
I’m pleased to announce that I’ve written a new climate fiction short story called Burning!
When a wildfire results in tragedy, Rionach recovers by taking up a new hobby: hunting the people responsible for the climate crisis.
I’ve had the basic idea for this story for a long time. The climate crisis contributes to so much death and suffering. Survivors of climate-fueled disasters process their resulting climate grief in many ways. Writing a story where climate grief serves as the motive for murder seems like an obvious choice.
So far, I haven’t seen anyone else write a story quite like this. So I decided to write my own take on the idea.
The result is Burning.
Burning is definitely one of the darkest works of climate fiction I’ve written to date. Some of my climate stories are more closely aligned with solarpunk — hopeful tales about individuals or small groups of people working together for positive change in the face of oppressive systems and climate chaos. I enjoy writing solarpunk because I appreciate the genre and feel that in real life, there’s always still something meaningful and impactful for us to do, even when the odds are against us.
But knowing what I know about the climate crisis, I don’t want all of my stories to be about hope. That feels disingenuous to me. It also feels like toxic positivity. Instead of clinging to an artificial and mandatory hope, I prefer to let some of my stories delve into the dark side of our experience of the climate crisis.
This story has nothing to do with hope. It has everything to do with a woman who suffers a devastating loss and chooses to respond in kind.
If enough readers like Burning, I would love to adapt it into a novel. In the meantime, it serves as a standalone story of climate grief and murder.
Burning is available now on Ko-fi with membership starting at $1 per month. It will also be available soon as a standalone ebook at all major booksellers. To stay informed about updates, please sign up for my email list and follow me on social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok). In the meantime, thanks for reading!
My name is Treesong. I’m a father, author, talk radio host, and Real Life Superhero. Follow me on Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, and Ko-fi for my latest climate fiction releases and superhero adventures. Sign up for my newsletter to receive free climate fiction in your inbox. Check out my bookshop for climate change books, including reading lists for climate fiction, climate nonfiction, and climate poetry!