More Good Sci Fi
(recs both literature and cinema)
This list is in the vein of some of my previous substacks and author newsletter segments.
These products should convince sci fi naysayers who try them that shunning this genre only hurts them. Despite Hollywood’s best efforts to convince many otherwise, not all sci fi is derivative trash, machismo worshipping violence p0rn, young white male ‘chosen one’ material, or thinly veiled ‘fear of Other’.
Book: As mentioned in my recent newsletter, K. Anderson’s “The Boy with the Horns” (2018). It’s all too easy to pigeon-hole so-called “queer stories” as purely representational, and I’m sure there are many queer products out there with less value than their representational value. But this isn’t one of those. The story and varied characters are engaging, the worldbuilding is well balanced and interesting, the characters have their flaws. It simply doesn’t matter who you are, there’s good stuff in this book. And it’s indie, too.
A/V: “The Capture” (2019). This is another one of those actiony, policey stories that might have slipped under your sci fi RADAR. Yes, this is sci fi, and the best kind. It’s all about perceived truth. Watch this smart British series.
Book: As mentioned in my recent newsletter: Stephanie A. Gillis’ “The Humane Society for Creatures & Cryptids” (2023). Books with young characters might fall somewhere on the spectrum running from “immature kid stuff, or for adults who want nostalgia for their childhood” to “it really doesn’t matter that focus characters include young folks”. This book is way over on the latter end of that spectrum. ‘Nuff said. Award-placing, good stuff (also indie).
A/V: “They Cloned Tyrone” (2023). At least as good as “Get Out” (2017) in the realm of black representational sci fi, but again, ignore that it’s representational and just enjoy it as good, human sci fi, a cousin to “Don’t Look Up” (2021), another must-see.
Books (2011-2021) and A/V (2015-2022): “The Expanse” saga (“Leviathan Wakes”, et al.) I would be remiss if I didn’t include this top quality material. It’s now just old enough that it might slip under some reader/viewers’ RADAR. Don’t let that happen to you. Read if at all possible (once you startg, you won’t want to stop), then watch.
A/V: “The Last of Us” (2023, 2025). Normally I try to avoid post-apocalyptic settings, let alone zombie stuff. Zombies have usually been used as a simple, magical replacement for invading aliens when the writers wanted “fear of Other” unredeemable kill targets. George Orwell didn’t rely on that. Post-apocalypse in general is a rather violent place, all too often gratuitously so, but hey, so are Westerns, which are the historical equivalent. (A “Western” is a setting where the individual’s responsibility for their own protection and advancement is highlighted, and it’s the same in post-apocalypse settings — no entitlement, everything is on you.) But because everyone made such a fuss about “The Walking Dead” (or was that just the hype making me think so?) I gave it several seasons before ditching it. “The Last of Us” is a thousand times better than TWD, in every way. Yes, there’s graphic violence, sometimes cathartic, but always impactful. Yes, there are zombies, but I haven’t seen a better sci fi contrivance for zombies. This is quality human sci fi rather than cheesy, soul-crushing horror. It also handles details in smart ways that you don’t see done anywhere else — everything makes sense, almost no contrived shortcuts in the writing, and that’s saying a lot for a tv series. That it’s “based on a videogame” is incredibly misleading, making it easy to assume the worst. Don’t let that fool you or prejudice you.
Book: “Minimum Safe Distance” (2022). While the author pulls no punches and expects the reader to keep up especially during the early setup chapters, this unique story and novel structure pulls the reader into a mental place where you have no choice but rethink your idea of what sentience means — is it tied to being human? Is it tied to being biological at all? Would sentient AIs automatically decide to “kill all humans”, to quote Futurama’s Bender robot? And is human “intelligence” really the benchmark we tend to assume it should be? Get swept up into this epic story spanning the globe and out into space. And it has several notable lauds. Wait, I wrote this. Am I allowed to plug my own book?
A/V: “Mad Max: Fury Road” (2015) and “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” (2024). Again, post-apocalypse and full of violence, but what has always made George Miller’s “Mad Max” world so good is its human center. These recent additions are also an improvement in terms of emotional sophistication. Yes, you read that right. George Miller’s post-apocalypse has always been the benchmark against which all other post-apocalyptic fare is to be judged, although “The Last of Us” is even better in that it doesn’t rely on the whole “road warrior” shtick the Australian products do.'
Books: “Tales of the Incorrigible” Trilogy — “Flummox or Bust” (2019), “The Ouroboros of Oon” (2021), and “A Song of Wood and Meat” (2024) by Kevin Bowersox. If you think sci fi can’t be both smart and funny, or can’t be both highbrow and lowbrow, or can’t both mock sci fi tropes and make good use of them, Bowersox will prove you wrong. These are worthy descendants of Douglas Adams’ “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. Try ‘em!
A/V: “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” (2024). It surprised me that the recent Planet of the Apes movies are pretty darn good. Most remakes of and sequels/prequels to classic sci fi have been less than impressive, but not the recent four PotA entries. (I can’t speak to the ones before 2011.) If you avoided these like I did until recently, give them a try.
Book: “Delta-V” by Daniel Suarez. Top quality realism-based sci fi. Let Daniel’s international cast whisk you away. You’ll learn a lot, too, in the best way possible. ‘Nuff said. (There’s a sequel, but the ebook price has thus far kept me from trying it.)
A/V: “Prey” (2022), a modern story set in the same universe as the “Predator” movie from 1987, but something like 150 years before it in a First Nation of North America. I don’t know how anyone missed this movie, but if you did, see it. This is not “macho men with guns” like the original.
Book: “Wuthering Heights” (1847, Emily Brontë). Yes, you read that right. This was not required reading during my schooling, but after finally reading it recently, I strongly assert that retrospectively this book is science fiction. In particular it’s psychological sci fi. The entire story is dependent on the author’s psychological extrapolations of the cultural and family influences on the characters over a lifetime. If you’ve seen something like “Limitless” or “The Manchurian Candidate”, you’ve seen psychological sci fi — stories that apply a transformation to the characters’ minds based on a psychological paradigm (which is generally held in the background) and extrapolate what would result. Same here. Emily Brontë was way ahead of her time — psychology itself hadn’t yet been invented during her short life.
Obviously, I’m omitting lots of quality sci fi material with this little list, from “The Handmaid’s Tale” to “Star Trek: Lower Decks”, and who knows how many good sci fi books. Herein I’ve tried to offer recommendations that fall into the “don’t miss” category, those that might help someone break through an anti-sci-fi prejudice barrier, and recs that reveal a little about me as an author.
EDIT:
I forgot to mention A/V “Paradise”, which uses a sci fi premise to create a larger scale crucible story than usual. It’s fronted by Sterling K. Brown and Julianne Nicholson. Give it a whirl.