Help Support the NBN on Patreon | Visit New Books Network en Español!

New Books Network
Science Fiction
Science Fiction June 1, 2023

The Archive Undying

Emma Mieko Candon

Hosted by Brenda Noiseux
The Archive Undying (Tordotcom, 2023) is Emma Mieko Candon’s ambitious epic science fiction novel about intertwined human survivors following the violent fall of cities run by AI entities so massive, they …

Science Fiction

Subscribe:

Interviews with writers of science fiction and scholars of science fiction about their new books.

Science Fiction May 4, 2023

Descendant Machine

Gareth L. Powell

Hosted by Rob Wolf and Brenda Noiseux
Gareth L. Powell’s Descendant Machine (Titan Books, 2023) is set about 200 years in the future, and yet the recent explosion in A.I. technology suggests Powell’s imagined future—in which the …
Literature April 19, 2023

House of Sleep

Brad Kelly

Hosted by Kendall Dinniene
Today I talked to Brad Kelly about his novel House of Sleep (2021). A cerebral PsyFi thriller that will break your heart and then set it free. Think Chuck Palahniuk …
Science Fiction March 30, 2023

The Monsters We Defy

Leslye Penelope

Hosted by Rob Wolf
Leslye Penelope’s latest novel, The Monsters We Defy (Redhook, 2022), takes readers to a version of 1920s Washington D.C. where bootleggers, powerful spirits, and humans blessed (and burdened) with enchantments …
Literature March 27, 2023

The Mountain in the Sea

A Novel

Ray Nayler

Hosted by Frances Sacks
Humankind discovers intelligent life in an octopus species with its own language and culture, and sets off a high-stakes global competition to dominate the future.The transnational tech corporation DIANIMA has …
Burned by Books March 24, 2023

Flux

Jinwoo Chong

Hosted by Chris Holmes
Four days before Christmas, 8-year-old Bo loses his mother in a tragic accident, 28-year-old Brandon loses his job after a hostile takeover of his big-media employer, and 48-year-old Blue, a …
Science Fiction March 2, 2023

The Ten Percent Thief

Lavanya Lakshminarayan

Hosted by Brenda Noiseux
In Lavanya Lakshminarayan’s science fiction novel, The Ten Percent Thief (Solaris, 2023), is set in a world centered on meritocracy, where everyone is judged on the Bell Curve. Apex City …
Science Fiction February 2, 2023

Where it Rains in Color

Denise Crittendon

Hosted by Rob Wolf and Brenda Noiseux
Denise Crittendon’s debut science fiction novel,Where it Rains in Color (Angry Robot, 2022), is set far in the future, long after the Earth has been destroyed, on the planet of …
Science Fiction January 5, 2023

The Terraformers

Annalee Newitz

Hosted by Rob Wolf
In their new novel, The Terraformers (Tor Books, 2023), Annalee Newitz leaps 60,000 years into the future, redefining ideas of peoplehood, democracy and love. A diverse array of characters—hominids, animals …
Recall This Book December 15, 2022

Books in Dark Times

A Discussion with Kim Stanley Robinson

Kim Stanley Robinson

Hosted by Elizabeth Ferry and John Plotz
Kim Stanley Robinson, SF novelist of renown, has three marvelous trilogies: The Three Californias, Science in the Capital and Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars. But lately it is …
Science Fiction December 1, 2022

Leech

Hiron Ennes

Hosted by Brenda Noiseux
“Soft sci-fi, gothic body horror” is how Hiron Ennes describes their debut novel, Leech (Tordotcom, 2022). But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Set in an isolated winter chateau …
Writ Large November 15, 2022

On H. G. Well's "The Time Machine"

A Discussion with Sarah Cole

Sarah Cole

Hosted by Zachary Davis
When H.G. Wells was growing up in England in the 1860s, science wasn’t part of education or everyday life the way it is now. Even though the 19th century was …
Critical Theory November 8, 2022

Women Negotiating Feminism and Science Fiction Fandom

The Case of the "Good" Fan

Neta Yodovich

Hosted by Dave O'Brien
How do women balance feminist identities whilst being science fiction fans? In Women Negotiating Feminism and Science Fiction Fandom: The Case of the “Good” Fan (Palgrave MacMillan, 2022), Neta Yodovich …
Science Fiction November 3, 2022

Eversion

Alastair Reynolds

Hosted by Rob Wolf and Brenda Noiseux
In Alastair Reynolds’ Eversion (Orbit, 2022), the setting keep changing—the epoch, location, and technology—but the characters remain more or less the same as they carry out an expedition to a …
High Theory October 26, 2022

Halloween Special: Schrödinger’s Cat Redux

A Discussion with Gina Dominick

Gina Dominick

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu
Kim talks with Gina Dominick about Ursula Le Guin’s short story “Schrödinger’s Cat” and the philosophical stakes of Schrödinger’s thought experiment. Le Guin’s story was published in her collection, The …
Recall This Book October 6, 2022

Virtual Reality as Immersive Enclosure, with Paul Roquet (EF, JP)

A Discussion with Paul Roquet (EF, JP)

Paul Roquet

Hosted by Elizabeth Ferry and John Plotz
Paul Roquet is an MIT associate professor in media studies and Japan studies; his earlier work includes Ambient Media. It was his recent mind-bending The Immersive Enclosure that prompted John …
Science Fiction October 6, 2022

The Sleepless

Victor Manibo

Hosted by Brenda Noiseux
Part mystery, part thriller, with a splash of cyberpunk, Victor Manibo’s debut novel The Sleepless (Erewhon, 2022) imagines a near-future New York City where a quarter of the population has lost …
Recall This Book September 15, 2022

The Work of Inhabiting a Role

Novel Dialogue Crossover, JP

Charles Yu and Chris Fan

Hosted by Elizabeth Ferry and John Plotz
Charles Yu won the 2020 National Book Award for Interior Chinatown but some of us became fans a decade earlier, with How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe …
Science Fiction September 8, 2022

Face

Joma West

Hosted by Rob Wolf
People have always cared about their social status and how others perceive them, but advances in technology have changed how we ascend the social ladder, giving us new tools to …
Science Fiction August 11, 2022

The Women Could Fly

Megan Giddings

Hosted by Rob Wolf and Brenda Noiseux
The Women Could Fly (Amistad, 2022) is set in our contemporary world with one big difference. A belief in witches gives rise to laws and a culture that encourages women …