August is usually a slower period for book releases, yet several science fiction titles stand out this month. These include stories of a vast authoritarian empire by Richard Swan and menacing sea creatures from Korean author Kim Bo-young. M. John Harrison’s The End of Everything, released earlier, has earned a spot on the Booker prize longlist, a rare achievement for the genre. The New Scientist Book Club is currently discussing Peter Heller’s The Dog Stars, a post-apocalyptic tale of survival after a devastating pandemic, with a film adaptation directed by Ridley Scott due soon.
Richard Swan’s The Infinite State centers on a galaxy-wide fascist regime. After her husband’s death, Katherine Fuller inherits great wealth and the opportunity to purchase a planet and build a more democratic society, though the empire may resist such change. The publisher compares it to Nineteen Eighty-Four and The Man in the High Castle.
Kim Bo-young’s A Plagued Sea, translated by Sophie Bowman, follows bodyguard Mu-young and her niece as they head to a remote Korean coastal village. An earthquake triggers an ancient plague that transforms victims into fish-like monsters, leading to a lockdown that traps them inside.
Tim Pratt’s The Jewel and the Comet is a space opera with romantic elements. Graduate student Glenn and his girlfriend Vivy, a spy, must halt a rogue comet while also recovering a jewel capable of destroying universes.
C.A. Fletcher’s The Two of Us at the End of the World depicts a future where humans can no longer reproduce. Two survivors, Mouse and Cat, navigate an almost empty world two centuries later.
Andrea Hairston’s The Redemption Center Is Closed on Sundays presents a multiverse murder mystery. A St Berdoodle named Oona and owner Zsuzsu investigate a celebrity’s death, with Oona able to cross dimensions and identify the culprit amid alien tricksters.
Nicole Brooks’s No Higher Ground describes a massive flood that strands Raven and her family on a rooftop for six tense hours, exploring human endurance against extreme natural forces.
W.H. Chizmar’s Them follows a government experiment that transports matter across space but returns with a dangerous entity. After a transport accident, an otherworldly threat spreads across a New England region, leaving one man fighting to survive three years later.
Jodi Taylor’s A Family Affair continues the time-traveling adventures of Lady Amelia Smallhope and Pennyroyal, who face new dangers tied to Pennyroyal’s hidden history.
