Some Favourite Speculative Fiction

Speculative fiction seems to be becoming increasingly popular, and I can understand why given the opportunities it offers authors to use their imagination and play with ideas. Here are five of my favourite speculative fiction titles which have been published in paperback in the last year.

This Time Tomorrow – Emma Straub

Emma Straub’s This Time Tomorrow is an excellent American novel in which a forty-year-old woman, Alice, keeps returning to her sixteenth birthday in 1996, and attempting to improve her life. I am always drawn to books with time travel, and those which show alternate lives. I thought this was very good on relationships and choices, and found it both witty and warm.

The Measure – Nikki Erlick

Alice is the only person who has ‘strange’ experiences in This Time Tomorrow, but in The Measure by Nikki Erlick the whole world has been affected by a new development. Everyone aged 21 and over simultaneously receives a box with a string in it showing how long their life will be. This plot raises all kinds of intriguing personal, social and political questions. People have to choose whether to open the box or not, and learn how to cope with the knowledge if it is unwelcome. Society has to decide whether others have a right to know if someone has a short piece of string. I found it compelling and very interesting, and I can see why it was a bestseller in America.

When Women Were Dragons – Kelly Barnhill

Perhaps a more obviously startling development occurs in When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill.  Some women in 1950s America turn into dragons. We see how this continues to affect the young daughter of one of these women as she grows up. I liked the basic premise, and the sense of hope. Indeed, I loved the book as a whole. This was published as YA, but I feel that adults would also greatly enjoy it. Please note that my enthusiasm is shared by Bonnie Garmus, the author of Lessons in Chemistry, who praised the novel as being ‘Completely fierce, unmistakably feminist, and subversively funny’.

Titanium Noir – Nick Harkaway 

Nick Harkaway turns to the relatively near future with Titanium Noir;  a book which successfully mixes genres as it is a science fiction novel with private eye elements. Detective Cal investigates the murder of a ‘titan’, someone who has received a new medical treatment which makes them both younger and bigger. I liked Cal and thought this was a good page-turner with interesting characters. I also much appreciated the dry humour.

Some Desperate Glory – Emily Tesh

Finally, Emily Tesh’s science fiction novel Some Desperate Glory is set in a world where Earth has been destroyed, and people have moved into space. I adored this space opera which has parallel universes, a lot of action, and many good characters. It was fascinating watching the female protagonist change and develop into a much more complex and likeable character. The book dealt with very interesting issues, and I thought it was brilliant.

These are only some of the really good works of speculative fiction which are available. There are many, many more, and I am always happy to provide suggestions!

Frances