62 Cli-Fi Ruminations - Lisa Devaney

If you follow the hashtag #clifi on Twitter, for this rising literary genre of cli-fi (climate change fiction) you’ll find a growing

Dan Bloom

number of fans, and among those who tweet about the topic, is the father of cli-fi himself – Dan Bloom, based in Taiwan. Bloom is often credited with coining the term cli-fi around about 2007, and launched a viral meme onto the internet, and beyond, with his efforts to popularize and publicize the term.

Well flash-forward a few years and a Google search will show you hundreds of links and articles about the term cli-fi and more and more writers penning books in the genre. Bloom has also extended the cli-fi description to cover film, setting up the Cliffies, an annual award for cli-fi films.

My own first book In Ark: A Promise of Survival is cli-fi. So I’ve been supporting the rise, and rise, of cli-fi and think the term, and those participating in it all, is a great idea to distinguish this type of fiction. But I am not the one to explain or define what cli-fi is all about. For that, I like to hear the ideas of cli-fi’s number one advocate.

On Twitter, Bloom has shared many of his cli-fi musings, and compiled a list of them for me to share with you here on my blog. You can also find him, and his list of cli-fi thoughts on his own blog here. Below, please find his 62, zen-like, cli-fi ruminations:

• Cli-fi isn’t a marketing term or a bookstore shelving category, and it’s more than a literary term. It’s a password into the future and those who know it, know.

Cli-fi is more than a genre term, much more than that: it’s a code word, a password, a secret handshake; it is bringing us together as one

#CliFi is not for you or your children or grandkids, no. It’s codeword for future generations, as yet unborn. And born they shall be. In next 30 generations.

Cli-Fi cannot, will not, save us from what’s coming. Too late for that. But it’s here, now, always. We have 30 generations to prepare. See?

In the future, come 30 more generations of man, there will be no #CliFi. By 2500 A.D. (Anthrocenus Deflexus)it will be too late

People want cli-fi to offer solutions, comfortable happy fixes. Aint gonna happen. We are ”doomed, doomed” as a species, and we did it to ourselves.

• Cli-Fi cannot, will not, save us from what’s coming. Too late for that. But it’s here, now, always. We have 30 generations to prepare. There’s time.

• Cli-fi won’t make much of a difference either way you define it. It’s just here, now, beckoning future writers. It’s not sci-fi, never was

Cli-fi is more than a mere genre: it’s a cri de coeur, a warning flare, a pathway to the future before it’s too late. See? #CliFi’s here now

If the rising new literary term “cli-fi” makes you ‘cringe’ at first sight or hearing, don’t give up on it yet. With time, you will come to see it for what it is.

Cli-fi is not sci-fi, it is not eco-fiction, it is not subgenred to anything earlier. #CliFi is a hashtag burning its stamp into our very skin, as we prepare.

Cli-fi is more than a genre term, much more than that: it’s a code word, a password, a secret handshake; it is bringing us together as one.

Cli-fi wasn’t just a case of slapping a new name on an old genre. It’s much deeper and existential than that. Think game-changer, new directions.

We’ll never make it out of here alive. That’s cli-fi in a nutshell. Man the lifeboats, prepare to test the seas of one season after the next.

Cli-fi defines a line the sands of time that no man can cross without trepidation or reverence. There’s a reason we are here. What is it?

If cli-fi is one thing, it’s a chance to choose our future. One door leads here, another door leads there. Choose wisely: Your descendants are waiting.

There’s a tragic flaw in our genes, a selfish shellfish that doesn’t want to share. This DNA will be our downfall. This Earth shall abide.

Cli-fi doesn’t choose sides. We do. Choose your weapon, use it wisely. We are here by the grace of God, and someday we won’t be. God knows.

You could say that in a post-sci-fi world, cli-fi has come to rescue us from oblivion. Not true. No way.

You might not really be interested in cli-fi, or where it is going. But trust me, cli-fi is interested in you. Why? Becos the End is nigh

When all is said and done, cli-fi points in only one direction. It’s for everyone to find it on their own. ON THE BEACH from 1957 has clues.

Cli-fi is not about who coined it or who popularized it. It’s about much more pressing things, like how many more generations before the End?

I never met a future I didn’t like. No, that can’t be true. Some futures spell the end of humankind. It’s in the cards. Choose your exit.

Cli-fi is neither pro nor con. It just is. Take your pick. Choose yr sides. We are at war w/ a future that threatens all futures. Arise!

Cli-fi is so much a part of this world that on first hearing the word or seeing it in print, it slips right by, invisble, unnoticed.

If by some remote chance you find yourself reading a cli-fi novel without realizing it’s cli-fi, you have arrived.

There are are still 30 generations to be born before the real apocalypse begins. This now is just a rehearsal. An audition.

Cli-fi leads to a meeting of the minds, borderless, rudderless, unconsolable. Will we get there on time?

If you think time is running out, or has already run out, in terms of the unspeakable cli-fi future we face, you are very close to solving the riddle. Why are we here?

I don’t want to sound pessimistic, as optimism must abound and console us. But listen to the wind, hear the chimes sing, ring.

Cli-fi has a place in our hearts and minds, now and forever. But forever is no longer forever. We sold the farm.

Cli-fi can, and will, shine a light on the darkness that is about to befall us. Let’s stick together and shoulder the burden.

You didn’t know cli-fi was coming. Nobody did. It’s taken us by surprise.

There will be days when cli-fi is beyond us, unscoutable, undetected. All the more reason to pay attention.

Cli-fi doesn’t mean resignation or giving in to the darkness ahead. To the contrary, it means taking up arms.

If a time shall come when all else fails, cli-fi may just come to the rescue. Make room.

Cli-fi cannot answer all our questions or undo the deeds we have done. No. But she can unburden us of our fears.

There will come a time when there is no time left. That’s where, and when, cli-fi comes in.

Who will write the cli-fi of the future? They will be legion, legends. Welcome them.

Cli-fi is more than a mere genre term, much more than a literary term. It’s a battle cry, a cri decoeur, a shout-out to future generations: “We tried to warn you!”

Think positive, think cli-fi. Think future generations, think now. Think the end is nigh unless we change our ways.

There is no way out of here, said the sailors to the sun. Thirty more generations is all we have left. What then?

Ploddingly, one step at a time, we are marching to future days. Cli-fi cannot stop the deluge, yet we must not surrender. Never.

With sea levels rising in future times, Nature has been turned on its head. Cli-fi paints a picture, sight unseen.

If we could see CO2, smell it, know that is there, over-loaded, we might be able to put out the fires. But it is invisible, odorless.

Whatever generation you belong to, know in your heart that there is no way out of here. Nature has spoken, Earth recoils. Write on.

To show respect to the Earth, which is our home in the cosmos, please always capitalize the word as ”Earth.” Earth matters, tell the copy desk. Lowercasing it is beneath us.

Cli-fi cannot, will not, lead the way. This is a clean-up action, and way too late. But it matters nevertheless.

One cannot see the future, cli-fi is blind. But the stories we tell will matter, even if it is all for naught.

Cli-fi, by indirection finds direction out. Your words on the page must be balanced, insistent. Always. And never lose hope.

Not doomed yet? What will it take to connect the dots? Not doomed yet? Some overly-rosy displays of optimism in print could be seen as pathological.

As humans, ike all life forms, we are hardwired and programmed to believe that the near future will be similar to the recent past. Our Achilles heel, so to speak.

Cli-fi won’t solve our problems, and can’t undo what’s done. Fasten your seatbelts. This is a ride to Hell.

Climate change is more than a fact of life. It is the result of human ingenuity, greed, rapaciousness and fear. Fear not: cli-fi is here. Write it.
I came to the table naive and unquestioning. I left totally convinced there will be dead people, lots of dead people. That was the genesis of cli-fi.

You might not want to go down the cli-fi road, and that’s okay. It’s not a pretty picture, not a happy selfie. It’s disaster, writ large.

In the long and rambling history of humankind, cli-fi will be just a blip on the radar screen. Pay it no heed.

You weren’t born yesterday. Your descendants may not even be born at all, ever. That’s how unfathomable cli-fi is.
If you can manage to fit the personal stories of cli-fi between the covers of a book, do it. With trepidation. Know your audience.

Cli-fi will have no denouement, no act three, no happy ending, no Greek chorus, no social media take-away. Push send.

Sorry, but this is how cli-fi is going to be, in the Anthropocene. Just 12 letters spelling doom.
I wish there was some cli-fi way out of here, but there ain’t. Ain’t ain’t ain’t. Ain’t ain’t ain’t times, ten thousand times ain’t.

Tagscli-fi