A lot of sci-fi writing focused on climate is high literary fiction, which means it’s filled with allusion and often difficult to understand.

So, why don’t authors take on climate fiction as a serialized genre like detective novels, zombie books or erotica?

Is there a way to make climate fiction more playful without making light of climate change as a global issue?

Daniel Backer is the novelist and literature educator behind Off the Wall Novels and the author of Abraham and Lionel Lancet and the Right Vibe.

On this episode of Reversing Climate Change, Daniel joins Ross to explore postmodern and metamodern literature, explaining the postmodern idea that myths guide our decision-making but also make us human.

Daniel helps us make sense of Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49, discussing how it plays on the detective genre and why we find comfort in the familiarity of literary conventions.

Listen in for Daniel’s take on how literature, at its best, comes from a place of character and learn how a writer might personalize the problem of climate change.