Fiction Five: Explorations of science fiction

This October five authors will have you gazing toward the future with wonder or searching into the cosmos for answers. Speculative premises and epic world-building abound in these tales with elements of science fiction. If you’re looking for thrills and exploration, look no further than these new fiction releases.

Hole in the Sky by Daniel H. Wilson

On the Great Plains of Oklahoma, in the heart of the Cherokee Nation, Jim Hardgray notices a strange atmospheric disturbance. Jim Hardgray is a down-on-his-luck single father trying to reconnect with his teenage daughter. At NASA’s headquarters in Houston, Texas, astrophysicist Dr. Mikayla Johnson observes an interaction with the Voyager 1 spacecraft on the far side of the solar system. She concludes something enormous and unidentified is heading directly for Earth. And in an undisclosed bunker somewhere in the United States an American threat forecaster known only as the Man Downstairs intercepts a cryptic communication. He sends a message directly to the president and highest-ranking military brass: “First contact imminent."

“A first contact story, Hole in the Sky seems a familiar tale. Yet in its telling, Daniel H. Wilson chooses the road less traveled by. Wielding immediate prose and Native mythology, Wilson draws on his own deep roots to weave a story that is not only thrilling and personal, but an important addition to the landscape of science fiction.” — Pierce Brown, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Red Rising series

Conform by Ariel Sullivan

A lifelong outcast, 27 year-old Emeline spends her days alone sorting ancient art for destruction. Centuries after a catastrophic war nearly decimated humanity, society is now ruled by an elusive and technologically advanced group called the Illum. They constantly monitor the population’s health and mandate procreation contracts.

Emeline’s bleak existence is shattered when for the first time in decades an Illum named Collin takes a mate: Emeline. Baffled as to why she was chosen, Emeline is swept into the dangerous game of the Courting where one wrong move can mean elimination. Soon she discovers a rebellion rising in secret and her Mate may be keeping secrets of his own. Collin is confusing. He's both cold and protective. Emeline finds herself drawn to the very last person she should be falling for, one of the leaders of the resistance.

“Compulsively readable and vividly written—it kept me awake long past my bedtime! Ariel Sullivan is a writer to watch.”—Sarah J. Maas, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Court of Thorns and Roses

Simultaneous by Eric Heisserer

Federal agent Grant Lukather works for an unknown department of Homeland Security called Predictive Analytics. They look for patterns in tips and chatter to prevent a terrorist event before it happens. One of these calls about a possible explosion in New Mexico leads Grant to a case with unimaginable consequences.

He meets Sarah Newcomb, a therapist who uses past-life hypnosis in her treatment but has recently stumbled upon a phenomenon that seems to defy logic. Grant follows this thread to another crime: a copycat killer case in Colorado. With the help of one of Sarah’s patients, they embark on an investigation that spans multiple states, timelines and consciousnesses. With limited time and only a tenuous grasp of how this phenomenon works, the unlikely trio are in a race for their lives — past, present and future.

“Oscar-nominated screenwriter Heisserer debuts with a mind-bending sci-fi thriller.... nuanced characterizations make it easy to buy into his plot, which dazzles with its manipulations of time and its jaw-dropping reveals. This auspicious first outing will excite fans of Blake Crouch.” ― Publishers Weekly

Local Heavens by K.M. Fajardo

New York City, 2075. Filipino American Nick Carraway has just moved to the heart of the fractured New Americas. He’s struck by the city’s contradictions of shining corporate towers casting bleak shadows over the slums of a crumbling middle class.

When Nick meets alluring, new-money Jay Gatsby, he falls for Gatsby’s frank charm and confident aura. But in a city where the wealthy flaunt tech-enhanced bodies to cheat death, surfaces aren’t all they seem. As a corporate-sanctioned cyberspace hacker, Nick knows no secret can stay buried forever. He’s the reason they don’t. And his latest assignment is to investigate Gatsby himself.

As Nick becomes entangled in the dark affairs of the elite and the devastating fallout of their actions on the city’s most vulnerable he must reckon with the limits of compassion and accountability across class and status. What takes precedence: Love or truth? Heart or soul?

“Gorgeous, decadent atmosphere. Local Heavens pierces to the core of an American classic, transforming the original Gatsby’s prosperity and prohibition into an era of technological dominance and the consequences therein. An exemplary execution of the cyberpunk genre.” — Chloe Gong, New York Times bestselling author of Immortal Longings

Red City by Marie Lu

Alchemy is the hidden art of transformation. An exclusive power wielded by crime syndicates that market it to the world’s elites in the form of sand, a drug that enhances those who take it into a more perfect version of themselves. They become more beautiful, more charismatic, simply more.

Among the gleaming skyscrapers and rolling foothills of Angel City, alchemy is controlled by two rival syndicates. For years, Grand Central and Lumines have been balanced on a razor’s edge between polite negotiation and outright violence. But when two childhood friends step into that delicate equation, the city and the paths of their lives will be irrevocably transformed.

The daughter of a poor single mother, Sam would do anything to claw her way into the ranks of Grand Central in search of a better life. Plucked away from his family as a boy to become a Lumines apprentice, Ari is one of the syndicates' brightest rising stars. Once they might have loved each other. But as the two alchemists face off across opposite sides of an ever-escalating conflict, ambition becomes power, loyalty becomes lies, and no transformation may be perfect enough for them both to survive the coming war.

“Red City introduces a stunning new world with complex, morally grey characters who will steal your heart! I couldn't put it down!” ― Katee Robert, New York Times bestselling author of Neon Gods