CLIMATE CHANGE BOOKS & GAMES

CLIMATE CHANGE TALKS | CLIMATE WRITING 

Novels
Spellcasters (Novel, October 2023)
The Butterfly Effect (Novel, 2018)

Short story collection
Wonder Tales for a Warming Planet (Middle-grade fiction, Pre-orders opened)

Edited books/magazines
Uncanny, Kitaab Quarterly (Magazine, Guest editor, 2024) 
Solarpunk Creatures (Co-edited anthology, 2023) 

Video game and educational
Survive the Century (Co-contributor, Video game, 2021) 
Survive the Century (Co-contributor, Book/Teaching aid, 2022) 


A climate fiction novel Please visit  The Butterfly Effect book page for reviews,  academic research and mentions of the novel.

For an extended critical analysis of `The Butterfly Effect' in the context of Indian science fiction writing, please see the book and relevant chapter in `Star Warriors of the Modern Raj' (University of Wales Press) by Sami Ahmad Khan.

For a chapter that thoroughly discusses the book in the context of crime fiction and ecology please see `Magic Seeds and the Living Dead -  Investigating Transnational Ecocrimes in Rajat Chaudhuri's The Butterfly Effect' by Damini Ray in the Routledge Handbook of Crime Fiction and Ecology (Editor: Nathan Ashman, 2023). (Routledge, Taylor & Francis 2023)

A paper about The Butterfly Effect in The Text journal: Climate Change and Ideological Denialism: Critiquing Misdiagnosis and Limited Actions in Rajat Chaudhuri’s The Butterfly Effect,  Anjan Saikia, The Text, Vol.6, No.2. (July 2024) ISSN: 2581-9526
 
A conference paper by Anindita Shome discussing The Butterfly Effect: "Dystopia, Climate Fiction, and Globalisation: Reading Rajat Chaudhuri’s The Butterfly Effect" Conference: New Literaria, 2nd International e-Conference: Contemporary Trends and Development in Cultural Studies and the Humanities
  • The Butterfly Effect is a recommended text in Uttar Pradesh government colleges/universities. (India) (News item in Bengali daily `Ei Samay' of Times of India group, April 15, 2023)
For reviews, research, and more detailed references to The Butterfly Effect novel in media and academic texts, visit the The Butterfly Effect book page of this website.
#biotechnology #climatechange #climatefiction #India #world #Anthropocene




WONDER TALES FOR A WARMING PLANET (Stories)

Wonder Tales for a Warming Planet is a collection of short stories about ordinary young children trying to make sense of a planet under extraordinary threat. Chaudhuri’s whimsical world-building holds subtle allegories about the perils of climate change that will encourage budding readers to think about their contribution to the environment and the power of collective action. Grappling with concepts ranging from renewable energy sources and growing urbanisation, to sustainable ways of coexisting with nature, this book offers three striking tales of climate fiction that will make you pause, wonder, and reimagine the (warming) world you live in.

Paperback ‏ : ‎ 112 pages

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 8119626583

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-8119626588

Pre-order (from publisher)

Pre-order. (Kunzum bookstore)

Amazon (Pre-order)

Wonder Tales for a Warming Planet Book Page>> 

SPELLCASTERS(novel)  

Part psychlological thriller, part climate adventure with a twist of occult, this is a story about dreams, desires and rough weather and the long shadows that they cast across lives.  

Published October 2023. Please visit the Spellcasters Book page for further information, reviews, academic references and more. Spellcasters won the runner-up position for the Gaurang River Literary Prize for Fiction including translations (2nd prize-runner up) 2024 (Press release below)

Amazon

Spellcasters book page >>

SOLARPUNK CREATURES

Co-edited anthology of short stories
Edited by: Christoph Rupprecht, Deborah Cleland, Rajat Chaudhuri, Sarena Ulibarri, Melissa Ingaruca Moreno and Norie Tamura.
Introduced by: Christoph Rupprecht, Deborah Cleland, Rajat Chaudhuri, Melissa Ingaruca Moreno and Norie Tamura. 
ISBN: 978-1-7340545-7-6
Published by: World Weaver Press, USA (2024)
Universal Amazon/Apple Link 
WWP Product Page

Cover Copy: A newly sentient AI inhabits a Roomba to escape from their research office, and a robotic dog hunts for rain in a drought-ridden world. A murder of crows disrupts production on a solar farm, and a young woman communes with a telepathic fungal network to protect a forest. A suspicious cat follows bees across the rooftops of a solarpunk city, and a rabbit hitches a ride to the Grand Canyon to fulfil a prophecy. The path toward better futures is one we must walk alongside other creatures, negotiating the challenges of multispecies justice. This speculative fiction anthology introduces a whole new cast of more-than-human protagonists: organic and digital, alien and fantastic, tiny and boundlessly large.Cover art and design by: Paul Summerfield  


MULTISPECIES CITIES - SOLARPUNK URBAN FUTURES 

Co-edited anthology of short stories about multispecies cities themed around solarpunk futures. (Go to book page)

Edited by Christoph Ruprecht, Deborah Cleland, Norie Tamura, Rajat Chaudhuri, Sarena Ulibarri (Published: World Weaver Press, USA and RIHN, Japan)

Cities are alive, shared by humans and animals, insects and plants, landforms and machines. What might city ecosystems look like in the future if we strive for multispecies justice in our urban settings? In these more-than-human stories, twenty-four authors investigate humanity’s relationship with the rest of the natural world, placing characters in situations where humans have to look beyond their own needs and interests. A quirky eco-businessman sees broader applications for a high school science fair project. A bad date in Hawai‘i takes an unexpected turn when the couple stumbles upon some confused sea turtle hatchlings. A genetically-enhanced supersoldier struggles to find new purpose in a peaceful Tokyo. A community service punishment in Singapore leads to unexpected friendships across age and species. A boy and a mammoth trek across Asia in search of kin. A Tamil child learns the language of the stars. Set primarily in the Asia-Pacific, these stories engage with the serious issues of justice, inclusion, and sustainability that affect the region, while offering optimistic visions of tomorrow's urban spaces.

ISBN-13: 978-1734054521
Anthology: Approx. 100,000 words / 330 pages
Available from Amazon

Multispecies Cities--Solarpunk Urban Futures  is a finalist shortlisted for the Utopia Awards.  

For reviews of the book visit the book page.

Survive the CenturySURVIVE THE CENTURY (game)

Cli-fi video game

Rajat Chaudhuri's narratives alongwith those of three other writers are featured in the cli-fi video game Survive the Century (April 2021) about climate change futures developed and published by Electric Book Works and supported by Climate Interactive, USA and SESYNC, University of Maryland with National Science Foundation (USA) support. The game is created by Sam Beckbessinger, Simon NIcholson and Christopher Trisos. Watch the YouTube game trailer here.
(Illustration by Annika Brandow, Design by Karen Lilje)

Reviews, interviews and press for the climate change video game Survive the Century:

New Indian Express (Epaper below)
The Telegraph (Games and Gadgets article by Rajat Chaudhuri, Epaper below)




Originally a video game now a branching narrative cli-fi book

Survive the Century is a branching story about the political, environmental and social choices humans will face between 2021 and 2100 as we adapt to the ravages of climate change.


Created by Sam Beckbessinger, Christopher Trisos and Simon Nicholson.

This is fiction informed by real science. Featuring Lauren Beukes, Rajat Chaudhuri, Maria Turtschaninoff and Sophia Al-Maria. Illustrations by Annika Brandow.   


Paperback: 296 pages
Published by: Three Kids in a Trenchcoat (UK)
ISBN: 978-0620987486



Reviews of the book:

University of Cape Town (South Africa)

Reviewed in Scroll (India)

For links to Rajat Chaudhuri's published essays, articles and shorter pieces on the subject of `climate change fiction' and `sustainability'  visit the WRITING page of this website. Here is the Rajat Chaudhuri page at the Internet Speculative Fiction (ISFDB) database.


Visit @SwapBookoffiial on Instagram for more ...

SUNBURNT STORIES - Climate Change and Literature. Non-fiction - Work-in-progress (Listen to a talk, Read published articles, Keynote address, Workshops with National Library of India, a virtual talk at SwapBook and news of a forthcoming lecture - Nov, 2021- at University of Oxford) 



Related news:

Rajat Chaudhuri is a co-editor for the new Solarpunk Creatures anthology to be published by World Weaver Press (US). Call for submissions here. 

Rajat Chaudhuri is Guest editor for the inaugural issue of Kitaab Quarterly with the theme `Uncanny' to be published by Kitaab (Singapore). Call for submissions here. 

Rajat Chaudhuri has more than two decades of involvement with  climate change activism beginning with a stint as a climate change advocate at the United Nations (UNCSD, New York) as Southern Coordinator of the UN NGO Caucus on Energy and Climate Change and other roles while simultaneously campaigning for ozone and climate-friendly technologies. More details in BIO page of this website.

Surivive the Century (A news report)






Reviews of Spellcasters

Chaudhuri's prose is lucid; unexpected twists inform this part psycho-logical thriller and part climate fiction.' The Telegraph


Reviews of Multispecies Cities

Listed in `The Definitive Climate Fiction Reading List’' Grist (US)

`Joyously ambitious solarpunk ... excels when entwining relational nuance with keenly handled futurist ideas ... number of gems for fans of climate fiction' Publishers Weekly

`Filled with a polyphony of voices ... Engaging introduction' Leanne Ogasawara, Books on Asia (Japan)


Reviews of The Great Bengali Poetry Underground

`Excellent translation ... Hard to find flavour of a culture in ferment' Scroll

`Translator seems to have masterfully reproduced in English the sting and beat of the original Bengali versions' Indian Literature journal (Sahitya Akademi)

`What comes across in the translations, from the very beginning, are the poems' distinctive Bengali origin' Daily Star (Bangladesh)

`Social-existential cares are interwoven with allusions to local or national issues ... will subtly shift our perception as to the currents of Bengali underground poetry' New Indian Express


Reviews of Calcutta Nights

`Masterfully translated' The Telegraph

`Important from the point of view of culture studies' Indian Literature journal

`Fascinating as a document of the 20th century city'  Trisha Gupta, India Today

`Flawless translation ... retains racy flavour' Sajni Mukherji, Outlook magazine

`Translator craftily balances archaic words with new ones, never upsetting the tonal authenticity of a period piece.' Scroll

`A unique cosmopolitan setting' Business Standard

`Excellent translation ... a crisp read' Ganesh Saili, New Indian Express

`A tale of beauty and decadence' South China Morning Post

`Interesting ... for readers interested in history and the Asian experience of transition to modernity.' Asian Review of Books, Hong Kong

`A guidebook to the dark dens of eeriness' Press Trust of India (PTI)

`What a punch this little volume packs' India Abroad News Service of India (IANS)


Reviews of The Butterfly Effect

`Propels the accumulated anxieties of a city into a shape-shifting future vortex' Anjana Basu, Outlook magazine 

`Explores a Ballardian near-future' Amy Brady, Words Without Borders

`Genre-bending' Amy Brady, Houston Chronicle, USA

`Projects the tropes of a new politics of imagination ... a new eco-sophy is created'Krishnan Unni. P, Indian Literature, Sahitya Akademi 

`Indian novel's story parallels the deadly coronavirus outbreak' Times of India (news)

`Compelling' UNI

`A magic box ... brings Allan Poe to mind' Scroll

`Ten Works of Environmental Literature from Around the World' Book Riot, USA(listing)

`A wild ride, with brilliant and Ballardian descriptions' Eco-fiction

`Vivid storytelling dovetails with a playful structure' Bengaluru Review

`Fifty Must-Read Novels about Eco-Disaster' Book Riot, USA (listing)

`Around the World in 80 Books' Dragonfly Ecofiction (listing)


Reviews of The Best Asian Speculative Fiction

`A necessary and successful conglomerate' The Telegraph

`An important contribution to an ever-expanding and dynamic literary form' Southeast Asian Review of English (SARE), Malaysia

`More than just fantasy' Pune Mirror-Times of India (listing) 

`South Asian Studies Summer Reading List', Prof Mou Banerjee, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA (listing) 


Reviews of Hotel Calcutta

`Sheer power of storytelling' The Telegraph

`A persuasive artist...Hotel Calcutta invites a hungry, urgent reading' Asian Review of Books

`A very innovative frame story' Journal of Commonwealth Literature

`An astounding work that interrogates the myriad surfaces of reality' Indian Literature, Sahitya Akademi

`A dazzling "wall of stories" in Calcutta' The Sunday Guardian

`Very urban and 21st century' Sanjukta Dasgupta

`Chaudhuri tells us something also of the 'art' of the story.' Anu Kumar, The Thumb Print Magazine

`A web both classical and new.' Spark Magazine

`A writer to watch out for' Sushma Joshi, Kitaab

`His themes reveal a deep fascination with human response to the extraordinary’ Helter Skelter

Goodreads


Reviews of Calculus

`Might set a new trend in fiction writing' (in Bengali) Ekak Matra

Reviews of Amber Dusk

`A heady mix of experiences' The Telegraph  

`A memorable novel of East-West encounter' Amitava Roy 

`Another type of writing emerging within Indian English writing' Indian Literature, Sahitya Akademi (JSTOR)

`Praised for its evocation of Calcutta and Paris' Journal of Commonwealth Literature 

`Surrealism explored ... A gifted writer of fiction' Deccan Herald  

`A delicately crafted story about love, loathing and the quest for peace in a time of intolerance' The Statesman  





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