Science Fiction Books

Every year, the judges for the Arthur C. Clarke Award select the best of the latest batch of new scifi books. In 2022, the science fiction award's shortlist includes new work from Nobel Prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro, a novel-in-verse from the Scottish writer Harry Josephine Giles, and a new title in Arkady Martine's beloved Teixcalaan series. Andrew M. Butler, academic and chair of the judges, talks us through the finalists.

Many works of science fiction and fantasy involve a character changed forever after they meet a powerful being—sometimes a god, sometimes a not-quite-god. Karen Lord, an award-winning sci-fi author whose latest novel combines the seductive powers of celebrity and alien contact, recommends five books where gods or god-like beings turn the hero’s world upside down.

Douglas Adams found huge success with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a surreal science fiction satire in which a dressing gown-clad Englishman finds himself roaming the multiverse in an improbability-powered spaceship. Here, Kevin Jon Davies—editor of a new book that puts together material from 60 boxes Adams left behind—talks us through the comedy writer's life and work.

The concept of parallel worlds is no more dubious than that of a single reality, and it's something that writers have known for centuries, says British novelist Joanna Kavenna. She recommends some of her favourite books that focus on parallel realities.

If you could go back, or forward, in time — would you? Science journalist and sci-fi novelist Annalee Newitz recommends some of the best time travel books and talks us through the dangers and delights of the genre, which take us from the Ordovician period through to the present day.

There needs to be a lot more sci-fi for kids, especially if it's got a good dose of horror, argues Dan Smith, author of the sci-fi mystery series Crooked Oak. He recommends five works of science fiction for 8 to 12 year olds, from books written more than half a century ago to more recent jewels.

Serious philosophy need not take the form of a journal article or monograph, argues the philosopher and U.C. Riverside professor Eric Schwitzgebel, as he selects five science fiction books that succeed both as novels and provocative thought experiments that push us to consider deep philosophical questions from every angle.

Fiction that explores issues of climate change is growing at an unprecedented rate today, says the journalist who coined the phrase 'cli-fi', Dan Bloom. Here, he picks the five best books of the field, and introduces us to a globally important, underexplored literary genre

Zombies have returned with a vengeance in recent years, the secret to their undying popularity lying in their ability to embody many different kinds of menace, from social unrest to pandemics, financial insecurity to international terrorism. Greg Garrett, author of Living with the Living Dead, recommends five books to help you prepare for the zombie apocalypse

Every year, the director of the Arthur C Clarke Award talks us through their six book shortlist. The 2021 crop of the best science fiction books features a "deliciously pulpy" space opera, a time travel story for young adults, and a cacophonous tale of talking animals. What they all have in common is that they are by debut authors, says Tom Hunter: they represent a new generation of sci fi writing.