The best recent science fiction, fantasy and horror – review roundup
James Sallis obituary
January 2026
Mass surveillance, the metaverse, making America ‘great again’: the novelists who predicted our present
From Jorge Luis Borges to George Orwell and Margaret Atwood, novelists have foreseen some of the major developments of our age. What can we learn from their prophecies?
Science fiction roundup
The best recent science fiction, fantasy and horror – review roundup
Godfall by Van Jensen; The Salt Bind by Rebecca Ferrier; The Poet Empress by Shen Tao; A Hole in the Sky by Peter F Hamilton; Hello Earth, Are You There? by Brian Aldiss
AI consciousness is a red herring in the safety debate
Letters:We should take AI risks seriously, but doing so requires conceptual clarity, saysProf Virginia Dignum. Plus letters fromJohn Robinson andEric Skidmore
December 2025
Book of the day
Ice by Jacek Dukaj review – a dazzling journey to an alternate Siberia
The 1908 Tunguska comet changes the direction of history and gives rise to a weird new reality in this acclaimed epic from the Polish author
Summer essentials
The 25 best Australian books of 2025
Just in time for last-minute gifts: Guardian Australia critics and staff pick out the best books of the year, featuring Helen Garner, Dominic Amerena, Evelyn Araluen and more
Book of the day
Freezing Point by Anders Bodelsen review – a prescient classic of cryogenics
Science fiction roundup
The best recent science fiction, fantasy and horror – review roundup
Best books of 2025
Five of the best science fiction books of 2025
November 2025
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy review – flimsy extravaganza needs deeper thought
The madcap sci-fi tale is retold on a lavish scale, complete with in-show merch, but it never really blasts off
From (finally) being given the Booker prize to the day her partner died: an exclusive extract from Margaret Atwood’s new memoir
The novelist reflects on being struck by loss in the middle of a press tour
‘It is the scariest of times’: Margaret Atwood on defying Trump, banned books – and her score-settling memoir
At 86, she’s a literary seer and saint – and queen of the Canadian resistance. So what does the writer make of our dystopian world?
October 2025
Science fiction roundup
The best recent science fiction, fantasy and horror – review roundup
All That We See Or Seem by Ken Liu; When There Are Wolves Again by EJ Swift; The White Octopus Hotel by Alexandra Bell; Darker Days by Thomas Olde Heuvelt; Remain by Nicholas Sparks with M Night Shyamalan
September 2025
Last and First Men review – sci-fi dance can’t match Tilda Swinton’s cool apocalypse
Composer Jóhann Jóhannson’s moody film, narrated by Swinton and inspired by a classic novel, gains little from a live dance interpretation
Internet wormhole
Sexy dinosaurs, hot tigers and handsome … boats? Welcome to Chuck Tingle’s world of weird erotica
With hundreds of self-published books and one Hugo nomination, Tingle has become a beloved internet eccentric – and proof that anything can be horny if you try hard enough
Science fiction roundup
The best recent science fiction, fantasy and horror – review roundup
The Naked Light by Bridget Collins; Exiles by Mason Coile; Alchemised by SenLinYu; Saltcrop by Yume Kitasei; Big Time by Jordan Prosser
August 2025
Don’t let AIs fool you – they can’t ‘suffer’
Letters:Readers respond to articles on artificial intelligence and the idea that it may have ‘feelings’
The books of my life
Rebecca F Kuang: ‘A Tale of Two Cities is deeply silly camp – I love it!’
The US writer on being switched on to romance by Sally Rooney, the magic of David Mitchell and the joy of Jean-Paul Sartre
Circular Motion by Alex Foster review – what if the world spun faster and faster?
This impressive debut, in which super-quick pod travel causes the Earth’s rotation to accelerate, satirises climate change denial
