32 Highly Anticipated Sci-Fi and Fantasy Reads for Summer

The ignorance in the comments. 😭 Like most of SFF was never political to begin with or are y'all saying that authors of color can't write SFF well?

This list seems to have annoyed all the right people.

Fantastic list.

Interesting hardly anyone writes this genre outside North America according to goodreads.

A lot of the comments on this post, especially about how "woke" and "ethnic" this list is and how there a lot of female writers, are so disgusting. Just say you're racist and a misogynist without an ounce of imagination or the brain capacity to understand settings not based in medieval Europe.

Baz wrote: "Where is Joe Abercrombie in this list? The Wisdom of Crowds is due out in September. Perhaps the plethora of female authors crowded another male out of the list...."

I like how you are complaining that Joe Abercrombie's Wisdom of Crowds is not in a list of summer SFF releases when it was slated to come out in SEPTEMBER.

Also the fact that Wisdom of Crowds in ACTUALLY in the list even though it is an autumn release. Maybe this male author crowded another female author out of the list instead?

boosting and highlighting diverse books--which otherwise might slip under the radar--is good, actually.

this is a great list. looking forward to reading many of the books here.

Garry wrote: "Brandon Sanderson save us! Please write Doors of Stone for Patrick Rothfuss. We give up waiting for this conclusion which seemingly will never come."

Lol! Yes, that would be nice, wouldn't it?

This list is perfect! Please don't let misogynist and racist people get to you! They can find tons of books written by white men in all the bookshops front shelves!
Moving on to the important facts I am beyond excited for MR P. Djèlí Clark's new novel!

Tasha wrote: "Simon wrote: "I'm in total agreement with Lydia and Morten. The only title that interests me is the new Andy Weir novel. I have read four novels of N.K. Jemison , an African American female author,..."

I don't mind the list, I bet there will be many great books. But racism does not exclude anybody, we can all end up on the wrong side. Yes, some are much more likely to be exposed to than others.

This is a pretty much guaranteed week-by-week prediction of what I will be doing for the rest of the year. Not that I’m complaining mind you 😝

Morten wrote: "It seems very biased towards female and ethnic authors/stories.
It may be a good thing. I'm not sure, I wouldn't be aware of most of them otherwise. It can be nice with a fresh perspective on litt..."

What kind of a stupid comment is this? I agree with most people here, and you know what - there were waaaaaaay too many white men writing sci-fi novels before, hardly any female authors. And now that we’re here to rule this genre, people like you can’t take it. Like grow up already. There is a balance already - it’s called women get to rule this genre too, not just white men. God, so sick of this type of thinking. Thank god female sci-fi authors ain’t gonna back down and let these types of comments ruin their publishing of sci-fi books. Go women who write sci-fi. 👩🏻‍💻

So excited for these novels, honestly.

Love the diversity. It’s so important to read stories from people who don’t look like me.

Sherna wrote: "A lot of the comments on this post, especially about how "woke" and "ethnic" this list is and how there a lot of female writers, are so disgusting. Just say you're racist and a misogynist without a..."

+1

Couldn't say it better.

Pretty pumped for Girl One. :D

Wonderful list! I’m excited to read some of these and I appreciate the thoughtful curation.

Shane wrote: "Sadly, I agree. Once upon a time, we would go looking for fantasy/SF books. Now we are herded toward minority-written works, which I never thought should be a determining factor for my reading choices. The ironic thing is that most of the SF/fantasy stuff I read contains characters across multitudes of races, nationalities, even species of beings, with heroes being as likely female as male. Why then does it matter who wrote them? If the majority of fantasy and SF books are race, gender and species diverse, is it that important what the writer's skin color or gender is?."

Your argument makes zero sense.
If race and gender do not matter in an author, then why are you upset about authors that aren't white and male????

Quite a comprehensive list. Well done.

I've a couple already on my TBR (Ariadne and Son of the Storm) & have now added We Are Satellites. Also, likely an appeal into the void but, splitting science fiction and fantasy would be appreciated. I find these are often fantasy heavy.

Still, here are the science fiction & speculative fiction books I'm most looking forward to (between May & August):

Immunity Index by Sue Burke, Platformed by Kelsey Josund, Reset by Sarina Dahlan, How to Mars by David Edenbach, Midnight, Water City by Chris McKinney and The Freedom Race by Lucinda Roy.

Anything that doesn't have to do with "identity."

Lydia wrote: "So much woke."
Definitely some "Institutional capture" going on in sci-fi :)

Morten wrote: "It seems very biased towards female and ethnic authors/stories.
It may be a good thing. I'm not sure, I wouldn't be aware of most of them otherwise. It can be nice with a fresh perspective on litt..."

It's usually based on how many times they're added to people's Want to Read list.

Baz wrote: "Where is Joe Abercrombie in this list? The Wisdom of Crowds is due out in September. Perhaps the plethora of female authors crowded another male out of the list...."

Last Row, the RED COVER with the words COVER TO BE RELEASED and the black disk with ORBIT under it.

Fieldstar wrote: "Tasha wrote: "Simon wrote: "I'm in total agreement with Lydia and Morten. The only title that interests me is the new Andy Weir novel. I have read four novels of N.K. Jemison , an African American ..."

Hey Fieldstar, I am not quite sure what you are trying to say with this comment. Racism is built upon inequality and is an institution made by white people for the benefit of white people. Racism against white people is not possible because white people established and profit off it. Hopefully I misinterpreted what you were trying to say

Debbie wrote: "

It's on the bottom the second book listed. You probably missed it because the cover art appears not to be ready yet, so it just says "Cover to Be Revealed". It's not an anti-male author conspiracy. ;)
"

Other publishers of this book do have their cover art ready.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
Shame this edition wasn't selected.

Most people already said what I wanted to say. But people saying that "just now" SF/F are being "woke" or too "political" must have never read the genre before. THEY HAVE ALWAYS BEEN LIKE THAT! What have you been reading? Or if someone who is not white shows up it automatically makes it political? Or is your escapist fantasy a place only white men are allowed.

LOL "If only the male perspective could be explored for once"
Pathetic.

Interested in many of these! Thanks for the list.

Looking at the books on this list that I’ve previously put on my TBR, 3 are women authors, 2 are male, and 2 are unknown (just initials). Doesn’t matter who writes it, if it’s a good story I’ll read it!

Please add THE BOY WITH FIRE. It's a adult fantasy book by an indie author coming out in August. It's got a BIPOC cast, a badass, female protagonist, heart-wrenching villains, and Indian-inspired mythology. I loved reading it *so much* as a beta reader.

Wai wrote:

I like how you are complaining that Joe Abercrombie's Wisdom of Crowds is not in a list of summer SFF releases when it was slated to come out in SEPTEMBER."

September is a summer month. Even when it's in all caps. :)

Thank you for this wonderful list!! So disheartening to read the comments of the narrow-minded "aLl AuThOrS mAtTeR" crowd. I'm particularly excited for Suyi's novel after reading his well-articulated response to a review. I think some commenters here could learn how to decentralize America, and specifically white men, as their default view of the world.

Honestly absurd that people in these comments are complaining about "wokeness" and "bias" when..what.. half the authors are women, and a decent number are not white (although a TON are). Oh wow...50% of the population is represented evenly??? Heaven forbid. Let's go back to the dark ages immediately. If Brandon Sanderson, Joe Abercrombie, and Patrick Rothfuss don't dominate the list, it's obviously trash...

And if it is more than 50%...so? When female and non-white readers have put up with decades of only white men writing fantasy...not being represented except in fetishized or stereotyped ways, we still bought those books. Because that's how much we love fantasy. Some of you need to honestly act like adults.

Kasi wrote: "Tasha wrote: "Simon wrote: "I'm in total agreement with Lydia and Morten. The only title that interests me is the new Andy Weir novel. I have read four novels of N.K. Jemison , an African American ..."

I totally did. This was a great response.

Was hoping to see a new 'Foreigner' book by CJ Cherryh in this listing --- but no luck! And, surely some of the 'older' 'established' SF authors have new books out in the next 12 months? I did not recognize any of the names in these listings - happy to try them, though! And, yes - Honorverse is one I like --- no new books?

I look at the covers and none of them leap out at me like they used to; modern covers show me nothing about the book. Over the years I have discovered dozens of books/series that I loved just be the cover. I miss that; now I have to work harder.

I‘m almost finished with David Mogo Godhunter by Okungbowa and it is pretty good. I am vacillating between 4 and 5 stars. I will have a look at the above mentioned Son of the Storm.

Morten wrote: "It seems very biased towards female and ethnic authors/stories.
It may be a good thing. I'm not sure, I wouldn't be aware of most of them otherwise. It can be nice with a fresh perspective on litt..."

Don't read them then.

Here's one they left off!

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...

I‘m looking forward to Questland by Carrie Vaughn.

I just wish high fantasy and hard sci-fi wasn't lumped together...

Morten wrote: "It seems very biased towards female and ethnic authors/stories.
It may be a good thing. I'm not sure, I wouldn't be aware of most of them otherwise. It can be nice with a fresh perspective on litt..."

maybe just stop being so White Male?
Just sayin'...

Simon wrote: "I'm in total agreement with Lydia and Morten. The only title that interests me is the new Andy Weir novel. I have read four novels of N.K. Jemison , an African American female author, and love her ..."

This is one list on one website. You can find white authors everywhere you look. History is full of white male authors; their books survived and were mostly made into the literary "canon."
Also, it's okay to say black.

Listopia's Best books of 2021 has The Zero Signal in third place, but it didn't make this list?

I mean, for sure it's not well known, but those who do know it seem to love it more than the massively better known books in the first two places.

Oh, and it's sci-fi. In third place on a general genre list.

Full disclosure: of course I know Rick personally, and voted his book up on that list, so I have some interest in boosting his visibility. But it's not a financial interest; I stand to gain absolutely nothing.

Lois wrote: "Shane wrote: "Sadly, I agree. Once upon a time, we would go looking for fantasy/SF books. Now we are herded toward minority-written works, which I never thought should be a determining factor for m..."

Exactly what I came here to say...why get butthurt if none of those factors apply to your reading choices anyway? Good example of your bias.

Wonder what the list would be like if the creator had no knowledge of the demographics of the authors for the books that would be included.

Shane wrote: "Simon wrote: "I'm in total agreement with Lydia and Morten. The only title that interests me is the new Andy Weir novel. I have read four novels of N.K. Jemison , an African American female author,..."

Uh, because we get different and interesting stories that way!! I was just plain TIRED of all the same-old same-old epic fantasy and military SF written by white guys, and am just REVELING in all these different authors and different stories and perspectives. Let's try this as an experiment---let's include the last, say, fifty years of SFF and count up, oh, let's just pick Hugo finalists, and count up over time how many are white guys and how many are female or BIPOC or LGBT and see if even counting a list like this, the numbers are anywhere NEAR the populations of potential SFF readers? I LOVE SFF again now. Y'all are sounding like sad puppies. How about trying a new thing or two? I don't even consider this list "woke", and I am excited about many of these. How, exactly, does the simple existence of writers who are NOT white guys mean "woke"? You DO know that there are people in the world who are not straight cis white men, right?

Of all the place, I didn't expect to find the racist crowd complaining on Goodreads. How naive of me...

ABookishMarriage wrote: "Honestly absurd that people in these comments are complaining about "wokeness" and "bias" when..what.. half the authors are women, and a decent number are not white (although a TON are). Oh wow...5..."

CLAPPING AND HOLLERING WITH GLEE. Yes, approximately HALF being female is somehow "biased" toward women?????? Do these guys honestly think that white guys are 80% of the population???

Jonas wrote: "I just wish high fantasy and hard sci-fi wasn't lumped together..."

I agree, they really aren't the same thing at all :-)

Sorry but I find reading young, female authors absolutely painful and I don't understand why 90% of the new books you list are by them?! I find almost nothing that you write to me about worth looking at and would suggest that the other half of the gender library might be worth listing and reading...?