The most recommended new hard science fiction books

Who picked these books? Meet our 3 experts.

3 authors created a book list connected to new hard science fiction, and here are their favorite new hard science fiction books.
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Book cover of The Spores of Wrath

J. Scott Coatsworth Author Of The Dragon Eater

From J. Scott's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

J. Scott's 3 favorite reads in 2024

J. Scott Coatsworth Why did J. Scott love this book?

I loved the discussions of free will, individuality and humanity here. What makes us human? If we are so changed that we become unrecognizable on the outside, are we still human in any way that counts? And if your personality is transferred into something or someone else, are you still, well, you?

The story draws you into this fascinating world and its myriad cross-currents, culminating in the event foreshadowed by the title. I wonā€™t say any more lest I spoil things, but suffice it to say that the ending is both momentous and immensely satisfying, offering multiple resolutions and character redemptions.

This series is as good a piece of science fiction as I have read in ages, a story I literally did not want to put down, although one has to make allowances for food breaks and the occasional couple hours of sleep. This is a fantastic, towering work ofā€¦

By William C. Tracy,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Spores of Wrath as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The fate of Lida looms.

Agetha thought her fate was sealed, pushed to the edge of the colony to die. But with the revelation that the biomass is not only intelligent, but sentient, changes to colony are accelerating, threatening its very existence.

Those who were controlled by the biomass once again have free will. Now, the human colonists are raising their voices and for the first time really influencing their new home. The planet-wide consciousness is slipping into a crisis of identity when it doesnā€™t even have a sense of self.

The wilds surrounding the colony are becoming increasingly unstable,ā€¦


Book cover of Alien Clay

Keith Stevenson Author Of Traitor's Run

From Keith's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Keith's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Keith Stevenson Why did Keith love this book?

On the future Earth of Alien Clay, society is in the grip of a bunch of ideological zealots that would give the Spanish Inquisition a run for their money. The ā€˜Mandateā€™ insists on a scientific orthodoxy that stifles true scientific thinking and enforces its worldview with a jackbooted fervour that tolerates no alternatives. Those who dare to dabble in ā€˜free thinkingā€™ are captured, interrogated and squeezed until they give up their comrades before being exiled to a prison colony on some far-off world.

Such is the fate of Anton Daghdev, xeno-ecologist and political dissident, who finds himself cast out to the Earthlike-only-within-the vaguest-meaning-of-that-word planet of Kiln, there to be brutishly inducted into the prison colony and scientific research station maintained there by the Mandate.

Yes, not content with banishing identified Public Enemies to die on alien worlds, the Mandate forces its transportees to toil among the often-inimical alien lifeforms toā€¦

By Adrian Tchaikovsky,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Alien Clay as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Alien Clay is a thrilling far-future adventure by acclaimed Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author Adrian Tchaikovsky.

'Unputdownable' - Stephen Baxter, author of Proxima

They travelled into the unknown and left themselves behind . . .

Professor Arton Daghdev has always wanted to study alien life in person. But when his political activism sees him exiled to the planet Kiln, condemned to work under an unfamiliar sky until he dies, his idealistic wish becomes a terrible reality.

Kiln boasts a ravenous, chaotic ecosystem. Its monstrous alien life means Arton will risk death on a daily basis - if the camp's oppressiveā€¦


Book cover of The Spores of Wrath
Book cover of Alien Clay

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