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SCIENCE fiction seems to be taking over the mainstream, if this year’s Arthur C. Clarke shortlist is anything to go by. Or perhaps it’s the other way around. Certainly some of the most imaginative mainstream novelists are turning to SF for inspiration, and this is a strong shortlist.

Last year’s winner, Neal Stephenson, makes it onto the shortlist again with The System of the World (Heinemann, £17.99, ISBN 0434011770). This is the third novel in his baroque epic of science and politics in 18th-century London. Arguments between Newton and Leibniz, alchemical gold, the workings of the Royal Mint, and attempts to build an “arithmetick engine” all meld in this marvellous historical fantasy.

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (Vintage, £6.99, ISBN 0099464462) is a beautifully realised story. Henry is an involuntary time traveller. He will suddenly vanish, and reappear in the past or future, naked and vulnerable. He often appears near the home of a young girl called Clare, who grows up to become his wife. Niffenegger handles the time paradoxes brilliantly in a well-plotted and poignant story.

China Miéville’s Iron Council sees revolution fomenting in New Crobuzon (Macmillan, £12.99, ISBN 0333989732). The Iron Council is a beacon of hope: the railroad workers who stole track and train, and got clean away. Filled with Miéville’s trademark bizarre landscapes and acute political observations, this book nevertheless lacks jouissance and Miéville, unlike his Iron Council, may be running out of steam.

Politics of a different kind inform Richard Morgan’s Market Forces (Gollancz, £6.99, ISBN 0575075848). The brutally successful Shorn Associates dominate the conflict investment market. Small wars bring shareholders big dividends. Macho and bloody, this novel seems too fond of its corporate anti-heroes to be entirely convincing as a satire.

David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas (Sceptre, £7.99, ISBN 0340822783) also explores the corrupting nature of power, through a sextet of recursively linked stories, each interrupted by its successor. Literacy erodes, lessons from the past are lost and civilisation crumbles. But hope is resurrected as we unwind back through the latter part of each story, returning to the 19th century with a character newly committed to combating slavery.

Ian McDonald’s River of Gods (Simon & Schuster, £12.99, ISBN 0743256700) embraces the messy complexity of a future filled with contradictions. In the Hindu nation of Bharat, the monsoon has failed and a war is brewing. Meanwhile, Krishna cops pursue rogue artificial intelligences, and scientists struggle to comprehend a message found buried in an asteroid. Multiple viewpoints and interlocking plots make this a complex and exciting SF novel.

In a strong list, the battle is between Mitchell and McDonald, but McDonald will win by a nose.