Are things slowing down as we approach the end of the year? Not in terms of science fiction publishing ā in November alone, we can look forward to a hugely exciting new novel from The Power author Naomi Alderman, which Ā鶹“«Ć½ās sci-fi columnist, Sally Adee, informs me is incredible. Weāve got previously unpublished work from none other than the mighty Iain M. Banks; meanwhile, mega-names Cory Doctorow and Brandon Sanderson are also treating us to new novels, and I love the sound of space-set Orbital from Samantha Harvey. Throw in new Star Wars and Saga instalments and itās going to be hard to keep up.
. Alderman is the Womenās Prize-winning author of The Power, in which the world is reset after teenage girls develop a deadly power. We are promised āprivate weather, technological prophecy and highly deniable weaponsā in The Future, and a handful of friends planning a heist that could mean the end of civilisation. Sounds good!
. I was blown away when I first read Banksās The Wasp Factory and met his unreliable young narrator, Frank. When I discovered, in The Player of Games, that adding an M to his name brought you a universe run by benevolent AI minds (with brilliant names: Iām thinking of you, ), he shot to the top of my list of favourite writers. Banks died in 2013 ā this is a collection of his drawings from when he was creating the Culture universe, reproduced from his 1970s and 1980s sketchbooks, which shows the āships, habitats, geography, weapons and languageā he dreamed up to tell his stories with. I mean, Iād rather have a new Culture novel ā but this will do nicely instead.
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. I mainly know Sanderson from his fantasy ā but he has an . With 12 rejected novels before he finally landed a book deal in 2003, his cachet is such that his crowd-funding campaign last year for four āsecret novelsā became the , raising an eye-watering sum of around $41 million. Defiant is science fiction, however ā the final novel in his Skyward series, it sees Spensa travelling beyond the stars to save the world she loves.
. The always-excellent Doctorowās new novel is set a generation from now, when climate change is a fact of life and millions work in disaster relief. As ever, Doctorow takes an intriguing approach: he looks at older people in the US who still believe climate change is a scam and asks what we do about them. In this case, theyāre also āarmed to the teethā.
. This slim novel sounds like it will be very beautiful and very special. It follows the lives of six astronauts in the International Space Station as they conduct their experiments and watch their silent blue planet. āI donāt think Iāve read anything else with such love for its characters and such clarity about the state of the planet,ā says Sarah Moss (who is herself an author not to be missed; Ghost Wall, in which a fatherās wish to recreate anĀ Iron Age life turns very dark for his poor daughter, is incredible).
. Iām not always a fan of the āX meets Xā formula so often reached for by publishers ā but when a book is described as āNever Let Me Go meets Lord of the Fliesā, I find myself compelled to read it. This follows a young woman, Lena, who has been brought up in the jungle by an artificial intelligence known as Mother while, elsewhere, rebels fight to take over the country. But what has happened to Lenaās friend Isabella, who used to visit with her security drone, but hasnāt been seen in years?
. This is the 11th volume in the incredible Saga comic series, in which new parents Marko and Alana are trying to bring up their child during a galactic war. Itās science fiction, itās space opera, itās ā as the publisher says ā āRomeo and Juliet meets Star Warsā. If youāve yet to try it, obviously start from volume one, but do give this multiple award-winning and critically acclaimed series a go.
. David grew up in a world where bodies showed up with wings and people went missing, but no one would let him find out what was going on. Then his beloved grandpa, who had been working on a discovery for years, disappeared. David, now 26, receives a strange package instructing him not to leave Earth, and a new world unfolds before him.
. This new Star Wars novel is set a year after the events of The Fallen Star. It sees the Jedi out to break the Nihilās control over the galaxy and to fight the Nameless creatures that are preying on their connection to the Force.
