My day job has always involved working with nonprofits, and my favorites are activist organizations. The grassroots organizers Iāve worked with are some of the most impressive people I know. Despite what science fiction stories often tell us, change doesnāt come from blowing up the Death Star, but from hard work and relentless optimism. At a time when corporations are growing ever more powerful, ChatGPT wants to take our jobs, and politics can be dismally depressing, I hope these books remind you that power is never absolute, and the future is what we make of it.
The son of the head of an all-powerful corporation and a radical activist disguised as his bodyguard have to work together to stop corporate wrongs that are worse than either of them suspect.
Itās a perfect enemies-to-lovers setup, and I adore the chemistry between these two, who both want to save the galaxy but have conflicting ideas about how.
Along with delving into the complexities of some unique and fascinating corporate-controlled technologyālike body-replacement tech that can help a transgender person be themselves, or trap a dissident in limbo foreverāOāKeefe shows the darkest sides of corporate power abuse, and debate over what it takes to challenge such power in this thriller/horror/adventure. I couldnāt put it down.
Stranded on a dead planet with her mortal enemy, a spy must survive and uncover a conspiracy in the first book of an epic space opera trilogy by an awardāwinning author.
She's a revolutionary. Humanity is running out of options. Habitable planets are being destroyed as quickly as they're found and Naira Sharp thinks she knows the reason why. The all-powerful Mercator family has been controlling the exploration of the universe for decades, and exploiting any materials they find along the way under the guise of helping humanity's expansion. But Naira knows the truth, and she plans to bring theā¦
This is one of those books that I almost wish Iād written, except no one but Nayler could have done it justice.
It starts with a discovery of potentially sentient octopuses, the scientist studying them, and the global corporation that controls her access and funding. From there, the story gets dizzying in scope: it spans countries and social classes, somehow managing to be a thriller while delving deep into zoology, climatology, neurology, the consequences of war and colonization, and the nature of consciousness itselfāwhile still showing the wonder of this new-found species.
Everyoneās fate, terrifyingly, lies in the hands of this corporation that has its own motivations for studying the octopuses, unless they (and the octopuses themselves) can stop it.
'I loved this novel's brain and heart' DAVID MITCHELL, AUTHOR OF CLOUD ATLAS
'A first-rate speculative thriller, by turns fascinating, brutal, powerful, and redemptive' JEFF VANDERMEER, AUTHOR OF ANNIHILATION
There are creatures in the water of Con Dao. To the locals, they're monsters. To the corporate owners of the island, an opportunity. To the team of three sent to study them, a revelation.
Their minds are unlike ours. Their bodies are malleable, transformable, shifting. They can communicate. And they want us to leave.
When pioneering marine biologist Dr. Ha Nguyen is offered the chance to travel to the remote Conā¦
Liza OāConnell was a horror buff in every sense of the word. But there was one deadly nightmare she would never be able to talk about ā¦ her own. A friend murdered. A business in trouble. A marriage struggling to survive. And thatās just the beginning.
This oneās a bit different: a collection of short stories written by activists and community organizers.
Iāve always believed that activism is much like science fiction: both are all about seeing the world as it is and imagining how it could be different, and these stories are like a masterclass in imagining social change: some heartwarming, some chilling, all unique. Short fiction is a perfect medium to get bite-sized pieces of many different imagined futures.
Whenever we envision a world without war, prisons, or capitalism, we are producing speculative fiction. Organizers and activists envision, and try to create, such worlds all the time. Walidah Imarisha and adrienne maree brown have brought 20 of them together in the first anthology of short stories to explore the connections between radical speculative fiction and movements for social change. These visionary tales span genresāsci-fi, fantasy, horror, magical realismābut all are united by an attempt to inject a healthy dose of imagination and innovation into our political practice and to try on new ways of understanding ourselves, the world aroundā¦
If you like science fiction and havenāt read the Murderbot books, well, you should go do that. Like right now.
Theyāre a delight: clever and funny and full of action. The main appeal is Murderbot, the snarky, anti-social, security cyborg who would rather shoot things than admit to having an emotion.
For purposes of this list, the book is full of interstellar corporate states vying for power, committing violence, spying on outsiders and their own people, and turning people like Murderbot into tools. There are aspiring utopian societies here, too, which value things like privacy and rights. That leads to interesting and nuanced conflictsāeven if Murderbot would rather punch the problems than talk about them.
All Systems Red by Martha Wells begins The Murderbot Diaries, a new science fiction action and adventure series that tackles questions of the ethics of sentient robotics. It appeals to fans of Westworld, Ex Machina, Ann Leckie's Imperial Raadch series, or lain M. Banks' Culture novels. The main character is a deadly security droid that has bucked its restrictive programming and is balanced between contemplative self discovery and an idle instinct to kill all humans. In a corporate dominated s pa cef a ring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied byā¦
The year is 1970 when the lives of Darlina Flowers, a young fledgling go-go dancer, and Luke Stone, a wild rebel Texas musician, become powerfully intertwined. The wild ride of their love story journey will make you laugh, cry, and root for their success.
I picked up this book as research but I kept reading because it was fascinating.
I admire Greenpeace a great deal, and their style of direct actionātheyāre known for activists tying themselves to oil rigs or swarms of kayaks blockading ports to make a pointāis a touchpoint for the activist organization in my series.
Willcoxās memoir about captaining one of Greenpeaceās famous ships often reads like a thriller, complete with chase scenes trying to escape the Russian military, and some of the anecdotes fall into the ātruth stranger than fictionā category.
A very cool look at some impressive real-life activism thatās not wonky or preachy.
PETER WILLCOX has been a Captain for Greenpeace for over 30 years. He would never call himself a hero, but he is recognized on every ocean and continent for devoting his entire life to saving the planet. He has led the most compelling and dangerous Greenpeace actions to bring international attention to the destruction of our environment. From the globally televised imprisonment of his crew, the "Arctic 30," by Russian Commandos to international conspiracies involving diamond smuggling, gun-trading and Al-Qaeda, Willcox has braved the unimaginable and triumphed.
A heart-filled space opera about the evils of unchecked corporate power and how fighting for change always matters, Warped State will delight fans of Ann Leckie, Malka Older, and Martha Wells.
Jasper Wilder is an activist, not a spy, but heāll become one if that's what it takes to stop a deadly research project by the mega-corporation that devastated his home planet. Then he meets Havoc, an idealistic local activist who will be blamed if Jasper goes through with his plans to destroy the experiment. He's prepared to risk his own life, but will he also sacrifice the person he's coming to care about?
Over the past 50 years, scientists have made incredible progress in the application of genetic research to human health care and disease treatment. Innovative tools and techniques, including gene therapy and CRISPR-Cas9 editing, can treat inherited disorders that were previously untreatable, or prevent them from happening in the first place.ā¦
Margaret OāKeefe, a horse farm owner, is desperate to save her ancestral property, Needham Forest. When she hears a rumor about a hidden treasure on her land, she plunges into a search that uncovers more than goldāsecrets, betrayal, and danger at every turn.
Caught between her volatile ex-husband, a scandalousā¦