SOMETIMES SCIENCE FICTION skews local and hopeful. Other times it’s doomy and far-out. Two modern masters—Kim Stanley Robinson and John Scalzi—have books coming out this month, and they happen to fall on opposing ends of that spectrum. Which one’s for you? We read them both to help you decide.
New York during the 2142 congressional election
Sea levels rise; supersize hurricanes strike
Vlade, apartment building super and former scuba diver—convenient!
The Cloister Cluster, prime real estate on the waterfront
3 (pack extra oxygen and warm clothes)
1 (hedge funders targeting financial analysts)
“The sea always won in the end.”
Waterproof diamond sheeting; multilevel boat garages
Waterworld survivalists battle Wall Street bogeymen
Circa AD 3500 (the Gregorian calendar is passé by then)
Space pirates rebel; scurvy outbreak looms (see below)
Kiva Lagos, daughter of the family controlling the at-risk intergalactic citrus trade
End, the Wild West of the cosmos, constantly on the verge of coup
2 (both on the emperox of the Interdependency)
“There is no faster-than-light travel. But there is the Flow.”
Interdimensional space highways; the Memory Room
Star Wars politics in the key of Firefly
This article appears in the March issue. Subscribe now.