If you’ve never seen the appeal of space, imaginary technology, or aliens, then this column is for you. It’s escapism with some intellectual heft behind it. Seeing the universe from every perspective imaginable helps us see things here on Earth with fresh eyes. Readers new to the science fiction (sci-fi) genre often start with a classic like Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card or Dune by Frank Herbert. Consider five sci-fi sub-genres that may get you hooked!

Robots
All Systems Red by Martha Wells features a dangerous security construct who has achieved free will, but would rather watch its favorite TV shows in peace than get caught up in human squabbles. First of The Murderbot Diaries, every one of these books is delightfully hilarious and a staff favorite at NOLS.

Classic/Space Opera
Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey is part of an ongoing series and has been adapted into an excellent TV show. It has many of the classic tropes: spaceships, secretive corporations, interplanetary conflicts and politics, but they’re all bound together by a detective noire storyline that is gritty and fast moving.

Optimistic/Solarpunk
This newer sub-genre includes an all-time favorite book, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. This is space without the focus on technology. Characters are front and center so there is an incredible diversity of cultures and beings showcased. Second choice is Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel which follows a performing troupe through a plague-ravaged Canada, highlighting the importance of art and beauty in keeping us alive.

Military
There are many military sci-fi books to choose from, but Old Man’s War by John Scalia both embodies and transcends the category. In this world, retirement means joining the defense force and leaving Earth forever, which gives the reader epic space battles leavened with humor and a unique point of view.

Sociological/Soft Science
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin tackles ideas of gender, sexuality, communication, and religion like an anthropologist. Because it’s not humans under the microscope, this thought experiment has much more power to challenge and question things we think are fundamental to our human identity.

Author Philip K Dick said, “The SF writer sees not just possibilities, but wild possibilities.” Speculative fiction based on technology and science is so far seeing and yet so immediate. Unfortunately, there’s no space left in this article to touch on steampunk, time travel like Kindred by Octavia E. Butler, alternate history, or hard science like the mind-expanding The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin. But, hopefully your book list has expanded to explore a new world of reading material!

More Information
To check out these books and many others, visit nols.org, call 360.683.1161, or visit the Sequim Branch Library during curbside hours at 630 North Sequim Avenue.