A show about climate and climate tech: the intersection of technology and capital, people and politics, that will shape the future, and whether you'd want to live in it.
Host Richard Delevan is normally trapped in the UK, but with a global view - featuring guests from VC/PE, startups, scaleups, corporates, media, and beyond.
Subscribe at wickedproblems.earth for an ad-free version, our newsletter, and member-only goodies.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
A show about climate and climate tech: the intersection of technology and capital, people and politics, that will shape the future, and whether you'd want to live in it.
Host Richard Delevan is normally trapped in the UK, but with a global view - featuring guests from VC/PE, startups, scaleups, corporates, media, and beyond.
Subscribe at wickedproblems.earth for an ad-free version, our newsletter, and member-only goodies.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Get all the show notes and bonus content at wickedproblems.earth!
How am I gonna be an optimist about this? This conversation’s official exit music is from Bastille. But stick around for a twist.
Turns out it’s not just men who think about the Roman Empire.
Polymath raconteuse Solitaire Townsend - sustainability consultant, co-founder of Futerra, UN envoy, award-winning author of the non-fiction The Solutionists - wasn’t just thinking about Rome. She’s wondering, ‘what if I combine some Roman Empire stuff with climate fiction in an alt-history universe in a novel featuring a kick-arse heroine?’ And gets herself a two-book deal.
Pre-order Godstorm from our Bookshop.org site or wherever you get good books.
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As a cli-fi/alt-history nerd with shelves stuffed with riffs on Rome from Gibbon to Mary Beard with stops for Asimov’s Foundation series, I cannot tell you how pleased I am to be the first to introduce Solitaire Townsend as “novelist” on a podcast.
We talk about her turn to fiction, why now, why the alt-history genre, kick around ideas about alt-history from Philip K. Dick to Star Trek (with some Ursula le Guin because why not), and how she deploys the form to tell a cautionary tale about a world that could have been a lot worse off in its climate breakdown — where Rome never fell, because of the 2nd-century CE invention of the combustion engine.
As Solitaire says, if we started burning oil under Marcus Aurelius, climate change would have started much sooner. The warming and rising seas fuel extreme weather events called “God-storms”, caused - according to the Imperial version of Fox News - by lack of piety.
Most of that is in the background only creating the more personal, intimate world in which her characters struggle - including a gladatrix-turned-governess seeking to rescue her charge from nefarious clutches and kicking serious arse along the way.
In Conversation
00:28 First Podcast as a Novelist
00:56 Pitching 'Godstorm'
02:18 Background and Career of Solitaire Townsend
02:37 Solitaire, Sustainability Caesaris
04:01 Nonfiction Writing Journey
05:49 Role of Storytelling in Social Change
07:22 Transition to Fiction Writing
08:14 Discovering a Passion for Writing
10:24 Exploring Alternate History
14:05 Speculative Fiction and Personal Interests
17:26 Themes and Inspirations for 'God Storm'
20:14 Character Development and Empathy
22:14 Reflections on Ursula Le Guin and Sci-Fi
27:21 Conclusion and Book Pre-Order Information
Pre-order Godstorm from our Bookshop.org site.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
