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29 of the Best Science Fiction Books Everyone Should Read

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Looking for your next sci-fi must-read? Cyberpunk, space operas, dystopias – we've pulled together some of the WIRED team's favourite science fiction novels. Some are eerily plausible, others are wild trips of the imagination, but all present compelling visions of our possible future. Listed here in chronological order for completists.

You may also enjoy our guides to best sci-fi movies and the best space movies , too. If you're after more reading inspiration, try our selection of the best fantasy books and we have a guide to the best audiobooks if you're feeling lazy.

It's Prime Day 2023, so we've uncovered the top discounts. Check out the best Prime Day deals in the UK here.​​

The Blazing World, by Margaret Cavendish (1666)

This book is arguably the first science fiction book ever written. The Blazing World's language may be dated, but this fearless feminist text from Margaret Cavendish is packed full of imagination is not just incredibly brave for its time. It's also still incredibly relevant; cited as inspiration by writers including China Miéville and Alan Moore.

Cavendish's utopian tale follows the adventures of a kidnapped woman, who travels to another world run by part-humans, part animals - fox men, fish men, geese men, the list goes on. As she is a very beautiful woman, she becomes their Empress, and organises an an almighty invasion of her own world, complete with literal fire(stones) raining from the sky.

Price: £10 | Amazon | Waterstones | Wordery | Audible trial

Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley (1818)

Mary Shelley started writing classic gothic thriller Frankenstein when she was 18 years old. Two centuries later, it is a major ancestor of both the science fiction and horror genres, tackling huge themes like the nature of life and death, immortality and genetic engineering. It is a pro-science novel that at its heart shows Dr Frankenstein as the callous fiend of the story, who created a being and was not willing to accept responsibility for his actions. In an age where the space between technical life and death is narrower than ever, and scientists are playing with the makeup of what makes us humans, Frankenstein can still teach an important lesson: just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

Price: £6 | Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells | Audible trial

Foundation, by Isaac Asimov (1951)

Asimov was a prolific writer, but many of his best works are classic short stories such as Nightfall , or The Last Question , which play out like long jokes with a punchline twist at the end. In the Foundation series, he’s in another mode entirely, charting the rise and fall of empires in sweeping brush strokes. Asimov’s prose can be stilted, and betrays the attitudes of its time in the portrayal of female characters, but it has left a lasting legacy.

The Foundation series follows Hari Seldon, who is the architect of psychohistory – a branch of mathematics that can make accurate predictions thousands of years in advance, and which Seldon believes is necessary to save the human race from the dark ages. You can see why it’s one of Elon Musk’s favourite books (along with The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy , and The Moon is A Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein – also recommended). A long-awaited screen adaptation is one of the flagship shows of Apple TV+.

Price: £8 | Amazon | Waterstones | Wordery | Audible trial

The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester (1957)

This landmark novel begins with a simple proposition – what if humans could teleport? – and sprawls into a tale of rebirth and vengeance that winds across the Solar System: The Count of Monte Cristo for the interstellar age. First published as Tiger! Tiger! in the UK, named after the William Blake poem, it follows Gully Foyle – a violent, uneducated brute who spends six months marooned in deep space, and the rest of the book seeking retribution for it.

Price: £9 | Amazon | Waterstones | Audible trial

Solaris, by Stanislaw Lem (1961)

If you think you know Solaris from the 2002 Steven Soderbergh film, the original book may come as a bit of a surprise. Written by Polish writer Stanislaw Lem in 1961, this short novel is heavier on philosophy than plot. It follows a team of humans on a space station who are trying to understand the mysterious living ocean on the planet Solaris, with little success – their research is limited to lengthy descriptions that paint a vibrant picture of the alien planet but fail to elucidate how it works. As they poke and prod, Solaris ends up exposing more about them than it does about itself, with the book demonstrating the futility of humans trying to comprehend something not of their world.

Price: £9 | Amazon | Waterstones | Wordery | Audible trial

Dune, by Frank Herbert (1965)

In 2012, WIRED US readers voted Dune the best science-fiction novel of all time. It’s also the best-selling of all time, and has inspired a mammoth universe, including 18 books set over 34,000 years and a terrible 1984 movie adaptation by David Lynch, his worst film by far. A very different effort was released in 2021, directed by Denis Villeneuve. The series is set 20,000 years in the future in galaxies stuck in the feudal ages, where computers are banned for religious reasons and noble families rule whole planets. We focus on the planet Arrakis, which holds a material used as a currency throughout the Universe for its rarity and mind-enhancing powers. Lots of giant sandworms, too.

Price: £10 | Amazon | Waterstones | Foyles | Audible trial

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein (1966)

One of Elon Musk's favourite books, apparently, this gripping novel paints a plausible picture of life on Earth's satellite, three years before man set foot on the moon for the first time. Its depictions of the challenges of life in orbit, and the ingenuity of human solutions to the problem – even among the exiles and misfits who make up the lunar population – are memorable.

Ice, by Anna Kavan (1967)

Anna Kavan's last (and best) sci fi novel provides a haunting, claustrophobic vision of the end of the world, where an unstoppable monolithic ice shelf is slowly engulfing the earth and killing everything in its wake. The male protagonist and narrator of the story (who is nameless) is eternally chasing after an elusive and ethereal young woman, while contemplating feelings that become darker and more violent towards her as the ice closes in. He frequently crosses paths with the Warden, the sometimes-husband but also captor of the young woman, who is always one step ahead. And as the ice closes off almost all paths by land and sea, he is running out of time to catch them up.

The novel reads like a grown-up, nightmarish version of Alice in Wonderland : Kavan takes you on a journey that is hallucinogenic and unsettling, with no regard to whether the narrator is dreaming or awake. But the true genius of the book is its language - depicting a powerful allegory crushing pain of addiction, loneliness and mental illness will do little to cheer you up, but will capture your attention.

Price: £8 | Amazon | Waterstones | Foyles | Audible trial

The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. Le Guin (1969)

Le Guin alternated between genres during her prolific career, and this intricate novel came out the year after the classic fantasy book A Wizard of Earthsea . The bulk of the action takes place on Winter, a remote Earth-like planet where it’s cold all year round, and everyone is the same gender. It was one of the first novels to touch on ideas of androgyny – which is viewed from the lens of protagonist Genly Ai, a visitor from Earth who struggles to understand this alien culture.

A Scanner Darkly, by Philip K Dick (1977)

A curious novel that reads less like sci-fi and more like a hallucinated autobiography detailing the author’s struggle with drug addiction. In a near-future California, vice cop Bob Arctor lives undercover with a community of drug addicts hooked on devastating psychoactive dope Substance D. Arctor, who needs to don a special “scramble suit” to hide his face and voice when meeting his fellow cops, has to grapple with gradually losing his sense of self.

Kindred, by Octavia E. Butler (1979)

Though Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred was published more than 40 years ago, it carries lessons and learnings that we can all still use today. When African-American writer, Dana finds herself transported from 1979 Los Angeles to the pre-Civil War Antebellum south to repeatedly save her white slave-owning ancestor, she must confront the horrendous reality of surviving slavery while not losing her modern day identity. This is only more complicated when she accidentally transports back with her white husband.

The novel explores major themes of power, race and inequality. Butler’s contextualising of this era is devastating; the way in which she contrasts modern day 1979 with the pre-Civil War age offers a different perspective on the complicated and degrading reality of slavery. Kindred allows you, the reader, to engage with the emotional impacts of slavery, something unfortunately often lost in too many of today’s teachings of the subject.

Neuromancer, by William Gibson (1984)

The definitive cyberpunk novel, William Gibson’s Neuromancer follows hacker-turned-junkie Henry Case as he tries to pull off one last, rather dodgy sounding job in the hope of reversing a toxin that prevents him from accessing cyberspace. Set in a dystopian Japanese underworld, the novel touches on all manner of futuristic technology, from AI to cryonics, and features a cast of creative characters that will stick with you long after you turn the last page.

Consider Phlebas, by Iain Banks (1987)

Back in 1987, after four acclaimed fiction novels, Iain Banks published his first sci-fi book, Consider Phlebas , a true space opera and his first book of many to feature the Culture, an interstellar utopian society of humanoids, aliens and sentient machines ostensibly run by hyper-intelligent AI "Minds". A war rages across the galaxy with one side fighting for faith, the other a moral right to exist. Banks melds this conflict with something approaching a traditional fantasy quest: the search for a rogue Mind that has hidden itself on a forbidden world in an attempt to evade destruction.

Hyperion, by Dan Simmons (1989)

Winner of the 1990 Hugo Award for Best Novel and part of a two-book series, Hyperion is a richly woven sci-fi epic told in the style of The Canterbury Tales . In the world of Hyperion , humanity has spread to thousands of worlds, none more intriguing or dangerous as Hyperion. It's home to the Time Tombs, ageless structures which are mysteriously travelling backward through time, and guarding them is the terrifying creature known as the Shrike. It kills anyone who dares encroach on the Time Tombs and has inspired a fanatical religious group who control pilgrimages to the tombs. On the eve of an invasion, a group of travellers convene what's likely to be the last Shrike pilgrimage and share their tales of what brought them there.

Jurassic Park, by Michael Crichton (1990)

Before it mutated into the mega media franchise “Jurassic World”, Jurassic Park was a smart, thoughtful and gripping sci-fi classic written by Michael Crichton, author of the equally brilliant Andromeda Strain. Crichton's tale remains a great parable about the dangers of genetic engineering, (as well as a slightly heady exploration of chaos theory). His descriptions of dinosaurs are also brilliant, like the T-Rex: "Tim felt a chill, but then, as he looked down the animal's body, moving down from the massive head and jaws, he saw the smaller, muscular forelimb. It waved in the air and then it gripped the fence."

Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson (1992)

Frantic, fun and almost suspiciously prescient, Snow Crash grabs you from its opening sequence – a high-speed race through an anarchic Los Angeles that has been carved up into corporate-owned ‘burbclaves’ – and barely lets up. The book follows main character Hiro Protagonist (yes, really), an elite hacker and swordsman, as he tries to stop the spread of a dangerous virus being propagated by a religious cult. It combines neurolinguistics, ancient mythology and computer science, and eerily predicts social networks, cryptocurrency and Google Earth.

Price: £9 | Amazon | Waterstones | Wondery | Audible trial

Vurt, by Jeff Noon (1993)

“Vurt is a feather - a drug, a dimension, a dream state, a virtual reality.” That’s what the back of this 1993 cyberpunk novel reads, and it’s a perfect way into the chaotic and surreal world of Vurt . Set in a gritty future Manchester, Vurt follows the story of Scribble, who’s on a mission to find his sister Desdemona who he believes is trapped inside a feather called Curious Yellow. That’s right, a feather. Vurt is about virtual reality, but not the strapping on a headset kind. Instead, people put feathers into their mouths to visit different dimensions and states of consciousness. Written in a frantic, dark and funny way that makes the action feel like it’s bouncing along beside you, Vurt won the Arthur C. Clarke award in 1994 and has since become a cult classic – although it’s not always easy to find a copy.

Price: £17 | Amazon | Audible trial

Under The Skin, by Michel Faber (2000)

Set in Scotland, Under The Skin is about an alien who’s sent to Earth to drug hitchhikers that she then delivers to her home planet. Despite being here to lead people to their deaths, she’s contemplative about Earth and nature. We’re used to considering what an alien visiting Earth for the first time might think about certain things, but the way Faber writes about Isserley’s experiences feels fresh, strange and, at times, oddly beautiful.

At times, Under The Skin is profoundly unnerving and difficult to read. But it’s not gratuitous. Elements of the novel are meant to be satirical, touching on present-day themes of our treatment of each other, animals and the Earth. We also highly recommend Jonathan Glazer’s 2013 movie adaptation, which is loosely based on the book but is a brilliant and intensely dark movie full of haunting imagery and a breath-taking score.

Price: £8 | Amazon | Waterstones | Audible trial

Metro 2033, by Dmitry Glukhovsky (2002)

It’s 2033, and a nuclear apocalypse has forced the rag-tag remains of the human population of Moscow to flee to the underground maze of tunnels below the city. Here they develop independent tribes in each metro station, trade goods and fight against each other. But hidden in the tunnels between the stations hide terrifying flesh-eating mutants and a voice that is driving people mad… This is the premise of Dmitry Glukhovsky’s wildly successful novel, which was later made into a series of video games. Part epic tale, part thriller, the translated story follows a teenager called Artyom, who has to travel to the heart of the Metro through unpredictable dangers to save the remains of humankind. Expect to be shocked.

Price: £9 | Amazon | Waterstones | Foyles | Audible trial

Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood (2003)

While The Handmaid’s Tale describes a world that seems more plausible by the day, in Oryx and Crake Atwood spins a genetically-modified circus of current trends taken to their absolute extreme – a “bio-engineered apocalypse,” is how one reviewer put it. A number of television adaptations have been mooted, including a now-defunct HBO project with Darren Aronofsky, but this might be one to place alongside The Stars My Destination in the impossible-to-adapt file. The world of the book is vibrant, surreal and disturbing enough.

Read more: The best sci-fi movies everyone should watch once

The Three-Body Problem, Liu Cixin (2008)

Liu Cixin was already one of China’s most revered science fiction writers when, in 2008, he decided to turn his hand to a full-length novel. The Three-Body Problem is the result – an era-spanning novel that jumps between the Cultural Revolution, the present day, and a mysterious video game. The first part of a trilogy, it’s a fascinating departure from the tropes of Western science fiction, and loaded with enough actual science that you might learn something as well as being entertained.

Children of Time, by Adrian Tchaikovsky (2015)

Children of Time is an epic book about a dying Earth. People are leaving, and there’s a plan to keep some of them safe and the human race flourishing elsewhere. However, things don’t quite pan out how they should. This is a saga of a story spanning many, many generations. That’s a tricky thing to pull off and ensure readers still follow with care and attention. But Adrian Tchaikovsky infuses interest, humanity and authenticity into every character and storyline so well. You’ll find yourself rooting for every new character that comes next – even when they’re only distantly related to the one you met a few chapters ago. The book deals with small interactions and feuds through to huge themes about belief, artificial intelligence, legacy, discovery, alienness and much more. It’s no surprise it won the 2016 Arthur C. Clarke Award. There’s a follow-up called Children of Ruin and (fingers crossed) a possible movie adaptation in the works.

The Martian, by Andy Weir (2015)

Andy Weir's debut novel literally puts the science into science fiction, packing in tonnes of well-researched detail about life on Mars. There's descriptions of how to fertilise potatoes with your own excrement, and hack a life-support system for a Martian rover – in levels of detail that the movie adaptation starring Matt Damon came nowhere near to reaching. The sassy, pop-culture laden writing style won't be to everyone's taste – this book probably won't get taught in English Literature lessons – but the first-person perspective makes sense for this story of an astronaut stranded on the Red Planet with no way to get home.

Price: £7.50 | Amazon | Waterstones | Foyles | Audible trial

The Heart Goes Last, by Margaret Atwood (2015)

An odd cocktail of a novel: part techno dystopia, part satire, part sex comedy, part classic Atwood. In a bleak, postlapsarian version of the US, young lovebirds Charmaine and Stan endure a miserable existence sleeping in their car and dodging criminals’ knives. Salvation arrives under the guise of an offer to move to the Positron Project – a gated community modelled after an American 1950s suburb. The rub? All Positron’s couples must spend every other month working in a prison, temporarily swapping homes with another couple, called “alternates”. When both Charmaine and Stan start developing oddball sexual relations with their alternates, things move rapidly south.

The Power, by Naomi Alderman (2016)

Margaret Atwood also had a hand in this gripping novel, which inverts the premise of The Handmaid’s Tale , and puts women in the ascendancy. Atwood mentored the author, Naomi Alderman, as she wrote this inventive thriller about women and girls discovering a powerful new ability to emit electricity from their hands, up-ending civilisation in different ways across the world. The Power is paced like a television series, and it is, in fact, coming to screens soon via Amazon Studios.

Borne, by Jeff VanderMeer (2017)

The Annihilation series showcased Jeff VanderMeer's gift for the surreal, and he turns it up a notch in Borne – which starts with an unknown scavenger plucking an object from the fur of a giant flying bear in a post-apocalyptic city, and only gets weirder from there as the main character strikes up a friendship with an intelligent sea anemone-like creature called Borne. The story is, it eventually transpires, one of biotechnology run amok – which makes for the most colourful dystopia you're likely to come across.

Moonrise: The Golden Age of Lunar Adventures, by Mike Ashley (2018)

Moonrise , from the British Library's Science Fiction Classics series, could just have easily appeared in the 1950s or even the 1900s in this list. It's a brilliantly curated anthology of twelve SF short stories about the moon – getting to it, exploring it, contemplating it – with lunar-inclined fiction from H.G. Wells and Arthur C. Clarke present and correct but also the likes of Judith Merril's 1954 Dead Centre , which distills all the potential tragedies of space programs into just a handful of haunting images. From author and science fiction historian Mike Ashley.

Exhalation, by Ted Chiang (2019)

Exhalation is a book of short stories rather than a novel, but hear us out. Ted Chiang is a fantastic science-fiction writer who weaves real science and theory into his tales. This makes them feel somehow part of this world despite dealing with a range of classic sci-fi themes, including parallel realities, robot pets and time travel.

From a circular time travelling portal in ancient Baghdad to a device that allows you to meet your parallel self that you can trade-in at a local store in the present day, it’s glorious science-fiction filled with wonder and mystery. There are stories and ideas nestled in Exhalation’s pages that stick with you long after you’ve finished reading. Chiang has breathed life into the science-fiction genre, creating stories that feel refreshing and human rather than concerning distant worlds and ideas that can lead to a disconnect. This is evident in his short story Story of Your Life , the source material for Denis Villeneuve's Arrival .

The Resisters, by Gish Jen (2020)

A speculative dystopia set in an 'Auto America', Gish Jen's The Resisters , which was published in early 2020, puts the sport of baseball – of all the things – at the centre of her world, which is divided into people who still get to have jobs, the Netted, as in 'Aunt Nettie', as in the internet, and the rest: the Surplus. The story centres on Gwen, who comes from a Surplus family but who has the chance to rise in status when her baseball skills get attention, with Jen taking on surveillance culture and the value of work and leisure.

Price: £18 | Amazon | Abe Books | Audible trial

This article was originally published by WIRED UK

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Recommended by sci-fi novelists and scientists.

Last updated: September 08, 2024

Whether you're searching for escapism by reading books about a faraway universe or enjoy science fiction as a lens to investigate the challenges we face on Earth today, we have a range of sci-fi book recommendations. For the best sci-fi novels of 2024 , a good starting point is our annual interview about the shortlist of the Arthur C Clarke Award for Science Fiction .

The classics of sci fi are covered by Adam Roberts, who recommends his top five science fiction classics. If you've never read any science fiction but are keen to give it a go, we have a special interview on the best science fiction books for beginners, recommended by Nicholas Whyte of the Hugo Awards.

Sci fi is heavily dependent on science, which itself is advancing rapidly. We also have a list of sci fi books recommended by scientists .

Books that have been so frequently recommended on Five Book s that they are eligible for a best sci-fi books of all-time list include: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks, and Ursula K Le Guin's gender-bending classic of interplanetary diplomacy Left Hand of Darkness .

The Best Science Fiction: The 2024 Arthur C. Clarke Award Shortlist , recommended by Andrew M. Butler

Chain gang all stars: a novel by nana kwame adjei-brenyah, the ten percent thief by lavanya lakshminarayan, in ascension by martin macinnes, the mountain in the sea by ray nayler, some desperate glory by emily tesh, corey fah does social mobility: a novel by isabel waidner.

Every year, the judges for the Arthur C. Clarke Award highlight the best of the latest batch of science fiction books. In 2024, the six-strong shortlist includes an exploration of octopus intelligence, a queer space opera, and a dystopian novel hailed as the new  Hunger Games . Andrew M. Butler , academic and chair of the judges, talks us through the finalists for the title of sci fi novel of the year.  See all our science fiction and  best novels of 2024  recommendations

Every year, the judges for the Arthur C. Clarke Award highlight the best of the latest batch of science fiction books. In 2024, the six-strong shortlist includes an exploration of octopus intelligence, a queer space opera, and a dystopian novel hailed as the new  Hunger Games . Andrew M. Butler, academic and chair of the judges, talks us through the finalists for the title of sci fi novel of the year.  See all our science fiction and  best novels of 2024  recommendations

The Best Space Opera Books , recommended by Kate Elliott

The pride of chanur by c. j. cherryh, the vanished birds by simon jimenez, a fire upon the deep by vernor vinge, the genesis of misery by neon yang, leviathan wakes by james s. a. corey.

Space opera—a popular subgenre of science fiction—features louder-than-life characters, hair-raising action sequences, and spacefaring civilisations. Kate Elliott , a prolific author of sci fi and fantasy novels, recommends five space opera books that will grab you by the collar and drag you off on an intergalactic adventure.

Space opera—a popular subgenre of science fiction—features louder-than-life characters, hair-raising action sequences, and spacefaring civilisations. Kate Elliott, a prolific author of sci fi and fantasy novels, recommends five space opera books that will grab you by the collar and drag you off on an intergalactic adventure.

The Best Ursula Le Guin Books , recommended by Sherryl Vint

The dispossessed by ursula le guin, the word for world is forest by ursula le guin, the left hand of darkness by ursula le guin, 'paradises lost', in the found and the lost.

Ursula Le Guin's most groundbreaking books are considered landmark texts in speculative fiction, exploring themes of colonisation, gender, nationalism and environmentalism through allegorical means. Here, the science fiction scholar Sherryl Vint selects five of the best books by Ursula Le Guin and examines her legacy as one of the great American writers.

Ursula Le Guin’s most groundbreaking books are considered landmark texts in speculative fiction, exploring themes of colonisation, gender, nationalism and environmentalism through allegorical means. Here, the science fiction scholar Sherryl Vint selects five of the best books by Ursula Le Guin and examines her legacy as one of the great American writers.

The Best Sci-Fi & Fantasy Novels, as Chosen by Fans: the 2024 Hugo Award , recommended by Sylvia Bishop

Translation state by ann leckie, witch king by martha wells, the saint of bright doors by vajra chandrasekera, the adventures of amina al-sirafi: a novel by shannon chakraborty, starter villain by john scalzi.

Every year, members of the World Science Fiction Society nominate writers for the Hugo Award, then vote for the winner. All speculative fiction is eligible – fantasy as well as sci-fi – and the shortlist is one of the most prestigious for both genres. Here, Sylvia Bishop introduces us to the nominees for the title of the best speculative novel of 2024 – and the page-turning champion.

The Best Sci Fi Books on Space Settlement , recommended by Erika Nesvold

Parable of the talents by octavia e. butler, the calculating stars by mary robinette kowal, cibola burn by james s. a. corey, red mars by kim stanley robinson.

We look to the stars and imagine a new home for humanity, an escape from the troubles that plague us here on Earth, but as astrophysicist Erika Nesvold points out, many of our problems will join us on our voyage. Here, she selects five science fiction books that illuminate the challenges and possible conflicts we’ll face if we head for this new frontier.   

The Best Science Fiction Books About Aliens , recommended by Jaime Green

Star maker by olaf stapledon, solaris by stanisław lem, semiosis by sue burke, the sparrow by maria doria russell, embassytown by china miéville.

Science fiction helps us work through not only the possibilities of the cosmos but also the nature of humanity itself, argues Jaime Green —science writer and author of a new book on the search for alien biology, The Possibility of Life . Here she highlights five classic works of sci-fi that explore ideas of consciousness and communication in the setting of outer space.

Science fiction helps us work through not only the possibilities of the cosmos but also the nature of humanity itself, argues Jaime Green—science writer and author of a new book on the search for alien biology, The Possibility of Life . Here she highlights five classic works of sci-fi that explore ideas of consciousness and communication in the setting of outer space.

The Best Political Sci-Fi Books , recommended by Arkady Martine

Foreigner by c. j. cherryh, last first snow by max gladstone, infomocracy by malka older, exordia by seth dickinson, dune by frank herbert.

Science fiction has a rich tradition of examining not only space-age technology but political ideology. Arkady Martine , author of the Hugo-award winning A Memory Called Empire , introduces us to political science fiction books that explore systems of government, power hierarchies, and the geopolitics of other planets.

Science fiction has a rich tradition of examining not only space-age technology but political ideology. Arkady Martine, author of the Hugo-award winning A Memory Called Empire , introduces us to political science fiction books that explore systems of government, power hierarchies, and the geopolitics of other planets.

The Best Philip K. Dick Books , recommended by David Hyde

Solar lottery by philip k dick, the man in the high castle by philip k dick, the three stigmata of palmer eldritch by philip k dick, ubik by philip k dick, a scanner darkly by philip k dick.

Philip K. Dick was a prolific sci fi writer, publishing 44 novels and over a hundred short stories. Once hooked, you'll devour them all, says David Hyde , the publisher and festival organiser better known as 'Lord Running Clam' within the lively fan community. Here, he introduces us to his top five books by Philip K. Dick: novels featuring alternate realities, ambiguous endings and philosophical questions that are puzzling new generations of fans.

Philip K. Dick was a prolific sci fi writer, publishing 44 novels and over a hundred short stories. Once hooked, you’ll devour them all, says David Hyde, the publisher and festival organiser better known as ‘Lord Running Clam’ within the lively fan community. Here, he introduces us to his top five books by Philip K. Dick: novels featuring alternate realities, ambiguous endings and philosophical questions that are puzzling new generations of fans.

The Best Science Fiction Worlds , selected by Tom Huddleston

Surface detail by iain m banks, the time ships by stephen baxter.

For many readers of science fiction , world building is the most important feature of their favourite books. Tom Huddleston , author of  The Worlds of Dune, explains how the best fictional worlds are original and immersive—and, above all, mind-expanding. Here he introduces us to his top five sci fi worlds, and to the extraordinary thinkers who created them.

For many readers of science fiction , world building is the most important feature of their favourite books. Tom Huddleston, author of  The Worlds of Dune, explains how the best fictional worlds are original and immersive—and, above all, mind-expanding. Here he introduces us to his top five sci fi worlds, and to the extraordinary thinkers who created them.

The Best Science Fiction of 2023: The Arthur C. Clarke Award Shortlist , recommended by Tom Hunter

Venomous lumpsucker: a novel by ned beauman, the red scholar's wake by aliette de bodard, plutoshine by lucy kissick, the anomaly by hervé le tellier, translated by adriana hunter, the coral bones by e.j. swift, metronome by tom watson.

Every year, the judges of the Arthur C Clarke Award select the best sci-fi novels of the previous twelve months. We asked prize director Tom Hunter to talk us through the six science fiction books that made the 2023 shortlist—including a space opera romance and a high-concept action thriller that has already won the most prestigious award in Francophone literature.

We ask experts to recommend the five best books in their subject and explain their selection in an interview.

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The best science fiction and fantasy books of 2021

From sweeping space operas to deadly, magical schools

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by Sadie Gennis , Nicole Clark , and Tasha Robinson

This year we read tons of books. Whether we bought a hard copies at the local bookstore or checked out audiobooks from a library app, or consumed them via e-reader. Lots new authors wrote fantastic debuts in 2021, while many of our favorite authors continued their sprawling series — ones we were extremely excited to jump back into.

If you love books then you know: They aren’t just escapism, they also inspire introspection, making us think harder about the world we live in. This is precisely the promise of great science fiction and fantasy — categories we’ve chosen to consider in a list together, as fantastic books continue to blur the line between the two speculative genres (and besides, we love to read them all). These 20 books span genres and perspectives — from space operas, to Norse mythology retellings, to romances with a dash of time travel. But all of them gave us something new to consider.

In a year with so many incredible choices, it was hard to narrow down the list. So we’ve also included some of our favorite runners up.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

If you’ve read the Wayfarer series, then you know Becky Chambers has a talent for creating hopeful scenarios, despite characters facing down harrowing odds. A Psalm for the Wild-Built has a similarly comforting spirit. The novella is set in a world where robots developed agency — and so humans allowed them to form their own communities.

A human named Dex decides to become a “Tea Monk,” traveling from city to city, offering weary people freshly brewed tea and a listening ear. Their wanderlust leads them to meet a robot named Splendid Speckled Mosscap, a “Wild-Built” who was created from parts spared from other robots. They form an odd friendship, as the two compare the realities of their day-to-day with the pursuits that fill a life. From its dedication — “For anyone who could use a break” — to its meandering spirit, the novella is a perfect read for anyone who wants to slow down a bit.

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

Black Water Sister is a contemporary ghost story, using the supernatural to weave a tale about intergenerational trauma and the Asian diaspora. Jessamyn Teoh is in the process of moving back to Malaysia with her parents when she starts to hear a voice in her head. But it’s not her own; it’s that of her estranged grandmother Ah Ma. Zen Cho’s portrayal of Ah Ma’s ghostly voice is halfway between chiding family member and portentous spirit — and she uses Jess as an avatar to meddle with family affairs. She hasn’t moved on, thanks to some unfinished business in the mortal realm. These themes are woven together to tell a suspenseful coming-of-age story, as Jess navigates adapting to a new culture and surviving family secrets, as well as her queer identity.

The Bronzed Beasts (The Gilded Wolves #3) by Roshani Chokshi

Roshani Chokshi brings her opulent, 19th century fantasy-heist series to a bittersweet conclusion in The Bronzed Beasts , which begins after Séverin seemingly betrays his friends to chase godhood. Because of the resulting rift, the book is missing a lot of the charming teamwork, trust, and banter that was so core to the previous two installments.

But Chokshi’s refusal to give readers exactly what they want is precisely what makes The Gilded Wolves series so compelling. Plus, all of the heart-wrenching interpersonal angst and introspection doesn’t get in the way of the treasure hunts and puzzle solving that we’ve come to love and expect. Watching the team relearn how to work together after all they’ve been through provides a fascinating new dynamic, as they race against the clock to discover how to save Laila’s life — and figure out whether this found family can ever be put back together again.

Leviathan Falls (The Expanse #9) by James S.A. Corey

The final book in the Expanse series has been a long-time coming (10 years, to be specific) and it is well worth the wait. What started as a geo-political power struggle between residents of Earth, Mars, and the Belt — told as an action-adventure set in the cold vacuum of space — has evolved into an all out fight to save humanity.

The series’ huge questions are finally answered: Who are the ring builders? How, if at all, can we defuse the massive threat they represent? How does the protomolecule play into all of this? The Roci crew has changed over the many years that span the Expanse, and in Leviathan Falls their story comes to a satisfying, bittersweet end.

The Last Watch (The Divide #1) by J.S. Dewes

Adequin Rake is the commanding officer of the Argus , a run-down ship stationed at the edge of the universe, tasked with watching out for the potential return of humanity’s alien enemy the Viators. Rake’s crew of Sentinels is made up of the military’s dregs — criminals, misfits, exiles, and anyone else the government would rather forget about, including a disowned prince.

But when the universe begins collapsing, this band of rogues becomes the last line of defense between humanity’s survival and total annihilation. With no aid coming, tensions are high as the Sentinels have to figure out how to use their scant resources to not only outrun the encroaching edge of the universe, but figure out a way to stop it from collapsing any further. The Last Watch is a thrilling adventure that leans heavily on speculative science and humor, and Dewes’ experience as a cinematographer shows through in her ability to to translate the complex visuals and action onto the page.

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

Cloud Cuckoo Land is a history-spanning tale about storytelling, following the perspectives of five characters in three different eras: an orphan and an outcast in 15th-century Thrace and Constantinople, an ecoterrorist and an octogenarian in 2020 Idaho, and a young girl on a 22nd-century spacecraft. Each of the novel’s vividly drawn characters is connected through the way stories have impacted their lives, particularly a fictional Greek tale about a fool’s quest to reach the mythical utopia Cloud Cuckoo Land.

With its spectacular world-building, rhythmic prose, and deeply empathetic character development, Cloud Cuckoo Land is a remarkable celebration of the comfort, magic, and connections to be found in books, as well as the stewards who preserve and nurture these tales across time.

The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec

Fans of Circe will find a lot to love in The Witch’s Heart . Genevieve Gornichec’s debut novel is a stirring and heartbreaking reimagining of Norse mythology from the perspective of the witch Angrboda. After being burned at the stake by Odin for refusing to share visions of the future with him, she begins a life of solitude in the woods where the vengeful god can’t find her. But when she meets the trickster god Loki, the pair begin an unconventional marriage and family, setting the world on a path that ultimately leads to Ragnarok.

The Witch’s Heart is a tragic tale about a beautifully complex, resilient woman who is willing to go against the gods and fate in order to protect her children, no matter the cost. And even though you may know how this story turns out, don’t be surprised to find yourself weeping when Angrboda’s story comes to an end.

The Shadow of the Gods (The Bloodsworn Saga #1) by John Gwynne

300 years after the gods went extinct, their human descendants are hunted down and enslaved, while their bones are highly sought after by anyone desperate for riches or power. The brutal, Norse-inspired story follows three characters making their way through this dangerous land, and Gwynne is largely unparalleled when it comes to writing battle scenes. Despite featuring things like deities, ice spiders, and twisted tooth fairies, there is a sense of authenticity in The Shadow of the Gods thanks to the detail Gwynne puts into his world-building. Though he takes his time revealing where the three, largely disparate storylines are headed, by the time you reach the book’s nail-biting climax the slow burn more than pays off.

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

British novelist Kazuo Ishiguro is hard to pin down, but who would want to? The stylistic and conceptual gap between his mannered historical novel The Remains of the Day , his dystopian science fiction novel Never Let Me Go , and his melancholy Arthurian fantasy The Buried Giant is vast, and each new Ishiguro novel winds up as a surprise.

But those books all connect around the pain of loss and the pressure of societal expectations around it. That builds context for Klara and the Sun , a mournful science fiction novel that starts out feeling like A.I. Artificial Intelligence and gradually becomes something more like a dreamy fable. In a future where the well-off buy android companions (or “Artificial Friends”) for their kids, Klara is an AF who becomes obsessed with her companion Josie, whose health is deteriorating due to genetic tinkering meant to improve her intellect.

Ishiguro filters everything through Klara’s imperfect understanding of the world, giving readers a sense of Josie’s relationships with other people, while Klara’s limitations cause her to miss key cues. It’s a book full of constant, unexpected turns, but the distance between what Klara sees and what readers will intuit is masterfully handled, melancholy, and tense, to the point where this feels as much like constrained horror as science fiction.

Paladin’s Strength (The Saint of Steel #2) by T. Kingfisher

T. Kingfisher loves her paladins. Ursula Vernon’s books under the Kingfisher pseudonym (to separate her adult novels from her several children’s series) have always focused on fantasy characters with an innate practicality and selfless determination. While the paladins in Clocktaur duology and the Saint of Steel books (currently a trilogy, projected as a seven-book series) are defined by their nobility and self-sacrifice, in the Saint of Steel series, they’re also defined by the death of the god they served, which has left them all purposeless and on the brink of madness.

The first three books in the series ( Paladin’s Hope also came out in 2021) are all mysteries and romances, each focused on a different protagonist. Paladin’s Strength is the story of Istvhan, a bear of a man who’s navigating the same despair and hopelessness, but still doggedly trying to help people.

He gets diverted by meeting a nun whose order has been kidnapped. Clara’s nature, hinted at in the margins throughout the book, is clear enough, but it’s worth not spelling out, for the fun of the reveal. As in previous books, Kingfisher highlights the protagonists’ mutual longing and misunderstandings, making this a sort of fantasy rom-com, but it’s also built around berserker violence, horrific monsters, and a kind of comforting humor that’s one of Kingfisher’s best stocks-in-trade. The book can be read as a standalone or an introduction to the series; Kingfisher’s unique style and worldview makes for compelling reading. — TR

A Desolation Called Peace (Teixcalaan #2) by Arkady Martine

The second installment in Arkady Martine’s Teixcalaan series is somehow even better than the first. A Desolation Called Peace finds Mahit Dzmare traveling to the edge of Teixcalaanli space to find a way to communicate with an encroaching alien fleet — a difficult task made more challenging by the fact Mahit is still navigating her bond with Yskandr, as well as working out where her loyalties and home lie after her experiences on Teixcalaan.

​​The novel switches between the perspectives of Mahit, Three Seagrass, Mahit’s former envoy and the new Undersecretary to the Minister of Information; Nine Hibiscus, the captain of the fleet charged with fostering diplomacy with the hostile aliens; and Eight Antidote, the young clone of the former emperor. Martine’s astounding prose weaves together explorations of cultural identity, communication, imperialism, and identity in a tightly plotted story that burrows deep under your skin.

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

For those who prefer romantic comedies with a science fiction leaning, Casey McQuiston’s newest romance absolutely delivers. After a life of failing to lay down roots, August moves to New York for a fresh start. She meets Jane, the mysterious woman who is always on the subway at the right time, sporting the same well-loved leather jacket. As August falls for her, she realizes Jane has been trapped on this line since the 1970s — and August is determined to set her free.

Come for the sapphic romance, and stay for the queer found family, late night diner runs, and 70s music references.

The Last Graduate (The Scholomance #2) by Naomi Novik

If you’re a fan of magical boarding school stories, you might have noticed a theme: these schools are incredibly dangerous for the students who attend. But fantasy books don’t usually acknowledge it — focusing, instead, on the wonderment of becoming a witch or wizard. In Naomi Novik’s Scholomance series , this violence is fully a part of the plot. Even making it to graduation alive is part of the challenge as the school is bursting with Malificers, deadly creatures that are hungry for students.

The Last Graduate is an energetic follow-up to the excellent A Deadly Education . El is a senior now, intent on translating the Golden Stone sutras and navigating the attention of numerous enclaves, which have finally caught on to her immense power. But will she and her friends even make it through graduation?

Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor

This novella is short, but it packs one hell of a punch. In Remote Control , a young girl becomes the adopted daughter of the Angel of Death. With the new name of Sankofa­­, and the power of death in her gaze and touch, she travels from town to town with only a fox companion. The novella feels part folk tale, part technology-driven science fiction.

Like most of Okorafor’s work, Remote Control explores “ Africanfuturism ,” rather than the “Afrofuturist” label that is often applied to her stories. In a blog post , she explains: “Africanfuturism is specifically and more directly rooted in African culture, history, mythology and point-of-view as it then branches into the Black Diaspora, and it does not privilege or center the West.”

She Who Became the Sun (The Radiant Emperor #1) by Shelley Parker-Chan

A queer reimagining of the story of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming dynasty, She Who Became the Sun is a lyrical exploration of gender, identity, and the cost of desire set against the backdrop of war-torn 14th century China. The brutal historical epic begins when a young peasant girl destined for nothingness takes on the identity of her late brother, Zhu Chongba, who was fated for greatness. At first, living as Zhu is only a means to survive, but over time it transforms into an all-consuming need to claim Zhu’s fate for their own. As Zhu works their way from being a novice at a monastery up through the ranks of the rebel army, they dedicate themselves so fully to being Zhu, even in their own head and heart, in the hopes that doing so will fool Heaven into believing they’re the one destined to achieve the unthinkable.

Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon

Teenager Vern is seven months pregnant when she finally escapes the cult she was raised in, and the abusive husband who led it. As the denizens of this compound, Cainland, chase her down, she gives birth to two children, Howling and Feral. Together, they survive in the woods, before a mysterious growth and her own need to survive force her to find refuge in other places.

This incredibly compelling, terrifying, and genre-defying book makes commentary on misogyny, racism, religion, and motherhood through its haunting prose. Rivers Solomon continues to be an absolute force.

Shards of Earth (The Final Architecture #1) by Adrian Tchaikovsky

In the far-future, humanity is fighting an antagonistic, god-like alien presence called the Architects, capable of obliterating entire planets. Only “intermediaries” can reach through the void of space, making a connection in the vain hope of telling the Architects to stand down. That’s exactly what Idris, a human engineered into an intermediary, did to stop the war 50 years ago. He hasn’t slept a blink since. In the intervening years he’s worked as a contractor on a salvage vessel, the Vulture God — but he’s spurred into action as it looks like the Architects might be coming back.

Shards of Earth is Tchaikovsky’s take on a space opera, full of intergalactic action and geopolitical conflict. The world is as unique and detail-filled as his spider civilization opus, Children of Time . Fans of The Expanse and Mass Effect will have lots to chew on here.

The Hidden Palace (The Golem and the Jinni #2) by Helene Wecker

It’s been eight years since Helene Wecker’s stunning fantasy debut The Golem and the Jinni , and her fans were about ready to give up on her promised sequel. But The Hidden Palace takes up the story seamlessly, and brings back all the elements that made the first book so indelible.

In turn-of-the-century New York City, a genie escaped from captivity and a golem whose master has died fumble through understanding themselves and their relationships to humanity. In The Hidden Palace , they become lovers, but the creation of a male golem and the arrival of a female jinn remind both protagonists of their own natures, and highlight their differences and their dissatisfactions with the world.

With this sequel, Wecker moves the story rapidly forward in time, showing New York’s evolution and highlighting the characters’ unaging bodies and difficulty integrating with a human world. Those are just a few of the many, many threads she juggles in a rich literary novel that digs into what it means to be human, by setting up a series of meaningful contrasts from characters who aren’t.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

With Project Hail Mary , Weir is back in full Martian mode, telling a story about a man trying to survive in space through scientific improvisation and experimentation. Project Hail Mary goes much further into speculative science fiction than The Martian — it has the same focus on real physics, chemistry, and the scientific process, but its premise includes a single-celled organism that’s eating the sun, pushing humanity toward extinction.

The protagonist, former junior-high science teacher Ryland Grace, wakes up alone in a spaceship, traveling toward a distant star, with no memory of how he got there. Bit by bit, he has to reassemble his own past and define his future, and Earth’s. The book goes to startling places that shouldn’t be spoiled, and it gets a lot wilder than The Martian , but it keeps the science accessible and thoughtful as a grounding tool. Not quite a Stephen Hawking universe-explainer, and not quite a zippy beach-blanket adventure book, it has some of the best aspects of both.

Iron Widow (Iron Widow #1) by Xiran Jay Zhao

In order to fend off the alien Hunduns, Huaxia’s military fight in Chrysalises, massive mecha built from Hundun corpses that are powered by the qi of two people: the male pilot, who controls the Chrysalis, and the female concubine-pilot, who acts like a qi battery until her lifeforce is completely drained. When Zetian’s older sister is killed by a pilot, the peasant girl enlists as a concubine-pilot in order to get close enough to assassinate the man responsible, and enact vengeance on the entire system. But when it’s discovered that Zetian’s willpower is strong enough to drive the Chrysalis and subsume the male pilot’s qi, she becomes a feared Iron Widow, avoiding a military death sentence by being paired up with another criminal pilot. Never one to be cowed by authority, Zetian becomes the biggest threat to the Hunduns and to Huaxia’s patriarchal society in this action-packed story about a woman determined to manipulate, destroy, and rebuild the system to get justice for silenced and sacrificed women.

Runners up:

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki Rule of Wolves (King of Scars #2) by Leigh Bardugo

How to Talk to a Goddess (The Thinking Woman’s Guide to Real Magic #2) by Emily Croy Barker

The Fall of Koli (Rampart Trilogy #3) by M.R. Carey

Winterkeep by Kristin Cashore

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within (Wayfarers #4) by Becky Chambers

A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

Future Feeling by Joss Lake

The Wandering Earth by Cixin Liu

The Veiled Throne by Ken Liu

Noor by Nnedi Okorafor

Dark Rise by C.S. Pacat

Breeder by Honni van Rijswijk

Vespertine (Vespertine #1) by Margaret Rogerson

Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

Far from the Light of Heaven by Tade Thompson

No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull

The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo

Fugitive Telemetry (Murderbot #6) by Martha Wells

Hard Reboot by Django Wexler

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NPR Books Summer Poll 2021: A Decade Of Great Sci-Fi And Fantasy

Sci-fi has changed a lot in the past decade — these 7 reads will show you how.

Jason Sheehan

Let me tell you about the most revolutionary science fiction book I've ever read .

It was a few years ago. 2018. And I didn't think much about it when I shoved it in my bag and headed out the door. It was a slight thing with a weird title by an author just debuting on the adult lists and, to me, it was just the thing I was reading on a weekday when I had nothing else more pressing that I had to do.

I remember opening the book, folding back the cover, reading the first lines --

The machine said the man should eat tangerines. It listed two other recommendations as well, so three in total. A modest number, Pearl assured the man as she read out the list that had appeared on the screen before her: one, he should eat tangerines on a regular basis; two, he should work at a desk that received morning light; three, he should amputate the uppermost section of his right index finger.

And after that? I was gone . Those lines, in their perfect blandness, weird specificity and WTF kick of the whole finger thing, dropped me like a sucker punch. How do you not keep reading? How do you not need to know who and, like, how and, for god's sake, why after something like that.

I lost most of a day to Katie Williams's Tell The Machine Goodnight. I read it straight through, and when I was done, I read the whole thing again — taking my time, dipping in and out, lingering in one of the most remarkably mundane, beautifully believable, heartbreakingly true pieces of science fiction I'd read in longer than I can recall. I wrote a review of it for NPR that, I think, was remarkably unsuccessful at detailing just how thoroughly this book had blown my mind.

The reason Tell The Machine hit me so hard — the reason it settled into my brain like a virus and never really left; the reason I count it as one of the most revolutionary genre reads of the past decade, at least — is because it answered a question I've been asking about science fiction for as long as I've been reading science fiction: Why can't it be more normal ?

You see a thousand literary novels about siblings coming back home for a funeral after many years away. You see a thousand about marriages failing and the carnage that ensues. You see generational stories about families in crisis, about growing up, about growing old. I have always wondered why science fiction can't do the same. Why can't it handle its humans with the same care and weight of detail that it does its warp drives and time machines?

Williams says, It can, dummy. Just watch.

Tell The Machine is, more than anything, about people. There are no robots, no rockets, no car chases or space wars. The stakes are small (a job, a marriage, an eating disorder), the action is quiet. It is devastating, joyous, hopeful and sad, all on a purely human level. It takes the essential question of all science fiction (what if ...) and extends it no further than a single piece of technology: What if there were a machine that can tell you, with 100% accuracy, what will make you happy? Everything else is just people.

And that is a revolution. That is rebellious in the same way that Neuromancer was rebellious when it said The future can be now or when The Handmaid's Tale said The future can be yesterday or when Dhalgren said The future can be a place, and also more f*****d up than you can possibly imagine .

Of all the genres out there, science fiction is the one that's supposed to cause trouble. It's built to ask uncomfortable questions and burn stuff down. It is as much the kid in the back of the classroom sketching rocket ships in the pages of his history book as it is the other kid out in the parking lot slashing the tires of all the teachers' cars.

And over the past decade, both of those kids have been having their say. Williams changed the game for me with Tell The Machine, showing me that something I thought was maybe impossible was really just a matter of putting words on paper. And she's certainly not alone. Want to know who else is out there causing trouble and changing science fiction for the better?

Let's talk.

Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente

You wanna talk about a serious revolution in science fiction. Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy was a highly public (and highly successful) pantsing of the genre establishment when it was released in 1979 — a giant foam middle finger given to the wheezing ghosts of the Golden Age and all the space heroes that came after.

Cat Valente's Space Opera ? Same kind of energy. With the shelves packed with grimdark dytopias, Valente gave us Decibel Jones — the omnisexual, gender-fluid, washed-up former Brit-pop glam rocker chosen (along with bandmate Oort St. Ultraviolet) to compete in a kind of pan-galactic Eurovision Song Contest that will determine the fate of the Earth. The book was (and is) completely bonkers, full of long, ridiculous digressions on galactic history, flora and fauna (not unlike HGTTG , actually). "It's all big ideas written in glitter," I said about it in its moment. There are wormholes, murderhippos, big gargly space monsters, love, sex, tears. It is deeply weird and funny as hell and exists as a reminder that science fiction, heavy as it can sometimes get, can also be strange and funny and not at all serious and still get the job done.

The Wayfarers series, Becky Chambers

There's nothing like living in an actual dystopia to make you lose your taste for the fictional ones, right?

For decades, science fiction has been obsessed with the myriad ways we humans were going to eff-up the planet. And while I do love a lot of these stories (like, a lot of them), any well that's been gone back to with the frequency that science fiction writers have visited that one is bound to run dry eventually.

Enter Becky Chambers, super nerd. She looked at the gray, ashen, poisoned literary landscape laid out before her and said, Okay, how about the future, but happy?

How about the future, but competent?

How about the future, but ... good?

In her Wayfarers series (initially self-published, later picked up by a major publisher, just to add an extra revolutionary kicker to the model), she presented a vision of a multi-species universe, working collectively for the common good. She gave us experts using their knowledge for the betterment of all. She gave us spaceships, robots, adventures but (like Katie Williams) a focus on characters and their personal struggles.

Chambers writes what could be called "Arguably Utopian Fiction" — a universe of characters striving toward good, though not always succeeding; where the best minds and the best intentions are bent toward common goals and sometimes fall incredibly short. They are largely light on plot, heavy on character, thoughtful, close and contemplative — all of which is such a radical departure from the common run of science fiction that came before that it stands as an almost singular expression of the form.

Tales From The Loop by Simon Stalenhag

Tales from the Loop , by Simon Stålenhag Skybound hide caption

Stalenhag is beloved for his art — largely for his endless visions of an alternate 1980's Sweden full of robots, dinosaurs and unusual things happening around an imaginary particle accelerator/science lab/wormhole generator called The Loop .

Me? I love him for his words. The art is cool, no doubt. But the reason I keep three of his books on my desk at all times is because no other writer working (except maybe Michael Poore in Reincarnation Blues ) is better at telling huge stories in small spaces than Stalenhag.

Tales From The Loop worldbuilds visually, but it comes alive for me in the small vignettes written into the margins. For example:

It stood under the oak tree in the yard — an oily, sad little tin can thing, its head partially entangled in some sort of canvas cover. It had discovered me and stood perfectly still, its head fixed in my direction. As I approached, it rocked nervously to and fro where it stood. It flinched, rustling its wiring, each time the snow crunched underneath my boots. Soon I was close, so close I could reach the cover hanging from one of its lenses. I leaned forward, managed to get hold of the canvas, and yanked it off. The optics underneath it quickly focused. It was marked FOA on the side, which meant this was an escapee from Munso. Then our front door rattled, and with three quick bounds the robot was gone. The door opened and there, on the steps, stood my father.

And that's it . 143 words. A complete story, beautiful and haunting. And Stalenhag does this over and over and over again, on nearly every page. His work is both grounded and fantastical, perfectly suited to our modern tastes of ideas served in appetizer-sized portions. What's more, Loop (published in 2015, funded entirely through a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign) upended things both by proving the viability of crowd-funding in the increasingly siloed world of traditional publishing and presaged the boom we're now seeing in genre flash and micro fiction.

"The Ones Who Stay And Fight" by N.K. Jemisin, from How Long 'Til Black Future Month

N.K. Jemisin deserves to be on the list for a number of reasons, but her short story, "The Ones Who Stay And Fight," speaks to a very specific kind of revolt that's important to call out.

The story is a direct and confrontational refutation of the classic 1973 Ursula K. Le Guin story "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas." In Omelas, Le Guin was playing a philosophical game. She presented a perfect utopia where everyone was comfortable, happy and at peace all the time. The catch? All this goodness depended on the systematic imprisonment and misery of a single child. Most citizens of Omelas, when the truth is revealed to them, are horrified, but stay. A few of them walk away. Jemisin, in pointed conversation with the original, turns the entire system on its head, setting up a game with the same stakes, but then giving the central child of the story agency and engagement with the community born of suffering.

Neither story is comforting. Neither leaves you feeling good after reading. Both raise enormous internal questions. But within the framing of this list, it's Jemisin's very act of engaging directly with a genre classic and remaking it for the current age that is revolutionary. If literature is a conversation held across time, then Jemisin's turn at the mic is revelatory. And for all of those out there who'd like to see the privileged white libertarianism knocked out of Heinlein or the stain of active racism scrubbed from the Cthulu mythos, Jemisin's story was a harbinger of how it might be done.

Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins

There is a moment near the start of Watkins's looping, bizarre, almost hallucinatory tale of too-near-future California that has hung with me ever since the first time I read it. Just a couple lines that laid down the basics of every end-of-the-world climate nightmare I would ever have. These are them:

For now, enough money could get you fresh produce and meat and dairy, even if what they called cheese was Day-Glo and came in a jar, and the fish was mostly poisoned and reeking, the beef gray, the apples blighted even in what used to be apple season, pears grimy even when you paid extra for Bartletts from Amish orchards. Hard sour strawberries and blackberries filled with dust. Flaccid carrots, ashen spinach, cracked olives, bruised hundred-dollar mangos, all-pith oranges, shriveled lemons, boozy tangerines, raspberries with gassed aphids curled in their hearts, an avocado whose crumbling taupe innards once made you weep.

Writing dystopian climate fiction hardly feels like a revolutionary act now. Not today, when it's all essentially just the history of tomorrow. But when you can get at the aching sadness of it, the unbelievable boredom, the futility, the soft, dry, bloodless horror and weariness and strangeness all at once? That's something special. That's something real .

And that's what Watkins did. Horribly, she didn't make me want to save the world. She made me feel like it was already too late to do anything but wait for the end.

Mothership: Tales From Afrofuturism And Beyond , edited by Bill Campbell and Edward Austin Hall

Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism and Beyond, e dited by Bill Campbell and Edward Austin Hall Rosarium Publishing hide caption

A long, long time ago — back in another age when genre fiction needed a good shake and some slapping around — Harlan Ellison assembled an anthology called Dangerous Visions . Its table of contents is littered with a who's-who of the time, big-name speculative scribblers and a handful of up-and-comers who all came together to write original stories designed to take sharp pokes and wild swings at a genre that'd become stale, predictable and dull. In itself, it was maybe not as entirely swaggering and rogueish as it wanted to claim, but for its time? Reasonably dangerous. And that danger compounded when it was found (and read, and re-read) by the young writers who'd make up the vanguard of the New Wave of the 70's and 80's. They learned from its example that there was value in taking chances. That sometimes just having your voice heard was enough.

Over the past decade, one of the most ground-breaking (and vastly overdue) revolutions in science fiction is the inclusion of new voices. Particularly those coming from BIPOC writers. And way back in 2013, editors Bill Campbell and Edward Hall put together the Mothership anthology which, today, serves the same purpose Dangerous Visions did way back in 1967.

It stands as both an accounting of most of the major voices in speculative fiction from around the world, an introduction to some of those who were less known eight years ago, AND as a wicked primer on Afrofuturism. It's got Rabih Alameddine writing about sex and death, witches, 9/11 and boyhood in Beirut; Victor LaValle in modern Iceland with murderous trolls; Carmen Maria Machado getting weird like Animal Farm with downloadable food and hybrid animals while Daniel Jose Older plays cops-and-ghosts and Junot Diaz talks about an epidemic disease coming out of Haiti and the Dominican Republic that, today, seems eerily prescient. Tobias Buckell writes about ghosts. N.K. Jemisin tells a love story about fractured time, alternate realities and email. Ernest Hogan puts Yakuza on the moon.

If the biggest revolution of the past 10 years has been an attempt (not yet successful) at making the stories in front of you look more like the world they are reflecting, then Mothership could be like a table of contents for the future of science fiction. It isn't complete. It isn't even all sci-fi. But it's a start.

And every revolution has to start somewhere.

Jason Sheehan knows stuff about food, video games, books and Star Blazers . He's the restaurant critic at Philadelphia magazine, but when no one is looking, he spends his time writing books about giant robots and ray guns. Tales From the Radiation Age is his latest book.

Every product was carefully curated by an Esquire editor. We may earn a commission from these links.

The 75 Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time

See if your favorites made our expanded list.

Since time immemorial, mankind has been looking up at the stars and dreaming, but it was only centuries ago that we started turning those dreams into fiction. And what remarkable dreams they are—dreams of distant worlds, unearthly creatures, parallel universes, artificial intelligence, and so much more. Today, we call those dreams science fiction.

Science fiction’s earliest inklings began in the mid-1600s, when Johannes Kepler and Francis Godwin wrote pioneering stories about voyages to the moon. Some scholars argue that science fiction as we now understand it was truly born in 1818, when Mary Shelley published Frankenstein , the first novel of its kind whose events are explained by science, not mysticism or miracles. Now, two centuries later, sci-fi is a sprawling and lucrative multimedia genre with countless subgenres, such as dystopian fiction, postapocalyptic fiction, and climate fiction, to name just a few. It’s also remarkably porous, allowing for some overlap with genres like fantasy and horror .

Sci-fi brings out the best in our imaginations and evokes a sense of wonder, but it also inspires a spirit of questioning. Through the enduring themes of sci-fi, we can examine the zeitgeist’s cultural context and ethical questions. Our favorite works in the genre make good on this promise, meditating on everything from identity to oppression to morality. As the Nobel Prize-winning novelist Doris Lessing said, “Science fiction is some of the best social fiction of our time.”

Over two years ago, we published a version of this list featuring 50 books. But why stop at 50? Now, as part of our latest Summer Fiction Week , we’ve cast a wider net and expanded the list to 75 titles. Choosing the 75 best science fiction books of all time wasn’t easy, so to get the job done, we had to establish some guardrails. Though we assessed single installments as representatives of their series, we limited the list to one book per author. We also emphasized books that brought something new and innovative to the genre—to borrow a great sci-fi turn of phrase, books that “boldly go where no one has gone before.”

Now, in ranked order, here are the best science fiction books of all time.

The Echo Wife, by Sarah Gailey

Westworld meets The Stepford Wives in this gripping revenge thriller about the unlikely alliance between a woman and her clone. After geneticist Evelyn Caldwell learns that her husband, Nathan, is cheating on her, she soon ferrets out the truth: Rather than work on their strained marriage, Nathan stole Evelyn’s proprietary cloning technology and replaced her with a more docile substitute. But when Evelyn finds her clone standing over Nathan’s dead body, crying, “It was self-defense,” these quasi-sisters will have to work together to conceal the crime and preserve Evelyn’s scientific reputation. The Echo Wife ’s juicy premise runs deep, raising eerie questions about love, justice, and individuality.

The Calculating Stars, by Mary Robinette Kowal

Mary Robinette Kowal’s outstanding alt-history series Lady Astronaut begins with a disaster: When a meteorite hits the eastern seaboard in 1952, millions of people are killed, including the president and most other government officials. Mathematician and pilot Elma York calculates that the resulting climate shift will wipe out life on Earth in a matter of decades, meaning that the only solution is to establish a colony on Mars. Elma longs to become an astronaut, but because of the sexism, racism, and antisemitism of the time, she and other women are benched as “human computers.” Against the thrilling backdrop of this burgeoning space race, Elma and her colleagues wage an increasingly public war against discrimination, fighting for their right to become astronauts. Textured with strong scientific research and achingly real characters, The Calculating Stars is a lively time machine to an alternate past.

Redshirts, by John Scalzi

Not all science fiction has to be serious. John Scalzi sets this metafictional satire on the starship Intrepid , where low-ranking crew members reach a grim realization: On the ship’s frequent away missions, it’s always the ensigns who die a cheap, gruesome death. If that sounds like a riff on Star Trek ’s ill-fated “redshirts,” that’s because it is: These ensigns are the expendables of their own third-rate Star Trek rip-off, doomed to become cannon fodder. “Sooner or later, the Narrative will come for each of us,” one muses. Like a sci-fi comedy crossed with The Truman Show , Redshirts follows the ensigns’ efforts to transcend their own narrative. “You’re making bad science fiction, and we have to live in it,” one complains. Snappy and surprising, Redshirts takes a comic premise and elevates it into a clever meditation on fiction and free will.

Beautyland, by Marie-Helene Bertino

In 1977, Adina Giorno is born to a single mother in Philadelphia. Then, at age four, she’s “activated” by her extraterrestrial superiors 300,000 light years away on the dying planet Cricket Rice, who task her with reporting back about how humans think and behave. Through a fantastical fax machine in her bedroom, Adina transmits astute and often hilarious observations about the confounding behavior of earthlings (for instance: “Human beings don’t like when other humans seem happy”). Meanwhile, she experiences the bittersweetness of growing up; ostracized by the popular clique and mocked for her dark skin, she learns how sometimes, being human means feeling alien. Warm, witty, and touching, Beautyland is a modern classic in the making—an out-of-this-world exploration of loneliness and belonging.

The Ten Percent Thief, by Lavanya Lakshminarayan

This recent debut earned its place on our list for two reasons: its innovative mosaic structure and its nightmarish satire of life under algorithmic rule. In the technocapitalist hellscape of Apex City (formerly known as Bangalore), citizens live in thrall to the odious Bell Corp and its Bell Curve: a modern-day caste system determined by productivity and social media virality. The elite Twenty Percent enjoy luxurious privileges, while the middling Seventy Percent lead workaday lives and the precarious Ten Percent risk becoming Analogs, forced to live a dehumanizing existence without electricity or running water. But when the elusive “Ten Percent Thief” steals from the Twenty Percent to give to the Analogs, like a cyberpunk Robin Hood, a revolution brews. Told through various perspectives all across Apex City, this biting satire considers how we live now—our unfettered capitalism, our “hustle and grind” culture, our obsession with “correct” opinions—and shows it to us through a dystopian kaleidoscope, hideous and true.

Midnight Robber, by Nalo Hopkinson

When we head for the stars, we take culture with us—and Midnight Robber exemplifies how sci-fi writers can build the world we know into the worlds we imagine. On the technologically advanced planet Toussaint, descendants of Caribbean immigrants live under the watchful supervision of Granny Nanny, an all-seeing AI who guides the fate of humanity. When young Tan-Tan is spirited to a planet of exiles by her abusive father, she escapes his clutches and finds refuge among the douen, an alien race inspired by Afro-Caribbean folklore. To survive on this new planet, Tan-Tan becomes the stuff of myth herself: the Robber Queen, a Carnival legend who steals from the rich and gives to the poor. Told with magic and music in a unique patois, this bildungsroman reads as much like a futuristic folk tale as it does sci-fi.

Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson

Long before Facebook’s Metaverse, Neal Stephenson coined the term in this cyberpunk acid trip of a novel. Snow Crash ’s Hiro Protagonist lives a double life: In reality, he delivers pizzas for the Mafia, but in the Metaverse, he’s a hacker and a warrior prince. When he learns about a lethal virus picking off hackers one by one, his race to find its dastardly architect sends him pinballing through everything from technological conspiracy to ancient Sumerian mythology. It’s sexy, action-packed, and downright prophetic in its vision of our virtual future; you’ll want to strap in tight for this dizzying techno-thriller.

Star Maker, by Olaf Stapledon

Some of the best science fiction makes us ask, “What the hell did I just read?” Star Maker is one of those books—an enormously ambitious history of the universe, told by an Englishman who floats into the cosmos one evening while contemplating its vastness. Disembodied and imbued with godlike powers, he speeds through extraordinary galaxies in search of intelligent life, encountering several exotic alien civilizations along the journey. It all culminates in an encounter with the Star Maker himself, which unspools like a brain-bending creation myth. This eschatological acid trip is a singular work of imagination—one that will leave you with more questions than answers.

Contact, by Carl Sagan

The great Carl Sagan wrote dozens of works of nonfiction but just one novel: Contact , a 1985 bestseller that later became a Jodie Foster flick. Sagan’s preoccupations with intelligent life come into view through Dr. Ellie Arroway, a principled astronomer who detects and decrypts a deep-space transmission from a planetary system far, far away. At the transmission’s urging, the nations of the world race to build a mysterious machine, but faith leaders call the enterprise (and the rationality of science) into question. Through this thoughtful, layered story, Sagan plumbs the often antagonistic relationship between science and religion, asking if perhaps both are seeking contact in different forms. After all, disciples from each camp can agree on one thing: “The universe is a pretty big place. If it's just us, seems like an awful waste of space.”

Under the Skin, by Michel Faber

Haunting and dread-filled, Under the Skin blends horror with sci-fi to create something unforgettably disturbing. In the Scottish Highlands, a strange-looking drifter named Isserley cruises the highways picking up hunky hitchhikers, who often vanish into thin air after entering her beat-up vehicle. Through her taut conversations with her passengers, Isserley teases out clues about their lives, wondering who might miss them if they disappear. To say too much about Isserley and her agenda is to spoil the book’s mysteries, but through this character, Michel Faber toys with sci-fi’s fundamental questions, like: What makes us human? Beneath our different appearances, are we all the same? Under the Skin reminds us that not every sci-fi novel needs to be a treatise on interstellar travel; in fact, this one lingers because of its masterful friction between the quotidian and the strange.

Way Station, by Clifford D. Simak

In the backwoods of Wisconsin, there lives a hermit named Enoch Wallace. Though Enoch is 124 years old, he doesn’t look a day over 30—that’s because Enoch is a caretaker, and for over a century, he’s been running a rest stop for intergalactic travelers inside his rickety Civil War-era farmhouse. Enoch’s neighbors look the other way, but when the government catches wind of a strange man who never ages living in a house that no human can enter, their investigators come knocking, with disastrous consequences. Clifford D. Simak was a fine practitioner of what’s now called “pastoral science fiction”—think of it as classic sci-fi set in the countryside, inflected with that familiar Bradbury-esque Midwestern sentimentalism. The subgenre has fallen into disuse, but if you ever find yourself longing to be transported to a cornfield at dusk, looking up at the stars and wondering what’s out there, let Simak be your guide. Warm, wise, and bittersweet, Way Station is his masterpiece.

Sea of Rust, by C. Robert Cargill

“Robot western,” you say? Say no more! In C. Robert Cargill’s speculative future, machines have proven victorious in the much-feared war between man and machine; now humans have been extinct for over three decades, and two supercomputers (called One World Intelligences) are vying to become king of the ruins. Enter Brittle, a former caregiver robot now scavenging to survive in the barren Sea of Rust (formerly the Rust Belt). When an OWI launches a scheme to assimilate millions of robots into the mainframe, Brittle and a merry band of gunslingers travel through the robot underground to defend their individuality. On its surface, Sea of Rust is a rip-roaring shoot’em-up, but underneath, it’s an Asimovian meditation on sci-fi’s most enduring questions. Is an artificial life still a life? Are human creations doomed to repeat human mistakes? Cargill is a fine standard-bearer for the next frontier of this time-honored subgenre.

What Mad Universe, by Fredric Brown

Published in 1949 during the waning glory of science fiction’s golden age, What Mad Universe is a dazzling high-wire performance—at once a cheeky satire of classic pulp magazines and an excellent pulp tale in its own right. In a near-future setting, pulp magazine editor Keith Winton is transported to a parallel universe through a freak rocket launch accident. This alternate reality looks just like home, but with some key differences: Here, everything from Keith’s magazines is a fact of daily life, from interstellar travel to war with extraterrestrials. Soon enough, Keith becomes a fugitive on the run in New York City, desperate to get back to his own timeline. What Mad Universe is packed with daffy, self-referential details for the devoted sci-fi reader; for instance, in Fredric Brown’s alternate universe, H.G. Wells never wrote a novel about a Martian invasion of Earth, but rather a political manifesto condemning the human colonization of Mars. Campy and comical, this novel is both an homage and a send-up, not to be missed.

The Book of Phoenix, by Nnedi Okorafor

Science fiction and magical realism collide in this imaginative prequel to Nnedi Okorafor’s World Fantasy Award-winning Who Fears Death . Here we meet Phoenix, an “accelerated woman” grown in New York’s Tower 7. Though she’s only two years old, she has the mind and body of a middle-aged adult, along with superhuman abilities. Phoenix suffers a painful awakening when her lover takes his life under dubious circumstances, proving that Tower 7 is less of a home and more of a prison. Her daring escape leads her to Ghana, where she learns brutal truths about colonialism and vows to fight back against her oppressors. Blistering with love and rage, Phoenix’s fight for justice is downright electrifying.

Semiosis, by Sue Burke

In this outstanding debut, Sue Burke blitzes beloved genre tropes (like colony ships and first contact) into a character-driven story about manifest destiny gone galactic. In the 2060s, a group of humans flee their ravaged Earth; 158 years later, they settle on a lush planet and christen it Pax (Latin for “peace”). But the settlers won’t find any peace here, because Pax’s abundant native plants are sentient, and they aren’t keen on sharing their world. Narrated by successive generations of colonists (and even the plants themselves, who think of the human settlers as “their” animals), Semiosis charts the turf war between these two factions. Sometimes that war is downright lethal, while other times it’s a nuanced struggle for two cultures to communicate without a shared language. In this magnificently alien world, Burke tells a powerful story about the dangerous hubris of colonialism.

Excession, by Iain M. Banks

Banks’ The Culture series, spanning ten installments published over 25 years, centers on the titular Culture, a post-scarcity intergalactic empire dominated by the Minds, a cabal of (mostly) harmless artificial intelligences. In this futuristic landscape of “space socialism,” as the author calls it, each volume centers on an agent of the Culture tasked with influencing specific change. Through this diversity of protagonists, Iain M. Banks assesses his ambiguous utopia from ever-changing perspectives. Our favorite volume is Excession , the most cerebral of the lot—and one that speaks to us all the more powerfully in the age of AI. When a black sphere 50 times older than the universe appears in remote space, the all-knowing Minds are stumped. For the first time ever, they’ve encountered what Banks calls “the Outside Context Problem”—a dilemma they lack the frame of reference to solve. Following the Minds as they deliberate and disagree about the sphere, Excession stands out in its series (and in the sci-fi canon) for its high-minded characterization of AI.

The Claw of the Conciliator, by Gene Wolfe

Revered as “the Melville of science fiction” by Ursula K. Le Guin, Gene Wolfe wrote dense and heady books that aren’t for the faint of heart. But for serious sci-fi readers, there are immense rewards to penetrating Wolfe’s baroque prose and visionary imagination. His best-known work is The Book of the New Sun , a dazzling tetralogy about Severian, a torturer exiled for showing mercy to a prisoner. Our favorite volume is The Claw of the Conciliator , the second installment in the series, wherein Severian heads to the city of his exile, only to be waylaid along the journey by love, fantastical creatures, and a mysterious artifact with ancient powers. Erudite and intricate, this series is a colossus of imagination and language—a must-read for any serious student of the genre.

Lord of Light, by Roger Zelazny

As a key architect of science fiction’s New Wave (a 1960s and 1970s movement for the genre to become more experimental), Roger Zelazny wrote boundary-breaking books that pushed the field in a new direction. His best novel, Lord of Light , fuses heady concepts from religion and philosophy with the familiar trappings of sci-fi. On a colony planet, crew members from the original expedition (the Firsts) have biohacked themselves into immortality through reincarnation; meanwhile, their descendants worship them as Hindu gods, eager for their own chance at another lifetime. The Firsts achieve reincarnation through a technology that transfers minds between bodies, but they keep a tight grip on the process, subjecting the population to mind scans to determine worthy subjects. Sam, a young commoner who embraces Buddhism over Hinduism, plans to seize the tech (à la Prometheus stealing fire from the gods), deliver it to the people, and usher in a new era of enlightenment. Epic in scope and richly imagined, Lord of Light is a pivotal example of sci-fi’s ability to fold multiple disciplines into one story.

This Is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Structured as a poetic correspondence between two time-traveling spies, this forbidden romance puts the “distance” in “long-distance relationship.” As Agents Red and Blue hopscotch through the multiverse, altering history on behalf of their respective military superpowers, they leave behind secret messages for one another—first taunting, then flirtatious, then flowering with love and devotion. “There’s a kind of time travel in letters, isn’t there?” Blue muses. “Letters are structures, not events,” Red replies. “Yours give me a place to live inside.” Amid the dangerous chaos of their circumstances, Red and Blue find constants in one another. Playful and imaginative, told with lyrical grace, this is a dazzling puzzle box of a novella.

The Resisters, by Gish Jen

Welcome to AutoAmerica, where AIs have put many people out of work, the privileged Netted live on high ground, and the rest of the population, known as Surplus, live in swamplands wracked by consumerism. Teenage Gwen plays baseball with fellow members of the Surplus in an underground league, but when the government takes notice of her talents, she’s shipped off to the Olympics in ChinRussia, playing in dangerous territory alongside the Netted. Like Brave New World before it, The Resisters explores our consent in our own subjugation. “No one would have chosen the extinction of frogs and of polar bears… and yet it was something we humans did finally choose,” Gish Jen writes. In this funny and tender novel, she makes the impossible look easy, grafting a heartfelt story about family onto big questions about freedom and resistance.

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Best sci-fi books: modern masterpieces & all-time classics

Here’s a scintillating selection of the best sci-fi books, with modern hits and sci-fi classics for you to enjoy.

• New sci-fi books
• Modern sci-fi books
• Classic sci-fi books

Explore the unknown from the comfort of your home, with the best sci-fi books of all time.

As we drift ever further into a fresh new year, it’s only natural for curious minds to hunger for something far-out and exotic and science fiction literature is the answer. It’s the perfect accompaniment to the occasion, whether it’s finding the perfect transportive book or discovering a rare gem to cozy up with during these cold, dark days.

Sci-fi comes in a wealth of varieties and flavors, and that’s what makes the genre so enticing for readers of all persuasions, from gung-ho military sci-fi, dire dystopian sagas, and revealing concept art editions, to old-fashioned space operas and terrifying extraterrestrial encounters.

If you're interested in checking out more of the science that inspires some of these amazing sci-fi tales, then check out our best space and astronomy books guide.

To cover more ground, we've split our guide into three categories: newly released sci-fi books (within the last year), modern sci-fi books, and classic sci-fi books. Now, sit back and enjoy our collection of the best sci-fi books out there.

Best new sci-fi books

1. the simulated multiverse.

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• Author: Rizwan Virk
• Publisher: Bayview Books (2021)

MIT computer scientist, Silicon Valley video game guru, and bestselling author Rizwan Virk (“The Simulation Hypothesis”) explores the wild notion of a complex multiverse that has generated legions of believers over the past decade. 

Here Virk offers up mind-scrambling dissections of provocative topics like parallel universes, infinite timelines, quantum computing, alternate simulated realities, contorted definitions of space and time, and the Mandela Effect (a phenomenon in which the minority of the population recalls memories of past events different from the consensus). Think “The Man in the High Castle” high on both the blue and red pill from “ The Matrix .” It’s a fascinating explanation of our world that might shake the foundations of your digital reality, but does so in a totally digestible style.

2. The Art of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge

• Author: Amy Ratcliffe
• Publisher: Abrams (2021)

This isn’t nearly as exciting as an actual trip to Disneyland Resort or Walt Disney World, but it costs far less and offers a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the theme parks’ newest Star Wars lands. Written by pop culture expert and theme park aficionado, Amy Ratcliffe, this deluxe 256-page coffee table book displays the incredible portfolio of pre-visualization art that inspired the creation of the fictional world of Galaxy’s Edge and its bustling Black Spire Outpost on the Outer Rim planet of Batuu. 

“We looked back on work that happened over five years ago in some cases, but everyone recalled their thought processes and their excitement about working in the Star Wars galaxy,” Ratcliffe told Space.com. “I think readers will not only get an idea of the immense amount of work that went into developing such an ambitious land, but they’ll also see how much care and thoughtfulness went into it.” 

Walt Disney Imagineering’s trademark creative method comes alive using a constellation of vivid concept artworks, sketches, attraction blueprints, photos, and exclusive interviews with the talented team of Imagineers who helped construct the illusion of a life-size Star Wars trading destination.

• Buy “The Art of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge” now on Amazon

3. Providence

• Author: Max Berry
• Publisher: G. P. Putnam’s Sons (2020)

Quietly released during the height of the global pandemic panic, Max Barry’s (“Lexicon”) novel deserves a spot on our list as it’s one of the best sci-fi novels of the decade. It spins a compelling yarn about a weird race of hive-like, amorphous aliens that spit miniature black holes as defensive weapons and the AI-driven battleship called the Providence Five and its small four-person crew sent to deep space to annihilate them. 

Seven years after a tragic first contact event that left several astronauts dead, this hyper-aware spaceship gradually travels inside enemy territory where it becomes paranoid ala HAL-9000 in “2001: A Space Odyssey,” resulting in some frightening encounters transmitted back to Earth to a captivated global audience. Fans of The Expanse will devour this book before another plasma round explodes!

• Buy “Providence” now on Amazon

4. Leviathan Falls

• Author:  James S. A. Corey
• Publisher: Orbit (2021)

As wise minds once said, all good things must end, and so it is with the best-selling series of military sci-fi novels “The Expanse”. On Nov. 30, the ninth and final book of Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham’s (writing as James S. A. Corey) immensely popular saga landed on Earth. The book dropped just before the sixth and last season of Amazon Prime’s “The Expanse” TV series began airing in December (psst... if you like this TV show, you might like some other of the best sci-fi TV shows based on books ). Following 2019’s “Tiamat’s Wrath,” this climactic volume picks up after the Laconian Empire falls and 1,300 systems are free of the tyrannical rule of Winston Duarte.

In this intense grand finale, Elvi Okoye commands a last-ditch quest to the Adro system to learn more about the enigmatic alien presence known as the gate builders and what long-lost nemesis ended their cosmic construction projects. Back aboard the Rocinante, Captain James Holden and his intrepid colleagues attempt to peaceably reunite Mankind out of the innumerable calamities that have come before.

“We’re going to pay off the promises we’ve been making in the first eight books and complete the story,” Abraham told Space.com. “That’s all we can really promise. And it is the last one. We’re not leaving it open for sequels and prequels and side stories. We wanted to tell one complete story and have a satisfying finish and hopefully that’s what we’re delivering.”

• Buy “Leviathan Falls” now on Amazon

5. Shards of Earth

• Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky 

Adrian Tchaikovsky is the Arthur C. Clarke award-winning author of “Children of Time” and if you’ve never read his tight, rhythmic prose, you’re in for a real treat.

The storyline is set in the aftermath of an 80-year war against angry aliens called the Architects. Idris Telemmier is a genetically-modified soldier once used as a telepathic weapon in the decades-long battle. With the inability to grow older or sleep since the conflict ceased, Idris now exists aboard a salvage spaceship named Vulture God. Humans created these intimidating soldiers who could connect mentally with the enemy when the Earth died.

A half-century later, Idris and his team have happened upon some discarded object that’s clearly of the Architects’ design. Does this signal the aggressive race’s resurgence in this part of the galaxy? Chased by criminals, fanatics, and politicians while custodians of a rare alien item, Idris zooms through the heavens trying to evade his pursuers while seeking the ultimate truth.

• Buy “Shards of Earth” now on Amazon

6. At the Mountains of Madness: Volumes 1 and 2

• Author: H. P. Lovecraft
• Illustrator: François Baranger
• Publisher: Design Studio Press (2020/21)

Fans of H. P. Lovecraft’s unforgettable sci-fi horror novella will savor this impressive oversized hardback adaptation showcasing the absorbing art of French illustrator François Baranger. The recounting of a doomed Miskatonic University expedition to sub-zero Antarctica where specimens of an ancient alien species are discovered in a crumbling stone city is now accompanied by frozen landscapes of otherworldly dread.

Baranger is well known for his work as an internationally-recognized concept designer for popular movies and video games, and here he’s achieved the difficult task of reimagining one of Lovecraft’s most terrifying tales into pure nightmare material. Volume 2 was just released on December 22 to complete the set!

• Buy “At the Mountains of Madness: Volume 1” now on Amazon
• Buy “At the Mountains of Madness: Volume 2” now on Amazon

7. Frank Herbert’s Dune: The Graphic Novel, Book 1

• Author: Frank Herbert
• Adapted by: Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
• Illustrators: Bill Sienkiewicz (cover), Raúl Allén, and Patricia Martín
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (2020)

With the success of director Denis Villeneuve’s epic rendition of the seminal 1965 sci-fi novel last year, you might want to check out this stunning graphic novel rendition adapted by Herbert’s son, Brian Herbert, and collaborator Kevin J. Anderson. This pair of writers has vastly expanded the scale and scope of the original “Dune” with over a dozen prequel and sequel novels over the last 22 years. This is the first time the masterwork has been offered in a premium illustrated format (the debut release of a trilogy), now richly adorned with artwork by artists Raúl Allén and Patricia Martín, and an epic cover by Eisner Award-winning illustrator Bill Sienkiewicz. 

“His vast library did not include very many comics or graphic novels, but in his newspaper career he was not only a feature writer but also a professional photographer,” Herbert told Space.com , speaking about his father’s cinematic eye. “He used to tell me that he wrote scenes in his novels – and especially in “Dune” – with a camera in mind, as if he were looking at each scene through the lens of a camera.”

• Buy “Frank Herbert’s Dune: The Graphic Novel, Book 1” now on Amazon

8. The Empire Strikes Back: From a Certain Point of View

• Authors and artists: Tom Angleberger, Sarwat Chadda, S. A. Chakraborty, Mike Chen, Adam Christopher, Katie Cook, Zoraida Córdova, Delilah S. Dawson, Tracy Deonn, Seth Dickinson, Alexander Freed, Jason Fry, Hank Green, Christie Golden, Rob Hart, Lydia Kang, Michael Kogge, R. F. Kuang, C. B. Lee, Mackenzi Lee, John Jackson Miller, Michael Moreci, Daniel José Older, Mark Oshiro, Amy Ratcliffe, Beth Revis, Lilliam Rivera, Cavan Scott, Emily Skrutskie, Karen Strong, Anne Toole, Catherynne M. Valente, Austin Walker, Martha Wells, Django Wexler, Kiersten White, Gary Whitta, Brittany N. Williams, Charles Yu, and Jim Zub
• Publisher: Del Rey (2020)

To help celebrate the 40th anniversary of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Del Rey released a stout, 576-page hardcover stuffed with 40 short stories featuring unsung supporting Star Wars heroes, villains, droids, and aliens from the 1980 film. Ever wondered what it’s like caring for tauntauns on the icy world of Hoth? Or about the goings on in the dark depths of Cloud City? Well, now you can find out!

This entertaining anthology showcases contributions by bestselling authors and well-known artists like Austin Walker, Hank Green, Tracy Deonn, Delilah Dawson, Alexander Freed, John Jackson Miller, Anne Toole, and many more. Participating writers generously donated compensations for their tales and proceeds will be given to First Book, a nonprofit providing learning materials to educators and organizations serving kids in need.

• Buy “The Empire Strikes Back: From a Certain Point of View” now on Amazon

9. Star Trek: The Artistry of Dan Curry

• Authors: Dan Curry and Ben Robinson
• Publisher: Titan Books (2020)

For Star Trek junkies and tech-heads wanting to delve deep into the sensational special effects and worldbuilding of the Star Trek franchise, there’s no bolder release than this lavish volume written by seven-time Emmy Award-winning visual effects supervisor and director, Dan Curry. For three decades, Curry has contributed concept art, title sequences, matte paintings, spaceship design, and practical weapons to numerous series and spin offs including The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise. Written by Curry and Ben Robinson, this is a 204-page treasure packed with rare sketches, concept art, behind-the-scenes stills, and never-seen storyboards celebrating the accomplishments of one of Star Trek’s most acclaimed artisans.

“The illusions that created the universe of Star Trek were the result of many gifted and dedicated artists,” Curry told Space.com. “There was no single hero of its visual effects. I was very fortunate to design and create a lot of things that became part of the Star Trek franchise. I feel it was a decent legacy to leave behind when I ultimately move into the non-biological phase of existence.”

• Buy “Star Trek: The Artistry of Dan Curry” now on Amazon

10. The Last Watch

• Authors: J. S. Dewes
• Publisher: Tor Books (2021)

Here’s a rousing space adventure by author J. S. Dewes that chronicles the vigilant crew of the Argus as they perform guard duty against an extraterrestrial threat at the far limits of the universe. This impressive series debut is part of a two-book project called “The Divide” and boasts a motley collection of soldiers led by commander Adequin Rake, who endeavors to protect her crew and humanity from a collapsing cosmic anomaly.

It’s basically “The Expanse” meets “The Dirty Dozen” where a rag-tag group of Sentinels must pull together to save themselves and ensure a viable future. An excellent example of military sci-fi pumped up with pathos, memorable characters, and a relentless juggernaut of a plot. Its sequel, “The Exiled Fleet,” arrived this past August so you won’t have to wait for the follow up!

• Buy “The Last Watch” (The Divide Series, 1) now on Amazon
• Buy “The Exiled Fleet” (The Divide Series, 2) now on Amazon

Best modern sci-fi books

• Authors: Daniel Suarez
• Publisher: Dutton (2019)

In "Delta-v," an unpredictable billionaire recruits an adventurous cave diver to join the first-ever effort to mine an asteroid. The crew's target is asteroid Ryugu, which in real life Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft has been exploring since June 2018. 

From the use of actual trajectories in space and scientific accuracy, to the title itself, Delta-v — the engineering term for exactly how much energy is expended performing a maneuver or reaching a target — Suarez pulls true-to-life details into describing the exciting and perilous mission. The reward for successful asteroid mining is incredible, but the cost could be devastating.

2. The Lady Astronaut series - The Calculating Stars/The Fated Sky/The Relentless Moon 

• Author: Mary Robinette Kowal
• Publisher: Tor Books (2018-2020)

What if space exploration wasn't a choice but a necessity, driven by the knowledge that Earth would soon become uninhabitable and powered by international coalitions built after a catastrophic meteorite impact? That's the alternative history novelist Mary Robinette Kowal explores in her Lady Astronaut series. 

The books follow mathematician and World War II pilot Elma York, who dreams of becoming an astronaut herself. Kowal intricately melds real history with her fictional plot to create a series that is simultaneously hopeful and pragmatic. The Lady Astronaut offers a powerful vision of how spaceflight could be a positive force in society.

3. Red Moon

• Author: Kim Stanley Robinson
• Publisher: Orbit (2018)

Red Moon, the latest novel from legendary science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson, blends realism and drama in a way that instantly transports the reader to the lunar surface. The book, which takes place 30 years into the future, opens on the journeys of Fred Fredericks, an American quantum engineer working for a Swiss company, and Ta Shu, a poet, feng shui expert and celebrity travel reporter to the moon where they are traveling to work. In the world of the book, China has become the first political and technological entity to inhabit the moon in a serious, long-term way.

At first, as a reader, you may find yourself adjusting to the character's clumsy movements in lunar gravity and anticipating what life on the moon might really be like, but the story takes a shocking turn and life on the moon turns out to be much different from what you may have expected. "Red Moon" does an incredible job immersing the reader in a captivating alien, yet still familiar, world while at the same time staying grounded in a reality that we could truly one day face.

4. Before Mars

• Author: Emma Newman
• Publisher: Ace (2018)

Emma Newman's latest book set in her "Planetfall" universe, "Before Mars," sees a geologist arriving at a small Mars base after a lengthy journey only to realize that things aren't as they seem. The base's AI is untrustworthy, the psychologist seems sinister, and the main characters finds a note to herself she has no memory of writing. In a world of perfectly immersive virtual reality, can she trust what she sees? Or did the long trip take a toll on her sanity? "Before Mars" takes place on an eerie, largely empty Mars after a giant corporation buys the rights to the planet.

It's a thrilling read but — like Newman's other "Planetfall" books — also a deep dive into the protagonist's psychology as she grapples with what she discovers on the Red Planet. "Before Mars" and the other books in the same universe (" Planetfall " and " After Atlas ") can be read in any order, but Space.com highly recommends giving them all a look.

• Author: Andy Weir
• Publisher: Crown (2017)

In " The Martian " (Crown, 2014) first-time author Andy Weir gave voice to the sardonic, resourceful botanist Mark Watney as he struggled for survival stranded on Mars. In his second novel, "Artemis," he follows Jazz Bashara, a porter (and smuggler) on the moon who's drawn into a crime caper. 

Weir brings a similar meticulous detail to his descriptions of the moon as the ultimate tourist destination as he did to Watney's misadventures on Mars, but his characterization of Jazz doesn't play to his writing strengths like Watney's log entries did. Still, "Artemis" is an entertaining romp through a really intriguing future moon base, with plenty of one-sixth-gravity action and memorable twists. It's well worth the read. Plus, there's an audiobook version  read by Rosario Dawson .

6. Provenance

• Author: Ann Leckie
• Publisher: Orbit (2017)

A young woman plots to find stolen artifacts in "Provenance," which takes place in the same universe as author Ann Leckie's award-winning  "Ancillary" trilogy  of books — but introduces readers to a new selection of future human cultures with a more straightforward and less high-concept adventure story. 

Don't let that fool you, though: The book's exploration of multiculture, multispecies conflict (with aliens called the Geck) works just as much intriguing worldbuilding into the mix as her previous books. Plus, there are mind-controlled robots, stolen alien ships and a society with three genders.

7. Leviathan Wakes - The Expanse series

• Author: James S.A. Corey
• Publisher: Orbit (2011)

200 years in the future, humanity has colonized the solar system and is split among three factions on the brink of conflict: Earth, Mars and the Asteroid Belt, which includes the spinning Ceres asteroid colony. As multiple viewpoint characters are ensnared in a system-wide mystery, the story's scope slowly broadens to reveal the full complexity of the novels' science fiction world. The books, co-written by Dan Abraham and Ty Franck, originally stemmed from a  tabletop roleplaying game idea , and it shows through the detailed worldbuilding and exploration of a solar system remade in humanity's image. Plus, it's a fun, tightly-plotted set of spacefaring adventure stories.

The series is slated for nine books, and they've appeared steadily one per year from 2011-2015 for a total of five so far (plus some tie-in novellas). They're also the basis for Syfy's TV show "The Expanse," recently renewed for a 13-episode second season. Book six, "Babylon's Ashes," is slated for release December 2016.

See  here  and  here  for Q&As with the series' authors describing the book's inception and the TV show's development (plus, the coolest sci-fi in the series).

• Publisher: Orbit (2015)

After numerous novels and short stories probing humanity's trials in the near future, far future and distant past, science fiction master Kim Stanley Robinson offers his own highly detailed spin on the challenge of interstellar travel in his new book "Aurora" (Orbit, 2015).

Humanity's first trip to another star is incredibly ambitious, impeccably planned and executed on a grand scale in "Aurora." The novel begins near the end of a 170-year mission aboard a spaceship carrying roughly 2,000 humans to the seemingly Earth-like moon of a planet orbiting a nearby star, Tau Ceti.

Told largely from the perspective of the ship's computer, "Aurora" emphasizes the fragile unity of all the living and nonliving parts aboard the starship as it hurtles through space. As the story of the landing unfolds, the narrative doesn't shy away from the science or the incredible complexity of a 2,000-person, multigenerational ship. The spacecraft is portrayed as one organism that can have conflicting interests or fall out of balance but that ultimately has to work in concert to reach its destination intact.

Best classic sci-fi books

1. the martian chronicles.

• Author: Ray Bradbury
• Publisher: Doubleday (1951)

In case you haven't heard of him, Ray Bradbury is an  icon of science fiction writing . In "The Martian Chronicles," Bradbury explores the gradual human settlement of the Red Planet, through a series of lightly connected stories. Bradbury paints the Martian landscape and its inhabitants with master strokes, but equally strong is his portrayal of the psychological dangers that await the human settlers who arrive there. 

This, as well as the space-themed stories in Bradbury's other classic collection "The Illustrated Man," struck a chord with me when I was young and dreamed about traveling to the stars. Reading his work today, it is amazing to see that although Bradbury writes from a time when human space travel hadn't yet begun (the book was first published in 1950), the issues and questions his stories raise are still relevant as humanity takes its first steps into that great frontier.

2. Ender's Game

• Author: Orson Scott Card
• Publisher: Tor Books (1985)

This classic science fiction novel by Orson Scott Card should be ever-present on any space fan's bookshelf. Card's novel follows the life of Ender Wiggin as he learns to fight the Formics, a horrifying alien race that almost killed off all humans when they attacked years and years ago. 

Wiggin learns the art of space war aboard a military space station built to help train young people to fight the cosmic invaders. Basically, this book is a coming-of-age tale that makes you want to fly to space and also forces you to think about some serious social issues presented in its pages. (The book is the first in a quintet, and inspired a much larger body of work that takes place in the same universe.)

3. The Martian

• Publisher: Random House (2014)

"The Martian," by Andy Weir, is a truly great science fiction book that's heavy on the science. Weir tells the story of Mark Watney, a fictional NASA astronaut stranded on Mars, and his difficult mission to save himself from potential doom in the harsh Red Planet environment. Watney seems to have everything against him, yet Weir deftly explains not only what Watney's survival needs are but also how he goes about trying to make them work. "The Martian" also was made into a movie, which was released in 2015. The film stars Matt Damon as Watney and is directed by space movie veteran Ridley Scott.

• Publisher: Chilton Books (1965)

In "Dune," Frank Herbert imagines a vast, intricate future universe ruled by an emperor who sets the Atreides and Harkonnen families warring over the desert planet Arrakis, also known as Dune. The arid world holds the only source of the spice mélange, necessary for space travel. Spread across star systems, "Dune" teems with wild characters: human computers (Mentats), tribal fighters (Fremen), mind-controlling "witches" (Bene Gesserit Sisterhood) and humans ranging from the corrupt Baron Harkonnen to Paul "Muad'Dib" Atreides, whose journey from a sheltered childhood anchors the story. 

Early on, the Baron says, "Observe the plans within plans within plans," summing up the adversaries' wary analyses of each faction's complex motivations. This cerebral second-guessing balances with epic action throughout the book, centering on the perhaps best-known feature of the Duniverse: the monstrous spice-producing sandworms. The best-selling novel raised science fiction literature to greater sophistication by including themes of technology, science, politics, religion and ecology, although the burgeoning Dune franchise remains less popular than Star Wars (which borrowed heavily from "Dune").

5. Hyperion - Hyperion Cantos Series

• Author: Dan Simmons
• Publisher: Doubleday (1989)

Part space epic, part "Canterbury Tales," "Hyperion" tells the story of seven pilgrims who travel across the universe to meet their fate, and the unspeakably evil Shrike, who guards the Time Tombs on the planet Hyperion. 

On the way, each pilgrim tells his or her own tale, and each world is so exquisitely created that it's hard to believe it all came from the mind of one author. The tale of the scholar whose daughter ages backward after her visit to the Tombs, and his quest to save her as she returns to childhood, is my favorite — it's heartbreaking and terrifying at the same time.

• Author: Frederik Pohl
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press (1977)

"Gateway" is the first science fiction book I ever read, because my father, a longtime sci-fi junkie, had loved it. It's an intense read that explores why we make the choices we do, and how we deal with the consequences of those choices in the black vacuum of space. In "Gateway," those with the money to leave the dying Earth can hitch a ride on a starship that will either make them wealthy beyond their wildest dreams or lead them to a grim and possibly violent death. Or, like our hero, you could wind up in the grip of a massive black hole and have to make difficult decisions that lead you to the couch of an electronic shrink.

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Jeff Spry is an award-winning screenwriter and veteran freelance journalist covering TV, movies, video games, books, and comics. His work has appeared at SYFY Wire, Inverse, Collider, Bleeding Cool and elsewhere. Jeff lives in beautiful Bend, Oregon amid the ponderosa pines, classic muscle cars, a crypt of collector horror comics, and two loyal English Setters.

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The Best Websites to Read Free (and Good) Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror

BY John DeNardo • Feb. 21, 2017

In this day and age, it's no surprise that the Internet has many outlets for finding your next great read. The trick is in finding the good ones. If you like speculative fiction – that is, science fiction, fantasy, and horror – I've got good news. I've rounded up some of the best destinations for finding your next great read online. The best part: all of them offer stories that are absolutely free.

However, rather than adopt a "read and run" strategy, might I recommend an approach that will reward you as a reader again and again? Keep coming back to these venues. Consider them ongoing sources for terrific fiction, not just for their archives, but also for the new stuff they continue to publish. You get the benefit of being introduced to new authors and expanding your reading horizons…which leads to many more existing stories for you to enjoy.  And hey, most of these outlets are magazines which also offer eBook subscriptions, so do consider supporting them so that they can keep delivering the goods.

Apex Magazine

Apex is a monthly 'zine that describes itself as "an online prose and poetry magazine of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and mash-ups of all three". Each month, readers can expect a wide variety of fantastic fiction that spans the entire speculative fiction spectrum, as well as insightful articles and interviews. They also offer a podcast version of one of their stories every month. Apex features are made available online throughout every month.

Beneath Ceaseless Skies

Beneath Ceaseless Skies is a bi-weekly short fiction magazine that has received multiple Hugo Award nominations for Best Semiprozine. Each issue comes with a handful of stories, both written and published as audio fiction.

Clarkesworld Magazine

Clarkesworld has been providing top-notch fiction and non-fiction for over 10 years. Each month, Editor Neil Clarke delivers a professional bucket-o'-fun for sff readers. Besides the half dozen or so new stories, they also offer an always-excellent reprint story (like Aliette de Bodard's terrific " The Shipmaker "), interesting non-fiction articles, and an audio version of one of their stories. Also worth noting are their spectacular choices for each issue's cover art.

Daily Science Fiction

Do you have a short attention span? Let me introduce you to Daily Science Fiction . The idea behind the site is simple. One new short science fiction story every weekday of the year. Most of the stories are short-short fiction, about the size of something you can consume over your coffee break. Don't want to miss a story? Subscribe to their mailing list for a daily dose of sf in your inbox every weekday.

The Dark Magazine

If you like much darker fiction (who doesn't?), then The Dark is where you want to go for your short fiction fix. The Dark specializes in horror and dark fantasy fiction, which means that the stories are often as unsettling and creepy as you'd expect them to be. The Dark also offers audio fiction stories as well as written fiction.

Escape Pod is known for being an audio fiction venue, so if you're looking for something to keep you company on your ride into work, they got you covered. Look for new audio stories weekly. They also offer written versions of their fiction, too.

Fireside Magazine

Fireside Magazine , which began as an ambitious Kickstarter project five years ago, is a short story magazine offering a wide range of wonderful fiction. The most recent addition to their mission is to publish stories about resisting the global rise of fascism. 

Galaxy's Edge Magazine

Galaxy's Edge , edited by multi-award-winner Mike Resnick, is a monthly magazine that, in addition to offering many fun and mind-expanding fiction stories, also offers interesting interviews (like this one with Robert Silverberg ) and articles (including regular columns by science fiction legends Barry N. Malzberg and Gregory Benford). Only some of the content is available online, but the small price of admission to the entire magazine is well worth it.

Kaleidotrope

Kaleidotrope is a seasonal magazine that publishes fiction and poetry. From the magazine's initial launch over 10 years  ago, they've set themselves apart from the rest of the fiction mags by providing something "a little different." This is a place where you will find the future stars of sff. 

Lightspeed Magazine

Under the editorial leadership of John Joseph Adams, Lightspeed quickly established itself as one of the premiere short fiction venues in modern publishing. Each month's issue is stuffed with superb science fiction and fantasy stories by some of the biggest names in genre. Once those run out, you still get worthwhile non-fiction articles, interviews, and reviews.  And, oh, that cover art! Every month knocks my socks off.

Nightmare Magazine

Nightmare , also edited by John Joseph Adams, is the sister magazine to Lightspeed . What Lightspeed does for science fiction and fantasy, Nightmare does for horror.  You get the same high quality of stories, articles and art so if you're looking for something darker, this should definitely be on your monthly click list.

Podcastle is a weekly fantasy fiction podcast that features all sub-genres of fantasy fiction. Some stories are original, some are reprint, but all are worth listening to. Good news if you prefer the written word: Podcastle also provides the full text of most of their stories. 

Shimmer Magazine

The goal of Shimmer Magazine is to publish excellent speculative across all lines of race, income, nationality, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, geography, and culture by writers who are equally diverse. That may mean you are reading outside your comfort zone, but the rewards are endless in terms of expanding your reading horizons and gaining a more encompassing worldview.

StarShipSofa

“StarShipSofa” is a weekly audio science fiction magazine that offers listeners lots to chew on.  In addition to an audio science fiction story every episode, there are fun discussions and interviews. Once you've exhausted their archives (Good luck – there are more than 465 episodes already released), seek out their sister sites Tales to Terrify (for horror) and Far Fetched Fables (for weird fiction).

Strange Horizons

Strange Horizons is a weekly award-winning magazine that offers fiction (written and audio), non-fiction, poetry, reviews, essays, interviews, roundtable discussions, and art. Their fiction archives are a treasure trove of mind-bending stories that will keep you busy for a long, long time. When you come up for air, check out their amazing articles.

One of the few major speculative publishers to offer free fiction online is Tor.com.  They offer some of the best online fiction around, including many works that go on to become award-winning or award-nominated.  Recent fiction from Tor.com has included " The Old Dispensation " by Lavie Tidhar, a space opera adventure about an enforcer who learns a thing or two from an android and which is set in a universe controlled and run by Jewish religious authorities; the horror story " A Human Stain " by Kelly Robson, which depicts a British expatriate at loose ends who is hired to care for a young orphan in a remote castle-like structure in Germany; Carrie Vaughn's " The Thing About Growing up in Jokertown ", a story set in the Wild Cards shared universe, full of superheroes , supervillains and lots of exciting action; and " Caligo Lane " by Ellen Klages, about a cartographer who creates maps that, when folded in the right way, can fold space.

Uncanny Magazine

The Hugo Award-winning Uncanny Magazine delivers top-notch science fiction fantasy fiction in the form of short fiction and poetry from a wide spectrum of authors. Their mission is to push the boundaries of the field, so expect to find stories here that break the mold. Their insightful non-fiction content is also worth checking out. 

John DeNardo is the founding editor of  SF Signal , a Hugo Award-winning science fiction and fantasy blog featuring news, reviews and interviews. You can follow him on Twitter as @sfsignal . 

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Reviews :: Book Genre :: Science Fiction

This archive contains links to all of the Science Fiction Book Reviews we've written over the years. Everything from light stuff like Star Wars to the heavy duty hitters like Reynolds. If you've come here looking for something in that realm, you're in luck! We just happen to have more than a few suggestions lying around the place waiting for your perusal.

If you're looking for something else, say a book in another genre or maybe just any book that we happened to think was awesome-sauce, browse around the site for a bit and check out our reviews.

Just don't forget to let us know what you thought of a book you've read or if there's a suggestion you have for something we'd like to read! We're always looking for some brilliant new escape into the worlds of science and the universe.

• The Far Reaches

It seems like my social media feeds have been getting slammed lately by ads for this new anthology of science fiction stories put together by Amazon. Almost seemed to double in frequency after I got them, oddly enough. Sometimes it just boggles my mind how much money must flow through the coffers of social media ads, and I can’t help but wonder how much of it goes to absolute waste. In this case, it got me to pick them up, but everything since then? Yeah.

You’ll notice that our image doesn’t match the name of the collection. Yup. Thank you e-book collections. So, instead I just included the cover for the best story in the group. Hint hint. Wink wink. Nudge nudge. Read the rest of this review »

If there are any core concepts more central to the genre of science fiction than mind-bending ideas, awe-inspiring vistas, and grand adventure, I don’t know what they are. In the relatively short time period since the fantasy genre has split from it, and stories written under its guise have taken us up and out into the cosmos, many authors have endeavored to fill the space with their version of the best kind of fiction. I may be biased, but in my view there is no better fiction than great science fiction. And Alastair Reynolds is writing some of the best science fiction there is. Read the rest of this review »

• Legionnaire

I’m always on the lookout for a great, quick read, and when I came across this one, I decided pretty quickly that it fit the bill. Read the rest of this review »

• The Heirs of Babylon

I haven’t read near enough Glen Cook.

I keep telling myself this, and yet my penchant for continuing to push his books down my TBR pile is, quite frankly, fairly embarrassing. I actually received this book quite some time ago, and only recently took the chance to read it. Mainly because it was short and I needed to get to something short. One of these days I’m going to figure out how to get ahead of the review game again, and have these things scheduled out. Until then, one foot in front of the other. Read the rest of this review »

Primordial Threat

This is one of those reads that I took on a whim. Prior to it, I hadn’t come across this author or any of his books. Taking a quick look at his back log, he’s put out quite a few, across a surprising number of genres. Found out after the read, that this book had been part of the first year of the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition, which I thought was pretty cool. Although, after seeing online how voraciously the author tackles the concepts of self-publication and marketing, it didn’t surprise me in the slightest that he would have been one of those to throw his hat into the ring that first year. In my opinion, he pushes the boundaries, in many respects, as to what can be accomplished as a self-published author. Smart dude for sure. Read the rest of this review »

The Book That Wouldn’t Burn

This book has an interesting title. Don’t you think? I must admit, it threw me for a bit of a loop the first time I saw it. Same for the series name. Didn’t quite know what to think after the initial announcement. Excitement for a new Mark Lawrence book? Well, yeah, of course. But what kind of book was this going to be? Any idea as to whether or not it would be connected to the rest of his books, as they all seem to be so far? It sure didn’t sound like it. But there was always the chance. And so, alas, not a book that I pre-ordered, but when I got the chance to get an eArc, I was in. Of course, I was. What kind of question is that? THE BOOK THAT WOULDN’T BURN is the first of a new projected trilogy from Mr. Mark Lawrence, one of our favorite authors here at EBR. Although, given this guy’s throughput, it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest to find out that he’d already penned (at the very least) the first draft of the last line of the series. Guy produces. Evar and Livira are two […] Read the rest of this review »

We’re long-standing proponents of the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off ( EBR Archive ) here at EBR. Even though we haven’t thrown our hat into the reviewer-ring in quite some time, we still believe in both the importance and efficacy of that contest, and have nothing but great things to say about it and those who continue to run it. Thankfully, there are those who believe that Science Fiction authors should also have those same kind of opportunities (Hugh Howey). Enter The Self-Published Science Fiction Competition ( SPSFC ).

This book happens to be the winner of the first year of that contest.

And also? It’s awesome. Read the rest of this review »

Empire of Silence

This is a book that I likely would not have picked up of my own accord. Instead, my reading of it came on the shoulders of the recommendation of a trusted friend. Not that anything in particular made me shy away from the book. These days I just tend to avoid anything resembling large-ish science fiction tomes that don’t also come with a strong recommendation from someone I trust. My poor experience with the genre in general, I guess, but this won’t be news to those that follow our site. Read the rest of this review »

Project Hail Mary

When Ryland Grace wakes up on his spaceship, he doesn’t know where he is at first. For the first few chapters it is this very mystery that compels you to keep reading because you must know what’s going on. Who he is. Why he’s there. And what happened. Fortunately, Andy Weir doesn’t keep you in suspense for very long. If you loved THE MARTIAN, you’ll love PROJECT HAIL MARY. Read the rest of this review »

Broken Angels

So, a few months ago, one of our readers commented on my review for ALTERED CARBON ( EBR Review ) that I should look into the second and third books in this series. If I’m being completely honest, I wasn’t too high on the idea, as I’ve never really been overly enamored with Richard K. Morgan’s books. Still I thanked the reader for the comment and proceeded on my merry way.

Then, randomly, I found a copy of the second book in the series at one of the second-hand bookstores that I frequent, and the thing was only two bucks. The thickness of the spine made it look like it was going to be relatively short too. So, I picked it up with no real intention to read it any time soon. But the opportunity to dive in was quickly afforded me when I was asked to chaperone for a couple days at a girl’s camp my daughter was attending. All I needed to do was be present. So I figured, why not grab a quick read and see what came of it?

And here we are.

I mention all this mostly because at no point in this whole process did I think there was going to be any chance that I might actually like this book.

Man, do I love being surprised. Read the rest of this review »

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The best new science fiction books of September 2024

From Michel Houellebecq to Booker-longlisted Richard Powers and Rachel Kushner, there is plenty of excellent science fiction to read this September

By Alison Flood

2 September 2024

Some of the science fiction out in September 2024

There is a smorgasbord of new science fiction on offer in September, whether you are after high-end literary writing from the likes of Booker-longlisted Rachel Kushner and Richard Powers or universe-spanning romps from Yume Kitasei and Riley August. We have new work from the grandmaster Peter F. Hamilton, a glimpse of a near-future France from Michel Houellebecq and an intriguing vision of how we might deal with future plagues from Hannu Rajaniemi. My plan is to start with Kushner’s Creation Lake , move on to Kitasei’s The Stardust Grail and then dive into Powers’s Playground .

Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner

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Playground by Richard Powers

Another Booker-longlisted novel here, and one from the astonishingly good Powers ( Bewilderment is just excellent). He sets his latest on the island of Makatea in French Polynesia, where a disparate cast of characters gather as humanity plans to send floating, autonomous cities out into the sea. “The writing feels like the ocean. Vast, mysterious, deep and alive,” says Percival Everett of this novel. I’m very much looking forward to it.

The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei

Maya Hoshimoto is an art thief turned anthropology student, but she is lured back to her old ways when she is asked to find a powerful object that could save an alien species from extinction. As she sets off through the universe investigating, she discovers she isn’t the only one looking for it. Described as an “anti-colonial space heist”, this sounds excellent.

Our writers pick their favourite science fiction books of all time

We asked New Scientist staff to pick their favourite science fiction books. Here are the results, ranging from 19th-century classics to modern day offerings, and from Octavia E. Butler to Iain M. Banks

Annihilation by Michel Houellebecq

The acclaimed (and sometimes controversial) French novelist sets his latest outing in 2027, as France undergoes a series of cyberattacks during a presidential campaign. We follow the story of Paul Raison, an advisor to France’s finance minister, whose father has had a stroke and is in limbo in a medical centre. This has already been a bestseller in France.

Exodus: The Archimedes Engine by Peter F. Hamilton

Science fiction authors don’t get much more legendary than Peter F. Hamilton, and this latest sounds intriguing – it’s a novel set in the universe of new sci-fi role-playing game Exodus . Thousands of years after humanity fled a dying Earth in ark ships, the settlers of Centauri have evolved into advanced beings. Finn is one of them, but wants a different future and takes the chance to become a Traveler, exploring the far reaches of space. I’m not a gamer, but I always love an ark-ship story, and I trust Hamilton to pull this one off.

Peter F. Hamilton

Olly Curtis/SFX Magazine/Getty Images

Darkome by Hannu Rajaniemi

In the latest outing from this excellent sci-fi author, pandemics have brought civilisation to a standstill. The only way to survive is wearing an “Aspis chip”, which immunises you against any new viruses as they infect you. Not everyone wants it though, with the alternative being an underground community of biohackers, known as Darkome, who modify their bodies. Our protagonist Inara is from a Darkome village, but she needs an Aspis to keep her cancer in check, and this goes against everything the community stands for… This sounds great and scarily timely.

The Last Gifts of the Universe by Riley August

The universe is full of dead civilisations, and Scout is an archivist who scours dead worlds for anything interesting that might have been left behind. Now they have found a message from an alien who saw their world end thousands of years ago. I love the quote provided for this novel by writer Nadia El-Fassi: “Come for the space archaeologists and adorably violent Pumpkin the cat, but stay for a science fiction novel that will repair your soul.”

“The universe is full of dead civilisations”

Irina Dmitrienko/NASA/Alamy

The Wilding by Ian McDonald

This sounds pleasingly creepy, just in time for autumn in the northern hemisphere. It’s set in a restored wilderness project in Ireland where five children, three teachers and one ranger are on a sleepover. But strange things have been happening here, from livestock mutilations to the discovery of unidentifiable tracks – and as the kids trek to the site, they spot animals that haven’t yet been introduced, from wolves and wolverines to things long believed to be extinct.

The Ballad of Smallhope and Pennyroyal by Jodi Taylor

Time travel shenanigans abound in this latest from the author of the Time Police and The Chronicles of St Mary’s series. This time round, Taylor is telling the origin story of bounty hunters Lady Amelia Smallhope and Pennyroyal: “No bad guy they can’t handle. No expense account too flexible. No adventure too outrageous.”

The Heads of Cerberus and Other Stories by Francis Stevens

This is a reissue of a collection of short stories written by Francis Stevens, the pseudonym of Gertrude Barrows Bennett, an author who wrote most of her work between 1904 and 1919 and has been described as the “woman who invented dark fantasy”. These stories include one set in an alternate-future version of Philadelphia, now a totalitarian nation-state where citizens are numbered, not named. Just my sort of thing, and I love rediscovering old sci-fi classics.

Before We Forget Kindness by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

The art and science of writing science fiction

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Otherworldly

Memory, That Unreliable Narrator: New Science Fiction and Fantasy

Seven books comb through history, travel to distant planets and imagine our A.I. future.

• Share full article

By Amal El-Mohtar

The year’s nearly over, and it’s hard to remember where it went. Most people I know have complained about memory problems, provoked by difficult times and traumatic events, and compounded by the redactions and distortions of social media. We know we all remember things a little differently, with reality fracturing into competing narratives the further we get from any given occurrence. But when disaster is near-universal and the gulf of disagreement vast, it’s easy to question our own recollections as suspect. Here, then, are books full of dueling paradigms, uncertain and chancy remembrance — with the past looming both as a resource and as a nightmare, and the future at its mercy.

Adrian Tchaikovsky is the author of over 20 novels, but somehow ELDER RACE (Tordotcom, 201 pp., paper, $14.99) is the first of his I’ve read. Lynesse is the worthless youngest daughter of a queen — an impulsive, too-earnest embarrassment to her family, believing as she does in the legends of sorcerers in their lineage. Nyr, meanwhile, is one such sorcerer — actually an anthropologist from a starfaring civilization who is separated from his team by decades and light-years, and is keeping himself isolated in suspended animation from the bronze-age locals until rescue arrives. But when a strange affliction somewhere between demon and disease begins plaguing Lynesse’s people, she comes knocking at the so-called sorcerer’s door to wake him up and claim a favor from him as her birthright.

Reading this was pure pleasure. Usually this sort of fantasy-meets-science-fiction story leans hard toward one or the other, allowing that genre’s rhetoric to contain and digest its counterpart. But “Elder Race” maintains a knife’s-edge balance between the two, and Tchaikovsky’s attention to language as a marker of genre, and to genre as a kind of translation, is elegant and thoughtful. Chapters alternate between Lynesse and Nyr, each of them struggling to understand the other’s default assumptions and paradigms until a breathtaking moment when everything’s laid bare between them.

Tchaikovsky’s prose in both modes is somewhere between smooth river rocks and tooled leather; there’s an Ursula Le Guin-like grace to his storytelling, to the shifting of cadences. Everything about this book suggests deliberate care in uniting epic fantasy’s immersive world-building with the sharp, dislocating bursts of high-concept science fiction. I’ve never been so relieved to learn of an author’s extensive back catalog. Ten out of 10, no notes.

Jeffrey Cranor and Janina Matthewson’s YOU FEEL IT JUST BELOW THE RIBS (Harper Perennial, 371 pp., $26.99) embraces genre more straightforwardly, but plays games with form and media. Cranor and Matthewson are the creators of “ Within the Wires ,” a disquieting anthology-style fiction podcast narrated through relaxation cassettes, museum audio guides, and letters and notes dictated to an administrative assistant. “You Feel It Just Below the Ribs” is set in the world of their podcast: an alternate 20th century shaped by the Great Reckoning, a decades-long world war “driven by nationalist identity crises.” A New Society that strives to be borderless and tribeless emerges, slowly picking away even at subgroups like nuclear families. Presented as a questionable autobiography annotated by the unnamed editors of a potentially seditious small press, “You Feel It Just Below the Ribs” mirrors the methodology of “Within the Wires,” explicitly reminding the audience of its medium while destabilizing the story through insertions and insinuations of what exists beyond it.

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Locus Online

The Magazine of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Field

Garcia Wins 2024 Sturgeon Award

The second-place runner up was “Patsy Cline Sings Sweet Dreams to the Universe” by Beston Barnett ( Strange Horizons 11/20/23). The third-place runner up was “The Year Without Sunshine“ by Naomi Kritzer ( Uncanny 11-12/23).

Other finalists were:

• “The Rainbow Ghosts”, Violet Allen ( Luminescent Machinations: Queer Tales of Monumental Invention )
• “The Unpastured Sea”, Gregory Feeley ( Asimov’s 9-10/23)
• “The State Street Robot Factory”, Claire Humphrey ( Apex 3/23)
• “What It Means to Be a Car”, James Patrick Kelly ( Tor.com 7/26/23)
• “Notes From a Pyre”, Amal Singh ( The Deadlands 3/23)
• “An Infestation of Blue”, Wendy N. Wagner ( Analog 11-12/23)

Established in 1987 by James Gunn and the heirs of Theodore Sturgeon, including his partner Jayne Engelhart Tannehill and Sturgeon’s children, the Sturgeon Award is “a memorial to one of the great short-story writers in a field distinguished by its short fiction.” This year’s jurors were Elizabeth Bear, Kelly Link, Sarah Pinsker, Noël Sturgeon, and Taryne Taylor.

The award will be presented in-person at the third annual Sturgeon Symposium at the Hall Center for the Humanities in Lawrence, KS. The Sturgeon Award ceremony, to be held on October 24, will feature a reception, opening remarks, presentation of the award, a reading by Garcia, and a Q&A session. The theme of this year’s symposium is “Stars in Our Pockets: Celebrating Samuel R. Delany.” The Symposium itself is from October 24-25.

For more information, see the Gunn Center’s website .

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