What type of science fiction book?
Type
Nonfiction New books
Genre
Action & adventure Fantasy Literary Apocalyptic & post-apocalyptic Thriller Dystopian Space opera Romance Hard science fiction Time travel Classics Suspense Horror Alien contact Epic fantasy
Topic
Dystopia Extraterrestrial life Time travel Earth Artificial intelligence Survival Interstellar travel Apocalypse War Robot Magic (supernatural) Zombie Close encounter Extraterrestrial intelligence New York City
Age
Adult Young adults Junior high High school Teens Children Middle school Tweens Baby Toddlers
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Dies the Fire
By S. M. Stirling
Book cover of Dies the Fire
B.K. Bass Author Of What Once Was Home
From the list on ordinary people surviving the extraordinary.
By B.K. Bass Author
Why did B.K. love this book?
Unlike the typical post-apocalyptic fare of nuclear war or other identifiable disasters, Dies the Fire posits an interesting question: What if everything just stops working? Everything we rely on to drive modern society, from combustion to electricity, fails. Against this backdrop, a cast of characters from varied backgrounds all must struggle to adapt to this new reality. Civilization falls apart, and new orders spring up in their place. What drew me most to this was the different ways in which the characters responded to this situation. Some seek simply to survive, while others seek to exploit this new reality for their own gains at the expense of others.
Ice Planet Barbarians
By Ruby Dixon
Book cover of Ice Planet Barbarians
Avalon Griffin Author Of Unbound by Shadows
From the list on romance for empowering escapism.
By Avalon Griffin Author
Why did Avalon love this book?
No, this isn't the title of a B-movie—it's the fun, sexy, and surprisingly sweet start of a series with wonderful world-building and likable characters.
This book is about how a group of human women abducted by evil aliens crash-land on a planet full of hunky, endearing aliens and the adventures they share.
I loved how the aliens cherished and celebrated the women in this story instead of reviling their humanity, as I've seen in other sci-fi stories. The spicy scenes are hot, and the heroine is a natural leader who doesn't passively wait around to be rescued.
This is a dual-POV story, and the alien hero's confusion over human quirks is quite funny. Escapism at its best!
Tea From An Empty Cup
By Pat Cadigan
Book cover of Tea From An Empty Cup
Aaron Conners Author Of Tex Murphy and the Tesla Effect
From the list on combining science fiction and detective stories.
By Aaron Conners Author
Why did Aaron love this book?
Cyberpunk Noir isn’t everyone’s cup of tea (sorry), and this story is dark and downbeat, with two female protagonists who aren’t especially sympathetic, so readers tend to love this book or hate it. For me, the kinetic writing style, crackling dialogue, and richly-detailed descriptions of cyberspace—as well as the fresh take on the “locked-room murder” (a virtual reality parlor in this case)—makes it a highly-recommended read.
The Year of Our War
By Steph Swainston
Book cover of The Year of Our War
Stuart Kurth Author Of Blades Lost
From the list on authors who mastered writing fantasy fight scenes.
By Stuart Kurth Author
Why did Stuart love this book?
This series is very elegantly written, but that’s not what makes it the most unique on this list. For a start, the protagonist is a skinny womanising drug-addict immortal with enormous wings. Yes, you read that right. He can fly, he drinks coffee, and when he overdoses he trips into a parallel universe. Several, actually. What else inhabits these strange worlds? Giant ants. And it’s these horse-sized monsters that the people of the Fourlands are embroiled in bitter conflict with. They pour through dimensional tears in waves, and the fighting is frenetic, bloody, and gruesome. Swainston has an almost forensic approach to the description of violence in these books, and it adds a dash of realism to an otherwise wildly fantastical setting and premise. A criminally underappreciated series.
The Adoration of Jenna Fox
By Mary E. Pearson
Book cover of The Adoration of Jenna Fox
Betty Culley Author Of The Name She Gave Me
From the list on adoption feels.
By Betty Culley Author
Who am I?
I went into foster care at nine months old, was adopted three years later, and as an adult I was reunited with five siblings I never knew I had. I’ve spent my whole life wondering or searching for the truths about my past.
Betty's book list on adoption feels
Discover why each book is one of Betty's favorite books.
Book cover of The Adoration of Jenna Fox
Book cover of Coo
Book cover of For Black Girls Like Me
Book cover of American Baby: A Mother, a Child, and the Shadow History of Adoption
Book cover of Klara and the Sun
Why did Betty love this book?
Jenna Fox wakes from a year-long coma after a terrible accident and tries to figure out who she is now. This is a book with futuristic medicine and technology, but the feelings and emotions are universal. Jenna’s struggle to find out the truth about her past, and her place in the present make this one of my very favorite books, which I’ve read and reread many times.
Blindsight
By Peter Watts
Book cover of Blindsight
Nadia Afifi Author Of The Sentient
From the list on sci-fi that draws you in with worldbuilding.
By Nadia Afifi Author
Why did Nadia love this book?
What is consciousness? I wish more science fiction novels explored this question, so when I found one that combines an alien encounter with big ideas about life and the human condition, I got excited. Very excited. This novel explodes with creativity, from the way it depicts aliens who’ve arrived at the edge of the solar system to observe Earth, to a resurrected vampire (yes, you read that right) who’s been included on the space crew sent to investigate the alien outpost. The novel wrestles with the idea of what it means to be conscious, and whether humans, with their sense of selfhood and empathy, might be a deviation in the universe.
Memory
By Lois McMaster Bujold
Book cover of Memory: Volume 11
Dan Moren Author Of The Nova Incident
From the list on sci-fi overflowing with intrigue and mystery.
By Dan Moren Author
Why did Dan love this book?
This is probably my favorite book of all time, from my favorite series of all time, The Vorkosigan Saga. Miles Vorkosigan, spy and accidental leader of a mercenary fleet, comes face to face with his mortality when he’s injured during a mission. As he recovers, he has to rebuild his life and his identity and find a new purpose in an empire that prizes warriors—a long-running challenge for this diminutive disabled hero. Meanwhile, one of his mentors, spymaster Simon Illyan, is dealing with a threat that could not only unravel his own life but decades’ worth of the Empire’s secrets. It’s funny, tense, and touching all at turns; I can’t think of that many sci-fi adventures that will have you laughing and crying.
Bone Rider
By J. Fally
Book cover of Bone Rider
Casey Wolfe Author Of A Mage's Power (Inquisition Trilogy)
From the list on LGBTQ fantasy and science fiction.
By Casey Wolfe Author
Why did Casey love this book?
This sci-fi adventure seems insane when you read the premise – a cowboy, a hitman, and an alien AI armor? Somehow, this manages to actually work, and becomes a thrilling adventure, with a pretty unique romance and fun world-building. It’s just one of those books you need to read to believe.
Re-Start
By Dan Sugralinov
Book cover of Re-Start
Edwin McRae Author Of Skulls of Atlantis
From the list on characters who empower others as they level up.
By Edwin McRae Author
Why did Edwin love this book?
Phil is given a singular gift, the ability to roleplay his own life. He’s able to convert all of that useless World of Warcraft experience into character points, which he then uses to upgrade himself. At first, this is an encouraging story about a young man turning his life around. But it soon becomes a story of gratitude with a main character who gives back as much as he gets. Level Up is about how privilege should be acknowledged and appreciated, and how self-improvement can be a shared experience with those around you.
Cat Zero
By Jennifer L. Rohn
Book cover of Cat Zero
Jamie A. Davies Author Of Life Unfolding: How the Human Body Creates Itself
From the list on to make you think about biology.
By Jamie A. Davies Author
Why did Jamie love this book?
This is the best scientific novel I have ever read. The story is fiction (not 'science fiction' in the sense of fantasy, but a story that could easily take place in the real world right now), but its portrayal of how science is done, by a bunch of completely believable characters, is really true-to-life. It's a great way for young people considering a research career to taste what they are really like, and a great way for everyone to ask why we do science the way we do, while enjoying a well-paced multi-layer story, that is written with real wit. [Declaration for transparency: I know the author as a scientific collaborator, but this is nothing to do with my recommendation of her fiction].
The Offset
By Calder Szewczak, Natasha C. Calder + 1 more ⌄
Book cover of The Offset
Redfern Jon Barrett Author Of Proud Pink Sky
From the list on sci-fi and speculative stories depicting queer lives.
By Redfern Jon Barrett Author
Why did Redfern love this book?
Presenting one of the darkest futures I’ve ever read, The Offset plunges us into a neo-medieval world ravaged by climate destruction. The debut novel of writing duo Natasha C. Calder and Emma Szewczak, The Offset is set in a sinister, depopulated London which murders people for reproducing, yet it also weaves in a strange social acceptance. As with Becky Chambers’s A Psalm for the Wild-Built, queer and nonbinary people are completely and unquestioningly accepted – yet though the latter takes place in a quiet utopia, while here we’re dealing with a dramatic dystopia. This tolerance adds depth and nuance to an otherwise bleak setting, and it’s not just relegated to the background: The central protagonists form a queer family, one threatened by the omnipresent cruelties of a decaying future.
Ciaphas Cain
By Sandy Mitchell
Book cover of Ciaphas Cain: Hero of the Imperium
Andrew Claydon Author Of The Simple Delivery
From the list on fantasy and sci-fi to make you laugh.
By Andrew Claydon Author
Why did Andrew love this book?
Nothing about the Warhammer 40,000 universe says ‘funny’. The fact that it’s fans call it the ‘grimdark’ is a proud testament to this. I’ve read a lot of Warhammer books, but was surprised when I came across this series. It follows Ciaphas Cain, a Commissar who is trying to survive and find the cushiest job for himself in a universe of constant war, yet somehow, he constantly ends up being the hero.
This book really opened my eyes to the fact that you can humor even in the grittiest settings, and that just because a book is funny, it doesn’t mean it can’t be action-packed and have high stakes. Much of the humor comes from Cain’s futile attempts to avoid any sort of combat and save his own skin.
When You Reach Me
By Rebecca Stead
Book cover of When You Reach Me
Jennie Yabroff Author Of If You Were Here
From the list on young readers set in old-school NYC.
By Jennie Yabroff Author
Why did Jennie love this book?
Miranda Sinclair is a latchkey kid who lives with her single mom on the Upper West Side of New York City in the late 1970s. I love the way Miranda navigates her dirty, dangerous, yet enchanting city – her street smarts, her fears, her relationships with the adults in the neighborhood who keep a watchful eye over her. And the book, while totally gritty and real, also has a lovely, melancholy element of magical realism that makes the story mysterious and poignant.
Time Signature
By Carlo Kennedy
Book cover of Time Signature
James Papandrea Author Of From Star Wars to Superman: Christ Figures in Science Fiction and Superhero Films
From the list on thought-provoking time travel.
By James Papandrea Author
Why did James love this book?
I just love the idea of a time machine that’s driven by music.
We all have strong memories that are sparked by hearing a particular song, and this turns that idea into a surprisingly plausible time travel story. I also love the 80s music themes, and the themes of love and family that are woven throughout.
It’s all very real, except the parts that aren’t, but those are fun. There’s even a bit of martial arts, this book ticks all the boxes. The characters talk and think like real three-dimensional people, and I could relate to them.
And for what it’s worth, the book actually passes the Bechdel test, which you don’t always get in sci-fi. I wish Netflix would turn it into a show or movie!
The End of Men
By Christina Sweeney-Baird
Book cover of The End of Men
J.A. Christy Author Of SmartYellow™
From the list on women in dystopian worlds.
By J.A. Christy Author
Why did J.A. love this book?
I read The End of Men recently during the pandemic. Without giving the plot away, this book is about a pandemic written before the actual pandemic. The thing I love about this book is the deep feelings it invoked. It is written from many viewpoints and I really cared about the characters – if a book can resonate so deeply that it makes you wonder how your life would be in the same circumstances, the author has succeeded. The women in the book face an almost unimaginable struggle and I rooted for them all the way.
Alien Safari
By Robert Appleton
Book cover of Alien Safari
Brian Enke Author Of Shadows of Medusa
From the list on science fiction about living on another planet.
By Brian Enke Author
Why did Brian love this book?
On future worlds with diverse plant and animal life, how will daily struggles for survival shape the inhabitants? This book highlights some thought-provoking biology concepts such as competitive cooperation. Hesperidia can be a scary world, but one filled with beauty, wonder, and endless imagination. Humans, of course, remain the ultimate predators… or are they? Detective Ferrix Vaughn is about to find out. Good space-settlement books always require deep characters, and this series excels. Stopper, a genetically engineered wonder-dog, has become one of my favorite fictional characters. I almost cried in the sequel when… well, that’s giving too much away.
Wild Cards I
By George R. R. Martin, Wild Cards Trust
Book cover of Wild Cards I
Blake M. Petit Author Of Other People's Heroes
From the list on superheroes outside of graphic novels.
By Blake M. Petit Author
Why did Blake love this book?
In the days after World War II, an alien device explodes in the skies above New York, blanketing the planet with an extraterrestrial virus. Most of the victims die horrible deaths. A smaller percentage – the “Jokers” – find their bodies mutated in various unpredictable ways. And a scant few draw an “Ace” – superpowers without the consequences of a Joker mutation. Wild Cards is the first in a series of “mosaic novels,” books of stories featuring the work of several writers contributing their own pieces of a larger tapestry that helps build and flesh out a remarkable world. The Wild Cards series is perhaps the most elaborate and provocative superhero universe that exists in prose fiction.
As much as I love comic books, it's always bothered me how many people think comics are superheroes and vice-versa. This was one of the first really successful attempts at doing something with… show more.
Firelord
By Parke Godwin
Book cover of Firelord
Catherine Wells Author Of Macbeatha
From the list on legendary characters from the British Isles.
By Catherine Wells Author
Why did Catherine love this book?
This is perhaps my favorite historical novel ever, not only because of Godwin’s evocative prose (“Half a baby in a ditch.” Brrr!), but because it contains an extended section on the “little people,” the mound dwellers who predated the Celts in Britain. These people became the fairies, elves, and gnomes of legend, but in Firelord they are the last of a dying culture, trying desperately to survive in a changed world. They capture a wounded Arthur, and as they take him underground, the author’s voice alters radically. It brilliantly captures the alien nature of the mound dwellers and their hypnotic effect on Arthur. Only after Arthur leaves them behind does it return, like Arthur, to something familiar.
Damiano
By R. A. MacAvoy
Book cover of Damiano
J.S. Watts Author Of Witchlight
From the list on if you are seeking witchery.
By J.S. Watts Author
Why did J.S. love this book?
The first in a trilogy of books of magical fantasy set in Renaissance Europe and beyond that looks at magic and witchery at an unusual slant. Centre stage is Damiano Delstrego: son of a wizard and alchemist with an inheritance of Dark Magics. Forced out by war, he goes on pilgrimage to seek the aid of the powerful witch Saara, but the road he is obliged to walk is a dark one. R. A. MacAvoy is another writer I have admired for a long time and I was very sad when ill health stopped her from writing. I believe, however, that she has started to write again, so I can but hope for new novels while recommending her older, skillful work.
Towing Jehovah
By James K. Morrow
Book cover of Towing Jehovah
Jass Richards Author Of The Blasphemy Tour
From the list on that dare to make fun of religion and/or gods.
By Jass Richards Author
Why did Jass love this book?
I confess I'm more attracted to Morrow's themes than his actual writing, but still. Towing Jehovah is premised on God having died and his corpse needs to be towed to the Arctic for preservation. It's part of a trilogy (the second and third books are titled Blameless in Abaddon and The Eternal Footman); to be honest, I don't remember reading the other two, but I must have... Also worth mentioning is Morrow's Bible Stories for Adults. All irreverent. All funny in a dark way.
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