�鶹��ý

One of my most anticipated books of the year is out this month: a collection of short stories set in the post-apocalyptic devastation of Stephen King’s The Stand. I love a good end-times story, and King did it so well in this doorstopper of a book, first published in 1978. How will the writers he has invited to develop his “world” fare? Suitably depressed by these visions of the future, I’m then planning to pick myself up with �鶹��ý columnist Annalee Newitz’s cosier take, Automatic Noodle, which comes complete with jolly robots and cooking. From thrillers (Artificial Wisdom) to more literary takes (Helm), Star Wars to the latest from the prolific Adrian Tchaikovsky, let’s get reading!

edited by Christopher Golden and Brian Keene

As a Stephen King superfan (just call me ) I cannot overstate my excitement about this anthology in which writers, including the brilliantly terrifying Tananarive Due, along with a host of other great names, have been given permission to play in the world of King’s The Stand. It takes place in the wake of a super-flu, which has killed off most of Earth’s population, and features great powers of good and evil. The Stand is a seminal post-apocalyptic novel and I can’t wait to see how these writers imagine what happens next. What a treat.

by Adrian Tchaikovsky

We love Adrian Tchaikovsky at �鶹��ý (his novel Alien Clay was a big hit with our book club) and I’m looking forward to this latest in his Terrible World series, which imagines how runaway technology turns on its masters. Here, Amri is struggling to survive in the “blasted landscape of a shattered, poisoned world” when a “god” named Guy Vesten falls from the sky.

Two brilliant new novels from Adrian Tchaikovsky show his range

The prolific Adrian Tchaikovsky has two terrific sci-fi offerings out this year, one the story of a scientist turned prisoner shipped to a faraway planet, the other a light-hearted tale of robotic murder, says Emily H. Wilson

by Thomas R. Weaver

This thriller is set in 2050, as the world faces a climate catastrophe and needs a global leader to take on the “coming apocalypse”. The two candidates are former US president Lockwood and Solomon, the world’s first political artificial intelligence. Journalist Marcus Tully investigates when Solomon’s creator is murdered, and rumours emerge of a global conspiracy. This is an intriguing idea, and I’m really looking forward to this one.

Free newsletter

Sign up to Book Club

Join our friendly crowd of fellow book club members in reading and discussing the latest in science and science fiction.

Sign up to newsletter

by Annalee Newitz

This cosy novella is by our columnist Annalee Newitz, and it sounds like just the thing to cheer us all up. It’s set in the near future, and follows the adventures of a ragtag bunch of robots who set up a restaurant in San Francisco, as the humans of that city recover from a terrible war. Annalee wrote about it in a column here, to give you a flavour, and it’s high on my list this busy August.

The 25 best fictional robots – according to �鶹��ý

From R2D2 to the Terminator via Bender and Johnny-5, we choose our favourite robots from books, films and television series

by Oraine Johnson

In a near-future version of Birmingham, teenager Joseph Jacobs’ dreams pull him into a world where the lines between reality and illusion are blurring. The publisher is comparing this to Inception and Ready Player One.

by Ben Pester

This surreal novel is set in the Capmeadow Business Park, where employee Tom Crowley loses his daughter on a “bring your daughter to work day”. As it transpires that she was never there, Tom searches for her in the “maze of corridors and impossible multi-dimensional spaces” that is Capmeadow.

The best science fiction books of 2025 so far

From generation ships to climate change, there has been some stellar sci-fi out in the past six months. Our columnist Emily H. Wilson picks her favourites

by Sarah Hall

Sarah Hall is a literary writer and this book does sound like it has elements of the fantastical about it, but I think there’s also enough of the sci-fi concept novel here to make it one for sci-fi fans. It’s the story of a ferocious wind, Helm, which has blasted the Eden Valley since the dawn of time, and the chronicles of those who have battled it – from a Neolithic tribe who tried to placate it to a Victorian engineer who tried to capture it. Now, scientist Dr Selima Sutar, who is measuring it from her observation hut, believes the end is nigh.

by Lamar Giles

The latest Star Wars novel is a new tale about the Bad Batch gang, in which they’re on a mission to rebuild a safe haven on an island devastated by a sea wave on Pabu, a small planet far from the clutches of the Empire.

by Lukas Kummer

This graphic novel is described as a “nuclear fusion” of science fiction and fantasy. It sees a knight fleeing across the radioactive ruins of a land, pursued by a demon, his only weapon the same power that destroyed the world. Is it magic – or is it tech? The publisher says this is a mix of Tintin, Blade Runner and The Dark Tower – that’s a powerful blend, if you ask me!

Our favourite science fiction books of all time (the ones we forgot)

Following on from our first list, we asked �鶹��ý staff to pick even more of their favourite sci-fi books of all time. From Isaac Asimov and Ursula K. Le Guin to Star Wars – the list has it all this time, we hope…

by Amil, translated by Archana Madhavan

This collection of stories by the South Korean author moves between science fiction and fantasy, including a vision of a near future where women are an endangered minority and two friends try to escape from a facility for those who can still give birth. I also like the sound of the tale set in South Korea’s Alps Grand Park, where residents of the exclusive facility live among giant air purifier towers – while those less fortunate live in their shade.

edited by Fereshteh Ahmadi, Leila Elder and Babak Parson

What an interesting idea: the editors of this anthology asked 10 Iranian authors what Iran might look like in 2053, a century after the coup that overthrew the government of Mohammad Mosaddegh. The imagined futures are varied, from Tehran sinking into a “great, tourist-attracting ‘Pit’” to one in which inter-dimensional voids reveal parallel universes.

by Elaine U. Cho

This is the sequel to space opera �����𲹲�’s Godori, and while it sounds thrilling – a space pilot, falsely accused of murdering his family, crash lands on the moon – I advise reading the first book before venturing onto the second.

The best new science fiction books of July 2025

From Austin Taylor to Nadia Afifi, there is lots to look forward to in the sci-fi out this month – including a novel which might be our culture editor Alison Flood's pick of the year so far

by Doug Johnstone

This is the conclusion to Johnstone’s Enceladons trilogy, and is set 18 months after peaceful aliens, the Enceladons, have escaped the clutches of the US military.