37 Comments

Just found this via my Substack feed. Subscribed. It looks like you are doing alright without traditional publishing, kudos! I am at the beginning of my journey, So I will stop by from time to time to learn more. I am 35k into my dystopian novel. Good luck with the writing!

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I subscribe to a newsletter---called Future Crunch--its purpose is to give you good news about the world, (and they use paid subscriptions to give money to worthy projects.) Its purpose and the kinds of things it reports is perfectly in tune with what you are doing here, and I suddenly occurred to me you might not have run across it yet, Elle. So, here is the link. https://futurecrunch.com

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thanks. i had missed that

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that’s why I asked — because I see you doing it. I guess I was wondering if you remain happy with that. i’m planning to go that way, because i feel to unintegrated when i try to separate my interests. but i don’t want to be too fractured to readers. i guess i just have to dive in.

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how do you feel about newsletters that feature serialized books in some issues, and essays about other topics in other issues. meaning a newsletter that isn’t in a silo? does that work for you, Elle?

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founding

I am so excited to see what’s to come! And to follow you along on your journey. You’ve always been so generous with your wisdom. Will upgrade to collector by the end of this month, I’ve been wanting a copy of one of your books for too long now!

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Congratulations, Elle. Looking forward to seeing how this evolves. For years, I've been working on a utopian novel, searching for a way to depict how we might live from an understanding that we are *part* of the living world, not separate. Your approach to pair fiction with essay is smart. I tend to editorialize too much in my fiction and this would be a good way to indulge that impulse without preaching in the story. ;-)

I've done tons of research on the "more beautiful world" and would be happy to chat about any of it sometime. Recently, I have begun to reconsider the darker settler-colonial history of utopias. A question raised very well in Allegra Hyde's new novel, "Eleutheria" (highly recommend!). That said, I'm still committed to countering all the dystopian fiction out there. Stories create reality, and, seriously, we can do better than that.

Here's a link to several posts on dystopia / utopia: https://juliegabrielli.com/?s=dystopia&submit=Search

In particular, this one: https://juliegabrielli.com/2014/10/16/the-lazy-indulgence-of-dystopia/

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Looking forward to both reading the novel and seeing how the commentary aspect works. I am not sure if my own Sci/fic work can be considered utopian. Certainly, the humans who came to the new world had utopian vision, and my main protagonist lives in one corner of the world that has worked to live up to that vision. But the action in the novels so far are all about the need to defend that utopian vision from antagonists. It definitely fits in the hope punk genre. Definition: Hopepunk is a subgenre of speculative fiction, positioned as a counter to grimdark. Works in the hopepunk subgenre are about characters fighting for positive change, radical kindness, and communal responses to challenges. Wikipedia Will be interested to see if you feel your own work is going down that path.

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I am happy for you. And excited to see how this project evolves. You always keep it interesting. 🤓

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"I also want to have created a collective of authors writing utopian novels—with so many of us dreaming up a more beautiful future that we literally create the utopian genre, finally tipping the scales away from dystopian fiction’s hold on the market."

Love this! Happy to support as a paid subscriber and will be following along for my own writing & reporting.

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I’m super excited for this experiment, Elle! It reminds me of how so many of our great authors - Ursula K. LeGuin, Dr. Seuss, Poe - were deeply invested in other fields of study aside from literature. That curiosity showed up in their work and made it so much stronger. And I’m very eager to see how and why your research shows up in Oblivion!

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founding

I can’t wait for this. This is the future of fiction and fandoms. The engagement aspect of this project far outweighs the traditional, disconnected mode of engaging merely with an artist’s end-product. Yes, there’s pros and cons, but this allows fans to truly invest in the artist they believe in rather than the corporate interests of big publishing. So proud of you, Elle! Looking forward to this journey into utopia.

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Suuuuuper excited for this and very happy to be part of the utopian novel readers and community. Thanks Elle!

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Super excited to participate in this project.

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Hi Elle,

When my gift subscription expired I decided to become a paid subscriber because of the Literary Salons. You don't mention those here. I hope you plan to continue them. (Not a fan of Utopian fiction, alas.)

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