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<\/div>Adrian Tchaikovsky\u2019s new novel Service Model is out in June<\/p>\n
Joby Sessions\/SFX Magazine\/Future via Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n
There is a wealth of great new science fiction out this June, with all tastes catered for. Want a wild ride to stop a volcano erupting and ending the world? The late Michael Crichton (and his collaborator James Patterson) have it nailed. Want a robot finding his way in the world? Head for Adrian Tchaikovsky and his robot servant Charles. Climate dystopia, poetically rendered? Turn to Roz Dineen.<\/p>\n
I am also delighted to see a smattering of space-opera romances, from authors including Emily Hamilton and Rebecca Fraimow \u2013 hurrah for some light-heartedness in our sci-fi. That light-heartedness is \u00a0exactly what we are currently enjoying at the New Scientist<\/em> Book Club \u2013 sign up<\/a>, and join us in reading Martha Wells\u2019s wonderful All Systems Red<\/em>, the first in her Murderbot series.<\/p>\n But back to June, where I have also cunningly managed to shoehorn in a mention of one of my top dystopian reads of all time, the criminally overlooked A Boy and his Dog at the End of the World<\/em> by C.A. Fletcher.<\/p>\n Crichton, who gave us novels including Jurassic Park<\/em> (great fun) and State of Fear<\/a><\/em> (less so), died in 2008. Eruption <\/em>has thus been finished by the prolific James Patterson, taking a break from his usual collaborations with the likes of former US presidents and Dolly Parton.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The premise: the Big Island of Hawaii is about to be hit by a mega volcanic eruption. Unfortunately for the world, the US military chose to hide some very dangerous substances right by the volcano, and if their containers are broken, we are all going to die.<\/p>\n I have found the book silly but fast-moving and fun so far. Emily H. Wilson, our esteemed sci-fi columnist, was less enamoured (\u201cThe only mystery is: will these cardboard-thin characters be successful in their logistical efforts?\u201d she wrote<\/a>, in her May sci-fi column). Perhaps I am just a sucker for rugged volcanologists battling with lava flows, but I am enjoying this absurd quest to save the world for now.<\/p>\n The late Michael Crichton in 2005<\/p>\n dpa picture alliance archive\/Alamy<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n This is the second book of the year from the prolific Tchaikovsky, after Alien Clay<\/em>. This time we are following the story of robot servant Charles, who is loyal to a fault until a malfunction causes him to murder his owner, and he sets out into the wider world. Tchaikovsky is an author our sci-fi columnist Emily H. Wilson describes as \u201ca huge talent, writing at the peak of his powers\u201d; she loved<\/a> this latest.<\/p>\n Four twenty-somethings are investigating an old spaceship when the \u201cstupid dark matter engine\u201d starts on its own, and they find themselves on a one-way trip to Proxima Centauri. This is described as a mix of space odyssey and Sapphic romcom, and it sounds like just the sort of light-hearted read I need to read by the pool. The comparisons being made to the brilliant Becky Chambers are particularly appealing.<\/p>\n In Emily Hamilton\u2019s The Stars Too Fondly, the \u201cstupid dark matter engine\u201d starts on its own<\/p>\n Irina Dmitrienko\/Alamy<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n More romance among the stars, as Ruth, a hustler on an interstellar cruise line, is out to get revenge on Esteban, the man who broke her sister\u2019s heart. Ruth\u2019s plan is to make Esteban fall in love with her, then break his heart right back. But then Ruth meets Esteban\u2019s older sister Sol\u2026<\/p>\n I have enjoyed Manda Scott\u2019s novels ever since I discovered her historical Boudica books; her historical spy thriller A Treachery of Spies<\/em> won the McIlvanney Prize for the Best Scottish Crime Novel of the Year<\/a> when I judged it in 2019 (it is excellent). So, I am intrigued by this latest offering from a \u00a0multi-talented writer \u2013 a \u201cvisionary thriller\u201d that weaves together \u201cmyth, technology and radical compassion\u201d according to its publisher, set in a world at breaking point, but where change is coming.<\/p>\n As a die-hard fan of Diana Gabaldon\u2019s time-travelling Outlander books, this is going to fill the gap nicely as I wait for book 10 (come on Diana\u2026). It is 2005 and Isla is researching her Japanese ancestors when she travels from Scotland to Kagoshima. There, she is thrown through a strange white gate by a typhoon, and finds herself in 1877. There is romance with a samurai and decisions about whether or not to remain in the past. Honestly, this is right up my Jamie Fraser<\/a>-loving alley. And the time-travel means we can definitely claim it as sci-fi \u2013 after all, time may only be an illusion created by quantum entanglement<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n Five years after Idrian, an interstellar pirate, ordered a death curse (known as a withering) on Remy\u2019s brother, Remy is out for revenge. He orders a withering on Idrian \u2013 only for the curse to rebound onto him. The only way Remy can slow the curse down is to be closer to Idrian, so Remy infiltrates Idrian\u2019s crew, only to discover this pirate is in fact bringing supplies to thousands of innocents. Perhaps he is not as bad as he seems.<\/p>\n![\"New](\"https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/06095329\/sei207491627.jpg?width=1200\")
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