Claire North’s Slow Gods follows a deep-space pilot Shutterstock/Vadim Sadovski
We鈥檒l need to get our skates on if we鈥檙e to keep up with all the new science fiction published in November. New 女生小视频 sci-fi columnist Emily H. Wilson is adamant that we must read Claire North鈥檚 Slow Gods, and I鈥檓 inclined to take her at her word (you can read her review in next week’s issue). I鈥檓 also up for terrifying myself with Rebecca Thorne鈥檚 tale about a zombie-esque virus spreading on a submarine (claustrophobic!). And I am聽 creeped out by the idea at the heart of Grace Walker鈥檚 The Merge. Everything feels frightening this month 鈥 perhaps the sci-fi world is still in Halloween mode. But I鈥檓 also looking forward to something different, a literary tale about the extinct Steller鈥檚 sea cow, Beasts of the Sea. It sounds poignant, moving and beautiful, and without any supernatural scares.
by Claire North
Emily H. Wilson is wild for this sci-fi novel: I鈥檝e not heard our sci-fi columnist recommend a book so wholeheartedly in all the time she鈥檚 written for us. It follows Mawukana na-Vdnaze, a deep-space pilot who died and was reborn – and it tells of a supernova event 鈥渢hat burned planets and felled civilizations鈥. Emily says: 鈥淩EAD THIS BOOK. If you love sci-fi, this is for you鈥 in her upcoming column. So, I will, as she鈥檚 always bang on the money.
by Iida Turpeinen, translated by David Hackston
This isn鈥檛 really sci-fi, but it is fiction about science, and as a huge fan of the sea cow, ever since I first learned about them in Willard Price鈥檚 Adventure books as a child, I鈥檒l be reading it. It starts in 1741, when naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller joins an expedition to scout out a sea route from Asia to America, and comes across the animal that will be named for him: Steller鈥檚 sea cow. Then in 1859, the governor of Alaska sends his men to find a skeleton of the huge marine mammal said to have vanished a century earlier, and in 1952, a restorer sets to work refurbishing the antique skeleton.
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An illustration of the extinct Steller’s Sea Cow FLPA/Alamy
by Hayley Gelfuso
This might sound like it strays into the realm of fantasy, but its publishers are comparing it to Kaliane Bradley鈥檚 The Ministry of Time, so I am hoping there鈥檚 enough time travel there to satisfy sci-fi fans. Moving between postwar and cold-war US, it is set in 鈥渢he time space鈥, a library filled with books containing the memories of those who have died. Lisavet is trapped there aged 11, in 1938, and grows up only able to learn about the world by sifting through the memories of the dead. Then she realises that government agents are coming to the time space to destroy memories that don鈥檛 fit in with their preferred version of history鈥
by qntm
We covered this novel in 2022 when it was self-published, and our sci-fi columnist of the time, Sally Adee, really enjoyed it. It鈥檚 now been snapped up by a big publisher, and I might finally read it because it sounds like a lot of fun, and fittingly scary around the spooky season. Entities called antimemes are feeding on the most cherished memories of the book鈥檚 characters – and stealing those memories away without their knowledge. This enemy is invading 鈥 but no one even knows they are at war.
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by Jacek Dukaj, translated by Ursula Phillips
A deadly winter descends on Russia following the impact of the Tunguska asteroid in 1908. As the land freezes, people head for the cities to try to survive, the extreme cold starts to transmute the elements into strange new forms and a new type of physics develops.
The frozen Lake Baikal in Siberia Shutterstock/muratart
by Grace Walker
Amelia鈥檚 mum Laurie has Alzheimer鈥檚. As her symptoms worsen, Amelia decides to sign them up for the world鈥檚 first experimental merging process for people with Alzheimer鈥檚. Laurie鈥檚 mind is transferred into Amelia鈥檚 body, and their consciousnesses become one. They move to a luxurious rehabilitation centre known as The Village, along with other participants鈥 but things aren鈥檛 what they seem. Honestly, just the idea of the treatment is enough to terrify me.
by Rebecca Thorne
Zombies and submarines and terror at sea 鈥 oh my. Nix and Kessandra are investigating a massacre in the underwater city of Fall, but as they descend, Kessendra reveals that the massacre was caused by a sickness that turns people into mindless killers. And the disease is on board鈥
by M. R. Carey
There鈥檚 an interdimensional war going on in this novel, and it is 鈥渙ne of the most brutal the multiverse had ever seen鈥 (that鈥檚 pretty brutal then). We鈥檙e following Bess, a teacher turned renegade turned hero who has a very smart gun named Wakeful Slim. The story is set in the previously imagined world of the Pandominion, but it is a standalone sci-fi adventure from the author of The Girl With All the Gifts (a really good zombie novel if you鈥檝e not read it).
An interdimensional war is going on in Outlaw Planet by M. R. Carey Shutterstock/Frame Stock Footage
by Christopher Ruocchio
This epic sci-fi novel is the seventh in the Sun Eater series, and sees Hadrian Marlowe on the run, hiding beyond the borders of human space from the Extrasolarians and from the Sollan Empire he betrayed.
by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Of course, this brilliant novel isn鈥檛 new 鈥 but this 10th anniversary edition of the story of humanity trying to survive on a terraformed planet includes an exclusive short story by Tchaikovsky. So, fun for fans, and a good reminder of a great novel for those who have yet to read it.
聽by C. M. Kosemen
This is the first English language print edition of what the publisher says has been an 鈥渙nline cult sensation鈥. It explores the 鈥減otentials and pitfalls of human evolution鈥, from the author鈥檚 imagining of how genetic manipulation will shape life to how the colonisation of Mars will affect us, and also includes Kosemen鈥檚 illustrations. Adrian Tchaikovsky, no less, calls it 鈥渁n astonishing merging of scientific acumen and imagination”. Intriguing.
聽by Paul Bradley Carr
This high-concept thriller sounds fun. AI runs the world, but it has just stopped working 鈥 just after telling everyone about the worst things their loved ones have ever done.
by Neal Shusterman
There is a gorgeously surreal cover for this collection of Shusterman鈥檚 short stories, which include visits to a world where the sun is blocked out by bats and one where the life force of a glacier can bring back the dead.
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