In the era of Greta T., how can agents NOT be interested in cli-fi?
PK, it seems to me to be a marketing decision. As in (and this is from someone in the industry): "It's in the headlines. Why would we want it in our fiction?"
The warming is
our fault. There is no 'good guy' here, and in our hearts we all know how dire things really are. There's no easy solution (although, for any one person to lower their individual footprint is beyond easy--you can do it a hundred different ways). But on a global scale, given the interests at play, the diversity of opinions, greed, corruption, and the nature of fossil carbon as a remarkable source of energy, it's hard to see how we win. It's like asking people to stop eating. Stop reproducing. Both of which would help, by the way--but when it comes to fossil fuel combustion we need compliance on a very large scale.
Anecdote: At the climate march Friday there was a gent (from the accent, I believe Australian
) with a sign promoting iron fertilization in the ocean. He said it's time for private industry to start dumping iron to create algal blooms to pull the carbon out of the air. This solution? (A) is a moral hazard and (B) also fraught with real ecological risk. To the oceans. (C) by the way, producing and transporting iron has a carbon cost.
There's no superhero or allied forces or anything like this to identify with, when it comes to the climate crisis.
We are the villain, and there's no good way for us to 'see ourselves as the hero' in this particular story. It's not clear how to write something that would sell--it's not easy to see the story arc that leaves people anything but more unnerved than they already are about what is happening because of their (our) choices.
Thankfully, people do care, and there is the Greta effect, and whenever I ask tweeple (and others) if they're interested in seeing a few opening pages, many say yes, and some say it emphatically. Other people approach me, unsolicited, because of my background, and ask me to explain, for example, fundamental carbon cycling type science to them. (Sometimes, so they can then explain it to their crazy relative). I'm not too worried about sales, but it's a shame the trade route hasn't worked out (yet). I think one of the publishers I submitted to may be deliberating over it based on the traffic I see to my website and my other website.
-Patty