generations.  One of the  oldest known “Cli-Fi books” may be the Epic of Gilgamesh, c. 2000-1500 BCE. Frank Herbert’s 1965 science fiction novel Dune, set on a fictional desert planet, has been proposed as a pioneer of modern climate fiction for its themes of ecology and environmentalism. Widely considered to be among the best climate fiction books of the 20th Century are: Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, The Overstory by Richard Powers, The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson, The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi, Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard, Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver. In the 21st Century, with global warming impacting individuals, societies, and the natural world in ever more profound ways, many new Cli-Fi novels are landing on bookstore shelves every day. Where to find the best of them? For starters, the New York public library publishes an annual list of Compelling New Climate Fiction Reads.

I don’t remember where I first came across the term “Cli-Fi” (a term evidently first used by freelance news reporter and climate activist Dan Bloom around 2007) but on Twitter in 2012, I started referring to my then novel-in-progress, Fruit of the Devil, as a “Cli-Fi book.” Back then, it was only me and one other odd nerd. I was encouraged to know that there was at least one more writer like me. Now, there are many more humans every day raising their voices — in print, music, digital media, theater, and public activism — out of concern for all of the precious beings inhabiting our beautiful planet.

Why do I write Cli-Fi (novels about climate change)? 

As temperatures have heated up, sea levels have risen, and loss of arable land has resulted in mass starvation, large swathes around the Earth have already become unliveable. People are being forced to migrate in order to survive. According to an August 31, 2022, Time Magazine article by Gaia Vince, the number of climate migrants world-wide has doubled over the past decade. Nowhere on the planet will be unaffected. In order to survive, humanity must learn to stop blaming innocent scapegoats and instead cooperate with all the other humans on this planetary life raft to transition rapidly to new, climate-resilient social and technological systems in every aspect of life — from energy and transportation to agriculture, education, and housing. I hope my Cli-Fi novels will inform, enlighten, and inspire readers, generating hope and a vision of effective action.

My calling to write climate fiction books evolved from my life experiences. A native Californian, I was born and raised in the Pasadena area. After earning a BA in English with a minor in Social Sciences, and then a second BA in Art, I settled in Santa Cruz, California and worked as an independent studio potter for about ten years. I passionately loved my connection to the Earth and all that working with clay had to teach, but eventually I did the math and accepted the reality that, although my pottery was selling well at craft fairs and in prestigious galleries, I could not sustain my lifestyle as a potter. So I returned to school and earned teaching credentials at University of California Santa Cruz.

Before settling into the classroom with my new teaching credentials, I worked as an environmental education teacher for an outdoor science discovery field school, guiding students through California wildlands. Eventually, my journey led me to Watsonville, in the center of the Monterey Bay region, where I took my place as a classroom teacher in the elementary school that was to become the setting for my first Cli-Fi novel. At that time, my husband was working for NASA-Ames in the atmospheric and planetary sciences division. He served on, among other projects, the ozone hole research (which was ultimately successfully resolved with the Montreal Protocol) and then on a climate change research team. <See his TedTalk >

As our concern grew about the failure of the world to accept and act upon the escalating climate havoc, we became part of an international community of scientists and educators searching for ways to effectively communicate about the climate crisis. In 2012, I retired from teaching to fully focus on the call ringing urgently in my mind to write a speculative romantic suspense novel about climate change, social justice, and environmental justice.

It had become clear to me that everything I care passionately about — sustainable agriculture, saving endangered habitats like our redwood forests and watersheds; the endangered birds migrating on the Pacific flyway; our endangered Pacific salmon; social justice; preserving the purity of our water, food, and air; high quality public health; the need for excellent standards-based education so that all students can thrive and fulfill their full potential; the preservation of culture and democracy; the urgent need to transition to sustainable energy, transportation, and housing . . . everything intersects under the umbrella of global climate change. 

As a teacher, I was well aware of the power of stories. Storytelling, through popular commercial genres like romance and mystery, seemed to me to be the perfect vessel from which to pour out my love and concern for our beautiful planet Earth and all of her children.

What are Cli-Fi novels?

Rising tides and temperatures, unprecedented severe storms, wildfires, floods, and droughts steadily impact our daily lives, and the realization is growing that climate change is at the core of many global issues. In fact, the insurance industry has recognized for decades that the economy itself is a “wholly owned subsidiary of the climate.” This monumental crisis is now a prevalent theme in the modern arts, including visual and performing art, popular music and film, and literature. More and more authors — of  literary fiction, speculative and science fiction, fantasy, and even mystery, romance, and young adult — are choosing to tell stories through the lens of the Anthropocene, an era in which sensitive species and habitats are facing extinction, and the world is being dramatically rendered less able to sustain life because of  human-caused changes to Earth’s climate. These stories are Cli-Fi books.

Novels about climate change, a type of ecological literature, have long been recognized as an important literary genre by The Association for the Study of Literature and Environment, a scholarly international organization, founded in 1992. Now, perhaps cli-fi is finally moving into the mainstream. In 2024 in Europe, the first ever literary prize for climate fiction was announced. And Cl-Fi is rapidly becoming recognized by the commercial literary establishment, including literary agents and publishers, as a legitimate genre. But, although novels on climate change are increasingly popular, many readers are still not familiar with the meaning of the label “Cli-Fi”, shorthand for climate fiction books. 

Some popular Cli-Fi books and films are post-apocalyptic horror, serving as a warning that catastrophic futures may be very possible. But gory and violent dystopian visions of the last surviving “walking dead” desperately struggling to survive on a dying planet can lead readers to into despair and bitter nihilism. Realizing that, some contemporary Cli-Fi authors, such as myself, are choosing to shift the narrative, creating novels on climate change that offer hope and utopian visions of positive futures, providing positive examples of social cooperation, and new resilience. To find more of the new best Cli-Fi novels, see the Climate Fiction Writers League.

In his essay “Does Climate Fiction Make a Difference?” Literary scholar Matthew Schneider-Mayerson asks the questions, “How can authors, filmmakers, and other cultural workers craft narratives that are more likely to lead to climate justice, instead of delay, despair, or ecofascism?” “[Do] literature and other forms of art, media, and culture have important roles to play in telling a new (and very old) story about humanity’s appropriate connection to and place within the broader web of life . . . and play an essential role in the defining work of our time—the transnational, transgenerational struggle to slow and adapt to the climate and nature crises with justice and equity.” In his Climate Change podcast, Stories for the Earth, Forrest Brown offers a further take on defining Cli-Fi.

By imagining potential realities, Cli-Fi attempts to provoke readers to ask questions like, “How do we want to live in the world? What kind of future do we want to have, and how can we move toward that reality?” The best novels about climate change provide a compelling way to engage readers with issues that are fundamental to life on Earth now and in the future, such as human and nonhuman survival, environmental damage, social justice, and humans’ relationship with one another, with community, other species, and the environment. 

What is Romantasy?

Romantasy is speculative fiction/magical realism/fantasy with a strong female protagonist and steamy romance at the center of the story. Romance has long been scoffed at and trivialized by those who consider themselves too serious to read a “bodice ripper,” but romance is the highest selling commercial fiction genre. Why do you imagine that is? At its best, the Romance genre, since its inception, has provided valuable information and agency to girls and women who are trying to find their way in a sexist world. See A Brief History of the Romance Novel for more. Fantasy, a wonderfully entertaining and widely popular fiction genre, is often male-focused and militaristic. Romantasy gives readers compelling Fantasy with the added benefit of relatable female protagonists.

 

Mary’s new Cli-Fi eco-Thriller 
~ Incident at Cougar Creek ~

A love forged through passion for a sacred land.
To be published in 2025 by Paper Angel Press

From Central California’s rugged and beautiful Cougar Creek Coast Ranch National Monument — one of the most sensitive biodiversity hotspots in North America — comes a new mystery at the intersection of Cli Fi eco-Thriller and Romantasy. In a land where nature is unraveling, a brutal murder and a supernatural secret bring together Fish and Wildlife Officer Colin Dawson —an Army Ranger veteran struggling with PTSD—and Kumeyaay Native woman Delfina Cuero. Will Colin and Delfina be able to rise above their personal wounds in time to stop the monster who killed Delfina’s mother?

Incident at Cougar Creek posits the fantastical question: Can mutations in epigenetic DNA activated by the recent wave of climate havoc-induced pandemics turn humans into shape shifters? Some predators wear fur. Others wear a badge. When beasts walk as humans, love is the rarest survival skill of all. 

 

Fruit of the Devil
a finalist for the
PEN Bellwether Prize
for Socially Engaged Fiction

Recipe for FRUIT OF THE DEVIL: Mash together some strawberries and pesticides, a passionate teacher, a courageous priest, an ancient nature god, true love, wild sex, Native Americans, ghosts, migrant farmworkers, billionaire ranchers, gang bangers, surfers, and salmon. Stir it up in a National Marine Sanctuary. Serve with fine California wines. Season with murder, magic and mystery.

 

Romantasy and “Cli-Fi” Novels About Climate Change by Mary Flodin