Written by Jayse Smith
If you are like me and totally new to the sci-fi genre or perhaps looking for a new author to discover, we’ve got you covered. Aliens, space travel, unexplored planets—there’s an entire universe out there that authors of sci-fi books have the freedom to explore. Read on to discover seven authors you should try if you are looking to get into the genre which is out of this world!
1. Rob Boffard
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Boffard’s writing has amazing flow, characters, and settings. His recent novel Adrift was a thrilling adventure in deep space. It was filled with treachery, friendship, and ultimately survival. Boffard’s Tracer series is totally worth looking into—think Jason Bourne in outer space.
2. Elizabeth Moon
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Elizabeth is a nebula award-winning author, which is the most prestigious sci-fi writing award. Her novel Cold Welcome is highly recommended and it is the prequel to her Vatta’s War series. Great for fans of the military genre as the protagonist is Kylara Vatta, a space-fleet commander
3. Orson Scott Card
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The best-selling author of the award-winning Enders Game is so easy to read and the characters don’t have hard to pronounce tongue-twisting names. His Mither Mages series is a fantastic tale of the Mages of Westil who live in exile on Earth is a fantastic read.
4. Sean Danker
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Danker is the author of the Evagardian series with the first instalment called Admiral. It focuses on the narrator who awakens from cold sleep with no recollection of who he is. The sleeper he wakes in though marks him with an admiral’s rank with little to no idea of military protocol and now in charge of three military trainees. The goal: survival as the systems on their ship fail whilst marooned on a foreign planet. Oh yeah, the other thing, they know they are not alone. This is Danker’s debut and he has had brilliant reviews for it.
5. Charlie Jane Anders
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Author of All The Birds In The Sky described as a novel about the end of the world—and the beginning of our future. It blends magic, time travel, and the impending apocalypse together beautifully, and although this book does feels like fantasy, it does teeter on the verge of sci-fi with some of the concepts which are discussed. Anders is easy to read and in her spare time she organises Writers With Drinks!
6. Mike Brooks
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Brooks hails from the UK, sings for a punk band, DJ’s, owns snakes, and oh yeah, writes a kick-ass book! His series Keiko has three books to it with the first being Dark Run. Dark Run begins the story of The Keiko, a ship of smugglers, soldiers of fortune and adventurers, travelling Earth’s colony planets searching for the next job. And nobody talks about their past. If you want an easy read, Dark Run reads like Firefly and The Expanse with greater diversity and light sexy time.
7. Max Barry
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Australian author Max Barry’s book Jennifer Government is legit amazing. Set in the future where mega corporations own absolutely everything, even your last name. When you are employed by one of these, you take the company name as your surname. With characters like John Nike and his boss John Nike things do get a little confusing, but the humour and worldbuilding in this book is worth the read alone. Barry’s other titles include Lexicon—a brilliant thriller that connects very modern questions of privacy, identity, and the rising obsession of data collection to centuries-old ideas about the power of language and coercion, Machine man and Company.
There you have it, all the authors above have created worlds, planets, solar systems, alien races with histories of their own, travelled across galaxies, and so much more. Why wouldn’t you want to get out and explore with them from the comfort of your lounge chair. I’d challenge you to read at least one of the books from the authors above and report back with your findings!
Live long and prosper, Jayse out.
