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Getting Started with Science Fiction

I used to think I wasn’t a sci-fi reader. When a book was described as “science fiction,” I assumed there would be spaceships and extra terrestrials. While I know there are plenty of alien-themed science fiction novels (which is great—just not my jam), there also SO many that take place on earth and don’t have any UFOs to speak of.

So what makes a science fiction novel then? According to Masterclass, “science fiction is a genre of speculative fiction that contains imagined elements that don’t exist in the real world” and sci-fi novels “often explore time travel, space travel, are set in the future, and deal with the consequences of technological and scientific advances.”

With that definition, science fiction becomes a lot more inclusive. Here’s my science fiction reading list, perfect for anyone who wants to try some sci-fi but who isn’t sure where to start. I’m also sharing a few on my to-read list if you need a little more inspiration.

Getting Started with Science Fiction

Science Fiction Recommendations

Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks Dalton. Augustine is an astronomer living in a research outpost in the arctic, when rumors of war break out and the scientists are forced to evacuate. Augustine, however, refuses to leave. At the same time, Sullivan, an astronaut, is aboard a spaceship returning from Jupiter, when Mission Control goes silent and she and her crew mates start to wonder what they’re coming home to. That plot is what made me pick this one up, but what made it one I still think about is the way the author explored these big, catastrophic, world-is-ending themes in such a quiet, beautiful way. Pick this one up if you enjoy character-driven literary fiction.

Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel. As a child, Rose discovers an artifact that shapes the rest of her life. While out riding her bike, she falls into a large hole, its walls aglow with intricate designs. From above, the firemen who rescue her can see that she has fallen into a giant metal hand. As an adult, Rose is a scientist, and throughout the rest of the story she is being interviewed about her research on the same metal hand she discovered as a girl, as well as other body parts found throughout the world. It’s not one I would normally pick up, but I’m glad I did. It was compelling, creative, and well-written, and I was enthralled from the start. I think this would be a good pick for people who enjoy mysteries or courtroom dramas.

11/22/63 by Stephen King. All I knew about this one going in was that it was about JFK, but more sci-fi leaning than straight historical fiction. Neither of those are elements that would normally draw me to a book, but I ended up picking it up because so many readers, all with varied tastes, have recommended it. If you’ve never read Stephen King before and think he’s not for you, I’d encourage you to give 11/22/63 a try. If you read the book jacket blurb and think, “A book about JFK but with time travel? No thank you,” believe me when I say that I had the same initial reaction. There’s a reason why King is touted for being such a talented writer. He really pulled me in to the world he created, and from the beginning I was invested. It was a long book, but it didn’t feel long; in the story when someone time travels through the portal in the diner (stay with me, I swear!), no matter how long they’re there only two minutes have passed when they return. That was a bit how it was reading this book; I could sit there and read fifty pages, but it felt like only a couple minutes had passed.

The Martian by Andy Weir. You may know the premise for this one already, but Mark Watney is an astronaut (as well as a botanist and an engineer) and part of a manned mission to Mars. The rest of the crew is forced to evacuate and they leave Watney behind, thinking he is dead. Watney, meanwhile, is alive and stuck on Mars for the foreseeable future, with limited resources and no means of communication. This is another one I never would have picked up if it hadn’t been recommended by so many readers I trust (including my dad). Now it’s me recommending it to everyone I know… I could not put this book down. I enjoyed the writing, especially Watney’s sarcastic sense of humor, as well as the story’s suspenseful plot. I recommend this if you appreciate a main character with a good sense of humor.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. After a flu pandemic wipes out nearly every person worldwide, civilization as we know it collapses. This may feel a little too close to home right now, and it may not sound particularly cozy, but somehow Mandel weaves a beautiful, touching story into a bleak backdrop. This one is good for anyone who is ready to tiptoe into the world of pandemic literature, but doesn’t want anything that feels too much like our current reality.

Kindred by Octavia Butler. Dana, a Black woman, is newly married to her white husband in 1976, when she is suddenly transported into the past. She arrives in the antebellum South, where she saves Rufus, the son of a plantation owner, from drowning. She continues to travel back and forth through time, forming a complicated relationship with Rufus, whose life she saves repeatedly yet who refuses to see her as an equal. The way Butler wrote the time travel into the story was flawless—it felt like I was there with her during the gripping and often terrifying chapters when Dana went back in time, and the disorienting nature of her return to her modern life was palpable through the page. I can see why this novel is considered by many to be a classic. It was excellent, and perfect science fiction to try if you’re a historical fiction lover.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. Nora’s life isn’t at all what she thought it would be, and one night she decides to end it. Instead of dying, she wakes up in a library—one that exists in her mind—and she’s given the option of choosing to live out other lives, in parallel universes in which she made different decisions. In one, she was an Olympic swimmer, in another, a glaciologist, and even a singer in a famous band. This was such a fun, yet not overly light, read. This is great for anyone who loves contemporary fiction and a mix of plot and character development.

Scythe by Neal Shusterman. In this YA novel set in the future, the world has conquered death, disease, war, and hunger. In order to keep the population in check, people are appointed as scythes to selectively kill–and they are the only ones with the power to do so. This is the story of two young people chosen to be a scythe’s apprentices, and their struggle to both physically develop what it takes to kill, and mentally grapple with what being a scythe would mean for them. This dystopian novel is an excellent pick for anyone who loved the Hunger Games series.

My Science Fiction To-Be-Read (TBR) List

Now that I know that I do actually love a lot of science fiction novels, there are several that are high on my TBR.

Is science fiction a genre you usually pick up? What would you recommend?

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