I haven't read a lot of solarpunk (positive visions of a sustainable and collective future) as I tend toward apocalypse myself, but Ulibarri offers an intriguing and exciting world set in the near future where some folks have built a visionary collective in Death Valley and, while not perfect by any means, are doing their best. It's a fast and entertaining novella-length read with a touch of mystery and a big ethical conundrum. It explores what a sustainable future might look , the consequences of scientific breakthroughs, the weight of leadership, and the fleeting nature of progress. It's also good introduction to solarpunk if you're not familiar with the subgenre and are curious. (Ulibarri is a leading voice in the field and an editor of multiple solarpunk anthologies).

Full disclosure: Ulibarri is a member of my critique group and a friend, and while that influenced my decision to read this lovely little novella, it did not change my review.69 s Ruxandra Grrr547 78

I love the idea of solarpunk as a genre and I always read it in order to gain some hope for the future and also take a look at the possible practical solutions we are working on to ... save the world! I was very excited for this, and on this specific thing - the closer-to-us-than-we-think scifi elements -, it really did not disappoint. We're dealing with a sustainable community with a non-hierarchical structure, cool communal living, satisfyingly explored re: what do we do about labor and the jobs that people are supposedly not willing to do?

The worldbuilding is in that sweet spot of: not too much, not too little. There are tantalizing elements outside of Otra Vida: a civil war in the past, the splitting off of states, California has a Basic Income program (that's apparently not enough), while the cops are a bit scifi and are called Protectors, and the media is very firmly Verified and connected to the state apparatus. All of this is pretty great.

When entering into this, I was wary about the idea of reincarnation in a realistic scifi setting, but I was very pleasantly surprised of the scifi explanation for this - I successfully suspended my disbelief. But I wasn't super happy with how this storyline was followed through the end.

Galacia, our main character, and the moderator of conflicts in Otra Vida, turns out to be the reincarnation of an Elon Musk- billionaire, who ended up killing a bunch of people when trying to get to Planet B (a fun play on those climate protest signs 'There is no planet B!') with his spaceship. Galacia takes most of the book to process this information and 1. we don't get to see her in action as a fully involved & competent moderator, 2. she gets very distracted by this and ignores a bunch of things happening at the margins and 3. in the end I felt very frustrated, because the idea that Thomas Ramsey wanted to do some good by doing a lot of bad really undermines the exploration of genius-entrepreneur-billionaires of today and it becomes a bit toothless

I think what has left me unsatisfied about most solarpunk writing so far is the overwhelming focus on technology and pragmatic matters and not so much on the people and their relationships. So, are these the people that would live in that community? Because they feel sort of current day anarchists, maybe even a bit recent past anarchists. I think that people who would live in that community in the future would be a bit different. Around a third of the way through, Galacia is called to moderate a conflict, and it is very summarily described (we don't even know what the conflict is, actually) and waved away and that felt disappointing. I wanted to actually see her in action.

There's also a generational conflict subplot that I thought was well handled, because it turns out that separating the people who live in that community as Founders, Petitioners and Inheritors could create a class structure? Could create biases in moderating conflict!

I wasn't super happy though with the procedure for kicking out someone in the community - it's just a petition, that feels cold. In general, when it came to the people, I got the vibes that they were all doing their own thing and not actively trying to keep creating the best community they could have. But I guess that's very much my own thing and this was a work-in-progress sort of thing. Bottom line: I personally wanted more of the people of Otra Vida and maybe less of the explosive plotline.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me an ARC.arc novella-novellette solarpunk7 s Peter Tillman3,746 415

Here's Marissa Lingen's review that led me to read it:
https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...
Excerpt:
"There’s a speculative conceit that’s basically magic–very minimal handwavium applied to make it “sciency” but we all know it’s basically magic, it’s fine–and that is not the part where they build themselves a better community. ....

I think one of the things that I best ... is that the protagonist, Galacia, is hard-working, well-intentioned, very determined…and no more perfect at self-knowledge than any of the rest of us."

Well. This one didn't work for me. The premise is magically desalinating ocean water, pumping it to Death Valley, and building an oasis there with a new community, after a near-future climate-catastrophe collapse. The author in her afterword apologizes for this idea, as well she should. Desalinating ocean water is expensive, as is pumping it hundreds of miles. ZERO chance that would work. I did finish the story-- it's short, well-written, and the characters are interesting, sorta kinda. I optimistic SF. But not if the premise is absurd! For me, 1.5 stars, which is being generous. I recommend you read something else.fantasy friend-recos science-fiction ...more6 s klaudia ?174 14

as a person that doesn't read sci-fi a lot because I can't get into the stories and world settings, I enjoyed "Another Life" by Sarena Ulibarri a lot.

the futuristic yet quite realistic setting was believable and I think that's where the world might be headed which is both horrifying and yet not really??
it's hard to explain it but the world Sarena Ulibarri built was a world I could technically live in and I'm pretty sure I'd be much more happier with my life than I am right now. but of course, it also has a scary picture to it so maybe I'm just crazy to think that living in a world that wouldn't be so bad.

overall I think this sci-fi novella is a great choice for people that don't reading sci-fi and it will be easy to get drawn into the story. also, this is one of the best covers I've seen in a while.

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