Recommendations from our site
“It’s 1952 – hence, the alternate history – and a meteorite has hit the USA. The immediate death and destruction is vast (and politically destructive too), but the real issue is down the road: as deduced by our protagonist Elma, the climate consequences are imminent and will make earth uninhabitable. The push for space begins. But it’s 1952, and sexism frustrates Elma’s push to be involved with the mission itself. When she makes it onto the team she’s a figurehead as the ‘lady astronaut’, and not everyone is pleased…Kowal is reliably fun to read; Reactor Mag said of Calculating Stars, ‘The end of the world is no laughing matter, but Kowal knows well the importance of levity, and the healing power of a laugh.’” Read more...
“It’s a really fascinating piece of almost-historical fiction about space colonization, which is weird to say because we haven’t actually colonized space historically. It’s an alternate history where in the 1950s, a meteorite crashes into Chesapeake Bay and takes out the Eastern Seaboard. The scientists figure out that based on the climate change caused by that, Earth has got about 50 years left before it’s uninhabitable. This is set in a world just like ours, where the space program was just starting to get off the ground, but now suddenly is motivated by the survival of the species instead of the Cold War. It’s a really well-researched book, looking at, ‘OK, what if the US space program had been really focused on saving humanity?’” Read more...
The Best Sci Fi Books on Space Settlement
Erika Nesvold, Physicist
