Speculative Fiction That Asks Big Questions
By T. Frohock Harper Voyager, ISBN:978-0062825612 Paperback, 368 pages. ©2019 Diago, a nefil born of an angel-daimon pairing, has been tasked by the leader of Los Nefilim with finding The Key, a musical sequence that can unlock the barrier between realms and unite the nefilim’s voices, empowering them to save Spain from the coming darkness….
By Angie Thomas Balzer + Bray Publishing, ISBN: 978-0062498533 Hardcover, 464 pages. ©2017 16-year-old Starr Carter lives in Garden Heights, a poor black neighborhood where gangs run the streets and drugs are ubiquitous. Between her mother’s job as a nurse and her father’s community grocery store in the Heights, Starr’s parents manage to send her…
By Tim Johnston Algonquin Books, ISBN: 978-1616206772 Hardcover, 416 pages. © 2019 An unexpected winter road trip across several states toward a small town in Minnesota lands college students Audrey and Caroline in the icy waters of the Black Root River. Audrey survives. Caroline does not. Despite Audrey’s claims that their car was deliberately pushed…
By Jeannette Walls Scribner, ISBN: 978-1501171581 Paperback, 320 pages. ©2017 (Revised Edition) When she is three years old, Jeannette Walls catches fire. Standing on a chair in a tutu at the gas stove, cooking hot dogs, she feels the heat as flames kindle in her puffy pink skirt and rage up her side. She freezes…
By R.F. Kuang Harper Voyager, ISBN: 0062662562 Paperback, 549 pages. © 2018 Rather than be married off by her opium-dealing stepmother, war orphan Fang Runin (Rin) studies for—and passes—the Keju, an empire-wide exam known to identify the most promising youths, and secure her place at the prestigious Sinegard Academy, a military school filled with the…
By Lydia Netzer St. Martin’s Griffin; ISBN: 978-1250047465 Paperback, 368 pages. ©2015 Irene, a pragmatic astronomer who believes only in science, makes tiny black holes in a device of her own design. George, a dreamer and an astronomer, hallucinates goddesses and gods who reveal to him a marvel in the universe, one that will make…
By Michael Mammay Harper Voyager; ISBN: 978-0062694669 Paperback, 384 pages. ©2018 When the son of a powerful politician goes missing on the front lines at Cappa Three, General Serata calls Colonel Carl Butler to investigate. Butler protests; he’s semi-retired, done years in cryo already, and besides, he’s got ugly history with that planet. But Serata…
By Ann Leckie Orbit, ISBN: 978-0316388672 Hardback, 448 pages. ©2017 Ingray wants nothing more than to impress her adopted mama, the powerful politician Netano. Her brother wants the same thing, but Ingray knows he is already way ahead of her in the race. One of them will be named heir, and Ingray has a unique…
Part One of the Medusa Cycle By Emily Devenport Tor Books, ISBN: 978-1250169341 Paperback, 320 pages. ©2018 On the generation ship Olympia, Oichi Angelis lives as a worm. Her job, as with all worms, is to serve those in the executive class without complaint or indeed without a word. The executives believe she is mostly…
By Ursula K. Le Guin HMH Books for Young Readers, ISBN: 978-0152051242 Paperback, 304 pages. © 2006 In the Uplands, where families pass on Gifts through their bloodlines, Houses are known by what their heirs can do. Some can move heavy objects without touching them. Even buildings. Even hills. Others can strike blindness or take…