An alcoholic hermit discovers the truth of power in the world: the flies are actually in control. Bizarre, thrilling, and fast paced, this newly translated novel is worth a read.
Tamsyn Muir has an uncanny ability to write sci-fi / fantasy that is both gut wrenchingly funny and just masterfully, painstakingly plotted. If you're into big picture sci-fi like Dune or Saga but also have an appreciation for eldritch monsters and body horror à la Resident Evil, please treat yourself to this incredible series.
Becky Chambers steeps us her best home-grown tea in this sweet and tender little book. Told through Dex, a tea monk wanting to escape modern life, and Mosscap, a robot fascinated with learning about their world, this story is a glimmer of hope in our never-ending uncertainty about the future of our world.
Need a fun space adventure with a dash of royalty, romance, and reconnaissance? Look no further than the Consortium Rebellion series.
Ada is the daughter of a High House and she's on the run from her family. Fleeing an arranged marriage she can't stomach, Ada finds herself locked up on a mercenary ship with a mysterious stranger named Loch. The Devil of Fornax oozes danger and has the largest bounty in the Universe on his head. Luckily, he's just as interested in foiling her fiance as she is.
The world-building is technologically complex, the action is fast-paced, and the heat is set to smoldering. If you like our heroes, you'll be delighted: there's 2 more books set in this 'verse!
Open this exquisite cover and enter a world equally dark and beautiful, a world where every captivating character is both hero and villain of their own story, their fellow characters' stories and the novel as a whole. And make no mistake, this is a sweeping #ownvoices fantasy. Epic in scope and using as it's foundation the mythology of the pre-Columbian Americas, the first book of the Between Earth and Sky series introduces a cast of incredibly diverse characters within a gripping political and religious plot that I could not put down.
In my youth I read quite a bit of science fiction, but my interests shifted over the years and I veered away from that genre a little. Over the last few years though, I found myself craving a good sci-fi adventure with spaceships and aliens. Last fall I happened across a copy of Providence by Max Barry (author of Lexicon) and it fit the bill perfectly. I read half the book in one sitting! Interesting characters aboard a ship a mile and a half long venture into deep space to save civilization from impending doom. It's an intense ride from start to finish.
This is a blossoming romance set among the rubble of incomprehensible destruction. This is not Doctor Who fan-fiction, nor is it the concrete, expository science fiction we're used to. This is for the dreamers who want to look through broken windows into another reality.
I’ve been struggling with how to describe this novel, other than it’s often pensive and irregularly balanced for a “dystopian” story. Finally, I came to the conclusion (after 3 pages of notes) that it needs to be read because of the struggle it shows and invokes in us. That may not be very helpful, but as stubborn and intellectual Cedar says at the start, “...maybe you’ll understand. Or not. I’ll write this anyway…” I mean...what do you record for a possible life in a world unknown to you?
The aliens have already packed up and left as Roadside Picnic begins, but their brief and apparently pointless visit has left the earth irrevocably altered. And in writing this brief, beguiling novel of first contact, the Strugatsky brothers forever altered the terrain of science fiction; their book has gone on to inspire successive generations of artists and writers, most famously Andrei Tarkovsky and Jeff VanderMeer.
In my mind, the thing that really makes this edition essential for science fiction readers is the forward provided by another pillar of the genre, Ursula K. Le Guin. In a few short, pithy pages, Le Guin uses the numerous possible readings of Roadside Picnic--a parable of Soviet failure? a referendum on human intelligence?--to prompt a much broader meditation on the possibilities of the genre.
Do you like the Twilight Zone? Of course you do. But you might not know Richard Matheson. And you should, because arguably the most iconic episodes were adapted from his masterfully-written short fiction. Each story is so tightly crafted as to border on pulp, each ending twists with a stinger that demands your return. If I'm on a plane: 1) I have a Richard Matheson collection in my carry on and 2) I'm not going to look at the wing of the plane. Yeah. He wrote that.
