Mars is the location for two new science fiction novels out in February
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Do you want to travel to Mars, to an alternate version of 1939 London or even to the very far future? If so, then February’s science fiction is for you, with all three flavours on offer from our authors. I’m intrigued by a couple of time-travel novels: in The Forest on the Edge of Time we’re time-travelling to save the world from global warming, and in All We Have Is Time, a time-traveller offers romantic salvation for a lonely immortal woman. I’m also keen to read a new entry in one of my favourite genres, fungal horror, thanks to Pedro the Vast. And I’m ready for a good debate about whether some of the books featured here are science fiction at all – check out new offerings from Brandon Sanderson and Francis Spufford and see what you think.
This is pitched as time-travel climate fiction by its publisher, and it sounds great. Echo and Hazel are both recruited by a mysterious organisation to change history and save the world from climate disaster. Echo works in ancient Athens, while Hazel travels to become the last human alive, with nothing but tech for company. They can meet in their dreams, however, and start to understand what they must do to save humanity.
Brandon Sanderson has a new book out this month
Courtesy Dragonsteel
Set in the far-future Cosmere universe, I’d describe this book as science fantasy. It tells the story of Sixth of the Dusk, who works as a trapper of supernatural birds known as Aviar. But he realises his people must modernise if they aren’t to be conquered by invaders from the stars, the “Ones Above”.
The author of Hammajang Luck is back, telling the story of Malia, the greatest hacker of all time. She’s finding life pretty boring since pulling off the Atlas heist, but things liven up when she gets into trouble with a dangerous gang on Kepler Space Station.
Marc Winters is a wildlife ranger on a small island trying to preserve the natural world in the face of climate change, when he discovers that a cult believes the world could be saved by “collective dreams fuelled by psychotropic mushrooms”. And they think he has vital information for them…
This is a new collection of speculative short stories from Michael Swanwick, a five-time winner of the Hugo award. The tales range from a story about a scientist on the run because the work she has done merging human intelligence with sentient AI is too dangerous, to another in which an ageing veteran acquires a VR robot leopard.
This features an immortal woman, miserable because everyone she loves has been dead for decades, who meets a time-traveller in 1605 London and falls in love. The publisher is comparing this to Kaliane Bradley’s wonderful The Ministry of Time, so naturally I’m in.
Francis Spufford’s new novel is set in an alternate version of London during the Blitz
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Nonesuch by Francis Spufford
Francis Spufford is an award-winning literary author, and his publisher is pitching this as fantasy, but it has time-travel so it sounds like sci-fi to me. It’s set in an alternate version of 1939 London, where ambitious City worker Iris discovers that time can bend and history can change. And Iris isn’t only up against the Blitz: she also discovers there is a time-travelling fascist on the loose.
This one’s for you fellow romantics out there, and those of you who love a bit of STEM romance from the likes of Ali Hazelwood (a strong recommend from me). Hannah Brohm’s first book is about a neuroscientist, Frances Silberstein, who has to face her ex at a high-profile conference and ends up having to fake-date her “infuriatingly attractive” rival, Lewis North. As the publisher puts it, “for any scientist worth their salt, faking data is out of the question. But fake dating?” Fun!
Sakunja Salazar, a rich and famous interviewer on Earth, decides to journey to Mars. By the time she gets there, she’s become an alcoholic and a has-been. Until she’s asked by a magazine editor to make a documentary about an expedition seeking to be the first humans to witness rain on the Red Planet… I like the sound of this – anything Mars-related always tempts me.
Mars is also the background to the story of a stowaway girl, Cleo, and a rich young man, Hunter, who find themselves stranded on the planet and facing a gang of mercenaries planning to blow everything up. This is a young adult book, aimed at teenagers, so it might not be for you. I’m always up for a bit of YA, however, so I’ll be giving it a try. There isn’t enough teen-focused sci-fi published, in my opinion, particularly in comparison with the firehose of romantasy aimed at kids.
Pedro the Vast by Simón López Trujillo (translated by Robin Myers)
A strange fungal disease is killing off workers on a eucalyptus farm in a dry, degraded Chile. But Pedro survives, and his survival draws the attention of a foreign mycologist as well as a local priest. The publisher is saying this will appeal to fans of Jeff Vandermeer – I loved Annihilation, so I’m definitely going to be reading this one.
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