Three Eight One by Aliya Whiteley (Solaris, £18.99)
In this intriguing metafiction, a fantasy novel from 2024 is annotated by a reader in 2314. Rowena Savalas is fascinated by the 21st century, known as the Age of Riches for the “intense and consuming explosion of digital information” it produced. Her own era is the Age of Curation, and her personal project is to try to make sense of a digital text, “The Dance of the Horned Road”. The narrative traces the fortunes of a young woman called Fairly in search of her place in the world. But is this an autobiography, a fable, or some mixture of both? Rowena’s footnotes (“did such devices have a real-life counterpart?”) develop into longer personal musings, until she is inspired to set out on her own quest. Fairly’s experiences range from the ordinary (working in a bar, making new friends) to the frightening and surreal. She has various encounters with “cha”: are they real or imaginary, intelligent beings or farm animals? A quirky, unsettling work from one of the most original writers of speculative fiction in Britain today.
The Glass Woman byAlice McIlroy (Datura, £9.99)
Iris wakes after an operation, her mind a blank. She’s told by the man who says he is her husband that normality will return, except for some traumatic memories that she’d wished to have permanently deleted. She can’t believe she agreed to this, but a doctor shows her the signed consent form, agreeing that those memories are now the property of Sila plc – the research company she works for. Implanted in her brain is a chip of AI ready to guide her recovery. Meanwhile, she’s kept isolated and virtually a prisoner, making her even more determined to discover the truth at any cost. A twisty psychological thriller that plays on our current fears about AI as well as ideas about memory, trauma and the self.
The Principle of Moments by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson (Gollancz, £18.99)
Winner of the first Future Worlds prize for SFF writers of colour, there’s more than a hint of fan fiction to this debut, a sprawling space-opera fantasy so stuffed with familiar tropes that it feels like a mashup of Star Wars and Dr Who. There are ancient prophecies, youthful heroes fighting an evil galactic empire, hair’s-breadth escapes and alien races, along with magic and time travel. It’s refreshing, though, that most of the important characters are Black. Asha Akindele steals a spaceship to search for her sister, abducted by the Emperor. Obi Amadi is a time traveller who risks death every time he leaves Regency London. In the distant future he meets Asha and learns that he’s in possession of a holograph of her sister. Along with another new friend, handsome, blue-skinned Xavior, they are welcomed as the reincarnations of legendary heroes, the only people who might defeat the Emperor. Concepts of destiny and Chosen Ones sit uneasily with the anti-imperialist, pro-equality tone, but perhaps those old fantasy tropes will be overturned in subsequent volumes of a planned trilogy.
The Knowing by Emma Hinds (Bedford Square, £16.99)
Set in mid-19th century New York and Manchester, this debut novel is narrated by Flora, a troubled young woman who reads the tarot for customers, always struggling to resist the ghosts she senses nearby, yearning for the chance to speak through her. She is rescued from an abusive relationship with tattoo artist Jordan, who uses her body to advertise his skill, but her rescuer, Minnie, has her own plans to exploit this pretty, tattooed mystic, and sets her up with clients for a séance. Not understanding that they only want a show, Flora summons “the knowing”, a power she has been warned against, and allows a ghost to take possession of her. It uses her voice to reveal shocking secrets, setting off a chain of events that force Flora and Minnie to flee for their lives. A violent, disturbing gothic tale, compellingly told.
Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock by Maud Woolf (Angry Robot, £9.99)
In the future world of this smart debut, celebrities can commission Portraits – perfect clones, created to lighten the demands of fame upon their original. Movie star Lulabelle Rock has taken this to extremes, with multiple Portraits who show up at parties, advertise fashion brands, run social media accounts, provide gossip by dating other celebs, even live out alternative lifestyles. But times are changing; exclusivity is the new buzzword, so a 13th Lulabelle is created to murder all the others. This is an engaging investigation of fame, personality and learning to know one’s own worth.
