Annis Pratt

Have you heard about the draining of the fens? It began in 1630, but sounds just like our modern venture capitalism. A group of rich people, led by the Earl of Bedford and the Dutch engineer Cornelius Vermuyden, got together to form a company which they called “The Merchant Adventurers.” Their goal was to replace the extensive wild fens and marshlands on England’s eastern coast with richly arable farmland. Investors who put money forward for the project were rewarded with grants of land.

There was, however, a hitch. The people living out in the fens, well supplied since prehistoric times with plentiful fish, fowl, and vegetation, did everything they could to sabotage the project.

When I learned how these independent minded “Fen Tigers” defended their beloved wetlands, I realized that I had found the characters as well as both plot and the setting for a novel about the tension between early modern capitalism and environmental sustainability.

Although I visited the remaining English fens and studied their flora and fauna, my own exploration of wetlands by canoe and kayak took place in Michigan and Wisconsin. I decided to use a realistic but invented world combining both British and American settings to create speculative rather than historical fiction.

The result was The Marshlanders, followed Fly Out of the Darkness, The Road to Beaver Mill, and The Battle for the Black Fen, which comprise my Infinite Games series of Eco-Fiction novels.

You can read all about my novels and follow my blog at www.annispratt.com

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My Twitter handle is @annispratt1