Science Fiction

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In Richard Kadrey’s The Everything Box, the angel Qaphsiel is observing the aftermath of God’s great flood.  Unfortunately, not all of mankind has perished, so it is up to him to finish the job.  He reaches into his robe to pull out his Armageddon box, but where has it gone?  After thousands of years of searching, Qaphsiel is finally on track to find it, but he is not the only one who wants it.  The Department of Peculiar Science, Mr. Babylon, the cult of Caleximus, the cult of Abaddonis, a zombie, and a mysterious stranger also want the box, and all enlist the services of professional thief Coop.  Will he be able to satisfy everyone and save his own skin?  And who will end up with the box?

Adam and Ellie have been trying to have a child using IVF, but Adam is beginning to have his doubts.  Despite wanting a child, he questions whether it is morally correct to have one given the likely catastrophic effects of climate change.  In Clade, James Bradley takes a look at how climate change could impact the world, not just on an environmental level, but on sociological, political, and cultural levels as well.

The story comes full-circle in N.K. Jemisin’s The Stone Sky, conclusion to The Broken Earth Trilogy.  After saving her comm at the expense of herself and their home, Essun turns towards the task of finding Nassun, her daughter.  Nassun, however, having killed her father in self-defense, now plans to destroy all of mankind to save her guardian Schaffe.  Stone eaters Hoa and Steele lead both Essun and Nassun to a confrontation that could either save or destroy the Earth and all of its inhabitants.

Cory Doctorow’s latest novel, Walkaway, depicts life a hundred years from now with the world an ecological disaster and society divided between the wealthy, powerful few and the poor, unemployed many.  While most accept this social order, there are those who choose to walk away.  They leave behind material goods, jobs, competition, etc. and embrace ideals of true equality and living for the common good.  When they can walk away from their bodies and become computer sims thanks to the research of Walkaway U, however, those in power can no longer ignore them and do their best to break them.

Two storylines converge in Annalee Newitz’s Autonomous.  The first is the story of Jack Chen, pharmaceutical pirate, whose mission is to provide life-saving drugs to those who can’t afford them.  When a batch of drugs she sells turns out to have deadly side effects, her new mission is to find a cure to save the victims.  The second is the story of Paladin, a robot, who works with Eliasz to stop pharmaceutical piracy.  As a new robot, she is learning what she can about humanity and also what it means to be autonomous.

In The Sound of Seas, authors Gillian Anderson and Jeff Rovin conclude The Earthend Saga.  It begins with Caitlin O’hara’s body in a coma in the hospital while her soul has traveled back to Galderkhaan and co-opted another woman’s body.  Meanwhile, her son has also been drawn back in time while unscrupulous people experiment with the mysterious Galderkhaani tiles found by archaeologist, Mikel.  Will Caitlin be able to save her son before the destruction of Galderkhaan and possibly her own world?

--Carolyn McManis, Programming Coordinator