What is Hopepunk?

The term was first coined by Alexandra Rowland as the antithesis of “grimdark,” a speculative genre featuring fatalistic nihilism and a tooth and claw environment. She wrote:

“The essence of grimdark is that everyone’s inherently sort of a bad person and does bad things, and that’s awful and disheartening and cynical. It’s looking at human nature and going, ‘The glass is half empty. Hopepunk says, ‘No, I don’t accept that. Go fuck yourself: The glass is half full.’ Yeah, we’re all a messy mix of good and bad, flaws and virtues. We’ve all been mean and petty and cruel, but (and here’s the important part) we’ve also been soft and forgiving and kind. Hopepunk says that kindness and softness doesn’t equal weakness, and that in this world of brutal cynicism and nihilism, being kind is a political act. An act of rebellion.”

She wrote more about hopepunk in a follow-up essay, “One Atom of Justice, One Molecule of Mercy, and the Empire of Unsheathed Knives and expands on the idea of kindness as a political act further in this great essay.

In essence, Hopepunk is hope, kindness, joy and love, even in the darkest moments, against all odds. It is hope and compassion as a conscious choice, no matter how much you’ve been beaten down or suffered. It’s a movement in speculative fiction, and it’s also a political movement in the real world. And we’re here for it, and we want to tell you about it.

Who we are

Alan Bailey

Alan Bailey is most notable for creating, producing, editing, and co-hosting, Alan & Jeremy VS Science Fiction. He has been an educator for most of his life, starting in the Pittsburgh City Schools and moving on to write curriculum for tech and insurance companies, post-secondary schools, and grocery chains. He is currently the bassist for garage prog band Father Flamethrower. Find him, and the podcast, on Twitter as @if_this_goes_on.

Jen Eddy

Jen serves as social media manager for If This Goes On (Don’t Panic). She helps promote episodes, support authors, and occasionally persuades the internet to pay attention to our conversations about life, writing, and horror & speculative fiction.

She volunteers because she believes stories matter and that authors deserve to have their voices heard. Professionally, Jen has an extensive background in Training and Development, Program Management, and Nursing. Outside of the podcast, she can usually be found hiking in the woods, tackling the infinite laundry mountain, or doodling in her art journals.

Diane Morrison

Diane Morrison, also known as @SableAradia, is a short & long-form science fiction & fantasy writer. She does a lot of different things: she’s a podcaster, a musician, an activist, and a proud nerd who has spent many years immersed in nerdy subcultures. She was the manager for the official SFWA YouTube channel and host of The Panel and SpecWomenChat. Recently she’s discovered WorldAnvil and is quietly crawling up her own navel, creating the worlds that her reviews say she’s great at building. Find her at her website or her Patreon.

Cat Rambo

Cat Rambo is a Nebula and World Fantasy Award-winning science fiction and fantasy writer and editor. She was the President of the Science Fiction & Fantasy writers of America (SFWA) from 2015 through 2019, and co-editor of Fantasy Magazine from 2007 to 2011. She has long been an advocate for under-represented groups in the science fiction and fantasy community, and is a fixture at cons and workshops throughout North America. Find her at the Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers, her website, or on Twitter.