I go through cycles between fantasy and science fiction. I grew up reading both, but my taste usually swings one way or the other for months or years at a time. Ironically, the last two years I spent a lot of time giving public lectures and talks about the power of science fiction in the class room and as a framework for difficult conversations – and I did use science fiction themes and stories professionally a lot. At home though? My reading was elves, dragons, and maybe a few vampires. I craved nothing but fantasy. Suddenly though, this year, the cycle reset and I thought, “oh, it’s time for robots, space, and ships.” So that’s what I’ve done.

I caught up on a lot of popular modern science fiction I hadn’t read yet – notably, Artemis by Andy Weir and Leviathan Wakes by James SA Corey which inspired The Expanse show on Amazon – and yes, I already picked up the second one. I’ve also read a lot of scifi written by women lately. In the past few years when I did occasionally dip into scifi, my go-to authors were mostly Nnedi Okorafor, Nicky Drayden, or Mur Lafferty. So, my reading more scifi by femme authors isn’t exactly shocking, but I thought I’d highlight a few that really delighted me lately. Almost every author I’ve mentioned in this opening and highlighted below is likely to end up in my end-of-year book review too.

• Becky Chambers
  • Monk and Robot series: The first book in this two-part (for now?) series is A Psalm for the Wild Built. It was like reading a philosophy book but also light, airy, cozy and easy. When I think of “deep books” I feel tired and sleepy. This book hit difficult notes without dragging and really kept me thinking for days and weeks following it. The second installment is also excellent.
  • The Wayfarer series: the first book is The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet centers on a character but is truly “an assemble” cast, all of whom I fell for. Chambers again manages to write science fiction that feels cozy, while still challenging norms and hitting all the notes that make scifi, scifi. The follow up books are not linear – they follow new characters in the same universe. The audiobook verions of these all are excellent. I read some hardcopy and listened to others.
• Megan E. O’Keefe
  • I’m making my way through some of her other trilogies, but I just wrapped by the The Devoured Worlds series, starting with The Blighted Stars. The first book in this trilogy is the strongest, but I enjoyed the whole three-book ride. This is a space western with a mystery and romance (though not “bodice-ripping” style romance) thrown in. If you’re into politics, human-tech bio-hacking, space marines, and enemies to lovers – read these.
• Martha Wells
  • The Murdernot Series: The first four of these are short novellas, around 150-225 pages. The fifth installment, Network Effect, however is a full length novel. I love Murderbot. This is series that explores what it means to be a human and how augmentation may change us over time. It’s also a story about corporate greed and the limits of what people will accept. It’s also, also a story about a almost-human, but not human, security robot who loves watching endless television soap operas and nicknames himself “Murderbot” after he, ya know, murdered a bunch of people.

There it is! Some great science fiction I’ve read this summer. I hope you consider checking it out and enjoy!