The World of Speculative Fiction

Earth's Poetic Revenge: Earthpunk

The first genre of Speculative Fiction that we are going to talk about is Earthpunk.

We Celebrate Earth in April, with Earth Day on April 22nd. April is Poetic Earth Month.

Earth is resilient, Nature is beautiful. April is the symbol of renewal, in the rising Spring of the Northern hemisphere. Earth is reborn.

In April, Earth comes awake after the long, numb and cold sleep of Winter.

Poetic Earth month is about life springing from the iced mantle of Earth, when Nature dresses in her brightest colours and shiniest tones.

The WattpadPunkFiction and SpeculativeFiction teams, though, thinks of Poetic Earth month in another way.

Following the words of T.S. Eliot, in a sense, April becomes something else, akin to the waking up of a numb member...

April is the cruellest month, breeding

Lilacs out of the dead land, mixingMemory and desire, stirringDull roots with spring rain.

Life comes again, but not in the glory of light and fragrance of roses. Life fights its way through the cracks of the frozen soil... A combat. A victory in the end... But not all glitter and rose-coloured glasses...

For Poetic Earth month, we would like to invite you to think of an Earth fighting for itself, despite all the inference of the bipedal sapiens. In April, we explore EarthPunk!

Many punk subgenres related to Nature and Earth derive from Cyberpunk but differ from the earliest punk in many ways. The struggle and rebellion against the establishment is forgotten. The gloom and foreboding forthcoming of a controlled and enslaved population crushed under the positivism of a bright and renewed future, where mankind has reached an ecological consciousness level, took its destiny into hand and saved the Earth... We can think of Solarpunk, Greenpunk, even Biopunk with the idea of a more sentencing future for our planet.

As opposed to those punk subgenres, we want to propose to you a different paradigm, one in which the Blue Marble has reached the point to a brighter future, but by itself, regardless of mankind intervention in either destructive or salvative way.

What we know is that, within Earthpunk, mankind is NOT the hero! Not, either, the main character. Earth is!

Earthpunk is Earth's poetic revenge! In which way? To which extent?

Earth becomes the rebel fighting against the establishment and oppression of humanity. Nature leads her troops of fauna and flora to regain control and autonomy of her territory: the planet.

With Earthpunk, we want to give Earth the higher ground, the main character's role in her destiny. How... is for you to decide.

During the month of April, there will be occasion to address the Earthpunk genre in stories and discussions. And we will also look at other possible derived subgenres.

First, we want to introduce Flowerpunk. Kagutsuko suggested that we take a look at this lesser known punk. Flowerpunk core is the consumption of living beings in a way to provide technological advance to humans. Those living beings are related to the flora, mainly. Probably more Science-Fantasy than pure hard Science-Fiction, the genre uses the lore of fairies and pixies and other flower related myths in a mix with science.

Then, If we look at the April calendar, we can see some interesting dates that may find their ways under the umbrella of Earthpunk. April 12th is World Hamster Day. Hamsters have been around for quite some time... some say for 15 million years, at least, but it is only in the 20th century that they started to be domesticated. Think of what hamsters have seen and how they have evolved. With that said, we think a Hamsterpunk genre, where hamsters are the dominating species could be a fun way to get some poetic Earth sci-fi out.

April 22nd is Earth day, For the occasion, we usually celebrate any initiative taken to save the planet. Though, this day sounds like the perfect occasion to switch to Earthpunk, exploring the Earth's rebellion twist.

After cuddling with hamsters, it is the turn for the Penguins to shine. April 25th is World Penguin day. Another animal to lead Nature's legions into regaining control of the iced oceans... Penguinpunk could be as ghastly as Bugpunk or just some cuddly fluffpunk... your choice!