Fascinating fiction often flourishes in turbulent times. In the speculative realm, today’s headlines, from environmental collapse to the ethics of anti aging, are being stretched into startling new shapes. The upcoming literary season is particularly rich with capitalism noir, wellness horror, and high concept space mysteries that feel uncomfortably plausible.
Whether you are looking for hard boiled raccoons or the linguistic magic of a future Los Angeles, these ten titles represent the most creative and thoughtful inquiries into where we are headed.
High Stakes Voyaging and Generation Ships
Peter F. Hamilton, A Hole in the Sky Set aboard a massive generation ship, Hamilton explores a cosmic nightmare: a slow, irreversible atmospheric leak. As the crew faces certain suffocation, the solution may lie with a group of rebellious elders who refuse to comply with the ship’s mandatory euthanasia at age 65. It is a sharp critique of social Darwinism disguised as a propulsive space thriller.
Mahmud El Sayed, The Republic of Memory Our second generation ship takes inspiration from the aesthetics and bureaucracy of the Ottoman Empire. Halfway to its destination, the ship is a powder keg of corrupt officials, smugglers, and revolutionaries. When a suspicious disaster occurs, a former fighter must navigate these factions to uncover a truth that could dismantle their entire society.
Linguistic Magic and Wellness Horrors
Shay Kauwe, The Killing Spell In an original twist on urban fantasy, displaced Hawaiians live on the fringes of a magically flooded Los Angeles. Here, magic is tied to language, and linguistic communities fight for official status. When a prominent magician is killed by a Hawaiian language spell, an eccentric clan leader must find the killer before her entire culture’s magic is permanently outlawed.
Kelly Yang, The Take Wellness culture meets capitalism noir in this chilling story about a young woman desperate for cash. She accepts a job assisting a Hollywood director with an experimental blood treatment. The catch? The procedure literally transfers years of life from the donor to the receiver, aging the young protagonist at a terrifying rate.
Sarah Gailey, Make Me Better Following the success of The Echo Wife, Gailey returns with a haunting look at the futility of avoiding grief. Characters marooned on a mysterious island are promised the unpromiseable, a way to bypass pain entirely. Naturally, the cost of this avoidance is dire, proving that some wounds aren’t meant to be side stepped.
Survivalism and Dark Science
James Cleary, Sanctuary This epic speculative thriller captures the precise moment of societal collapse. Set within a bunker where things have gone horribly wrong, it serves as essential reading for the literary prepper. Cleary’s pacing is relentless, making it a standout in the collapse fiction subgenre.
Adrian Tchaikovsky, Green City Wars Forget cute talking animals. In Tchaikovsky’s future, bioengineered helpers maintain pristine green cities using intelligence boosting chemicals. These creatures live brutal lives, forming gangs that kill for resources and medicine. Featuring anarchist parrots and a private investigator raccoon, this is nature at its most murderous.
Noëlle Michel, The Shadows Tomorrow Translated by Frank Wynne, this parable follows the resurrection of Neanderthals who have become the stars of a global reality show. As the world obsessively watches their every move within a nature reserve, the novel asks uncomfortable questions about our role as spectators in the face of exploitation.
Psychological Space and Tech Nightmares
Daniel Kraus, The Sixth Nik Kraus is having a major year, and The Sixth Nik is his most devastating work yet. Reminiscent of the scale found in Hyperion, it follows a young girl on a quest toward a shattering truth. It is a work of space horror that lingers long after the final page, solidifying Kraus as a master of the genre.
Paul Tremblay, Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep A Twitch streamer is hired to transport a mostly dead corpse across the country using proprietary tech. It is a grotesque, modern reimagining of Weekend at Bernie’s, blending Tremblay’s signature wit with a deadly serious exploration of how technology commodifies the human body even after death.