Adrian Tchaikovsky 388 pages Orbit (2024)
Read this if you like: unique alien ecosystems, Rick Claypool, Vernor Vinge
tl;dr summary: Political prisoners in an Orwellian dystopia are sent to a labor camp on Kiln, a planet where the life is aggressively symbiotic and potentially sentient.
Carrie Gessner 419 pages Self-Published (2016)
Read this if you like: The Wheel of Time, David Eddings, character-driven high fantasy tl;dr summary: Three magic users in a world where magic is dying set out to avert war, solve a murder, and avoid bringing about a prophecied doom.
Leech Girl Lives Rick Claypool 307 pages Space Boy Books (2017)
Read this if you like: Philip K. Dick, high-tech dystopias, creature horror
tl;dr summary: Woman on far-future fungus-infested Earth gets leeches for arms, uses them to save humanity.
Rios de la Luz 143 pages Broken River Books (2017)
Read this if you like: Isabel Allende, V. Castro, Arundhati Roy
tl;dr summary: A pair of sisters in a magical family navigate the grief of losing their Abuelita, grow up
Isabelle Allende 443 pages Vintage Español (2011)
Read this if you like: Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Chilean history, genre-blurring coming-of-age novels
tl;dr summary: Teenager on the LAM finds refuge in a small village in Chile and learns about both herself and her family’s history in the process.
Anthony Veasna So 260 pages Ecco (2021)
Read this if you like: Karen Russell, Jennifer Egan, Alan Heathcock
Tl;dr summary: Various views of the day-to-day lives of Cambodian refugees in California.
Ann Leckie 407 pages Orbit Books (2019)
Read this if you like: Kerstin Hall’s Star Eater, N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth Trilogy, fantasy with unique voice & POVs
tl;dr summary: Fantasy-mystery-thriller narrated by an ancient god who shares highlights from his very, very long life along the way.
Hilary Hauck 387 pages Olive Rose Press (2023)
Read this if you like: historical fiction, unique POVs, intrigue-driven plots
tl;dr summary: Jilted British woman travels to Italy to find her suddenly departed lover, instead finds lies (and herself, natch)
Gustavo Bondoni 281 pages Guardbridge Books (2017)
tl;dr summary: Intergalactic expats return to Earth to find its humans now live entirely in a simulation.
Read this if you like: The Matrix, Vernor Vinge, Ann Leckie
Joanna Acevedo 196 pages Flexible Press (2021)
Read this if you like: Jennifer Wortman, Susan Minot, Alice Munroe
tl;dr summary: Glimpses in the lives of thirteen people who are all very bad at love each in their own unique way.
