Sci-fi is a beloved part of speculative fiction, and the contemporary authors taking on the genre have pushed boundaries in their upcoming work. The new sci-fi book releases for September 2024 all demonstrate the diversity and ingenuity that has been a hallmark of science fiction since its earliest examples in the literary canon. Though sci-fi is considered only to include vivid space operas or dystopian futures, there is a broader range of stories than many readers realize. However, this doesn’t mean that the latest stories set on distant planets with terrifying technologies aren’t part of the newest batch of works.
Great sci-fi reflects the issues and important topics of the real world, whether the narratives are set in the far future or include impossible abilities and technologies.
Science fiction can incorporate many different genres into its story, with books that blend sci-fi and fantasy or even books that blend sci-fi and romance. Most speculative fiction blurs the line between genre types, as this opens the door for more compelling stories. Great sci-fi reflects the issues and important topics of the real world, whether the narratives are set in the far future or include impossible abilities and technologies. This makes the mark of a great new addition to the sci-fi literary canon, fresh, unique, and willing to explore vital subject matter through gripping plots.
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10 Great Sci-Fi Books For Beginners
The sci-fi genre is for everyone, but for readers who have trouble getting into these stories, there are plenty of great books to start with.
10 The Fallen Fruit
Release Date: September 3, 2024
The author of the upcoming sci-fi novel The Fallen Fruit, Shawntelle Madison, has been publishing science fiction, fantasy, and romance books for many years to great acclaim. Her latest project combines historical fantasy with time travel as the protagonist, Cecily Bridge-Davis, belongs to a family whose members have a habit of being whisked away to the past. When this happens to Cecily, she must cling to her knowledge of history, which won’t be difficult as a history professor, and find a way to connect with the new people around her.
Meeting her ancestors across time influences how Cecily views the family curse and shows her the importance of connecting with the past to inform the future.
The Fallen Fruit centers on the experiences of Black Americans throughout U.S. history and doesn’t shy away from grappling with harsh truths of discrimination and violence that accompany this. However, the spirit of Cecily’s family and her incredible capacity for love and understanding fuels her in her darkest moments. Meeting her ancestors across time influences how Cecily views the family curse and shows her the importance of connecting with the past to inform the future.
9 Edge Of The Known World
Release Date: September 3, 2024
Sheri T. Joseph’s debut novel, Edge of the Known World, has already cultivated excitement and acclaim by winning several accolades at the 2024 American Fiction Awards. The story follows Alexandra Tashen, whose worldview is shattered when she discovers that she isn’t who she thought she was and that her place in her bubble of safety is on thin ice. Alexandra was spirited away from the Federation at a young age and raised in the Allied Nations.
However, there’s a chance that a tiny gene marker will give her away and potentially end her life. Not content to sit around waiting, Alexandra risks her life to find her missing father and uncover the secrets of not only her past but also her father’s. In the middle of her risky adventure that hinges on her genes going undetected, Alexandra finds herself drawn to two different men who could make or break her situation.
8 Out Of The Drowning Deep
Release Date: September 3, 2024
The story kicks off with the murder of a pope and the terrifying prospect of the religious order, the Drowned Sisters, coming to the planet where the crime was committed.
High fantasy mixes with sci-fi in Out of the Drowning Deep, much like how the lines between gods, mortals, and technology blur in A.C. Wise’s new novella. The story kicks off with the murder of a pope and the terrifying prospect of the religious order, the Drowned Sisters, coming to the planet where the crime was committed. It comes down to Scribe IV, Quin, and Angel to use their different skill sets and rich histories to solve the case before innocents are punished in place of the real perpetrator.
Full of fantastic queer representation and a broad range of voices within the cast of characters, Out of the Drowning Deep makes each perspective relatable to audiences. Though there’s plenty of religious imagery and themes throughout the work, it doesn’t alienate its audience. It opens the door for many belief systems to have their place within the story. As much a murder mystery as it is a work of science fiction,Out of the Drowning Deep is richly textured and easy to imagine.
7 The Life Impossible
Release Date: September 3, 2024
Author of The Midnight Library, Matt Haig, will likely continue his streak of success with The Life Impossible. His new novel follows the journey of Grace Winters, who leaves behind her quiet life in search of answers about the disappearance of a friend she hasn’t heard from in years. She travels to the Mediterranean and finds herself on a gorgeous but curious island, and Haig’s beautiful descriptions of the landscape are enough to engage any reader.
It’s always refreshing when a book is written from the perspective of an older character, as Grace’s age and life experience inform much of her actions. Grace’s story has a warm and inviting message inside of it that will leave the reader filled with hope by the end of The Life Impossible. Though the book is lightly science fiction with paranormal events and supernatural powers that lean into magical realism as well, it’s a great example of an introductory piece of speculative fiction.
6 Megacosmic Rift
Release Date: September 3, 2024
The fourth book in the Torth series, Megacosmic Rift, follows through on the promise to increase the epic action-packed adventure tenfold from the other works. Throughout the series, the characters in Torth have fought against the evil and all-powerful Torth Empire, and the third book, The World of Wreckage, saw Ariock and Thomas deal their biggest blow yet to the Torth. Megacosmic Rift catches up with them in the aftermath of this fight as they try to fan the flames of their growing revolution.
Megacosmic Rift
is everything a reader would want out of a space opera, as the fourth installment sees an ancient prophecy finally come to fruition.
Megacosmic Rift is everything a reader would want out of a space opera, as the fourth installment sees an ancient prophecy finally come to fruition. Though it seems all hope is lost for Ariock and Thomas as they drift through space with little semblance of a plan, Abby Goldsmith pens an exciting and unbelievable continuation of their story. If the characters can learn to trust each other, the future might be brighter than they anticipated.
5 Under The Eye Of The Big Bird
Release Date: September 3, 2024
Hiromi Kawakami’s new novel, Under the Eye of the Big Bird, was translated into English by Asa Yoneda, but none of the grace and fluidity of the original text is lost in the work. Kawakami has written in a variety of genres, but her latest project delves into the world of sci-fi with amazing results. In conversation with the very real climate catastrophes that the world is facing, Under the Eye of the Big Bird takes place during the final age of humanity, when the human race may no longer be able to keep evolving.
With interweaving vignettes that balance discussions of technology and the changing world with lush descriptions of nature and its importance, Under the Eye of the Big Bird is a seminal work from Kawakami. Though Kawakami holds the reader at a distance from the characters with a story that spans generations and keeps its timelines nebulous, it’s still impossible not to care for the people in the book. The somewhat fragmented approach to the story allows Kawakami to paint a full picture of her imagined future.
4 Sky Full Of Elephants
Release Date: September 10, 2024
Hilarious, poignant, and sharply original,
Sky Full of Elephants
is one of the most exciting releases of September.
History is transformed in Sky Full of Elephants, Cebo Campbell’s debut novel that comes on the heels of great acclaim in the world of literary awards. However, as his first full-length novel, Campbell has knocked it out of the park once again, looking critically at race, class, and gender in an extreme example of a post-racial world. In Sky Full of Elephants, all the white people in the world disappear, and the story follows the experiences of the Black American, Charlie Brunton.
From there, he reconnects with his teenage daughter, Sidney, who had been raised by her white mother and knows little about Charlie or his world. Both learning about each other and the new way the world works, Charlie and Sidney dig into their roots and the legacy of Blackness in the U.S. while trying to rebuild their bond. Hilarious, poignant, and sharply original, Sky Full of Elephants is one of the most exciting releases of September.
3 This World Is Not Yours
Release Date: September 10, 2024
This World Is Not Yours is a book that perfectly blends sci-fi and horror by Kemi Ashing-Giwa and looks at the contemporary dynamics of LGBTQ+ relationships amid a terrifying survival situation. The protagonist, Amara, is among a group of colonizing humans on an alien planet with her fiancée Vinh and old friend, Jesse. The dynamic between the three people comes into play throughout the story, and the character relationships are just as compelling as the secrets of the planet.
Touching on themes of sexuality, colonialism, environmentalism, and self-preservation, This World Is Not Yours tackles a lot in its fast-paced novella format. Much of the work is reminiscent of Ursula K. Le Guin’s best books, as the iconic sci-fi writer explored similar story motifs. The descriptions of the foreign planet and the human’s unstable place on it are gorgeously written, and the reader never loses their sense of place while reading the book.
2 The Escher Man
Release Date: September 17, 2024
The Escher Man is T.R. Napper’s latest sci-fi-fi work, and it includes just as much action and gore as any of his other work. The story chronicles the fragmented memory and life of Endel “Endgame” Ebbinghaus, a man who makes his living as a violent enforcer for a cartel but remembers a different past with a loving family. However, in the world of The Escher Man, memories can’t be trusted, and Endel can’t be certain whose side he’s really on.
Endel’s fear of being trapped inside his own mind is played out brilliantly on the page.
Incorporating imagery and themes of cyberpunk and plenty of violence, The Escher Man is a thriller and a mind game for the characters and reader rolled into one. Reading The Escher Man transports the audience into an unknown world, but the feelings and anxieties of Endel, a man trying to get back to his real life, will connect with any reader. Endel’s fear of being trapped inside his own mind is played out brilliantly on the page.
1 Darkside
Release Date: September 24, 2024
Michael Mammay’s latest installment in the Planetside series, Darkside, returns to the world and story of Colonel Carl Butler as he’s wrenched from retirement for a noble cause. The novel sees Butler back at his old tricks, not for some interplanetary government, but because a child’s father has gone missing. In the fast-paced world of the Planetside series, anyone could be whisked away to a far corner of the galaxy, but Butler’s just the man to track them down.
Darkside is one of the many incredible sci-fi books that are more fiction than science, but this doesn’t mean that Butler’s story isn’t just as action-packed. Butler travels to the moon Taug, which is home to many mining operations, and is joined by his familiar sidekick, Mac. Politics and scandals erupt around Butler and Mac, but they remain fiercely dedicated to finding the man they set out to rescue, even if the corrupt corporations on Taug have other plans for them. With elements of space archeology, the novel sees Butler explore a new part of the universe.
