Will Forest Tales Publications have more Permaculture-in-Action stories?

Hi Jesikah and the Permie.com forum,

Thank you for writing your vision of the application of Permaculture in everyday life. Will your publishing company feature more stories about Permaculture "in action"?
We really need more visions of how Permaculture fits into building a better society. Your publishing house will aide in filling that need.

How did you arrive at using feudalism as the basis for your isolated permaculture society, and not in the dystopian "outside" society, or visa-versa?

Permaculture always seemed more apropos of a direct democracy to me.

Mark Kissinger wrote:Hi Jesikah and the Permie.com forum,

Thank you for writing your vision of the application of Permaculture in everyday life. Will your publishing company feature more stories about Permaculture "in action"?
We really need more visions of how Permaculture fits into building a better society. Your publishing house will aide in filling that need.

How did you arrive at using feudalism as the basis for your isolated permaculture society, and not in the dystopian "outside" society, or visa-versa?

Permaculture always seemed more apropos of a direct democracy to me.

Hi Mark :-)

Thank you. What kind words. And, yes, I do plan to integrate permaculture into other ecopunk fiction stories I write. My next series, The Last Forest Kingdoms, will include forest gardening premises as well as rehabilitating the land through the "wood wide web."

Well, the medieval biodome community isn't actually based on feudalism. They are living more like an agrarian village sans feudal lords, in the technical sense. There is a noble class and they are simply managers over various jobs that fit within earth, water, fire, and wind elemental tasks. Farming = Earth. Wetlands to process gray water = Water. Carbon scrubbing = Air. Smithing and open-air cremations = Fire . . . just to give an example. These nobles, however, are an organic part of the community and work equally as hard side-by-side with the residents/villagers. And, as the biodome community is based on a cybernetic system, there is more of a democratic feel to their government system.

Now, in the outside dystopian world, permaculture exists as well. In the near-future I created, many cities turned to eco-practices and became "Green" cities. Permaculture gardens sprang up as a result. But they became reserved for the "elites" since my future is an oligarchy. You can imagine how one of the biodome dwellers must have felt when realize hungry people could not eat the fruit that was being left to rot on the ground. I wanted to show permaculture is more than just being eco-friendly, it's a philosophy that believes we are all interconnected. The rotting permaculture gardens is a metaphor for that near-future society. They had the appearance but lacked the heart and didn't know how to "connect," whether it was with their own humanity, the humanity in other, or to the natural world around them.

Hope this helps :D

Thank you for the details and background about the societies you imagined. It makes a lot of sense, and I like how you are able to emphasize the importance of the ethical principles of permaculture found in the differences between the two cultures in your story. Sadly, ethics seems to be one of the first things to go when a society starts to slide down that slippery slope into dystopia.

I can't wait to read the novels. I have been mulling over some ideas for my own story. My difficulty seems to be where to start with the actual writing. So far my writing has been limited to crafting long-winded, detailed comments on discussion forums like this one.

Mark Kissinger wrote:Thank you for the details and background about the societies you imagined. It makes a lot of sense, and I like how you are able to emphasize the importance of the ethical principles of permaculture found in the differences between the two cultures in your story. Sadly, ethics seems to be one of the first things to go when a society starts to slide down that slippery slope into dystopia.

I can't wait to read the novels. I have been mulling over some ideas for my own story. My difficulty seems to be where to start with the actual writing. So far my writing has been limited to crafting long-winded, detailed comments on discussion forums like this one.

I completely agree. Ethics are indeed one of the first things to go when society shifts toward a dystopia reality.

Haha! Well, I enjoyed your well-crafted, detailed comment in our discussion. So, thank you :-) And writing is a strange thing. It's more like putting a puzzle together and solving a mystery. I highly recommend Plot & Structure by Scott Bell and The Plot Whisperer by Martha Alderson. Great resources for when just getting started. Good luck with your projects!

Jesikah Sundin wrote:

I completely agree. Ethics are indeed one of the first things to go when society shifts toward a dystopia reality.

Haha! Well, I enjoyed your well-crafted, detailed comment in our discussion. So, thank you :-) And writing is a strange thing. It's more like putting a puzzle together and solving a mystery. I highly recommend Plot & Structure by Scott Bell and The Plot Whisperer by Martha Alderson. Great resources for when just getting started. Good luck with your projects!

Thanks for your replies, they must take quite a bit of time to answer everyone!

And thanks, too, for the recommendations on writing. I hope my local library has copies. I live in an RV (~260 sq.ft of space), so storage space for printed material is at a premium!

Mark Kissinger wrote:

Jesikah Sundin wrote:

I completely agree. Ethics are indeed one of the first things to go when society shifts toward a dystopia reality.

Haha! Well, I enjoyed your well-crafted, detailed comment in our discussion. So, thank you :-) And writing is a strange thing. It's more like putting a puzzle together and solving a mystery. I highly recommend Plot & Structure by Scott Bell and The Plot Whisperer by Martha Alderson. Great resources for when just getting started. Good luck with your projects!

Thanks for your replies, they must take quite a bit of time to answer everyone!

And thanks, too, for the recommendations on writing. I hope my local library has copies. I live in an RV (~260 sq.ft of space), so storage space for printed material is at a premium!

Aww, no problem. My pleasure :-) And, the books should be available as ebooks too. Happy writing!