Listen to Owen Bennett-Jones discuss the future of opinion polls with Mark Pack

New Books Network

About Rob Wolf

Rob Wolf is the host of New Books in Science Fiction and the author of The Alternate Universe and The Escape.

Rob's website

NBN Episodes hosted by Rob:

Science Fiction May 5, 2022

The Circus Infinite

Khan Wong

Hosted by Rob Wolf
Few writers are as qualified to set their book in a circus as Khan Wong, who has not only performed in a circus but is an internationally recognized hula hoop …
Science Fiction March 10, 2022

Light Years from Home

A Novel

Mike Chen

Hosted by Rob Wolf
Literature is full of families torn apart by tragedy—death, war, crime. But what if the members of a family can’t agree on the cause of the tragedy that divides them …
Science Fiction February 17, 2022

Goliath

Tochi Onyebuchi

Hosted by Rob Wolf
Tochi Onyebuchi’s new novel Goliath (Tordotcom, 2022) features a phenomenon familiar to those of us who live in cities—gentrification.Like the gentrifiers of today who push out old-timers with high rents and coffee boutiques …
Science Fiction January 6, 2022

Swashbucklers

Dan Hanks

Hosted by Rob Wolf
Most people believe that when they grow up, they need to “put away childish things”—a wise strategy for holding a job, paying the rent and raising a family. But what …
Science Fiction December 16, 2021

Forging a Nightmare

Patricia A. Jackson

Hosted by Rob Wolf
Patricia A. Jackson’s debut novel Forging a Nightmare (Angry Robot, 2021) immerses the reader in a world of menace-—fallen angels and demigods whose history of alliances and resentments stretch to the beginning …
Science Fiction November 26, 2021

2034

A Novel of the Next World War

Elliot Ackerman and James Stavridis

Hosted by Rob Wolf
The next world war is 13 years away—that is, if you live in the world envisioned by Elliot Ackerman and James Stavridis, 2034: A Novel of the Next World War (Penguin, 2021) …
Science Fiction November 4, 2021

Destroyer of Light

Jennifer Marie Brissett

Hosted by Rob Wolf
Destroyer of Light (Tor Books, 2021) is Jennifer Marie Brissett’s long-awaited follow up to her critically acclaimed debut Elysium, winner of a Philip K. Dick Special Citation and a finalist …
Science Fiction October 14, 2021

Light From Uncommon Stars

Ryka Aoki

Hosted by Rob Wolf
Ryka Aoki’s new novel, Light from Uncommon Stars (Tor Books, 2021), is packed with as much variety as a box of lovingly prepared assorted donuts from your favorite, funky-but-long-standing neighborhood donut …
Science Fiction September 23, 2021

No Gods, No Monsters

Cadwell Turnbull

Hosted by Rob Wolf
Cadwell Turnbull appeared on New Books in Science Fiction two years ago to discuss his debut novel, The Lesson, about an alien invasion and colonization of Earth, centered around Turnbull's …
Science Fiction September 2, 2021

In the Watchful City

S. Qiouyi Lu

Hosted by Rob Wolf
It’s no coincidence that one of the main characters in S. Qiouyi Lu’s In the Watchful City carries with ser a qíjìtáng, or cabinet of curiosities. Lu’s novella is, itself …
Science Fiction August 12, 2021

Eye of the Sh*t Storm

Jackson Ford

Hosted by Rob Wolf
Jackson Ford has some things in common with his protagonist, Teagan Frost. Both use nom de plumes. And both can move sh*t. With her telekinetic powers, Teagan can move inorganic …
Science Fiction July 22, 2021

The Wall

Gautam Bhatia

Hosted by Rob Wolf
Gautam Bhatia’s debut novel The Wall (Harper Collins, 2020) is set in Sumer, a city enclosed in an impenetrable, unscalable barrier that seems sky high. To its inhabitants, whose ancestors have lived …
Science Fiction July 1, 2021

The Echo Wife

Sarah Gailey

Hosted by Rob Wolf
Where does DNA end and the soul begin? It’s a question that Evelyn Caldwell, the brilliant genetic researcher at the center of Sarah Gailey’s The Echo Wife, never asks as she …
Science Fiction June 10, 2021

Project Hail Mary

A Novel

Andy Weir

Hosted by Rob Wolf
A story about an alien invasion typically revolves around diplomacy, military strategy, technological one-upmanship, and brinksmanship. But the invaders in Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary: A Novel (Ballantine Books, 2021) …
Science Fiction May 20, 2021

The Doors of Eden

Adrian Tchaikovsky

Hosted by Rob Wolf
In Adrian Tchaikovsky’s The Doors of Eden (Orbit, 2020) the multiverse is filled with parallel Earths where evolution takes different twists and turns. The forks in the road and the paths species …
Science Fiction April 29, 2021

The Rush's Edge

Ginger Smith

Hosted by Rob Wolf
Space operas take readers far from Earth with stories about alien cultures and battles between good and evil. But while usually set in distant galaxies in the far flung future …
Science Fiction April 8, 2021

The Rain Heron

A Novel

Robbie Arnott

Hosted by Rob Wolf
At the end of its life, the phoenix bursts into flames and a younger bird rises from the ashes. The roc is large enough to carry an elephant in its …
Science Fiction March 18, 2021

Machinehood

S.B. Divya

Hosted by Rob Wolf
The title of S. B. Divya’s debut novel, Machinehood (Gallery/Saga Press, 2021), refers to an underground band of rebels (or terrorists, depending on your view) who threaten to unplug the world from …
Science Fiction February 25, 2021

The Phlebotomist

Chris Panatier

Hosted by Rob Wolf
Humans have found many ways to divide and stratify—by skin color, ancestry, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, health status, body type or size, and so on. The list is …
Science Fiction February 4, 2021

The Light Years

R. W. W. Greene

Hosted by Rob Wolf
Arranged marriages have been around for centuries, and in The Light Years (Angry Robot, 2020), R.W.W. Greene imagines they’ll be around for centuries more. With the addition of speed-of-light travel, Greene’s …
Science Fiction January 14, 2021

Black Sun

Rebecca Roanhorse

Hosted by Rob Wolf
The first chapter of Rebecca Roanhorse’s new novel, Black Sun (Gallery/Saga Press, 2020), features a mother and child sharing a tender moment that takes an unexpected turn, ending in violence. It’s …
Science Fiction December 24, 2020

The Ministry for the Future

Kim Stanley Robinson

Hosted by Rob Wolf
The Ministry for the Future (Orbit, 2020) is a sweeping novel about climate change and how people of the near future start to slow, stop and reverse it. The story opens with …
Science Fiction November 25, 2020

The Once and Future Witches

Alix E. Harrow

Hosted by Rob Wolf
Alix E. Harrow’s The Once and Future Witches (Redhook, 2020) begins with the familiar phrase “Once upon a time” but the novel is anything but a traditional fairytale. Yes, there are …
Science Fiction October 29, 2020

Ring Shout

P. Djèlí Clark

Hosted by Rob Wolf
P. Djèlí Clark’s new novella, Ring Shout (Tordotcom, 2020) is a fantasy built around an ugly moment in American history—the emergence of the second Ku Klux Klan in the early …