Fav. Science Fiction Novels
Explore the best science fiction novels of all time! Discover top-rated books, must-read classics, and hidden gems in our curated list of favorite sci-fi reads.
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The Snow Queen
by Joan D. Vinge
An epic, Hugo Award-winning novel that draws upon the classic Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale The Snow Queen.
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Archangel Protocol
by Lyda Morehouse
First the LINK--an interactive, implanted computer--transformed society. Then came the angels--cybernetic manifestations that claimed to be working God's will. But former cop Deidre McMannus has had her LINK implant removed--for a crime she didn't commit. And she's never believed in the angels. But all that will change when a man named Michael appears at her door.
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China Mountain Zhang
by Maureen F. McHugh
China Mountain Zhang, a Chineselooking New Yorker, travels the world and tackles the demanding discipline of jacked-in Organic Engineering in the 22nd century.
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Air
by Geoff Ryman
What happens when the whole world goes online . . . through the air? A brilliant literary SF novel by the author of 253.
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Infoquake
by David Louis Edelman
Natch, a master of biologics, the programming of the human body, has suddenly come to the attention of Margaret Surina, the owner of a mysterious new technology called MultiReal. Only by enlisting Natch's devious mind can Margaret keep MultiReal out of the hands of High Executive Len Borda and his ruthless armies.
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The Last Hawk
by Catherine Asaro
A space warrior lands his damaged ship on a planet run by women and is enslaved by them. He is Kelric Valdoria, a prince of the Skolan Empire and he is put to work as a political adviser, and as a lover.
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Solitaire
by Kelley Eskridge
Now a motion picture: OtherLife. A New York Times Notable Book, Borders Original Voices selection, and Nebula, Endeavour, and Spectrum Award finalist. "Suspenseful and inspiring."--School Library Journal "A stylistic and psychological tour de force."--The New York Times Book Review Jackal Segura is a Hope: born to responsibility and privilege as a symbol of a fledgling world government. Soon she'll become part of the global administration, sponsored by the huge corporation that houses, feeds, employs, and protects her and everyone she loves. Then, just as she discovers that everything she knows is a lie, she becomes a pariah, a murderer: a person with no community and no future. Grief-stricken and alone, she is put into an experimental program designed to inflict the experience of years of solitary confinement in a few short months: virtual confinement in a sealed cell within her own mind. Afterward, branded and despised, she returns to a world she no longer knows. Struggling to make her way, she has a chance to rediscover her life, her love, and her soul--in a strange place of shattered hopes and new beginnings called Solitaire. Kelley Eskridge is a novelist, essayist, and screenwriter. Her stories have received the Astraea Award and been adapted for television. A movie based on Solitaire is in development. She lives in Seattle with her partner, novelist Nicola Griffith.
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Parable of the Sower
by Octavia E. Butler
In a futuristic society filled with chaos, young Lauren Olamina begins a journey that will test her will and ultimately start a new faith. Includes questions for discussion.
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Seed to Harvest
by Octavia E. Butler
The Patternist novels details a secret history continuing from the Ancient Egyptian period to the far future that involves telepathic mind control and an extraterrestrial plague.
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Warchild
by Karin Lowachee
When Jos' parents are killed in an attack on their trading ship, the boy is kidnapped by the attackers and then escapes - only to fall into the alien hands of humanity's greatest enemies. He is soon coerced into becoming a spy against the human race.
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Cagebird
by Karin Lowachee
Pirate Protege At age four, Yuri Kirov watched his home colony destroyed by the alien enemy. By six, he was a wounded soul, fending for himself in a desolate refugee camp, and still a child when the pirates found him. Now twenty-two, Yuri is a killer, a spy, an arms dealer, and a pirate captain himself-doing life in prison. That is until EarthHub Black Ops agents decide to make Yuri their secret weapon in a covert interstellar power grab. Released from jail, but put on a leash by the government, Yuri is more trapped than ever. Controlled by men even more ruthless than the brigands he's ordered to betray, Yuri is back again in deep space where his survival depends on a dangerous act: trusting a stranger's offer of help...
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The Speed of Dark
by Elizabeth Moon
Thoughtful, provocative, poignant, unforgettable, The Speed of Dark is a gripping journey into the mind of an autistic person as he struggles with profound questions of humanity and matters of the heart. In the near future, disease will be a condition of the past. Most genetic defects will be removed at birth; the remaining during infancy. Lou Arrendale, a high-functioning autistic adult, is a member of the lost generation, born at the wrong time to reap the rewards of medical science. He lives a low-key, independent life. But then he is offered a chance to try a brand-new experimental “cure” for his condition. With this treatment Lou would think and act and be just like everyone else. But if he was suddenly free of autism, would he still be himself? Would he still love the same classical music—with its complications and resolutions? Would he still see the same colors and patterns in the world—shades and hues that others cannot see? Most important, would he still love Marjory, a woman who may never be able to reciprocate his feelings? Now Lou must decide if he should submit to a surgery that might completely change the way he views the world . . . and the very essence of who he is. Tenth anniversary edition • With a new Introduction by the author Praise for The Speed of Dark “Splendid and graceful . . . A lot of novels promise to change the way a reader sees the world; The Speed of Dark actually does.”—The Washington Post Book World “[A] beautiful and moving story . . . [Elizabeth] Moon is the mother of an autistic teenager and her love is apparent in the story of Lou. He makes a deep and lasting impact on the reader while showing a different way of looking at the world.”—The Denver Post “Every once in a while, you come across a book that is both an important literary achievement and a completely and utterly absorbing reading experience—a book with provocative ideas and an equally compelling story. Such a book is The Speed of Dark.”—Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel “A remarkable journey [that] takes us into the mind of an autistic with a terrible choice: become normal or remain an alien on his own planet.”—Mary Doria Russell, author of The Sparrow “A powerful portrait . . . an engaging journey into the dark edges that define the self.”—The Seattle Times
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The Living Blood
by Tananarive Due
Award-winning author Tananarive Due's spine-tingling tale of supernatural suspense "weaves a stronger net than ever" ("Kirkus Reviews") as a woman searches for inherited power that can save her hometown from the forces of evil.
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Survival
by Julie Czerneda
After her partner is kidnapped and the Earth is attacked by an alien race called the Ro, biologist Dr. Mackenzie Connor is forced into helping an alien archaeologist discover the truth behind the area of space known as the Chasm. Reprint.
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A Door Into Ocean
by Joan Slonczewski
The Sharers of Shora are a nation of women on a distant moon in the far future who are pacifists, who are highly advanced in biological sciences, and who reproduce by parthenogenesis-- because there are no males. Conflict erupts when a neighboring civilization decides to develop their ocean world and sends in an army.
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Slan
by Alfred Elton Van Vogt
After escaping extermination by the humans, young Jommy Cross searches for th meaning of the Slans' great mental superiority.