Since I became science fiction columnist for 91av, I have had to think a lot about what qualifies as sci-fi. Very often, a book could actually be classified as fantasy, which is outside my remit. More and more, I find myself agreeing with the writer Damon Knight when he said: “Science fiction is what I point to [when I say] ‘That’s science fiction’.”
Anyway, for this holiday reading special, I present my list of some of the year’s best sci-fi so far. All that binds these incredibly diverse books together is that I am pointing at them and saying: “Here is some good science fiction.” But I do hope you enjoy them.
In by Peng Shepherd (HarperCollins; 9 July US, 15 August UK), reality TV contestants enter a “quantum bubble”, allowing them to change anything they want about their life, with real-world consequences. Our hero, Marsh, is a divorcee in her mid-40s who gave up her legal dreams when she got pregnant. Can she use the show to resurrect her career and even her marriage?
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In theory, you can skip around this unusual book, making your own choices about what Marsh should do in the quantum bubble. But I read it straight through and it worked fine. Physics and ethics experts may need a long lie-down afterwards, but the novel is deft, inventive and takes you with it.
by Premee Mohamed (Solaris) is a gritty yet poetic read set on a war-torn world with floating cities, healing wasps and senseless violence. Our hero, Alefret, is a one-legged, hulking pacifist who makes an endearing protagonist as he slogs across a ghastly landscape in the company of a psychopathic soldier who may or may not be able to help him end the war. The author calls the book “second-world fantasy”, but if Dune counts as sci-fi, so does this.
by Micaiah Johnson (Del Rey) is also second-world fantasy, this time one where hopping around the multiverse is possible. There are Mad Max vibes as our hero, Scales, fights for survival and also honour in an apartheid world where white people guard their wealth behind high walls. In a foreword, Johnson says she wrote the novel as a reaction to her time at the 2020 sit-ins at the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by a police officer. She dedicates the new book to “anyone who has stood against injustice”. You won’t be surprised, then, that anger rises up off every page, but there is also tenderness, vivid world-building and flashes of infectious humour.
Tim Pratt also provides some multiverse action with (Angry Robot). It is very light fare, but jolly. Be warned (or delighted) that it contains a lot of talk about kinky sex.
Let me also remind you of books I have reviewed this year that I think you will enjoy, including by Sierra Greer (Mariner Books), written from the viewpoint of a sexbot, and by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor), written from inside the head of a murdering valet robot. They make interesting companion pieces.
Alien Clay (Tor), also by Tchaikovsky, has creepy alien , mystery archaeology and a prison camp on a faraway planet. It is very much in the traditional sci-fi mould, there being spaceships and all. That reminds me: if you missed Ann Leckie’s (Orbit) in hardback last year, it is now in paperback. It is a triumphant return to the Radch universe, offering deeper insight into the mysterious, violent yet often very comic Presger aliens. Happy reading!
Emily H. Wilson is a former editor of 91av. She is the author of the Sumerians trilogy; the second in the series, Gilgamesh, is out next month
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