About Rob Wolf

Rob Wolf is a writer and host of New Books in Science Fiction.

Rob's website

NBN Episodes hosted by Rob:

Karen Lord, "The Blue, Beautiful World" (Del Rey, 2023)

July 6, 2023

The Blue, Beautiful World

Karen Lord
Hosted by Rob Wolf
Listen:

In science fiction, aliens who come to Earth are usually scary and menacing, aspiring to destroy, conquer, or even eat mankind. But the aliens in Kare…

Leslye Penelope, "The Monsters We Defy" (Redhook, 2022)

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 …

Annalee Newitz, "The Terraformers" (Tor Books, 2023)

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 a…

Joma West, "Face" (Tordotcom, 2022)

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 lad…

John Scalzi, "The Kaiju Preservation Society" (Tor Books, 2022)

June 9, 2022

The Kaiju Preservation Society

John Scalzi
Hosted by Rob Wolf

One could call The Kaiju Preservation Society (Tor Books, 2022) a pandemic novel because a) John Scalzi wrote it during the pandemic and b) the pandem…

Khan Wong, "The Circus Infinite" (Angry Robot, 2022)

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 h…

Mike Chen, "Light Years from Home: A Novel" (Mira Books, 2022)

March 10, 2022

Light Years from Home

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 th…

Tochi Onyebuchi, "Goliath" (Tordotcom, 2022)

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 gentrif…

Dan Hanks, "Swashbucklers" (Angry Robot, 2021)

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 f…

Patricia A. Jackson, "Forging a Nightmare" (Angry Robot, 2021)

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 h…

Elliot Ackerman and James Stavridis, "2034: A Novel of the Next World War" (Penguin, 2021)

November 26, 2021

2034

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 Wor…

Jennifer Marie Brissett, "Destroyer of Light" (Tor Books, 2021)

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 Phili…

Ryka Aoki, "Light from Uncommon Stars" (Tor Books, 2021)

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 …

Cadwell Turnbull, "No Gods, No Monsters" (Blackstone, 2021)

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 colonizati…

S. Qiouyi Lu, "In the Watchful City" (Tordotcom, 2021)

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’…

Jackson Ford, "Eye of the Sh*t Storm" (Orbit, 2021)

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 powe…

Gautam Bhatia, "The Wall" (Harper Collins, 2020)

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 hig…

Sarah Gailey, "The Echo Wife" (Tor Books, 2021)

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…

Andy Weir, "Project Hail Mary: A Novel" (Ballantine Books, 2021)

June 10, 2021

Project Hail Mary

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 invade…

Adrian Tchaikovsky, "The Doors of Eden" (Orbit, 2020)

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…

Ginger Smith, "The Rush's Edge" (Angry Robot, 2020)

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 galaxie…

Robbie Arnott, "The Rain Heron" (FSG Originals, 2021)

April 8, 2021

The Rain Heron

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 cl…

S. B. Divya, "Machinehood" (Gallery/Saga Press, 2021)

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 y…

Chris Panatier, "The Phlebotomist" (Angry Robot, 2020)

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, bod…