To be considered one of the best of the best in science fiction literature, you need a repertoire of books and some game-changing titles. However, it is always good to support the new authors in sci-fi and maybe watch one of them bloom into a writing legend. Here are a few I think should be quietly, but expectantly, watched in 2024.
There are so many new writers every year, especially in the science fiction genre. Some of them go on to be the next Iain M. Banks, but the majority sink into obscurity. Whether this is because they’re not up to scratch or simply just not discovered is anyone’s guess. However, pick one or two of these up, and you’ll be sure to get a view into what the new trends are and what some of the best new writers in sci-fi are producing.
Tlotlo Tsamaase
Womb Cities‘ genre-blending mash-up of Cyberpunk, Afrofuturism, Horror, and science fiction hits so many of the greatest subgenres it’s almost impossible to fail… if done right. However, Tlotlo Tsamaase nails it with her first full-length book, which has elements of Altered Carbon body-hopping and Brave New World levels of surveillance states. The narrative has deep sci-fi elements combined perfectly with a trapped and paranoid horror that leaves every page a tense turn. If you’re a fan of Afrofuturism cyberpunk, there are some fantastic books to choose from.
In the Botswana portrayed in this sci-fi book, our new author imagines a world in which consciousness can be transferred between bodies, but at the cost of freedom. Our main character seemingly has everything she could want. She has wealth, renown, and a baby being grown in the government child vats. However, she risks losing it all after one wild night leaves her hiding a body. With a police husband who watches her every move, can she cover up her mistake and still keep her child, or is the oppressive world of the future going to take it all?
Oliver K. Langmead
I think K. Langmead, one of the new, up-and-coming sci-fi authors, has the imagination and creativity to go places. His work with Calypso is just proof of this. In this work from 2024, the colony ship, destined to populate a new planet, has gone the way of a new religion after traveling between the stars for generations. The enclosed world of the admittedly huge vessel is the stage for a slice of humanity that has gone to war with themselves and come out on the side of nature.
Calypso is about a woman who is the last to wake from cryosleep and is revered as a deity. The ship has become a forest after two factions go to war. One believes they should turn the new planet into a technology hub, the others believe in a green earth. The latter won the fight. What Calypso really shows off is K. Langmeads ability to invent, and expand on a theory. He breaks down the possibilities of a society left to its own devices, and these are the markings of truly great new sci-fi authors.
Kate Mildenhall
Like many of the greats of sci-fi, the genre doesn’t need to be everything to the author. Kate Mildenhall is coming out in the literary world to resounding praise, and she is writing with true freedom. Her first science fiction novel, The Hummingbird Effect, weaves together six time-spanning narratives akin to The Female Man. Mildenhall looks at multiple women narratives throughout time ranging from the past to the distant future, carrying the theme of the woman and her ability to cope and persevere.
Mildenhall has written in several other genres, including thrillers and historical fiction. However, this foray into science fiction shows off her ability to adapt to the weird and wonderful world of the future and technology. As a writer who clearly loves exploring concepts and the human psyche, science fiction could end up serving her very well as one of the new sci-fi authors in the years to come.
Justin Cronin
Science fiction moves through the ages, adapting to the environment and group mentality of its environment. Before the Second World War, science fiction was mostly positive, believing in a possible utopia. However, once the atomic bomb fell, everything changed. In the modern age of science fiction, I feel there is a prevalence of suspicion and paranoia pointed at the powers that be. A running theme of mistrust of institutions and a lack of autonomy seems to run true through many of sci-fi’s new authors. Justin Cronin captures this in his first science fiction novel, The Ferryman.
Although Cronin has touched on science fiction elements with his Passage trilogy, The Ferryman is his first real exploration of the genre. The book takes a look at the idea of recyclable bodies. The island is a utopia, with people being told about their coming deaths by a chip in their arm. When their time comes, they visit the ferryman who takes their bodies to be recycled. However, as our protagonist, the ferryman, comes to the end of his life, he starts to realize this peaceful utopia may be covering up some rather dark secrets.
Kaliane Bradley
Time travel is a trope used frequently throughout the sci-fi genre, to varying degrees of success. In Kaliane Bradley’s debut sci-fi novel, The Ministry of Time, she takes the often convoluted topic and makes it completely mundane in the funniest way. Time travel leaves a narrative open to huge amounts of creativity, and Bradley has used it to produce a truly gripping and very funny story. In a world where time travel is possible, it has been incredibly bureaucratized in a way that only human beings ever could. This gives space for Bradley to flex her sci-fi creative muscles and bring characters out of their usual settings and into somewhere completely new.
The Ministry of Time is set in a world where time travel is now possible. It is up to the protagonist to act as a ‘Bridge’ with the responsibility of helping time-traveling people from the past adjust to the modern age. This leaves the story open to some hilarious observations from a man transported from 1845 and the shock of living with a modern woman in a modern age. This hilarious, inwardly turned view of modern society promises great things from this new, up-and-coming sci-fi author.
Cixin Liu
Despite having published work for the past twenty years or more, Cixin Liu still has a vast amount of potential as a new sci-fi author. His most famous work, The Three-Body Problem, has been turned into a successful Netflix show. Cixin Liu is a modern writer, focussing on the hard sci-fi element of the genre. He isn’t afraid to tackle serious, technical science fiction in a way that often scares many authors away. He plays with current technology and theories, painting pictures that we could easily, as readers, see ourselves living within. The Three-Body Problem trilogy is a magnificent example of just what he can do as an up-and-coming sci-fi writer.
Hard sci-fi is the idea of writing science fiction as far from the fantasy border as possible. The theories and concepts within this sub-genre need to be plausible and relatable. Cixin Liu captures these perfectly, building scenarios that could easily be realized on the earth we know today. With the roaring success of The Three Body Problem, I hope to see many more works in this fantastic sci-fi writer’s career.
Yume Kitasei
With two books under her belt, written in quick succession, Yume Kitasei is on the road to being one of the shining lights in the list of new sci-fi authors. She isn’t afraid to paint huge intergalactic pictures. In doing so, she never loses sight of the smaller things, either. Her characters are still intricate and personal, despite existing in often huge spaces. With her first book, The Deep Sky, being set on a colony ship, she then spread her creative wings and her her second, The Stardust Grail, being intergalactic.
These two books, contrasting in scale, still focus on one central character. Her sci-fi explores the ideas of colonialism and race while still providing a gripping read. Kitsei has blended genres with each of her two current books. The first, Deep Sky, is a thrilling murder mystery. However, her second, Stardust Grail, is a heist narrative with some very serious repercussions.
Chris Cosmain
With only one book under his belt so far, Chris Cosmain is making waves in the new sci-fi authors scene. His book, Navikov Windows, deals with time travel and the issues surrounding it. However, with time travel novels, there are always people who get hung up on the technicalities. Hard sci-fi demands we explain the paradoxes and many time loop issues. If you somehow stop your grandad from sleeping with your grandma, how did you exist and do it in the first place, etc? However, Cosmain faces these conundrums one by one.
In this book, time is predetermined. A time traveler heads back in time to build the time machine the world will eventually use. However, he explains to the people building it that there is no free will and that everything is already played out. The folks working on the time machine aren’t exactly overjoyed with this revelation. Navikov Windows explores the psychological weight of this knowledge.
Nick Harkaway
Pick up a book by Nick Harkaway, and you’re guaranteed a wild ride. With a few published books under his belt, this new sci-fi author has real potential. His two main publications, Gnomon and Titanium Noir, are only the first installments in a series. This promises at least a few more books as we look into this sci-fi author’s future. He shows great skill in genre-blending, with Titanium Noir being the perfect example of cyberpunk and gritty crime fiction. These, in my opinion, are two genres that were born to be combined, and he does it well.
Nick Harkaway, as a writer, doesn’t shy away from narratives dripping in criticisms of the world of today. By painting dystopias, such as the Big Brother style world of tomorrow in Gnomon, we are made to look at the direction we are moving and question if it is right. Harkaway writes vast and complex stories that will keep you turning page after page, waiting for the next big reveal.
Kira Peikoff
With a number of books under her belt already, Kira Peikoff is becoming one of the most highly anticipated new sci-fi authors on the market. With her latest success with Baby X, she is only paving the way for her future as one of the modern greats. She combined Black Mirror-esque horror with a decidedly science-fiction theme. The verisimilitude of the worlds of her science fiction narratives makes the reality she weaves all that more terrifying to the modern reader. It’s not so much a case of if these futuristic horrors will happen, and much more a case of when. As a crossover, sci-fi horror is one of my favourites.
With Baby X, the near future of the USA has a new celebrity fixation. With the very real and present IVG technology, any cells can be used to create sperm and eggs. This means that if you’re able to somehow swipe someone’s DNA, their DNA can be used to create a child. Because of this, celebrity DNA is often sold on the black market to fans and other unhinged people. However, one celebrity is tired of it, and hired security to protect him from the DNA thieves. The narrative follows the relationship between the guard and her task to protect this man from potential threats. However, it’s never going to be that simple. This is another one of those books that could make a great video game.
