Your Essential Science Fiction Books for April 2017
From Captain Future to Grand Admiral Thrawn, here are your best bets for sci-fi books in April.
The best science fiction books for April aren’t messing around. If you’re a reader who hopes for truly otherworldly aesthetics in science fiction books, the selected titles this month won’t disappoint because these books aren’t doing anything half-way. There’s a throwback pulpy sci-fi title that goes full-pulp, a dystopian novel from a popular author that turns that genre on its head, the backstory of a popular Star Wars character revealed, and witches battling tech start-ups. In addition to all of this, there are also steampunk tales from alternate worlds and a doomsday scenario that sounds a little too terrifying to be fiction. Very few books on this month’s list are part of a series, so readers normally intimidated by jumping into an ongoing world have nothing to fear. On to the list!
Avengers of the Moon by Allen Steele
An intentionally pulpy throwback title, hard SF author Allen Steele brings back a “gee-wiz quality” to contemporary space fiction. Are you missing novels with characters named “Captain Future?” Here’s the book for you.
Publish date: April 11.
Star Wars: Thrawn by Timothy Zahn
Ever since the animated series Star Wars Rebels brought the beloved blue-skinned baddie — Grand Admiral Thrawn — back into the official Star Wars canon, fans have been trying to reconcile his old backstory from Heir to the Empire with his new one. This month, the author who created Thrawn will do just that.
Publish date: April 11.*
All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders
The paperback release of the debut novel from one of the most powerful voices in contemporary science fiction is a cause for celebration. Charlie Jane Anders may have made her mark as a blogger and editor at io9, but her short fiction made her a sci-fi visionary. Her debut novel — all about witches and tech start-ups of the future — signals her permanent arrival as a serious master of the genre.
Publish date: April 11.
Cosmic Powers: The Saga Anthology of Far-Away Galaxies edited by John Joseph Adams
Editor of Lightspeed and brilliant anthologist John Joseph Adams offers his latest themed collection of stories. This time, he recruited various sci-fi writers to give original spins on short stories set in faraway galaxies. If the Chris Foss-esque cover art reminds you of Guardians of the Galaxy, it should.
Publish date: April 18.
The Ship by Antonia Honeywell
A contemporary Noah’s Ark will save survivors of a destroyed future version of London. But who will get on the ship and who won’t? This powerful debut dark future by novelist and historian Antonia Honeywell tackles sci-fi in the tradition of Atwood and Jose Saramago.
Publish date: April 25.
Walkway by Cory Doctorow
The celebrated co-editor of Boing Boing has called his first adult novel in nearly eight years an “optimistic dystopia.” In the future, not every single person will become a selfish monster, and some of them might be able to walk away from the terribleness of a capitalist system. The novel is also hilarious.
Publish date: April 25.
Buffalo Soldier by Maurice Broaddus
This steampunk alternate history novella offers a version of an ascendant Jamaica in another dimension. Follow the adventures of heroic secret agent Desmond Coke in a world that might have been.
Publish date: April 25.
