Terms, in plain language

Who you are dealing with, and what the deal is.

The book is free to read. The paperback costs money. Nothing on this page is written to catch you out, and nothing here takes away a right the law already gives you.

Who we are

The publisher.

Solarpunk Press is an imprint of wordforword OÜ, Tallinn, Estonia. The author, Matt Lygate (GINGERBEARD), is in Glasgow, Scotland.

Write to [email protected] about anything on this site: the book, your data, or a mistake we have made. A person reads it.

What is free

The ebook.

The complete ebook (ePub, Kobo ePub and PDF) is free to download, with no account, no email address and no copy protection. Taking it creates no contract and no debt. You may copy it and pass it on to other people, unchanged and free of charge. You may not sell it or pass it off as your own work. Copyright stays with the author.

What is paid

The paperback.

The paperback is £17.99 in the UK. It is printed to order and posted by Bookvault, who run the checkout and take the payment; it is also sold at list price by The Great British Bookshop. This site has no basket and never sees your card details. The price, postage and any tax for your country are shown in their checkout before you pay, and their own terms apply to the payment and delivery.

Outside the UK the price and postage are higher. Delivery times are the shop’s estimate, not a guarantee from us. The shop is the seller, so a late, lost, damaged or misprinted copy is theirs to put right: the refund page says where to go.

What is voluntary

The Honesty Box.

The Honesty Box is a pay-what-you-want payment through Ko-fi, who process it under their own terms. It is a thank-you for a book you can already read for free. It buys nothing extra and nothing is held back if you pay nothing. A sponsored copy (£13.49) pays for one paperback that we send to a library, youth group or prison library.

Shops, libraries, groups

Trade and solidarity.

Bookshops and festival stalls buy at 50% trade (£9 a copy, firm sale) through a Bookvault retailer account. Libraries, charities and community groups buy at 25% solidarity (£13.49 a copy) with a code we send by hand; it works on the Bookvault shop only. These are business purchases and Bookvault’s trade terms apply.

Your rights

What you keep.

When you buy the paperback, your contract is with the shop that sells it to you, and the rights the law gives you as a buyer are against that shop. The refund page points you to them.

The publisher is an Estonian company, so Estonian law applies to these terms. That never removes the consumer protections of the country you live in, and you can always bring a complaint there. EU readers can also use their national consumer body.

This website

Use it kindly.

The site is offered as it is, free. We work to keep it accurate and running, but we do not promise it will never be wrong or offline. The book is a novel and a set of arguments, not legal, financial or medical advice. Links to other services (Bookvault, Ko-fi, Telegram and the social platforms) lead to sites we do not control. How we handle the little data we hold is on the privacy page; what your browser stores is on the cookies page.

Last updated 14 November 2026. If these terms change, the date changes with them. Questions: [email protected].

The Solarpunk Society / Early access

Join the Clan

Read the book a full month before everyone else. Early access opens 1 October — the public launch isn't until 3 November. Come in by email, by Telegram, or both. No cost, no catch, and you can leave any time.

01 / By email

Get the early-access letter

One human writing to one human. We confirm the distribution route before sending the book. Never sold, never spam.

02 / By Telegram

Join the Telegram community

A community where folk help each other build the thing — you talk with everyone, not just at Gingerbeard. Come say hello; launch news lands there first.

Open the Telegram community

Either one, or both — up to you. Privacy and deletion.

Get the book

The ebook is free. Pick a box to take it. Both give you the same complete book, ePub and PDF.

Want it on paper? Buy the paperback from Bookvault, £17.99 in the UK. It opens in a new tab, so nothing here stops.

Two feeds, two voices

Come find us.

One lane is the Press itself — explainers and dispatches made by the machine, checked by a human. The other is Building Solartime: the author and Julia, building the thing out loud. Nothing loads, tracks or phones home until you tap a link.

Most of the traffic

Solarpunk Press International

The author + Julia

Building Solartime