Brandon Sanderson and a Stranger Things novel feature in the best new science fiction books of December 2025

December is traditionally a quieter month for new releases from publishers and that’s definitely true this year, with a sparser than usual science-fiction offering to chew over. That said, there are some intriguing titles out this month, and I’m looking forward to the new book from artist and author Simon Stålenhag, another illustrated dystopia, as well as a mysterious-sounding Russian novel, and the conclusion of Bethany Jacobs’s excellent space opera trilogy. And if you’re in the mood for older fare – well. Jacobs has written a piece for the New Scientist Book Club about how the late Iain M. Banks inspired her own world-building. The Book Club is currently reading Banks’s classic Culture novel The Player of Games – do join us.

The creator of The Electric State, now adapted for Netflix, is publishing what is bound to be another beautifully illustrated work, set in an abandoned Swedish military facility. Two young men set out to explore the forbidden zone on a secluded Swedish island. We’re promised “giant futuristic machines” in a “retro-futuristic dystopia”. Fantastic stuff: Stålenhag is an artist and author, with Tales from the Loop and Things from the Flood also among his writing.

This science-fiction thriller follows computer scientist Mitch and his quantum AI Amie, both on board a space station tasked with protecting the US, with the world on the brink of war. But the explosion of an interstellar probe fractures space-time and leaves Amie and Mitch racing to save humanity before Earth is obliterated.

Bethany Jacobs won the Philip K. Dick Award for the first novel in her Kindom trilogy, These Burning Stars. This Brutal Moon concludes the space opera series, with violence erupting everywhere and a colony facing a fight for its freedom.

I love the sound of this translated novel, in which residents of a Russian village wake up one day to find the road to the motorway has vanished. If they try to leave, all paths lead back to the village. If they go into the woods, they either vanish, or return as a different version of themselves. The internet and modern technology have disappeared, and the forest is growing closer…

I’m not usually one for a TV tie-in novel, but with the new series of Stranger Things just out, I’m all about another journey to Hawkins, Indiana, especially if it’s by one of the writers on the show. This tale takes place two months after the end of season four, and sees Nancy and Robin investigating a new mystery while also on the trail of Vecna. But does their latest adventure have anything to do with the Upside Down?

This new collection of short fiction from the bestselling Sanderson spans sci-fi and fantasy, and features stories from his Cosmere universe as well as the new novella Moment Zero. It also includes notes from Sanderson about his writing.

Spasm by Robin Cook

This isn’t quite sci-fi, more a sciency sort of thriller, following an attempt to stop a deadly bioweapon set to destroy the world. Our heroes Laurie and Jack are put on its trail after they learn about a strange death and an upswing in Alzheimer’s cases in the rural idyll of Essex Falls.

Mimik by Sebastian Fitzek

Another psychological thriller here, but this one sounds wildly weird (not necessarily a bad thing). We are in the hands of “Germany’s most experienced facial expression resonance expert” Hannah Herbst, who is experiencing memory loss while also trying to track down a woman who has escaped from jail after confessing to murdering her family. Hannah only has the woman’s confession video to track her down – but the woman on the video is… Hannah herself. Told you it was wild!