A Sweltering Update
A summer to remember!
For all of us in London, and in Europe more generally, this is definitely a summer to remember. My kid’s already had more than a week of half-days in school due to classroom temperatures getting above recommend health and safety standards. As the climate continues to change, I think about what kind of changes we will have to make to the way we live, to cater for it; and whether we will be able to slow down things down.
Two years ago, I completed the Carbon Literacy Course, which opened my mind to a different way of thinking about how we live and the value of things in climate terms. I highly recommend it to everyone. As our world continues to change, it is good to know how we are contributing to it, and more importantly, what we can do to help.
The Update
A post or two ago (which was actually more than half a year ago(!)), I mentioned a possible change to come and after quite some time procrastinating, I now have a better idea (not a full idea yet, but better, at least) of what I want to do here.
To start, Making Up Life will be a publication run by US. That is me AND you. I want to feature your ideas and themes alongside my writing, and to do so, I need your help! I need you to share your thoughts and ideas… tell me what you want to see more of, or tell me what isn’t working for you.
I have also restarted a paid subscription where I will be sharing original fiction, poetry, and articles that are more personal. I hope that you will join me at a low price of £3.50/month or £30/year. There’s also a special treat for founding members, which is a new feature that I’ve only just learnt about!
To catch you up on the time we have been apart, here are a few things that I’ve been up to in the last months.
Zoefuturism: Brightflame’s blog
Zoefuturism is a term that grew from my PhD research and found a life of its own. It’s a subgenre of speculative fiction that is very close to my heart. And recently, I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to talk about it on Brightflame’s blog. If you’d like to learn more about Zoefuturism, this is a great place to start.
Zoefuturism: BSFA Vector
I’ve also been collaborating with BSFA Vector as co-guest editor with Stephen Oram on two special issues on Zoefuturism. The first issue was published earlier this year and all British Science Fiction Association members should have received their copies in the post! Here’s our guest editorial for the issue. The next issue will be out soon!
Tales of Seikyu
On the 11th June, Fireshine Games and ACE Entertainment launched Tales of Seikyu, a peaceful farming life sim. I had the great pleasure of working on it as the lead Narrative Designer, helping organise and improve the worldbuilding, while developing all the wonderful scripts with two other writers. Did you know that we have 16 romanceable NPCs? That’s heck a lot of dating scripts! <3 It was an incredible experience working with a team who are all extremely talented and caring, from the producer, director, to the localisation team.
It was exhilarating to see “Overwhelmingly Positive” recent reviews on the day of our launch, something that we are all very proud of. After nearly a year and a half, I’m finding myself sorely missing Seikyu and all my fellow yokai. Good thing I have my beautiful farm to return to!
Now that you’re all up-to-date, I’ll get to prepping the next articles, which will be more exploratory on the themes that are on my mind at the moment (nature, AI, technology, culture, and more).
Comment below if there’s something on your mind!