I may or may not be about a week late with this prompt. But who really has to know? Time travel is, after all, a nice component of science fiction. Consider it employed here. Anyway, as imyril explains here, “Since we last met” is a prompt to mention the sci-fi books I read since last SciFi Month.
I don’t usually read a ton of sci-fi. However, this is my second year as a SFINCS judge, so I’ve been exposed to more sci-fi than I might typically reach for (which is a good thing). Since most of my sci-fi reads are by self-published authors, I’ll just mention all of the books I read between November 2023 to the end of October 2024. Maybe one of the self-published novellas will catch your interest!
Traditionally Published Sci-Fi
CALAMITY by Constance Fay: This was the first book published by Tor’s romance imprint, Bramble. I’d never heard of a sci-fi romance, so this was new to me. Honestly, I think I need to find more sci-fi romance. CALAMITY was an entertaining romp into enemies-to-lovers, but make it space mercenaries. For more thoughts, my full review is here.
THE TUSKS OF EXTINCTION by Ray Nayler: As I mention in my review, this is “a standalone, science fiction novella in which a human consciousness is downloaded into a mammoth.” I thought this was a well-done novella that takes on the topic of animal conservation. If you missed it, give this one a try.
Self-Published Science Fiction
ROXY BUCKLES AND THE FLIGHT OF THE SPARROW by Nicole Little: This novella is a light sci-fi adventure in which the main character roots out corruption. Her ex-fiancé was jailed for bombing The Academy. With justice in mind, Roxy doesn’t hesitate to sign up to take out a rebel group linked to her ex-fiancé. My full review is here.
THE STARS WITHIN by Alex Arch: This one is “novella with two points of views. Both serve to explore the human element of expansion into space and the importance and dangers of living.” I wasn’t sure I understood the ending, but maybe you will! Full review is here.
DUST & LIGHTNING by Rebecca Crunden: This novella “involves a rescue mission mystery set in the year 4054. People still live on a polluted Earth, by humans have long since expanded their range to other planets. But that doesn’t stop the government from getting up to shady activities.” Full review is here.
THE RE-EMERGENCE by Alan K. Dell: Dell’s novella features “a sentient satellite that alerts the crew of a ship to the nearby presence of ancient wanderers, now believed to be myth.” I remember enjoying this one a lot. It’s full of action. Full review is here.
These are all SFINCS novellas from the second year of the competition. I didn’t write reviews for them. But if any of the covers catch your eye, feel free to click on the links for each title. The links lead to their listings on Amazon.
STAR PATTERN TRAVELLER by Joyce Chng
A PRINCESS OF OLDIR by Bryan Wilson
THE TIDELINGS OF DRAS SAYVE by C.B. Lansdell
Have you read any of these?
I’ve really enjoyed the Space romances that I’ve read so Calamity definitely sounds like it might be one to try and find.
If you have any space romances to recommend, let me know!
I’ve read both Calamity and Tusks of Extintion and loved them both. And they’re about as different as two books can be!
Calamity was fun, but I liked Tusks of Extinction a lot. I have Nayler’s octopus book on my shelf to read, which I’ve also heard is good.
Thanks for introducing me to these – I’m adding several of them to my tbr. 🙂
You’re welcome! By the way, have you always had a blogspot based blog? I thought you were on WordPress, but maybe I’m not remembering correctly!
Sci fi is a genre that I majorly want to try and get into. So far I’ve mostly only read dystopian novels (and I constantly forget that they count 🙈). Given the popularity of roamantasy I can see sci fi romances catching on well. And the wooly mammoth idea caught me totally off guard. I feel like the ending you weren’t sure you understood would probably go over my head given my unfamiliarity with the genre. It looks like an interesting mix of reads though.
The Tusks of Extinction does sound really interesting. I did see it pass me by at the time but I wasn’t so sure about it.
It is interesting and I definitely recommend it! I love that it’s a novella, too, so it’s not a huge time commitment.