Blue Mar
In the not-so-distant future, two sisters must navigate a world that is unraveling due to climate change. Wildfires blot out the sky, coastlines are being washed away by rising seas, and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch has been geo-engineered into an actual island called Blue Mar. When Laurel and Paloma visit their Great-Aunt in El Salvador, they find that things are far worse than in the U.S., so bad that many people are moving to Blue Mar to start a new life. As they search for their identity and their place in the world, Laurel and Paloma must decide whether to go to Blue Mar themselves, or whether to stay, reconnect with their culture, and fight to save the land of their ancestors.
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Praise for Blue Mar
❞
The story’s poignancy is enhanced by its familiarity: though set in an unspecified future, the picture it paints of a world choking on plastic, droughts, wildfires, new diseases, and rising ocean levels is an eerie echo of current events. The world Laurel and Paloma inhabit—and the decisions they make—will very soon be a reality for too many people. Blue Mar’s ultimate message, however, is not one of despair. On the contrary, it shows that, even in hopelessness, there is hope—but it must be earned, not given. Filled with poetic turns of phrase and foreboding visuals, Blue Mar is a science fiction novel about awakening to the reality that everyone is responsible for humanity’s well-being.
Eileen Gonzalez
Foreword Review
❞
Blue Mar is a rare climate fiction novel, one woven through the emotional register of two sisters facing a world in crisis. Francesca Varela’s writing is luminous and powerful, transporting readers to a not-so-distant future where the worries that plague our planet now have only been exacerbated by human greed and disbelief. The book features the kind of world-building that is both ubiquitous and effortless, where readers are likely to forget they’re reading a book with science fiction elements because they’re so enraptured by the characters’ stories. A powerful meditation on meaning and family set against the backdrop of a world racked by climate catastrophe. A work of climate fiction for our times.
S.E. Fleenor
Editor of Bella Media Channel
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In a climax that is as surprising as it is inevitable, Varela delivers a powerful message about risk and reward when an uncertain future is on the line. As I read Blue Mar, I caught myself nodding, yes, yes, así es como es. That’s the way it is. And that’s the way it may be. Varela delivers a cautionary tale of a dark future, but not without its bright spots. It is a rare talent to successfully pair such a realistically bleak outlook for the future with genuine potential for hope and healing. With so much to unpack and discuss in this novel, and its impetus for the ways we may (or may not) control our own futures, Blue Mar should be required reading for everyone.
Leslie Salas
Author of Other Orlandos
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What are the implications for the natural world, if humans cannot even bridge the gap between groups—if humans create such groups at all? Varela richly describes the natural world, especially in the El Salvador scenes, and her use of fiction as a vehicle for environmental activism is balanced and powerful. But she focuses on racial injustice and the human costs of inequity most of all. Whether it is at the slaughterhouse, in the village in El Salvador, or even in the settlement on the plastic island, it is the poor who tend to get the short end of the stick. Blue Mar shows us that even the best intentions inevitably lead to further exploitation of racialized peoples and the natural world. The problems suffered by the Monti family and their community in the near future hold a mirror to what is happening everywhere right now.
Louise Fabiani
Naturalist & environmental writer
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Barren fields and rising seas juxtapose with iridescent birds, sugar cane and bougainvillea in Francesca G. Varela’s Blue Mar. In Laurel and Paloma’s world, hope, the color of turquoise, is marketed as an island of plastic, crafted from remnants of Barbie dolls and Ziplock bags. But what might our protagonists lose in gaining a spot on this veritable lifeboat? In a world of uncertainty – and the author hints that the world may have always been just that – lies an invitation to find one’s footing in the unchangeable, in that which always was and always will be. Laurel senses in the humidity and storm clouds, ‘the full width of the ocean carried in each gust and unfurled onto sand, and concrete and coconut palms. This was the air of her ancestors.’ Blue Mar speaks to the balance between placing our hope in human ingenuity, and surrendering to the comfort of human connection. The proposition, irresistible because we have no choice: ‘We will at least be together when…’
Margaret Hetherman
Science writer & futurist
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“In Blue Mar, Francesa G. Varela continues to deliver on the promise shown in Call of the Sun Child and previous work. As if torn from today’s headlines, she delves into contemporary climate change issues such as plastic pollution, human migration, food production, genetic manipulation of nonhuman animals, and of course the worsening impacts of climate change in ways that humanize the problem. Simultaneously, Varela creates a tension in Laurel’s sense of identity as Laurel develops an awareness of the complexity of her blended ethnicities and histories, leading her to discover where her true allegiances and family roots might lie. An excellent addition to the expanding literature of climate fiction.
William Huggins
Author of Ghosts
Other Books by Francesca Varela
Call of the Sun Child
Climate Fiction (Cli-Fi) | Dystopian
Listen
Environmental Fiction | Eco-Romance
The Seas of Distant Stars
Science Fiction | Aliens
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