Turn the lights down if you dare... Just in time for spooky season, these sci-fi picks are guaranteed to give a scare! 

As the nights grow longer and the shadows deepen, there is no better time to dive into the eerie intersection of horror and science fiction. 

In this chilling sub-genre, the terror doesn’t just lurk in haunted houses or dark forests — it extends into the vast unknowns of space, the hidden dimensions of reality, and the strange creatures born of scientific experiments gone wrong. 

Whether your a fan of classic, slow-building dread, or you prefer edge-of-your-seat, pulse-pounding thrills, this roundup of horror sci-fi books will have something to haunt your dreams!

Scroll down to discover some of the most terrifying tales blending science and suspense. 

P.S. Don’t forget to leave the lights on! 

The Stand by Stephen King

A patient escapes from a biological testing facility, unknowingly carrying a deadly weapon: a mutated strain of super-flu that will wipe out 99 percent of the world’s population within a few weeks. Those who remain are scared, bewildered, and in need of a leader. Two emerge—Mother Abagail, the benevolent 108-year-old woman who urges them to build a peaceful community in Boulder, Colorado; and Randall Flagg, the nefarious “Dark Man,” who delights in chaos and violence. As the dark man and the peaceful woman gather power, the survivors will have to choose between them—and ultimately decide the fate of all humanity.

Read The Stand  here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant 

The ocean is home to many myths,

But some are deadly. . .

Seven years ago the Atargatis set off on a voyage to the Mariana Trench to film a mockumentary bringing to life ancient sea creatures of legend. It was lost at sea with all hands. Some have called it a hoax; others have called it a tragedy.

Now a new crew has been assembled. But this time they're not out to entertain. Some seek to validate their life's work. Some seek the greatest hunt of all. Some seek the truth. But for the ambitious young scientist Victoria Stewart this is a voyage to uncover the fate of the sister she lost.

Whatever the truth may be, it will only be found below the waves.

But the secrets of the deep come with a price.

Read Into the Drowning Deep here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; the second expedition ended in mass suicide; the third expedition in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another. The members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within weeks, all had died of cancer. In Annihilation, the first volume of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy, we join the twelfth expedition.

Read Annihilation here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

Read The Luminous Dead here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

Greatest Hits (Herald Classics) by Harlan Ellison

Featuring these stories and many more: 

• “‘Repent, Harlequin,’ Said the Ticktockman” — Hugo Award winner
• “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” — Bram Stoker Award winner
• “Mefisto in Onyx” — Bram Stoker Award winner
• “Jeffty Is Five” — British Fantasy Award winner
• “Shatterday” — Twilight Zone episode
• “The Whimper of Whipped Dogs” — Edgar Allan Poe Award winner
• “Paladin of the Lost Hour” — Hugo Award winner, Twilight Zone episode

 Grab Greatest Hits here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung Translated by Anton Hur 

From an author never before published in the United States, Cursed Bunny is unique and imaginative, blending horror, sci-fi, fairy tales, and speculative fiction into stories that defy categorization. By turns thought-provoking and stomach-turning, here monsters take the shapes of furry woodland creatures and danger lurks in unexpected corners of everyday apartment buildings. But in this unforgettable collection, translated by the acclaimed Anton Hur, Chung’s absurd, haunting universe could be our own.
 
“The Head” follows a woman haunted by her own bodily waste. “The Embodiment” takes us into a dystopian gynecology office where a pregnant woman is told that she must find a father for her baby or face horrific consequences. Another story follows a young monster, forced into underground fight rings without knowing his own power. The titular fable centers on a cursed lamp in the shape of a rabbit, fit for a child’s bedroom but for its sinister capabilities.
 
No two stories are alike, and readers will be torn whether to race through them or savor Chung’s wit and frenetic energy on every page. Cursed Bunny is a book that screams to be read late into the night and passed on to the nearest set of hands the very next day. 

“Like the work of Carmen Maria Machado and Aoko Matsuda, Chung’s stories are so wonderfully, blisteringly strange and powerful that it's almost impossible to put Cursed Bunny down.” ―Kelly Link, bestselling author of Get In Trouble

Get your copy of Cursed Bunny here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

Blood Music by Greg Bear

This Hugo and Nebula Award finalist follows present-day events in which the fears concerning the nuclear annihilation of the world subsided after the Cold War and the fear of chemical warfare spilled over into the empty void it left behind. An amazing breakthrough in genetic engineering made by Vergil Ulam is considered too dangerous for further research, but rather than destroy his work, he injects himself with his creation and walks out of his lab, unaware of just how his actions will change the world. Author Greg Bear’s treatment of the traditional tale of scientific hubris is both suspenseful and a compelling portrait of a new intelligence emerging amongst us, irrevocably changing our world. 

Grab Blood Music  here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

Blindsight by Peter Watts 

Two months since the stars fell...

Two months of silence, while a world held its breath.

Now some half-derelict space probe, sparking fitfully past Neptune's orbit, hears a whisper from the edge of the solar system: a faint signal sweeping the cosmos like a lighthouse beam. Whatever's out there isn't talking to us. It's talking to some distant star, perhaps. Or perhaps to something closer, something en route.

So who do you send to force introductions with unknown and unknowable alien intellect that doesn't wish to be met?

You send a linguist with multiple personalities, her brain surgically partitioned into separate, sentient processing cores. You send a biologist so radically interfaced with machinery that he sees x-rays and tastes ultrasound. You send a pacifist warrior in the faint hope she won't be needed. You send a monster to command them all, an extinct hominid predator once called vampire, recalled from the grave with the voodoo of recombinant genetics and the blood of sociopaths. And you send a synthesist—an informational topologist with half his mind gone—as an interface between here and there.

Pray they can be trusted with the fate of a world. They may be more alien than the thing they've been sent to find.

Dive into Blindsight here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read
 
The original 1818 text of Frankenstein preserves the hard-hitting and politically-charged aspects of Shelley’s original writing, as well as her unflinching wit and strong female voice. This edition also emphasizes Shelley’s relationship with her mother—trailblazing feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, who penned A Vindication of the Rights of Woman—and demonstrates her commitment to carrying forward her mother’s ideals, placing her in the context of a feminist legacy rather than the sole female in the company of male poets, including Percy Shelley and Lord Byron.
 
This edition includes a new introduction and suggestions for further reading by National Book Critics Circle award-winner and Shelley expert Charlotte Gordon, literary excerpts and reviews selected by Gordon, and a chronology and essay by preeminent Shelley scholar Charles E. Robinson.

Get your copy of Frankenstein here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey

Melanie is a very special girl. Dr Caldwell calls her "our little genius."
Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her. She jokes that she won't bite, but they don't laugh.

The Girl With All the Gifts is a groundbreaking thriller, emotionally charged and gripping from beginning to end.

Start reading The Girl With All the Gifts here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

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I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

Winner of the Bram Stoker Lifetime Achievement Award for best vampire novel of the century: the genre-defining classic of horror sci-fi that inspired three films.
 
The population of the entire world has been obliterated by a pandemic of vampire bacteria. Yet somehow, Robert Neville survived. He must now struggle to make sense of what happened and learn to protect himself against the vampires who hunt him nightly.
 
As months of scavenging and hiding turn to years marked by depression and alcoholism, Robert spends his days hunting his tormentors and researching the cause of their affliction. But the more he discovers about the vampires around him, the more he sees the unsettling truth of who is—and who is not—a monster.

Grab I Am Legend here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

Thrum by Meg Smitherman

Ami awakes from years in stasis to find she’s at the edges of deep space, and the only surviving member of her crew. Utterly alone and unable to contact Earth, she sends out a distress beacon, not expecting a response. When she gets one from a being who calls himself Dorian, she’s welcomed onto his ship as he offers his assistance in any way he can. But nothing on Dorian’s ship is as it seems. And as Ami tries to navigate the maze of hallways and first contact with this alien being, a deep hum begins to resonate, haunting her, as if the ship itself is whispering to her.

Grab Thrum here on Amazon. 

Exoskeleton by Shane Stadler 

A man is convicted of a horrible crime and submits to a one-year experimental corrections program rather than serve a 25-year prison sentence. He soon learns that he has made a terrible mistake … Just as he is on the verge of losing all hope for survival, something unexpected occurs that transforms him into something that transcends human limitations.

Exoskeleton is equal parts sci-fi, psycho-horror, and supernatural-thriller.

Grab Exoskeleton here on Amazon. 

Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons 

Embraced by giants such as Stephen King and Dean R. Koontz, Dan Simmons's Carrion Comfort was originally published by Warner Books in 1989, and remains a classic of dark fantasy and horror.

"One of the three greatest horror novels of the 20th century. Simple as that." --Stephen King

THE PAST... Caught behind the lines of Hitler's Final Solution, Saul Laski is one of the multitudes destined to die in the notorious Chelmno extermination camp. Until he rises to meet his fate and finds himself face to face with an evil far older, and far greater, than the Nazi's themselves…

THE PRESENT... Compelled by the encounter to survive at all costs, so begins a journey that for Saul will span decades and cross continents, plunging into the darkest corners of 20th century history to reveal a secret society of beings who may often exist behind the world's most horrible and violent events. Killing from a distance, and by darkly manipulative proxy, they are people with the psychic ability to 'use' humans: read their minds, subjugate them to their wills, experience through their senses, feed off their emotions, force them to acts of unspeakable aggression. Each year, three of the most powerful of this hidden order meet to discuss their ongoing campaign of induced bloodshed and deliberate destruction.

But this reunion, something will go terribly wrong. Saul's quest is about to reach its elusive object, drawing hunter and hunted alike into a struggle that will plumb the depths of mankind's attraction to violence, and determine the future of the world itself…

Get your copy of Carrion Comfort here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

Sphere by Michael Crichton

From the author of Jurassic Park, Timeline, and Congo comes a psychological thriller about a group of scientists who investigate a spaceship discovered on the ocean floor.

In the middle of the South Pacific, a thousand feet below the surface, a huge vessel is unearthed. Rushed to the scene is a team of American scientists who descend together into the depths to investigate the astonishing discovery. What they find defies their imaginations and mocks their attempts at logical explanation. It is a spaceship, but apparently it is undamaged by its fall from the sky. And, most startling, it appears to be at least three hundred years old, containing a terrifying and destructive force that must be controlled at all costs.

Grab Sphere here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

Which of these horror sci-fi books are you brave enough to tackle next? Are there any spine-chilling reads that we missed in this roundup? Let us know in the comments below or head over to the Discover Sci-Fi Facebook group to share your favorite terrifying tales! 

*All book-related copy in this post was pulled from Amazon, Goodreads & Wikipedia, unless otherwise credited.

I’ve been writing a long time. The most important tool that any writer can have is to be widely read. Not only will you pick up useful tips on the craft itself, but you will see what is out there in your particular genre. Seeing the way that writers handle plot twists, character development, and world building will help you to make decisions about which way you want your own work to go. Writing inspires more than just readers. It gives guidance to the next generation of writers on what is possible to achieve. I’ve enjoyed these books, and found so much in them that gave me ideas to continue with my own work. I hope that you will enjoy them, too.

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

There are a million books out there on writing, but none of them can really teach you how to be a writer. King’s book is really a story of his own writing journey. He outlines the parts of writing, and makes you think about why you are using certain elements. Not enough people understand writing as a day job, and that’s the first thing King covers. Through the first part of the book, you’ll feel as if you spent an afternoon with a good friend regaling you with stories of his childhood. Then, he gets down to business and offers solid writing advice. So much of it will stick with you long after you put the book down, and some of it will bubble up in your mind while you are writing. He’s known as one of the best in the business for good reason. (By the way, he recommends Strunck and White’s The Elements of Style as a staple for your reference bookshelf, and so do I.)

Read On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft  here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

Nine Tomorrows by Isaac Asimov

This was the first book I read that made me know I was reading science fiction. The concluding story, “The Ugly Little Boy,” is such an important story in science fiction that another great writer, Robert Silverberg, expanded it into a novel in 1991. Asimov had a gift for placing his ideas into the reader’s mind without seeming to pass through the printed word. As a stylist, it’s hard to beat him. He is still (as far as I know) the most prolific writer in the speculative fiction genre, ranging from science fiction books and short stories, young adult books, mysteries (both science fiction and mainstream), epics (The Foundation series in particular), non-fiction books and articles about every branch of science in existence in his lifetime, and joke collections. But I’ve always remembered how awestruck I felt when I read Nine Tomorrows.

Read Nine Tomorrows here on Amazon.

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

Part of Ms. Le Guin’s Hainish universe, The Left Hand of Darkness explores a culture in which gender doesn’t matter. The people of Gethen only exhibit sexual characteristics once a month, but are otherwise androgynous. Published in 1969, this book was groundbreaking literature, making readers consider how behavioral expectations are so often based upon gender stereotypes. Le Guin wrote a good deal about the psychology and sociology of her worlds more than the technology, but is also responsible for having invented the ansible, a device which allowed real-time communication across galactic distances.

Read The Left Hand of Darkness here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

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Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

This is the newest novel in my list, but I include it instead of Mr. Weir’s more famous book, The Martian, because it is more multi-layered in its approach to character and story development. It takes reveal after reveal for the reader to understand the main character, Ryland Grace, and his situation. Throughout the book, Weir loads a ton of science onto the reader. It feels overwhelming while you read it, but all of it is necessary to understand the crisis Grace left Earth to solve, how Grace survived, and how he sets about dealing with the problems that he faces – and you do understand it when you need to. Like in The Martian, he adds touches of humor on top of the harrowing circumstances. It has four successive “endings,” each of which a lesser writer might have used as the conclusion to their story, but only adds to the satisfaction of reading it. If you plan to write hard science fiction, read this to see how a master informs his reader without losing them in the process.

Grab Project Hail Mary here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

The Tough Guide to Fantasyland: The Essential Guide to Fantasy Travel by Diana Wynne Jones

And I don’t want to forget fantasy fans and aspiring writers thereof. This book made me laugh sheepishly all the way through. It appears to be a gazetteer for traveling through the world of fantasy literature – all fantasy books are set in the same place, don’t you know? – but it’s a useful writing guide as well. It makes shameless fun of the tropes that have become common in those books. Nearly all writers will find something in here that they have added to their epics without thinking about it (i.e. stew.) Laughter makes it easy to absorb and accept the faults in our writing. This book had been unavailable for a long while, but it’s back in a new edition. I advise you to check it out.

Grab The Tough Guide to Fantasyland
here on Amazon.

Bonus reads: L. Ron Hubbard Presents the Writers of the Future

I have been the coordinating judge of the Writers of the Future Contest since 2022, and I am very proud of the anthologies the contest has produced. In each of these books, you will find excellent stories by twelve writers who may not be famous yet, but deserve to be. The contest has been running for over forty years now, and has given their first major publication to a number of notable authors, including the last man in my job, fantasy writer David Farland, as well as Patrick Rothfuss, Nnedi Okorafor, Eric Flint, K.D. Wentworth, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Susan Kroupa, and Dean Wesley Smith. These are the best of the best of thousands of entries, featuring space exploration, fantasy epics, romance, humor, dystopia, artificial intelligence, and first contact stories. Pick up any one of the forty volumes, and I am sure you will find plenty to enjoy.

Grab Writers of the Future here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

Fare thee well, lazy poolside reading; hello, cozy fireside sessions!

We've read through our list of amazing summer reads, and now turn our attention to what might be the biggest release season in the book world: FALL!

There is so much to look forward to this year: everything from great standalones, to hotly anticipated entries in beloved series, firsts in brand new series, an anthology or two, a graphic novel, and even a coloring book (what's up, Dune superfans!)

Want to know what we'll be diving into the next few months? Here are some of the titles we're stoked about this fall. Read on to check 'em out!  

The Death I Gave Him by Em X. Liu

Release Date: 12th September

Hayden Lichfield’s life is ripped apart when he finds his father murdered in their lab, and the camera logs erased. The killer can only have been after one thing: the Sisyphus Formula the two of them developed together, which might one day reverse death itself. Hoping to lure the killer into the open, Hayden steals the research. In the process, he uncovers a recording his father made in the days before his death, and a dying wish: Avenge me…

With the lab on lockdown, Hayden is trapped with four other people—his uncle Charles, lab technician Gabriel Rasmussen, research intern Felicia Xia and their head of security, Felicia’s father Paul—one of whom must be the killer. His only sure ally is the lab’s resident artificial intelligence, Horatio, who has been his dear friend and companion since its creation. With his world collapsing, Hayden must navigate the building’s secrets, uncover his father’s lies, and push the boundaries of sanity in the pursuit of revenge.

Read The Death I Gave Him  here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook

Nightstalkers: Sanctum by Jasper T. Scott

Release Date: 16th September

ESCAPING TO ANOTHER WORLD IS THEIR ONLY HOPE

With the smoke of Sunny Valley Ranch still thick in the air behind them, Adam Hall has an impossible mission: ensure that his daughter Crystal and the rest of the survivors find a safe refuge. But no matter how far they run, Adam knows that death will haunt their every step.

Rumors swirl of a captured Specter starship, and of smugglers using it to ferry people to safety on another world, code-named Sanctum. But to get to the ship, they will have to traverse twelve hundred miles of desolate wasteland teeming with every imaginable threat, and Adam fears that even if they make it, not all of them will survive the journey.

With the Specters’ fleets lurking in orbit and their terraformers roving steadily across the Earth, a new life on Sanctum could be their only hope. Yet blades of doubt needle Adam’s resolve—

What if Sanctum is a lie?

Read Nightstalkers: Sanctum here on Amazon. Also available.

Starter Villain by John Scalzi

Release Date: 19th September

Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place.

Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan.

Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie.

But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits. Jake had enemies, and now they're coming after Charlie. His uncle might have been a stand-up, old-fashioned kind of villain, but these are the real thing: rich, soulless predators backed by multinational corporations and venture capital.

It's up to Charlie to win the war his uncle started against a league of supervillains. But with unionized dolphins, hyper-intelligent talking spy cats, and a terrifying henchperson at his side, going bad is starting to look pretty good.

In a dog-eat-dog world...be a cat.

Read Starter Villain here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

From Beyond: The Complete Series by Jasper T. Scott and Nathan Hystad

Read From Beyond here on Amazon. 

The Salvation Gambit by Emily Skrutskie

Release Date: 26th September

Murdock has always believed in Hark, the woman who shaped her from a petty thief and lowlife hacker into a promising con artist. Hark is everything Murdock aspires to be, from her slick fashion sense to her unfailing ability to plan under pressure. Together with Bea, a fearless driver who never walks away from a bet, and Fitz, Murdock’s infuriatingly mercurial rival who can sweet-talk the galaxy into spinning around her finger, they form a foursome with a reputation for daring heists, massive payoffs, and never, ever getting caught.

Well, until now.

Getting caught is one thing. Getting tithed to a sentient warship that’s styled itself into a punitive god is a problem this team has never faced before. Aboard the Justice is a world stitched together from the galaxy’s sinners—some fighting for survival, some struggling to build a civilized society, and some sacrificing everything to worship the AI at the heart of the ship.

The Justice’s all-seeing eyes are fixed on its newest acquisitions, Murdock in particular. It has use for a hacker—if it can wrest her devotion away from Hark. And Murdock’s faith is already fractured. To escape the Justice’s madness, they need a plan, and Hark might not be up to the task.

If Hark—brilliant, unflappable Hark—can’t plot a way out, Murdock will have to use every last trick she’s learned to outwit the Justice, resist its temptation, and get her crew out alive.

 Grab The Salvation Gambit here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

The Official Dune Coloring Book

Release Date 26th September 

The first official coloring book based on Frank Herbert’s Dune—one of the bestselling science fiction novels of all time.

Visit Arrakis in a whole new way as you color in your favorite characters and scenes from Frank Herbert’s enduring and beloved classic novel.

Dune tells the unforgettable story of the boy Paul Atreides, heir to a noble family tasked with ruling an inhospitable desert planet, and his journey to a mythic destiny that will bring to fruition humankind’s most ancient and unattainable dream.

This intricate, beautifully wrought coloring book will include forty-four original illustrations, featuring character studies, locations, and scenes inspired by Dune, the profound and triumphant novel adored by millions of readers around the world.

Get your copy of The Dune Coloring book in paperback here on Amazon. 

The Spice Must Flow by Ryan Britt

Release Date: 26th September 

Using original, deep-access reporting, extensive research, and insightful commentary, The Spice Must Flow brings the true popularity of Dune out into the light for the very first time. With original interviews with the beloved actors and directors behind the films—including Timothée Chalamet, Kyle Maclachlan, Denis Villeneuve, Patrick Stewart, Rebecca Ferguson, Alec Newman, and many more— The Spice Must Flow also examines the far-reaching influence of Dune on art, music, politics, and, most notably, its status as the first ecological science-fiction story specifically concerned with climate change.
 
Britt skillfully and entertainingly guides readers through the history of how the Dune universe has unfolded, including the novel’s unlikely evolution from a failed piece of journalism about Oregon sand dunes into an epic science-fiction story, the way Herbert’s work inspired George Lucas, untold stories from the 1984 David Lynch film, the knife-edge balance between blockbuster hit and indie film Timothée Chalamet brings to the 2021 movie, and the exciting future of the franchise. Through a blend of narrative, oral history elements, and fascinating trivia, The Spice Must Flow is the new essential guide to the behind-the-scenes story of Dune.

The fiction of Dune is deadly serious, but the real-life story of how it came into existence is full of wonder, surprises, and spice.

 Grab The Spice Must Flow here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

The Big Book Of Cyberpunk ed. Jaren Shurin

Release Date: 26th September

A genre-defining—and redefining—collection of the boldest, most rebellious, and most prescient speculative fiction, featuring stories from all over the globe.

“The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.”

Almost forty years ago, William Gibson wrote the line that began Neuromancer—and a movement that would change the face of science fiction.
Award-winning anthologist Jared Shurin brings together over a hundred stories from more than twenty-five countries that both establish and subvert the classic cyberpunk tropes and aesthetic—from gritty, near-future noir to pulse-pounding action. Urban rebels undermine monolithic corporate overlords. Daring heists are conducted through back alleys and the darkest parts of the online world. There’s dangerous new technology, cybernetic enhancements, scheming AI, corporate mercenaries, improbable weapons, and roguish hackers. These tales examine the near-now, extrapolating the most provocative trends into fascinating and plausible futures.

We live in an increasingly cyberpunk world—packed with complex technologies and globalized social trends. A world so bizarre that even futurists couldn’t explain it—though many authors in this book have come closer than most. As both an introduction to the genre and the perfect compendium for the lifelong fan, The Big Book of Cyberpunk offers a hundred ways to understand where we are and where we’re going.

Dive into The Big Book Of Cyberpunk here on Amazon. 

Burn Box: Embers Book One by Bobby Adair

Release Date: 1st October

Trust nothing. Challenge everything. Survive the Burn Box.

In the chilling dawn of a near-future world, gene hackers, armed with AI and CRISPR's deadly precision, unleash wave after wave of engineered diseases. With food dwindling and trust eroding, nations spiral into authoritarian chaos, battling an unseen enemy while rampant disinformation corrodes the fabric of society.

Millions of once productive citizens, now languish in their homes, awaiting meager government assistance checks. They peer through windows, fear in their eyes, dreading the ever-present virus police who, with a blast from their notorious Burn Boxes, cleanse the world one contaminated victim at a time.

Amid this tempest of societal decay stands Noah Blanks, an ordinary man, burdened with the responsibility of his mortgage and the health of his cherished grandpa. For him, hope is a distant memory of a saner world. But when the virus police arrive at his doorstep, forcibly hauling Grandpa out into the street and turning him to ash within the steel walls of a Burn Box, Noah's passive wait for a better world ignites into an urgent need for action.

Burn Box is more than a survival story; it's an exploration into the depths of humanity in a world teetering on the edge. Can Noah muster the courage to defy this twisted order, or will he be swallowed by the fiery abyss of the dystopian terror?

Get your copy of Burn Box here on Amazon. 

Voyaging, Volume One: The Plague Star by George R.R. Martin, illustrated by Raya Golden

Release Date: 3rd October

On the distant planet Hro B’rana, the last words of a dying man echo through the halls of a run-down trading station.

Nearly three hundred years later, a group of fortune seekers embark on a mission to unravel the mystery of the fabled Plague Star aboard a rickety trade ship called The Cornucopia of Excellent Goods at Low Prices. But their journey will be far more perilous than any of them could have imagined—who will survive this deadly quest and battle it out for the final prize?

A darkly comic meditation on our future as a species, Voyaging, Volume 1: The Plague Star is a sci-fi adventure story of intrigue, greed, deception, and of course… cats. Adapted and vividly illustrated by Hugo Award–nominated artist Raya Golden, this thrilling and action-packed graphic novel brings the first story from #1 New York Times bestselling author George R. R. Martin’s classic collection Tuf Voyaging to life.

Start reading Voyaging, Volume One: The Plague Star here on Amazon. 

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Princess of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson 

Release Date: 3rd October 

Set two years before Dune: Princess of Dune is the never-before-told story of two key women in the life of Paul Muad’Dib—Princess Irulan, his wife in name only, and Paul’s true love, the Fremen Chani. Both women become central to Paul’s galaxy-spanning Imperial reign.

Raised in the Imperial court and born to be a political bargaining chip, Irulan was sent at an early age to be trained as a Bene Gesserit Sister. As Princess Royal, she also learned important lessons from her father—the Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV. Now of marriageable age, Princess Irulan sees the machinations of the many factions vying for power—the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood, the Spacing Guild, the Imperial throne, and a ruthless rebellion in the Imperial military. The young woman has a wise and independent streak and is determined to become much more than a pawn to be moved about on anyone’s gameboard.

Meanwhile, on Arrakis, Chani—the daughter of Liet-Kynes, the Imperial Planetologist who serves under the harsh rule of House Harkonnen—is trained in the Fremen mystical ways by an ancient Reverend Mother. Brought up to believe in her father’s ecological dream of a green Arrakis, she follows Liet around to Imperial testing stations, surviving the many hazards of desert life. Chani soon learns the harsh cost of Fremen dreams and obligations under the oppressive boot heel of the long Harkonnen occupation.

Grab Princess of Dune here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

Weird Tales: 100 Years of Weird ed. Jonathan Maberry

Release Date: 10th October

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the first issues of Weird Tales Magazine, 100 Years of Weird is a masterful compendium of new and classic stories, flash fiction, essays, and poems from the giants of speculative fiction, including R. L. Stine, Laurell K. Hamilton, Ray Bradbury, H. P. Lovecraft, Tennessee Williams, and Isaac Asimov.

Marking a century of uniquely peculiar storytelling, each part of this anthology features a different genre from Cosmic Horror, Sword and Sorcery, Space Opera, to the Truly Weird—things too strange to publish elsewhere, and the magazine’s raison d’etre. Landmark stories such as “The Call of Cthulhu”, “Worms of the Earth”, and “Legal Rites” stand beside original stories and insightful essays from today’s masters of speculative fiction.

This visually stunning hardcover edition is a collector’s dream, illustrated throughout with classic full color and black & white art from past issues of Weird Tales Magazine.

Grab Weird Tales: 100 Years of Weird here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

The Alliance: (Survivors Book 21) by Nathan Hystad

Release Date: 17th October

A new mission. An old adversary.

Jules has taken the next step. She’s living with her fiancé on New Spero, trying to get used to her new reality.

Dean Parker receives a cryptic message, from someone he thought was long gone.

When the Alliance faces their biggest crisis yet, the team must let go or lose everything they’ve worked so hard to obtain.

Can the Survivors make it through their toughest test to date?

Find out in… The Alliance (The Survivors Book Twenty-One)

Grab The Alliance here on Amazon. 

The Future by Naomi Alderman

Release Date: 7th November

The bestselling, award-winning author of The Powerdelivers a dazzling tour de force where a handful of friends plot a daring heist to save the world from the tech giants whose greed threatens life as we know it.

When Martha Einkorn fled her father’s isolated compound in Oregon, she never expected to find herself working for a powerful social media mogul hell-bent on controlling everything. Now, she’s surrounded by mega-rich companies designing private weather, predictive analytics, and covert weaponry, while spouting technological prophecy. Martha may have left the cult, but if the apocalyptic warnings in her father’s fox and rabbit sermon—once a parable to her—are starting to come true, how much future is actually left?

Across the world, in a mall in Singapore, Lai Zhen, an internet-famous survivalist, flees from an assassin. She’s cornered, desperate and—worst of all—might die without ever knowing what's going on. Suddenly, a remarkable piece of software appears on her phone telling her exactly how to escape. Who made it? What is it really for? And if those behind it can save her from danger, what do they want from her, and what else do they know about the future?

Martha and Zhen’s worlds are about to collide. An explosive chain of events is set in motion. While a few billionaires assured of their own safety lead the world to destruction, Martha’s relentless drive and Zhen’s insatiable curiosity could lead to something beautiful or the cataclysmic end of civilization.

By turns thrilling, hilarious, tender, and always piercingly brilliant, The Futureunfolds at a breakneck speed, highlighting how power corrupts the few who have it and what it means to stand up to them. The future is coming. The Future is here.

Grab The Future
here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

Chaos Terminal by Mur Lafferty

Release Date: 7th November

Mallory Viridian would rather not be an amateur detective, and fled to outer space to avoid it…but when one of the new human arrivals on a space shuttle is murdered, she’s back in the game.

Mallory Viridian would rather not be an amateur detective, thank you very much. But no matter what she does, people persist in dying around her—and only she seems to be able to solve the crime. After fleeing to an alien space station in hopes that the lack of humans would stop the murders, a serial killer had the nerve to follow her to Station Eternity. (Mallory deduced who the true culprit was that time, too.)

Now the law enforcement agent who hounded Mallory on Earth has come to Station Eternity, along with her teenage crush and his sister, Mallory’s best friend from high school. Mallory doesn’t believe in coincidences, and so she’s not at all surprised when someone in the latest shuttle from Earth is murdered. It’s the story of her life, after all.

Only this time she has more than a killer to deal with. Between her fugitive friends, a new threat arising from the Sundry hivemind, and the alarmingly peculiar behavior of the sentient space station they all call home, even Mallory’s deductive abilities are strained. If she can’t find out what’s going on (and fast), a disaster of intergalactic proportions may occur.…

Grab Chaos Terminal here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

After Us (The Abyss Book Three) by Nathan Hystad

When someone from the past returns, the teams are beckoned to New York where it all began.

After Us is the thrilling conclusion to The Abyss, written by Nathan Hystad, the Best-Selling author of The Other Place, First Life, and The Event.

Grab After Us here on Amazon.

The Digital Aesthete ed. Alex Shvartsman

Release Date: 14th November

Today’s software can only imitate art, but what about tomorrow?

Will true artificial intelligences be able to appreciate or even create art? Explore dystopian societies, where AI generates most of the content and human artists must eke out an existence, and utopias, where artificial minds help unlock and enhance human creativity.

Delve into the minds of robot painters, AI poets, drone forgers, and electronic theater curators. These and other possible futures are imagined by award-winning and bestselling human authors from the USA, UK, China, Ukraine, Chile, Japan, Madagascar, Brazil, Czech Republic, and Sri Lanka.

Grab The Digital Aesthete here on Amazon. Also available in paperback.

System Collapse (Murderbot Diaries Book 8) by Martha Wells

Release Date: 14th November

Am I making it worse? I think I'm making it worse.

Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly-colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if there’s an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it, and if Barish-Estranza can’t have the planet, they’re sure as hell not leaving without something. If that something just happens to be an entire colony of humans, well, a free workforce is a decent runner-up prize.

But there’s something wrong with Murderbot; it isn’t running within normal operational parameters. ART’s crew and the humans from Preservation are doing everything they can to protect the colonists, but with Barish-Estranza’s SecUnit-heavy persuasion teams, they’re going to have to hope Murderbot figures out what’s wrong with itself, and fast!

Yeah, this plan is... not going to work.

Grab Murderbot Diaries here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

Earth of Gold and Light (A Prayer for Earthrise Book 2) by Daniel Arenson

Release Date: 28th November

In a time of peace, a man of war is our only hope.

They say hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.

Marco Emery was born into hard times. He was raised in war. He grew up in bomb shelters and on battlefields, fighting to survive. He became a soldier. A war hero. Then, after vanquishing his last enemy, he retired to raise a family.

And Earth moved on.

After a century of peace, humanity has sunken into decadence. The grandchildren of soldiers obsess over celebrities. The military is an echo of its former glory. Weak men rule good times.

Then the aliens attack. Merciless aliens. Terrors from deep space. They exterminate a distant colony. And now they're coming here. To Earth. And Earth is helpless.

Almost helpless.

Thanks to experimental life-extending treatments, Marco is still alive. In this new century, he's a relic. An oddity from the barbarous past. Yet in good times, strong men are Earth's only hope.

Grab Earth of Gold and Light here on Amazon. 

The Icarus Twin (The Icarus Series Book 2) by Timothy Zahn

Release Date: 5th December 

A NEW NOVEL IN THE ICARUS SERIES FROM NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF THE ADMIRAL THRAWN STAR WARS NOVELS TIMOTHY ZAHN

For years Gregory Roarke and his Kadolian partner Selene worked as crocketts, combing through the atmospheres of uninhabited worlds for places that might be colonized or hold valuable resources. Now, they quietly work for the Icarus Group, a top-secret government organization hunting for portals created by a long-vanished alien race, portals that can teleport a person hundreds or thousands of light-years in the blink of an eye.

Roarke and Selene are searching one such possibility when they find that someone appears to be stalking them. They evade their pursuers and return to find that a man named Easton Dent has been searching the Spiral’s databases for the names Gregory Roarke and Icarus.

Roarke reluctantly agrees to meet with him. But that first contact is cut short, and hours later Roarke is arrested and accused of Dent’s murder.

More importantly to Roarke’s Icarus Group overseers, that brief meeting also confirms that Dent was in recent contact with a portal.

But the alien Patth are also searching for such portals, and they are also on the trail. It’s now a race . . . and the Patth have resources and ruthlessness far beyond anything Roarke and Selene can match.

Grab The Icarus Twin here on Amazon. Also available in hardcover.

After World by Debbie Urbanski

Release Date: 5th December

A groundbreaking debut that follows the story of an Artificial Intelligence tasked with writing a novel—only for it to fall in love with the novel’s subject, Sen, the last human on Earth.

Faced with uncontrolled and accelerating environmental collapse, humanity asks an artificial intelligence to find a solution. Its answer is simple: remove humans from the ecosystem.

Sen Anon is assigned to be a witness for the Department of Transition, recording the changes in the environment as the world begins to rewild. Abandoned by her mother in a cabin somewhere in Upstate New York, Sen will observe the monumental ecological shift known as the Great Transition, the final step in Project Afterworld. Around her drones buzz, cameras watch, microphones listen, digitizing her every move. Privately she keeps a journal of her observations, which are then uploaded and saved, joining the rest of humanity on Maia, a new virtual home. Sen was seventeen years old when the Digital Human Archive Project (DHAP) was initiated. 12,000,203,891 humans have been archived so far. Only Sen remains.

As Sen struggles to persist in the face of impending death, [storyworker] ad39-393a-7fbc works to unfurl the tale of Sen’s whole life, offering up an increasingly intimate narrative, until they are confronted with a very human problem of their own.

Grab After World here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

Sunny by Colin O'Sullivan 

Release Date: 5th December

In near-future Japan, Susie Sakamoto is mourning the loss of her husband and son to a plane crash. Alone in her big modern house, which feels like more of a prison, Susie spends her days drinking heavily and taking her anger out at the only “sentient” thing left in her life: Sunny, the annoying home robot her husband designed. Susie despises Sunny, and sometimes even gets a sinking feeling that Sunny is out to hurt her.

To escape her paranoia and depression, Susie frequents the seedy, drug-fueled bars of the city, where she hears rumors of The Dark Manual, a set of guidelines that allow you to reprogram your robot for nefarious purposes. In the hopes of finding a way to turn off Sunny for good, Susie begins to search for the manual, only to learn it’s too late: the machines are becoming more sentient and dangerous. Thrust into the center of a dark, corporate war, Susie realizes there’s someone behind the code, pulling the strings. And they want her dead.

With a darkly humorous yet propulsive voice, O’Sullivan presents us with an unsettling look at a future that feels all too real. Gripping and thought-provoking, Sunny is a haunting character study of an anxious woman teetering in an anxious time.

Grab Sunny here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

How many of these 2023 fall sci-fi releases are on your must read list? Any books coming out in the next few months that you're excited for but that didn't appear here on our list? Give it a shout out in the comments here, or over in the Discover Sci-Fi Facebook group! 

*All book-related copy in this post was pulled from Amazon, Goodreads & Wikipedia, unless otherwise credited.

A huge thank you to everyone who participated in our mid-year poll for the Best Sci-Fi Releases of 2024… So Far.

After two weeks of intense voting and spirited discussions, we’ve tallied the results and ranked them below from ten to one. With so many compelling reads in the poll, competition was fierce, leading to several ties, so you’ll find a few bonus titles on the list.

Ready for the big reveal? Scroll on to uncover the top picks of 2024… so far as decided by Discover Sci-Fi readers!

10. The Forever World by Ethan Rhodes

On a routine border patrol, pilot Zane Lucas encounters a mysterious cluster of drones. When he reports it to the Scorpius head office, they quickly sweep it under the intergalactic rug and place him on leave.

That same night, Zane is contacted by an estate lawyer from the distant planet Earth and learns he’s the sole beneficiary of a person he’s never met. Determined to get answers, he finds himself thrust into a dead man’s quest, along with a resourceful colleague, Julia Rossi.

Zane’s mission is tied to an old myth based on The Forever World book.

His father used to read it at bedtime, before he went missing during a bloody war with the Gral twenty years earlier. Their alliance is on the brink of collapse and the revolution is just beginning.

Can Zane find The Forever World, if it in fact exists?

Would this fabled planet help restore the balance?

Time is running out, and the drones are multiplying.

Grab The Forever World here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

9a. Traditions of Courage (Grimm's War Book 7) by Jeffery H. Haskell

Join the fight for freedom on Alliance's newest member.

When Cordoba fell and his officer was murdered, Jacob T. Grimm vowed the fight wasn't over. With the help of DesRon 12 and the stalwart spacers of the USS Interceptor, he's going to bring the Guild to their corporate knees.

On Cordoba, things aren't going well for the Marines. Local infantry are eager to attack, while refugees are forced out of the capital city on the verge of winter. The Spanish planet is in trouble. However, not all is as it seems.

The ground forces aren't Guild and they have more advanced tech than the Alliance Marines. Gunny Jennings and Bravo-Two-Five will need to muster every ounce of courage to fight overwhelming odds in a battle they never planned for.

As the fate of the planet unfolds, ex-spy Nadia Dagher and a ragtag group of former Interceptor crew must infiltrate the Guild and find the true location of their home planet.

Jacob faces off against a superior enemy, one as ruthless as he is compassionate. If he can't find a way to win, all the people on Cordoba will pay the price.

Get your copy of Traditions of Courage
here on Amazon.

9b. To Challenge Heaven by David Weber and Chris Kennedy

The third entry into the New York Times bestselling series, To Challenge Heaven brings another thrilling adventure from the masters of military science fiction, David Weber and Chris Kennedy.

In a universe teeming with predators, humanity needs friends. And fast.

We've come a long way in the forty years since the Shongairi attacked Earth, killed half its people, and then were driven away by an alliance of humans with the other sentient bipeds who inhabit our planet.

We took the technology they left behind, and rapidly built ourselves into a starfaring civilization. Because we haven't got a moment to lose. Because it's clear that there are even more powerful, more hostile aliens out there, and Earth needs allies.

But it also transpires that the Shongairi expedition that nearly destroyed our home planet ... wasn't an official one. That, indeed, its commander may have been acting as an unwitting cats-paw for the Founders, the ancient alliance of very old, very evil aliens who run the Hegemony that dominates our galaxy, and who hold the Shongairi, as they hold most non-Founder species, in not-so-benign contempt.

Indeed, it may turn out to be possible to turn the Shongairi into our allies against the Hegemony. There's just the small matter of the Shongairi honor code, which makes bushido look like a child's game. We might be able to make them our friends -- if we can crush their planetary defenses in the greatest battle we, or they, have ever seen...

Get your copy of To Challenge Heaven here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

8a. Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky

8b. Rendezvous with Corsair by Jack Campbell

Jack Campbell’s New York Times bestselling The Lost Fleet sci-fi adventure series has transported legions of fans out of this world and into the heat of battle. Now, readers will discover how it all began—not only for John “Black Jack” Geary and his descendant Commander Michael Geary, but for those who fought and sacrificed so much alongside them.

Spanning from before the Alliance/Syndicate war to the devastating initial conflagration that would lead to decades of unremitting conflict and beyond into full-blown war, from the Geary’s own epic heroics to where their surviving compatriots found their own fates, this volume reveals the triumphs, tragedies, and life-altering events that made these warriors living legends in their universe.

Packed with high-stakes military action and drama as well as humor and humanity, this volume explores the foundations of The Lost Fleet series as well as past exploits of its most popular characters—and also includes the novelization of the Lost Fleet graphic novel Corsair, which was praised as “a Tom Clancy thriller in space” (Publishers Weekly).

Grab Rendezvous with Corsair here on Amazon.

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8c. Sunken Spaceship by Anthony J. Melchiorri

An unlikely hero is swept up intointergalactic affairs when he stumbles upon a crashed starship.

Ex-Army paratrooper Griffin “Fin” Brooks thought he left danger behind when his battlefield injuries forced him to pursue a new career in marine biology. But one fateful night off the coast of South Africa a ship nearly crashes into him and his loyal golden retriever, Jacques.

Not just any ship. A starship.

Though its alien pilot is dead, the rare extraterrestrial animal inside is not. Fin learns the creature is being smuggled across the galaxy when a pair of interstellar visitors respond to the crash. But those same investigators accuse Fin and his dog of crimes he didn’t even know existed.

The only way to clear his name is to take the strange creature to its home planet and find out who’s responsible for killing the starship’s pilot. Which means Fin quickly needs to learn how to fly a spacecraft and navigate a galaxy teeming with intelligent life beyond his wildest dreams.

And he’s not the only one with designs for the crashed starship and its cargo. Fin will need every skill he’s honed as a paratrooper and a marine biologist if he—and his dog—are to survive.

Get your copy of Sunken Spaceship here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

7. Beyond the Ranges by John Ringo and James Aidee

For Jason Graham, the world ends not with a bang, not even with much of a whimper.

One second, he's sitting in a restaurant in Mobile, Alabama, chatting with a server, the next he finds himself in a strange room, rescued by mysterious alien benefactors. Seems the world did end, though how and why are something of a mystery.

Now, Jason—and five hundred million other humans—are in orbit around an Earthlike world that is abundant in natural resources and totally untamed. For the newly awakened humans, this is a chance to start society with a clean slate and a bright future. For Jason, who has knocked about aimlessly in several different careers in his Earth life, it’s an opportunity to unleash his creativity and ambition and see what he can really do.

Grab Beyond the Ranges here on Amazon.

6a. Blackheart: Terran Scout Fleet Book 6 by Joshua Dalzelle

Viper

It’s a name that is infamous within the galactic quadrant. A name that inspires awe.
… and fear.
For nearly a century the famed assassin has struck terror within the hearts of those she has been hired to terminate. In that time the Viper, a human cyborg named Carolyn Whitney, has been a lone wolf. She prefers being on her own, neither requiring nor desiring the company of others. She has very few people she can consider a friend, and now one of those is coming for her.

The Viper’s latest hit has put her in Earth’s crosshairs and Captain Jacob Brown has been tasked with bringing her in. Or, barring that, putting her down. Captain Brown, a genetic augment, has tangled with the Viper before… and lost. Will he prevail in the rematch?

Dive into Blackheart here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

6b. The Last Steward: Galaxy in Flames Book 1 by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

From the embers of a galaxy in flames, destiny calls upon an unknown guardian.

Captain Axel Finn has spent his life running salvage missions with an alien crew and their war bot. This motley group has found refuge on his ship from their own tumultuous pasts. But little do any of them know, beneath his gentle demeanor, their steadfast captain is far from the peace following, adventure seeking giant of a man they all love. His pacifist ethos meant to safeguard them has edged them to the brink of financial ruin and drawn dangerous enemies.

Forced into a risky salvage operation, the crew uncovers an alien relic not of this galaxy.

Expecting treasure to pay their debts, they instead find an artifact of the Wrath, an extraterrestrial species that once decimated entire worlds. To decipher the true nature of their discovery, Axel seeks Rangnar Soki, a deadly bounty hunter famous for his pursuit of the Stewards—legendary warriors who stood against the Wrath in bygone days. But as the mystery of this artifact deepens, and hunters close in, an old enemy threatens to set the galaxy ablaze.

Axel must choose: accept his legacy and unleash the monster within or watch everything he loves burn.

Kick off a thrilling quest of adventure with NYT and USA Today bestselling Author Nicholas Sansbury Smith in this new science fiction saga. Readers that enjoy galactic combat, snarky droids, ancient aliens, lost starships, and underdogs facing daunting odds, this story is for you!

Get your copy of The Last Steward 
here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

5. Toll of Honor (Honor Harrington Book 20) by David Weber

A NEW SOLO NOVEL IN DAVID WEBER'S NYT BEST-SELLING HONORVERSE

“It is our duty to pay for our liberty with our own blood. The freedom that we shall win through our sacrifice and exertions, we shall be able to preserve with our own strength.” —Subhas Chandra Bose

Lieutenant Brandy Bolgeo has come home from the Battle of Hancock station wounded in both body and spirit. She will need months to regenerate her lost leg, but how long will it take to heal her heart?

She’s come home to find that her wounds, her ship’s brutal damage, the deaths of so many friends, were the fault of an arrogant, aristocratic coward who broke and ran in the face of the enemy. Who left her ship to pay the price for his craven desertion under fire. And whose powerful political allies are determined to protect and preserve him at any price.

They have held hostage the declaration of war until Lord Pavel Young escaped the consequences of his cowardice. They didn’t care what it cost the Navy. They didn’t care what it cost the entire Star Kingdom of Manticore. Their tactics have cost the Royal Navy the priceless initiative as revolution and military purges wrack the People’s Republic of Haven, and that lost window of opportunity will cost the Star Kingdom seventeen years of bloody warfare and hundreds of thousands of deaths.

Now Young is free to seek vengeance on the people he feels have “wronged” him. People like Paul Tankersley and Honor Harrington. Paid duelists, smear tactics, hired assassins in public restaurants . . . nothing is beneath Pavel Young. But Captain Harrington can look after herself, and Pavel Young is about to face the fury of the woman the newsies call the “Salamander.” Yet who will save the Star Kingdom from the repercussions of his actions?

Women and men like Brandy Bolgeo are about to pay the toll for the Star Kingdom of Manticore’s honor.

Get your copy of Toll of Honor here on Amazon. 

4. Extinction by Douglas Preston

With Extinction, #1 New York Times bestselling author Douglas Preston has written a page-turning thriller in the Michael Crichton mode that explores the possible and unintended dangers of the very real efforts to resurrect the woolly mammoth and other long-extinct animals.

Erebus Resort, occupying a magnificent, hundred-thousand acre valley deep in the Colorado Rockies, offers guests the experience of viewing woolly mammoths, Irish Elk, and giant ground sloths in their native habitat, brought back from extinction through the magic of genetic manipulation. When a billionaire's son and his new wife are kidnapped and murdered in the Erebus back country by what is assumed to be a gang of eco-terrorists, Colorado Bureau of Investigation Agent Frances Cash partners with county sheriff James Colcord to track down the perpetrators.

As killings mount and the valley is evacuated, Cash and Colcord must confront an ancient, intelligent, and malevolent presence at Erebus, bent not on resurrection—but extinction.

Grab Extinction here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

3. Mushroom Blues (The Hofmann Report: Book One) by Adrian M. Gibson

“A fascinating merging of oppressive imperialism and disconcerting alienation.”—Adrian Tchaikovsky, award-winning author of Children of Time & Shadows of the Apt

ENTER THE FUNGALVERSE. BEAT THE WINTER BLUES. Blade Runner, True Detective and District 9 meld with the weird worlds of Jeff VanderMeer, Philip K. Dick and China Miéville in Adrian M. Gibson’s hallucinatory, fungalpunk noir debut.

Two years after a devastating defeat in the decade-long Spore War, the island nation of Hōppon and its capital city of Neo Kinoko are occupied by invading Coprinian forces. Its fungal citizens are in dire straits, wracked by food shortages, poverty and an influx of war refugees. Even worse, the corrupt occupiers exploit their power, hounding the native population.

As a winter storm looms over the metropolis, NKPD homicide detective Henrietta Hofmann begrudgingly partners up with mushroom-headed patrol officer Koji Nameko to investigate the mysterious murders of fungal and half-breed children. Their investigation drags them deep into the seedy underbelly of a war-torn city, one brimming with colonizers, criminal gangs, racial division and moral decay.

In order to solve the case and unravel the truth, Hofmann must challenge her past and embrace fungal ways. What she and Nameko uncover in the midst of this frigid wasteland will chill them to the core, but will they make it through the storm alive?

Dive into Mushroom Blues here on Amazon.

2. The Thief: A Cosmic Shores Novel by G.S. Jennsen

* A stand-alone adventure set in the Amaranthe universe *

The Hesgyr are thieves. “Scavengers,” to hear their victims tell it; “repurposers” by their own reckoning.

As Chief of Intelligence for Non-Anaden Affairs, Eren Savitas’ job is to protect the Advocacy from all manner of alien threats: sabotage, assassination, insurgency and, way down the list, theft. So when he spots a Hesgyr running off with valuable technology, he follows the alien home—and discovers a civilization unlike any he’s ever encountered.

Yes, the Hesgyr are thieves. But they are also being hunted. Systematically exterminated by an insidious enemy they can’t see, touch or find. Eren finds himself drawn ever deeper into the Hesgyr’s fascinating yet labyrinthine world as he races against time to solve the mystery of the deadly attacks. What he discovers is a complex web of loyalties and betrayals, of grudges and grievances millennia old—and beneath it all, a secret that may hold the key to the survival of more than one civilization.

The Thief is a humorous, pulse-pounding sci-fi adventure about alien culture clashes, the flaws and foibles that transcend species, and the satisfaction that comes from breaking all the rules to save the day.

Get your copy of The Thief here on Amazon.

1. NecroTek by Jonathan Mayberry

From New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Maberry, NecroTek is a gripping sci-fi thriller full of ghosts, gods, and a battle for the soul of humanity.

Neither cosmic philosopher Lars Soren, hotshot pilot Bianca Petrescu, nor the high priestess Jessica McHugh—Lady Death herself—can say quite where in the galaxy they are. But after an experiment gone horribly wrong, one thing is clear: Asphodel Station isn’t in orbit around Jupiter any longer. Worse, the monsters that live out here—ancient eldritch beings thought only to exist in stories and nightmares—have now been alerted to Earth’s existence.

Their army of Shoggoths is coming for us next.

Humanity’s only hope for survival lies on the surface of the alien world of Shadderal, where a ghost named Lost, the last of an ancient race, still haunts the vast plains of the Field of Dead Birds. But hope has a cost. Lost tells Soren about ancient derelict spacecraft awaiting on Shadderal, shapeshifting machines that blend ultra-advanced technology with the dark powers of necromancy. These ships might just be nimble enough to defend mankind against the coming invasion.

But there’s a catch: they can only be piloted by the dead.

As human starfighters fall in battle, their spirits can be called back from death to pilot these ghost ships of a fallen race. But will this new necromantic technology—NecroTek—allow humanity to stand against the vast armies of the Shoggoths? And even if it can, is the war to save the human race worth the cost of its pilots’ immortal souls?

Get your copy of NecroTek
here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

And there you have it, sci-fi aficionados!

These are the incredible books that have captivated our community so far this year. How many have you read? Which will you be adding to the top of your TBR? And are there any sci-fi books from the first half of 2024 that you think didn't get their due? Let us know here in the comments, or over in the Discover Sci-Fi Facebook group! 

Once again, a heartfelt thank you to everyone who participated in the voting. Your enthusiasm and passion for science fiction continue to inspire us. Stay tuned for more exciting polls, reviews, and discussions as we explore the ever-expanding universe of sci-fi literature together.

Until next time, happy reading and may your adventures be out of this world!

*All book-related copy in this post was pulled from Amazon, Goodreads & Wikipedia, unless otherwise credited.

Thank you to all who took part in our 2023 Readers’ Choice Awards for science fiction, the audiobook edition. This is the first year we’ve had additional categories, and we’re thrilled you showed up for it! Your nominations and votes are the beating heart of this annual competition! 

Alright! Drumroll, please…. 

It’s time to present the ten standout sci-fi books of 2023 in the audiobook category! Ready to see which audiobook titles earned the spotlight? Keep scrolling to discover the top picks from fellow sci-fi fans and audiophiles like you!

*You can also see the top Sci-Fi Books of 2023 list here, and the top LitRPG of 2023 list here.

10. Burn Box: Embers, Book One by Bobby Adair narrated by Phil Thron

Trust nothing. Challenge everything. Survive, if you can.

In the chilling dawn of a near-future world, gene hackers, armed with AI and CRISPR's deadly precision, unleash wave after wave of engineered diseases. With food dwindling and trust eroding, nations spiral into authoritarian chaos, battling an unseen enemy while rampant disinformation corrodes the very fabric of society.

Millions, once productive citizens, now languish in their homes, awaiting meager government assistance checks. They peer through windows, fear in their eyes, dreading the ever-present virus police who, with a blast from their notorious Burn Boxes, cleanse the world one contaminated victim at a time.

Amid this tempest of societal decay stands Noah Blanks, an ordinary man burdened with the responsibility of his mortgage and the health of his cherished grandpa. For him, hope is a distant memory of a saner world. But when the virus police arrive at his doorstep, forcibly hauling Grandpa out into the street and turning him to ash within the steel walls of a Burn Box, Noah's passive wait for a better world ignites into an urgent need for action.

Burn Box is more than a survival story. It's an exploration into the depths of humanity in a world teetering on the edge. Can Noah muster the courage to defy this twisted order, or will he be swallowed by the fiery abyss of the dystopian terror?

Listen to Burn Box here on Amazon. Also available on Kindle.

9. System Collapse by Martha Wells narrated by Kevin R. Free

Am I making it worse? I think I'm making it worse.

Everyone's favorite lethal SecUnit is back.

Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if there's an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it, and if Barish-Estranza can't have the planet, they're sure as hell not leaving without something. If that something just happens to be an entire colony of humans, well, a free workforce is a decent runner-up prize.

But there's something wrong with Murderbot; it isn't running within normal operational parameters. ART's crew and the humans from Preservation are doing everything they can to protect the colonists, but with Barish-Estranza's SecUnit-heavy persuasion teams, they're going to have to hope Murderbot figures out what's wrong with itself, and fast!

Yeah, this plan is... not going to work.

Start listening to System Collapse here on Amazon.. Also available on Kindle.

8. Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky narrated by Mel Hudson

The modern classic of space opera that began with Children of Time continues in this extraordinary novel of humanity's battle for survival on a terraformed planet.

Earth failed. In a desperate bid to escape, the spaceship Enkidu and its captain, Heorest Holt, carried its precious human cargo to a potential new paradise. Generations later, this fragile colony has managed to survive, eking out a hardy existence. Yet life is tough, and much technological knowledge has been lost.

Then strangers appear. They possess unparalleled knowledge and thrilling technology–and they've arrived from another world to help humanity’s colonies. But not all is as it seems, and the price of the strangers' help may be the colony itself.

Children of Memory by Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author Adrian Tchaikovsky is a far-reaching space opera spanning generations, species and galaxies.

Get your audio copy of Children of Memory here on Amazon. Also available on Kindle.

7. The Downloaded by Robert J. Sawyer narrated by Brendan Fraser, Luke Kirby, Vanessa Sears 

Take a listen to The Downloaded here on Amazon. 

6. Starter Villain by John Scalzi narrated by Wil Wheaton

Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place.

Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan.

Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie.

But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits. Jake had enemies, and now they're coming after Charlie. His uncle might have been a stand-up, old-fashioned kind of villain, but these are the real thing: rich, soulless predators backed by multinational corporations and venture capital.

It's up to Charlie to win the war his uncle started against a league of supervillains. But with unionized dolphins, hyperintelligent talking spy cats, and a terrifying henchperson at his side, going bad is starting to look pretty good.

In a dog-eat-dog world...be a cat.

Take a listen to Starter Villain  here on Amazon. Also available on Kindle.

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5. Hell Divers X: Fallout by Nicholas Sansbury Smith narrated by R.C. Bray

Much is lost, but hope in one man remains . . .

In a shocking betrayal, Captain Rolo has vaporized the supercarrier Immortal with a nuclear warhead, all but wiping out the Vanguard army. Little does he know that King Xavier and the surviving Hell Diver and Cazador teams from Brisbane were not aboard.

In Panama, Outpost Gateway has suffered a very different disaster: attack by carnivorous vines. Director Rodger Mintel sent out a desperate SOS as the voracious coils ripped into the bunker.

At the Vanguard Islands, Charmer has framed Michael Everhart for two murders. Michael’s wife, Layla, is frantic to prove his innocence as evidence against him mounts.

Back in Queensland, knights of the Coral Castle dragged captive Hell Diver Kade Long to their leader, known as the Forerunner, before locking him in a cell in the Coral Castle.

The truth of what happened at Brisbane is spreading, and so is radiation from the nuclear blast. The fallout threatens everything in its path, putting the Coral Castle and X’s remaining forces in dire peril.

Listen to Hell Divers X: Fallout here on Amazon. Also available on Kindle.

4. Aftermath: Expeditionary Force, Book 16 by Craig Alanson, narrated by R. C. Bray

What happens in the wake of Failure Mode?

The Aftermath of a stunning victory—especially an unexpected, complete, and final victory—should be high-fives all around, listening to politicians give boring congratulatory speeches, and a well-deserved rest for the Merry Band of Pirates. Yes, the galaxy is still a freakin' mess, but that is nothing new, and for a change, that can be someone else's problem.

Until, you know, something really bad happens, and only the Pirates can deal with the problem... Or not.

Dive into Aftermath here on Amazon. Also available on Kindle.

3. Earthside: Quantum Earth, Book Two by Dennis E. Taylor narrated by Ray Porter

The fate of mankind is in the hands of a group of 20-something science nerds in the sequel to Outland, by the Audible #1 best-selling author of the “Bobiverse” series.

The Yellowstone super-eruption has put an end to modern civilization. As cities and countries continue to fall, the colony of Rivendell in the alternate Earth known as Outland looks more and more like the only real hope for humanity. But life in Rivendell isn’t getting any simpler, either. Bill and Kevin continue to discover new worlds; the population continues to rise; winter is approaching; and everyone has their own opinion about how things should be run.

Then, a garbled plea for help from Omaha sends most of the security forces back Earthside to investigate, leaving Monica’s police force understaffed just as a large group of refugees arrive with its own ideas and power structure. With threats from both inside and outside, will the colony even survive until spring?

Dive into Earthside here on Amazon. Also available on Kindle.

2. Alpha Wave: The Sleepers War, Book One by Jonathan Mayberry and Weston Ochse narrated by Ray Porter

Created to defeat the invaders. Forgotten in victory. They will rise again …

We were outnumbered, outfought. Mankind was about to fall to the alien Flock. Our only chance was a desperate gamble, transforming Tier One SpecOps agents into deadly super soldiers.

In the end, we won the war, but we lost the peace. The Flock surrendered and spent the next two hundred years making reparations, indentured to humanity, doing everything humans did not want to do. And the evolved super soldiers were consigned to an endless sleep. Ready if ever needed, but in time they became myths. Abandoned and forgotten.

And then, when we were content in our dominance, the Flock revolted against all of humanity across the whole of the galaxy. We fell in a single day.

Which is when the dreams began. People across the settled worlds began dreaming of the Sleepers. The evolved saviors. Acts of rebellion and terrorism swept the galaxy, and in response the Flock ground us under heel.

Lexi Chow, descendant of a hero of the Flock War, believes the Sleepers are real, and are humanity’s only chance against the alien conquerors. With a crew of misfits, criminals, and believers, she sets out to wake the Sleepers. Hoping they will once more save us.

If the betrayed Sleepers are willing. If the Sleepers are even human.

If the Sleepers are on our side at all …

Alpha Wave by New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Maberry and master storyteller Weston Ochse launches a new, sprawling military science fiction adventure that will span the whole of a galaxy at war!

Dive into Alpha Wave

here on Amazon. Also available on Kindle.

1. Singularity by Jeremy Robinson narrated by R.C. Bray

Cherry Bomb, an A.I. made human—and immortal—is out for revenge against her creator, Will, who left her on the Galahad, a ship full of unholy monsters, traversing the universe from beginning to end, ad infinitum.

Countless years pass, giving her more than enough time to plot her revenge. Upon gaining control of the ship, she sets her plan in motion, building a vast army and reforming the universe as she sees fit.

On Earth, heroes are brought together. Miah, and his team of immortal gods, Titans, angels, and demons join with Dark Horse and the crew of the Bitch’n, along with Delgado, Wini, and a colorful cast of characters from around the world and the universe. They’re quickly thrown into a series of grueling missions, defending the Earth against all-out attack while attempting to uncover Cherry Bomb’s endgame.

Taking losses along the way, the horrible truth is finally uncovered. A planet sharing Earth’s orbit rounds the sun, on a collision course. It’s a desperate place populated by unspeakable creatures now flooding through portals to Earth. A planet…called Torment. And if Miah, Dark Horse, and the others can’t stop it, our reality is doomed.

Start listening to Singularity

here on Amazon. Also available on Kindle.

How many of the 2023 Readers' Choice top 10 audiobooks have you listened to? Which ones are you adding to the top of your TBR for 2024? Any stellar audiobooks you think didn't get their due? Let us know here in the comments, or over in the Discover Sci-Fi Facebook group! 

*All book-related copy in this post was pulled from Amazon, Goodreads & Wikipedia, unless otherwise credited.