Over coming weeks we'll have a series of mini interviews ("minterviews" if you will) with some of the awesome writers in our forthcoming Ecopunk! (check it out on kickstarter http://kck.st/2xGeJ9x)
Next up is Corey J. White. Corey is a writer of science-fiction, horror, and other, harder to define stories. He studied writing at Griffith University on the Gold Coast, and is now based in Melbourne, Australia. His first book, Killing Gravity, is out through Tor.com Publishing. Find him on twitter at @cjwhite.
1. Tell us a little about your Ecopunk! story, and the inspiration behind it.
"Happy Hunting Ground" is a story about love, responsibility, and the lies that traditional masculinity makes us tell to others and ourselves. It's set in a self-sustaining commune whose residents hunt grocery delivery drones and redistribute the food to people outside the commune who don't have a support network of their own to rely on.
As for inspiration, I think that a lot of science fiction comes down to looking at current or future technologies and considering all the ways that people might use or abuse them. Amazon already have plans for automated drone delivery fleets, so it seemed obvious to me that they'd make a tempting target for thieves with both good and ill intentions.
2. What science fictional technology do you wish we had now?
I'm eagerly awaiting the day I can digitise my consciousness and do away with this squishy meatsack.
3. With all these scary climate events happening at the moment, it's sometimes hard to see some light. What gives you the most hope for humanity and the world?
People as individuals. Every time there's a disaster, whether natural or otherwise, there will always be people willing to risk their own lives to help others. When you look at governments, corporations, and just large groups of people in general, it can be disheartening to see the ignorance and greed that drives so much of their/our thinking, but when you get a person on their own, most of us are alright. Most of us care about the people around us, most of us want to leave the world a better place than it was when we got here. The problem is that good intentions don't count for much when you feel powerless against the larger institutions that run the world.
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Ecopunk! - speculative tales of radical futures contains 19 optimistic tales, selected by two award-winning editors, showing how humanity can survive and flourish, despite the looming uncertainty from climate change. The incredible line-up includes some of Australia's best science fiction writers.
