Sleeper Beach by Nick Harkaway (Corsair, £20)
In the follow-up to Titanium Noir, private detective Cal Sounder is no longer an ordinary mortal; after a dose of the T7 immortality drug, he’s now a big, strong baby-faced Titan. With repeated treatments, the super-wealthy Titans grow ever larger, younger and more estranged from humankind, but Cal is determined not to lose his humanity. Like the best fictional PIs, he doesn’t just care about catching criminals; he does what he can to help those who have been let down by society. His latest case, beginning with the killing of a young woman recently arrived in a run-down seaside town, turns out to involve political as well as personal issues, and is another satisfying, stylish dose of science fictional noir.
Some Body Like Me by Lucy Lapinska (Gollancz, £20)
In this adult SF debut from a children’s author, the end is nigh. Humans, racked by disease and toxic pollution, are facing extinction. But it is not the end of the world. Intelligent androids are working to renew the land and sea, and will remain as thoughtful caretakers of the planet. A new law is set to change their status, granting them equal rights with their former owners. Abigail, built 16 years earlier to replace her owner’s late wife, looks forward to freedom with apprehension. What should she do? What sort of person could she be? She decides to begin by doing something her owner forbade: finding out more about the original Abigail. What, besides housework and pleasing her husband, kept her occupied? Did she have friends? How did she die? A thoughtful and absorbing reflection on memory, mortality, sexuality and what defines a meaningful life.
City of All Seasons by Oliver K Langmead & Aliya Whiteley (Titan, £9.99)
Fairharbour is an island city mysteriously stuck in perpetual winter; at the same time, it is also an island city trapped in endless summer. Yet there are corners of the summer-locked city where small patches of snow can be found, and places in the ice-bound city where green shoots push up out of the snow. Jamie and Esther, cousins separated by the inexplicable cataclysm that so changed Fairharbour, belong to the Pike family whose history may provide a clue to what happened. As the story unwinds, it seems they might, together, find the key to healing the split. A surreal and engaging magical fantasy from two talented writers.
Rose/House by Arkady Martine (Tor, £16.99)
The latest by the Hugo award winner centres on an isolated mansion deep in the Mojave desert, the mysterious masterpiece of a celebrated avant garde architect, uninhabited since his death a year ago. Rose House is haunted by the creepy, controlling AI built into its structure. When an intruder dies, it will not provide access to anyone but the mandated heir, Dr Selene Gisil; whether or not a murder has taken place, Dr Gisil’s help will be needed to solve the mystery. A sharp, clever blend of science fictional gothic and crime, on a smaller scale than Martine’s previous two novels, but not to be missed.
The Cat Bride by Charlotte Tierney (Salt, £10.99)
Set on Dartmoor in the sweltering summer of 1995, this impressive debut features 16-year-old Lowdy, a fascinatingly unreliable narrator whose situation – recuperating from a mysterious illness, on the run with her Mumma, preparing to look after her dying grandmother in a rundown old house on the grounds of an abandoned zoo – is immediately strange and compelling. Years before, a big cat, a presumed hybrid dubbed “the tynx”, attacked a man, forcing the zoo to close. Mother and daughter have barely arrived when they encounter unfriendly locals. The closure of the zoo was a major blow to tourism, and many believe the tynx, or its offspring, continues to prey on the moor ponies, their livestock and pets. A stunningly evocative, beautifully written gothic novel drawing on myths and fairytales in a devastating depiction of psychological and visceral horrors.
