2026: Outlook in Science Fiction

[dannymcg]

A decent pile!

Yeah, there's a good 2 weeks worth of reading there

 

[Prairie_Dog]

Annalee Newitz has a new novel coming out October 6, 2026. A Wall is Also a Road is told from the point of view of an alien graduate student who visits earth. It’s currently available for pre-order. Here’s more information:

A Wall Is Also a Road

From bestselling author Annalee Newitz, A Wall Is Also a Road is a thought-provoking science fiction adventure about the meaning of life and love, seen throu...

us.macmillan.com

 

[cpegg]

For those still dealing with Amazon...

House of Blades (Gates of Babylon Book 1)
by Joshua Dalzelle
October 20, 2026

I would be looking forward to reading this if there was still a way to download it and get an epub onto one of my beloved Kobos. Stupid Amazon.
[Edit 2026-07-14: Dalzelle has made the most recent books in his Omega Force and Terran Scout Fleet series downloadable as epubs, so I hope this one will be as well!]

I greatly enjoyed Dalzelle's nine-book Black Fleet series even though military SF is usually well outside my range of interests.

 

[Hobbit]

Very pleased to have this one arrive for review today. Thank you, @Gollancz ! And yes, that is Richard Swan, who also writes Grimdark-style Fantasy... we've sent him some interview questions, too. More as we get it!

 

[Westy]

Probably one for the 2027 thread when it's up but I received a notification, and there's been some posts about Spin and Axis, so: Forty Million Summers by Robert Charles Wilson is slated for May 2027.

"An inexplicable ecological disaster is rapidly making the Earth uninhabitable. The development of temporal displacement offers hope, but at the price of an unpredictable exit from time itself. But rebuilding a civilization will require more than ingenuity. Especially when forces beyond human understanding are waging an interstellar war, forging humanity into something unrecognizable."

 

[Hobbit]

The Richard Swan interview is up today: https://www.sffworld.com/forum/thre...nterview-with-richard-swan.60799/#post-893420

And China Mieville's The Rouse is on the way. So big that the ARC is in two volumes!!



Publishing on 17 September here, I understand.

 

[Hobbit]

It has arrived.... in addition, the Claire North is a time-travel story, the top one is (unsurprisingly) fantasy. Should keep me busy...

 

[Fryan]

Looks like you’ll be kept busy for a while with those!

So is the Rouse going to be printed as a Duology?

 

[Westy]

So is the Rouse going to be printed as a Duology?

Would be just the ARC unfortunately.

 

[Fryan]

Would be just the ARC unfortunately.

I was hoping it might be in a slightly more manageable size.

 

[Hobbit]

I was hoping it might be in a slightly more manageable size.

I would say that I thought the print might be smaller in the finished book - it is the trend at the moment! - but the print's not exactly huge in these. But I have a Broken Binding edition ordered - we will see! There is always the Kindle edition, I guess....

Early days - I'm not sure if it is SF, fantasy or what yet. Suspect it will defy categorisation....

 

[Fryan]

Realistically, I’ll get it on Kindle initially as I live in a bookstore desert, but eventually I’ll want to nab a physical copy.

 

[dannymcg]

I saw somewhere (but can't find it now!) that John Ringo has another book coming out in his Troy Rising series.
Has anyone else saw it?

 

[Hobbit]

This one, Danny?

 

[dannymcg]

Yeah , that's it.....having read the blurb it doesn't sound too interesting TBH.

I read an anthology recently from Stephen King and it was a similar concept , various authors wrote short stories set in the world of The Stand - I remember there was only 2 that seemed any good

 

[Hobbit]

Yeah , that's it.....having read the blurb it doesn't sound too interesting TBH.

I read an anthology recently from Stephen King and it was a similar concept , various authors wrote short stories set in the world of The Stand - I remember there was only 2 that seemed any good

Yes, I reviewed that one (Rob, too, I think). It was a big book, but a bit of a mixture. Some of the stories were a slog....

These sort of anthologies can work, but I'm not sure about this one, although I don't know the series that well, admittedly. Lots of new (to me) authors there. I like to try new authors, and give them a chance, but it sounds more like a playground for Baen writers to me.

 

[Raf]

Yeah , that's it.....having read the blurb it doesn't sound too interesting TBH.

I read an anthology recently from Stephen King and it was a similar concept , various authors wrote short stories set in the world of The Stand - I remember there was only 2 that seemed any good

I haven't cared for any current Ringo / Insert co-author of your choice books in quite awhile.

Outside of the Tom Kratman, Julie Cochrane offerings in the original Posleen War series 20+ years ago. Which were pretty good in the context of that storyline.

 

[Hobbit]

Not the best picture (apologies!) but these two arrived today.



Weird to think that Star Trek IV is 40 years ago and that the original Star Trek is 60 this year - although we didn't get the series here in the UK until after it had completely finished in the US... 1969?