Best New and Emerging Science Fiction Writers

[Piman25]

I couldn't find a thread dedicated to this, forgive me if this has been posted elsewhere.

I have a great affinity for 1940s-1970s Science Fiction, with some smattering of 1980s and 1990s. A little from this century.

In another thread about neglected authors of the past,Teresa Edgerton said "I would appreciate the opportunity to talk about something really new."

Please enlighten this old codger, stuck in the past, who are the most exciting, promising, enticing and skilled writers in the field today.

Please provide name, titles and a bit about the stories. I may dip my toe in a more contemporary pond.

 

[williamjm]

I read Arkady Martine's A Memory Called Empire earlier this year which I thought was an excellent space opera and particularly impressive for a debut novel, I think the sequel is out soon and I'm definitely looking forward to it.

Adrian Tchaikovsky is one of my favourite novelists of recent years and while he has published more fantasy than science fiction out of his SF work I did particularly like the unusual first contact story of Children of Time as well as the near-future Dogs of War.

 

[The Scribbling Man]

I'm similar. I tend to stay within the safety of pre-2000 fiction in general, and I don't often read much past the 1970's. There are odd exceptions, but I'm not familiar with a lot of new stuff, and I don't often see anything that interests me. According to my Goodreads account I've not read anything newer than 2015, and most of that is non-fiction. In terms of science fiction, I've read (ratings in bold):

Annihilation - Jeff Vandermeer (2014) 2.5
Red Shirts - John Scalzi (2012) 2
The Islanders - Christopher Priest (2011) 2.5
Ready Player One - Ernest Cline (2011) 1.5
Opus - Satoshi Kon (2011) 4
Seraphim - Mamoru Oshi/Satoshi Kon (2010) 3.5

So... not a great many, and not a great track record on enjoyment. Plus, Opus and Seraphim are manga and posthumous works, so maybe don't count in that sense. I have read some young adult books, such as most of the Artemis Fowl novels, but I don't really count them. I have also read and enjoyed some of Priest's earlier works from the 70's-90's.

(In short, this thread will be useful for me.)

 

[tachyon]

Seconding A Memory Called Empire, I too am eagerly awaiting the sequel and Martine is a New and Emerging SF writer.

The first books that came to mind when I read the OP were, upon reflection, not particularly new, and from rather well established authors.

Dipping your toes into post 2000 SF I'd have suggested maybe Permanence by Karl Schroeder (2002), a hard SF in the classic vein with relativistic space travel, a mysterious object from deep space, and a tight focus on a couple of heroic characters. But it's nearly 20 years old at this point and Schroeder is quite well established.

More recently John Scalzi's Interdependency series is a lot of fun, if you like foul mouthed fast paced space opera, with a lot of politicking and the fate of human civilization in the balance. This is newer, (2018), but Scalzi is a big name in the field, so hardly from an emerging writer.

I'll add 2 suggestions to the one I seconded above.

I've mentioned Malka Older's Centenal Cycle in a post recently, it's a trilogy of earth-based nearish-future SF. Older is no longer brand-new author, with a completed trilogy and other projects out but is still becoming established, and is someone to watch, with lots of really great ideas in her work. The first Centenal book, Infomocracy (2016), is an introduction to the world of microdemocracy in the context of a major election that will reshape the global government. World-spanning, cyberpunky and fast-paced, but don't expect a lot of explanation, she throws you right into it and you have to figure it out as you go along.

If you'd prefer a far future deep space kind of read, have a look at The Quantum Magician, by Derek Künsken. From 2018, it's still quite new and is a debut. It's a posthuman universe with many bizarre variations of humanity adapted to different tasks and environments, there's interplanetary empires, a looming war, a conflicted and not entirely trustworthy main character and a heist story at the center (we're getting the crew together!) There's a sequel but this book works as a standaone.

 

[Bick]

The most well-lauded emerging writers are those publishing in online ‘magazines’ like Strange Horizons and Uncanny. These are the magazines from which most of the recent Hugo nominated short work comes from ( you can look up recent Hugo nominees to see a list of who’s currently popular). Whether this stuff is that good, or to your taste you’d have to see. I read all the Hugo-nominated short stories last year and found them all to be either not very good or at best, average, so they may be ‘emerging’ for some, but it’s not universal.

All the recently published books I’ve read are by established authors (Kress, Scalzi etc). If anyone can come up with a genuinely good emerging SF author I’d be interested to hear of them too.

I think Arkady Martine is probably a skilled writer, but she’s perhaps still learning her craft - her debut novel had its moments but it’s far from perfect and I’d say it remains to be seen how good she really is.

 

[hitmouse]

OK, here are a few who are active, with some recommendations, even if not their most recent works. One’s mileage may vary.

Jeff Noon. Start with Vurt (1993). Psychedelic Manchester SF. His subsequent and current stuff is really good.
Cixin Liu. Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy, starting with The Three-Body Problem (2006). This has divided opinion on Chrons, but a number of us feel that this is some of the finest hard SF for many years.
Ian McDonald. Try River of Gods (2004) and Brasyl (2007)
Hannu Rajaniemi. The Quantum Thief (2010)

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Seconding Adrian Tchaikovsky and Ian McDonald and adding on Chris Beckett

 

[Piman25]

Thank you for the suggestions. I will look into them. Keep them coming.

I looked at the actual number of genre books from this century that I have read in this century.

The Three Body Problem Trilogy -Liu Cixin
The Last Policeman Trilogy - Ben H. Waters
The City in The Middle of The NIght - Charlie Jane Anders
The Raven Tower - Ann Leckie

As far as I can tell, that is it. So those who are suggesting books that are from the early 2000s - still new to me!

 

[Venusian Broon]

Thank you for the suggestions. I will look into them. Keep them coming.

I looked at the actual number of genre books from this century that I have read in this century.

The Three Body Problem Trilogy -Liu Cixin
The Last Policeman Trilogy - Ben H. Waters
The City in The Middle of The NIght - Charlie Jane Anders
The Raven Tower - Ann Leckie

As far as I can tell, that is it. So those who are suggesting books that are from the early 2000s - still new to me!

Yeah, a while back I went through my collection and had a looked at when my SF books had been published. Here is the result:

(I was born in 1971, so that sort of explains the peak in the 80s-90s, as these are books that were brand new that I grew up with. The 50s-60s are full of the 'classics'. It's not all the SF books I've read, there's a lot I don't currently own that I've definitely gone through.)

So I decided to get this graph a little bit more balanced on the more recent end . So to do that I've been getting hold of the short lists of some of the awards and acquiring them - for example, the Arthur C. Clarke Award for best SF novel:

The Arthur C. Clarke Award

Science Fiction book of the year

clarkeaward.com

This might be a good start to finding what's hot right now, I see @Bick suggests a similiar strategy.

I can't tell you if this is going to be a fruitful endeavour with regards to finding good books - I've got all of 2020 and most of 2019, but...they just joined the main pile of 50 other books I've yet to read. (Actually starting to form a subsiduary 'new SF pile' that is now orbiting the 'main SF to be read pile')

Maybe by 2025 I'll have caught up with 2020

 

[Brian G Turner]

Checks my Kindle favourites for recent SF:

Andy Weir - The Martian
Dennis E Taylor - Bobiverse trilogy
David Mitchell - Cloud Atlas
Ralph Kern - Endeavour, Locus trilogy, Great War series
Jack Campbell - Lost Fleet series
Yoon Ha Lee - Ninefox Gambit
Ernest Cline - Ready Player One
Cixin Liu - Three Body Problem

 

[Paul_C]

There are quite a few on my list already mentioned, so I'll just add some names not yet offered.

N K Jemisen
Aliette De Bodard
Kameron Hurley
Ted Chiang
Jeff Vandermeer
Tade Thompson
Micaiah Johnson
Mary Robinette Kowal
Nnedi Okorafor

 

[BAYLOR]

Much of my science fiction reading is sadly out of date.

 

[rezman333]

Thank you for the suggestions. I will look into them. Keep them coming.

I looked at the actual number of genre books from this century that I have read in this century.

The Three Body Problem Trilogy -Liu Cixin
The Last Policeman Trilogy - Ben H. Waters
The City in The Middle of The NIght - Charlie Jane Anders
The Raven Tower - Ann Leckie

As far as I can tell, that is it. So those who are suggesting books that are from the early 2000s - still new to me!

I really like Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

 

[Piman25]

I really like Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Been recommended by a few others also. I guess I will give it a read.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Been recommended by a few others also. I guess I will give it a read.

It’s excellent and the sequel is too

 

[alexvss]

I really like the short stories by Derrick Boden. Check him out if you're into Cyberpunk.

 

[Rodders]

Children of Time/Ruin are still on my TBR pile.

 

[Bick]

Children of Time/Ruin are still on my TBR pile.

Me too - I do intend to get to them soon...

 

[Dave Vicks]

Ted Chiang.

I heard Yoon Ha Lee was good.

 

[Parson]

I very much enjoyed The MurderBot Series by Martha Wells. I found it very original and engaging. Murderbot is the character I think is the most true while still being unique that I've read in a long, long, time. My only problem with them was paying a high price for a short novel (It is at present a 4 book series and might be finished.) on a Kindle.

If you like light positive fairly hard S.F. Laurence E. Dahmers has a really good series. The Ell Donsaii Stories. The best comment I've read about them is that they are like popcorn. You know they aren't really wonderful food, but you just can't stop yourself from taking another one."