I never set out to be a sci-fi author. I didn’t even realise that my book fell into that genre (or ‘soft sci-fi’ to be more specific) until I’d finished writing it. I think the main reason is because as much as there are sci-fi elements, it’s not really what the story is about. And yet, frustratingly, I know there are so many readers who won’t pick it up simply because it’s sci-fi. It is such a huge umbrella of a category to dismiss – and there are so many incredible books that fall under it, sometimes unexpectedly. Never judge a book by its genre!
Bella is defective. You need to take her back. Nine-year-old Bella D’accourt has always known she was different; she was born into a controversial ‘designer baby’ eugenic programme; difference is in her DNA. Bella has been designed to be exceptionally beautiful, but when she uses her sadistic, manipulative charm to seriously injure another child, her mother brings her back to her creators and demands they "fix her." Thus begins Bella’s new life among scientists and other eugenic Subjects at the mysterious Aspira Research Centre in Cumbria. But an enemy lurks in the shining laboratories set among idyllic mountains; an obsessive, murderous enemy who will, years later, drive Bella into a desperate cat-and-mouse chase across the country.
Long-listed for The Bridport Prize 2020. Part one of Take Her Back trilogy.
This is always the first book which springs to mind when I try to explain the concept of ‘sci-fi which doesn’t feel like sci-fi.' Despite the whole plot hinging on time travel – an unequivocally sci-fi concept – The Time Traveller’s Wife is essentially a love story. I like the way the plot segues between multiple timelines (which feels like it should be confusing but really isn’t) and the real-world challenges faced by the characters. It’s one of those books which sounds like it should be far more complicated than it actually is, which makes it a perfect read for those craving escape, adventure, and a hearty dose of romance.
Now a series on HBO starring Rose Leslie and Theo James!
The iconic time travel love story and mega-bestselling first novel from Audrey Niffenegger is "a soaring celebration of the victory of love over time" (Chicago Tribune).
Henry DeTamble is a dashing, adventurous librarian who is at the mercy of his random time time-traveling abilities. Clare Abshire is an artist whose life moves through a natural sequential course. This is the celebrated and timeless tale of their love. Henry and Clare's passionate affair is built and endures across a sea of time and captures them in an impossibly romantic trap…
Another non-typical sci-fi read, The Midnight Library is a book that everyone seems to be talking about right now. I think one of the reasons why this book became such a hit is because the concept of a personal ‘limbo’ library where each book represents a different life choice is one that speaks to us all. So simple, so clever. I liked the characters, loved the plot, and found it incredibly thought-provoking without being too complicated. But I think the thing I enjoyed the most is the fact that the theme of All The Big Life Questions is so forefront, you almost forget that it’s all anchored in a science fiction concept. It almost feels like sci-fi by stealth.
The #1 New York Times bestselling WORLDWIDE phenomenon
Winner of the Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction | A Good Morning America Book Club Pick | Independent (London) Ten Best Books of the Year
"A feel-good book guaranteed to lift your spirits."-The Washington Post
The dazzling reader-favorite about the choices that go into a life well lived, from the acclaimed author of How To Stop Time and The Comfort Book.
Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of…
When it came to categorising my book, I remember Googling the genre for Never Let Me Go and having a bit of a light-bulb moment when it came up as ‘soft sci-fi.' I read this book several years ago and yet it has always stuck with me, particularly the coming-of-age storyline of the characters from children to adults set within an ultimately horrifying reality. There is something so poignantly spine-chilling about a reality where controversial scientific practices are not only sanctioned but have become the norm – it really makes you think about the definition and the deniability of humanity.
One of the most acclaimed novels of the 21st Century, from the Nobel Prize-winning author
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize
Kazuo Ishiguro imagines the lives of a group of students growing up in a darkly skewed version of contemporary England. Narrated by Kathy, now thirty-one, Never Let Me Go dramatises her attempts to come to terms with her childhood at the seemingly idyllic Hailsham School and with the fate that has always awaited her and her closest friends in the wider world. A story of love, friendship and memory, Never Let Me Go is charged throughout with a sense…
I love The Hunger Games series – both the books and the films, and I also love the fact that due to its popularity it is one of the easiest examples of a fictional world where sci-fi is beside the point. Dystopia, young adult, adventure, romance – in a way, all of these genres take precedence before you think of sci-fi with The Hunger Games. Another aspect that sets the series apart from its genre is the main character herself. In Katniss we have a strong, female protagonist whose charm stems from everything which makes her awkward, relatable, and vulnerable. She’s a very real-world character set in a far-from-real world.
Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. But Katniss has been close to death before - and survival, for her, is second nature. The Hunger Games is a searing novel set in a future with unsettling parallels to our present. Welcome to the deadliest reality TV show ever...
Another recent bestseller, Piranesi didn’t, for me, immediately scream sci-fi so much as fantasy, mythology, and magical realism. Without giving away too many spoilers, I like the fact that the fantastical elements of this book start out all-encompassing and are then almost filtered by the journey of the main character as he navigates his reality. The sci-fi aspect stems from the revelation of this reality and so it does almost creep up on you – a book unlike any other and well worth a read.
Winner of the 2021 Women's Prize for Fiction A SUNDAY TIMES & NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
The spectacular new novel from the bestselling author of JONATHAN STRANGE & MR NORRELL, 'one of our greatest living authors' NEW YORK MAGAZINE __________________________________ Piranesi lives in the House. Perhaps he always has.
In his notebooks, day after day, he makes a clear and careful record of its wonders: the labyrinth of halls, the thousands upon thousands of statues, the tides that thunder up staircases, the clouds that move in slow procession through the upper halls. On Tuesdays and Fridays Piranesi sees his friend,…
When Miranda’s fiancé, Russ, is being vetted for his dream job in the U.S. attorney’s office, the couple joke that Miranda’s parents’ history as antiwar activists in the Sixties might jeopardize Russ’s security clearance. In fact, the real threat emerges when Russ’s future employer discovers that Miranda was arrested for felony kidnapping seven years earlier—an arrest she’d never bothered to tell Russ about.
Miranda tries to explain that she was only helping her best friend, in the midst of a nasty custody battle, take her daughter to visit her parents in Israel. As Miranda struggles to prove that she’s not a criminal, she stumbles into other secrets that will challenge what she thought she knew about her own family, her friend, Russ—and herself.
When Miranda’s fiancé, Russ, is being vetted for his dream job in the U.S. attorney’s office, the couple joke that Miranda’s parents’ history as antiwar activists in the Sixties might jeopardize Russ’s security clearance. In fact, the real threat emerges when Russ’s future employer discovers that Miranda was arrested for felony kidnapping seven years earlier—an arrest she’d never bothered to tell Russ about.
Miranda tries to explain that she was only helping her best friend, in the midst of a nasty custody battle, take her daughter to visit her parents in Israel. As Miranda struggles to prove that she’s not…
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