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How am I gonna be an optimist about this? This conversation’s official exit music is from Bastille. But stick around for a twist.

Turns out it’s not just men who think about the Roman Empire.

Polymath raconteuse Solitaire Townsend - sustainability consultant, co-founder of Futerra, UN envoy, award-winning author of the non-fiction The Solutionists - wasn’t just thinking about Rome. She’s wondering, ‘what if I combine some Roman Empire stuff with climate fiction in an alt-history universe in a novel featuring a kick-arse heroine?’ And gets herself a two-book deal.

Pre-order Godstorm from our Bookshop.org site or wherever you get good books.

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As a cli-fi/alt-history nerd with shelves stuffed with riffs on Rome from Gibbon to Mary Beard with stops for Asimov’s Foundation series, I cannot tell you how pleased I am to be the first to introduce Solitaire Townsend as “novelist” on a podcast.

We talk about her turn to fiction, why now, why the alt-history genre, kick around ideas about alt-history from Philip K. Dick to Star Trek (with some Ursula le Guin because why not), and how she deploys the form to tell a cautionary tale about a world that could have been a lot worse off in its climate breakdown — where Rome never fell, because of the 2nd-century CE invention of the combustion engine.

As Solitaire says, if we started burning oil under Marcus Aurelius, climate change would have started much sooner. The warming and rising seas fuel extreme weather events called “God-storms”, caused - according to the Imperial version of Fox News - by lack of piety.

Most of that is in the background only creating the more personal, intimate world in which her characters struggle - including a gladatrix-turned-governess seeking to rescue her charge from nefarious clutches and kicking serious arse along the way.

In Conversation

00:28 First Podcast as a Novelist

00:56 Pitching 'Godstorm'

02:18 Background and Career of Solitaire Townsend

02:37 Solitaire, Sustainability Caesaris

04:01 Nonfiction Writing Journey

05:49 Role of Storytelling in Social Change

07:22 Transition to Fiction Writing

08:14 Discovering a Passion for Writing

10:24 Exploring Alternate History

14:05 Speculative Fiction and Personal Interests

17:26 Themes and Inspirations for 'God Storm'

20:14 Character Development and Empathy

22:14 Reflections on Ursula Le Guin and Sci-Fi

27:21 Conclusion and Book Pre-Order Information

Pre-order Godstorm from our Bookshop.org site.

Exit Music

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