Science fiction, as a genre, covers many different subgenres and subjects, but one steadfast storyline is a trip to the stars. If you’re in the mood for fictional space exploration, check out one of these recent novels.
We Have Always Been Here by Lena Nguyen
Dr. Grace Park has always gotten along better with androids than with her fellow humans. Now the psychologist for an expedition exploring planet Eos for colonization potential, she and the crew are trapped on the ship by a radiation storm ravaging the surface. As the crew – both human and android alike – begin to behave strangely, Grace must unravel the hidden purpose behind their mission to discover the root of their affliction.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
The sun is rapidly and inexplicably dying, leading scientists to predict an instant and catastrophic ice age within the next few decades. Ryland Grace, molecular biologist-turned-middle school science teacher, is reluctantly one of a three person crew headed to Tau Ceti in hopes of saving humankind. When he wakes up mid-flight to find his fellow crewmates dead, he also discovers that he’s not alone in searching for a solution.
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers
The planet Gora is little more than a way station, a pit stop for space tourists heading on to other solar systems, where Ouloo and her teenager run the Five-Hop One-Stop. When a satellite crash strands three separate travelers on Gora with nothing to do but wait, they hang out at the Five-Hop One-Stop and get to know one another.
Dead Space by Kali Wallace
Injured in a terrorist attack on a high profile science mission, Hester Marley was healed with augmented prosthetics, leaving her working as a safety officer to pay off her massive medical debt owed to Parthenope Enterprises. When an old friend on a nearby asteroid mining colony sends her an encrypted message, and then is mysteriously killed, Hester gets herself assigned to the case. Traveling to the isolated asteroid, Hester digs into the secrets kept by her friend, his coworkers, and the company they all work for as she tracks down the murderer.
Amid the Crowd of Stars by Stephen Leigh
Long ago, a meteor strike on Earth forced a severing of contact from outposts on far-flung worlds, where the stranded human colonists were forced to adapt and settle long-term. Now a new mission is traveling from Earth to one such colony, on the planet Canis Lupus. As exobiologist Ichiko Aguilar arrives to study the evolution of humans on the planet, she and her fellow crew members are drawn into local politics, as they also face questions about the ethics of contact between human and extraterrestrial life.
~ posted by Andrea G.
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