Sci-Fi Titans
By The Cowbridge Bookshop
By The Cowbridge Bookshop
A Memory Called Empire: Winner of the 2020 Hugo Award for Best Novel
Arkady Martine
£8.99 £8.36A brilliant new addition to the genre, this opening chapter of the series is both human and deeply political. Really well written, this is truly character-led , developing dually into an intriguing plot as it opens up. Bring on the next installment please!
Revelation Space
Alastair Reynolds
£10.99 £10.22This series opener has a grand vision at its core, enjoining the parameters and beyond of our current understanding
Ancillary Justice: THE HUGO, NEBULA AND ARTHUR C. CLARKE AWARD WINNER
Ann Leckie
£8.99 £8.36Award winning debut novel a few years ago, this makes for a highly imaginative and deeply engaging trilogy
Gnomon
Nick Harkaway
£8.99 £8.36True to his father's legacy of intelligent writing, this is a story to admire in its conception
The Quantum Thief
Hannu Rajaniemi
£8.99 £8.36For the true hard-sci-fi fan, this mind-bending tale requires you to have your wits about you, as you are challenged to keep up with a brain most likely larger than your own... Jean le Flambeur #1
Mockingbird: From the author of The Queen's Gambit - now a major Netflix drama
Walter Tevis
£8.99 £8.36What starts with 1984, moves forward in time into Brave New World and arrives here, in Tevis' classic
The Reality Dysfunction
Peter F. Hamilton
£10.99 £10.22One of the giants of big-concept sci-fi, this is an ideal book as a launch point. If you want qualty and size combined, you just hit lucky. Night's Dawn #1
Consider Phlebas: A Culture Novel
Iain M. Banks
£9.99 £9.29The first chapter of Banks' masterpiece Culture series. (Others at the bottom of the list)
Summerland
Hannu Rajaniemi
£8.99 £8.36From top hard sci-fi to excellent futuristic spy thriller, this is one smart writer
The Quantum Magician
Derek Kunsken
£8.99 £8.36The first of currently two, this is far-future for hard sci-fi fans, strong on tech
The City in the Middle of the Night
CHARLIE JANE ANDERS
£8.99 £8.36An outside in a fragmented post-Earth society, this is a story of belonging and not, loneliness and survival and finding hope where none was to be found.
Stranger in a Strange Land
Robert A. Heinlein
£9.99 £9.29One of the "caused controversy but now can't see why" books. In Jubal Harshaw, it contains one of sci-fi's best-drawn characters
Ancestral Night: A White Space Novel
Elizabeth Bear
£9.99 £9.29An outstanding novel by a well-established writer, this sits comfortably in the space-opera cannon
The Black Cloud
Fred Hoyle
£9.99 £9.29One of the classics, written by an ackowledged peer of his scientific realm, a must-read for all sci-fi fans
Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?: The inspiration behind Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049
Philip K Dick
£8.99 £8.36Yes it is a classic and yes you may have seen the film. But have you actually read it? There's a reason why it has such status and if you haven't read it, then you don't know how good it is.
Perdido Street Station
China Mieville
£10.99 £10.22Where to start with this book? With Mieville? Take the plunge and see where it leads you. Once read, never forgotten.
Foundation
Isaac Asimov
£8.99 £8.36As the blurb says, iconic. This is where it all began and those younger readers who may not have entered his realm, it is a must. The trilogy now also released as a good value £16 hardback (9781841593326)
Ready Player One
Ernest Cline
£8.99 £8.36A thoroughly entertaining sci-fi thriller that hits the ground running and is very difficult to stop. Brilliant for those able to remember the 1980's
Empire of Silence: Book One
Christopher Ruocchio
£10.99 £10.22A really good blend of sci-fi and high fantasy, this pulls you in quickly and won't let you go
The Lost Puzzler
Eyal Kless
£8.99 £8.36Great backdrop, good characters who you can invest in and well-paced. Living amongst the ruins of a once-great civilisation, a boy, capable of working the wondrous things left behind, becomes the fulcrum for change
The Death of Grass
John Christopher
£9.99 £9.29What was once fanciful fiction now heralds far more serious undertones for the planet's current trajectory. Another classic that reverberates still
Embers of War
Gareth L. Powell
£7.99 £7.43The first of an excellent trilogy, perfectly suited when insufficient time is available for Banks and Hamilton.
The City & The City
China Mieville
£9.99 £9.29A near-reality plot, centred in a city where two separate groups of people co-exist who must never recognise the existence of each other, else never to be seen again. Sound implausible? Think again, as Mieville quickly suspends reality and leads you into another of his unique creations
Nineteen Eighty-Four
George Orwell
£8.99 £8.36It's here just to remind you that if you haven't, you should and if you did, you should give it to someone else.
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet: Wayfarers 1
Becky Chambers
£8.99 £8.36A novel of great depth and positivity, a joy to read.
Brave New World: 90th Anniversary Edition with an Introduction by Yuval Noah Harari
Aldous Huxley
£9.99 £9.29Does this need more? If you haven't, come on, what's keeping you?
Fahrenheit 451
Ray Bradbury
£8.99 £8.36A must of the genre's classics. Just how did the author know?
2001: a Space Odyssey
Arthur C. Clarke
£8.99 £8.36Part of the must-reads of sci-fi. A bona fide legend shows us the reason why he rose to such lofty heights. Those others read are excellent also, but here you should start
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August: The word-of-mouth bestseller you won't want to miss
Claire North
£8.99 £8.36What would happen if you awoke after dying with full memory and it kept happening?
Red Rising: Red Rising Series 1
Pierce Brown
£8.99 £8.36This is a full-throttle opening to an excellent series. A deeply satisfying telling of the rising of the oppressed. Good entry into the genre as you will only need to enjoy a thriller to really get into this.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: 42nd Anniversary Edition
Douglas Adams
£9.99 £9.29Almost all know of it and some may have read it, probably when they were a teenager. What a difference it makes reading it as an adult viewed from a different lense. Light-hearted a wise, this is a pleasure worth visiting or re-visiting
Strata
Terry Pratchett
£8.99 £8.36Something of a blend here, but an worthy concoction - Pratchett does sci-fi (and I don't mean Long Earth). As hilarious and insightful as he always was
The Corporation Wars Trilogy: Omnibus Edition
Ken MacLeod
£12.99 £12.08A triple-bill of crackling sci-fi for £12.99 - who says small business doesn't do bargains?
The Algebraist
Iain M. Banks
£9.99 £9.29For imagination, see Banks. This standalone novel gives introduction to the brilliance of this man's mind. Warning, concentration required...
Oryx and Crake
Margaret Atwood
£9.99 £9.29For all the lit crit spoilers out there, I'll throw in a Booker prize-winning author. A real cracker
