I hear comments now and again about how there isn’t much YA or MG science fiction out there. That it’s a tough sell, that people don’t read it (despite the fact that science fiction is everywhere on television and in movie theaters).
I am, however, wondering if maybe things are changing. Lately I have been hearing about lots of recently published or upcoming scifi. But I don’t know if it’s just the fact that I’m paying more attention (since I have my own scifi novel on the way in 2011). Thus it is time to gather data. Here’s the YA/MG scifi(*) I know of that’s out recently (2009 or later) or on the way:
Anderson, R. J. – TOUCHING INDIGO (2011)
Anthony, Joëlle – RESTORING HARMONY
Baciagalupi, Paolo – SHIP BREAKER (2010) and a sequel!
Bodeen, S. A. – THE GARDENER (2010)
Boyce, Frank Cottrell – COSMIC (2010)
Bransford, Nathan – JACOB WONDERBAR AND THE COSMIC SPACE KAPOW (2011)
Clayton, Emma – THE ROAR (2009)
Collins, Suzanne – CATCHING FIRE (2010)
Condie, Allie – MATCHED (2010)
Duane, Diane – A WIZARD OF MARS (2010)
Fagan, Deva – CIRCUS GALACTICUS (2011)
Gill, David Macinnis – BLACK HOLE SUN (2010)
Haddon, Mark – BOOM (2009)
Haarsma, P. J – the SOFTWIRE series, most recently WORMHOLE PIRATES ON ORBIS 3 (2009) and AWAKENING ON ORBIS 4 (2010)
Hall, Teri – THE LINE (2010), AWAY (2011)
Hirsch, Jeff – THE LONG WALK HOME (2011)
Holt, K. A. – MIKE STELLAR: NERVES OF STEEL (2009)
Hopcus, Anastasia – SHADOW HILLS (2010)
Johnson, Elana – CONTROL ISSUES (2011)
Karr, Julia – XVI (2011)
Klass, David – STUCK ON EARTH (2010)
Lore, Pitticus – I AM NUMBER FOUR (2010)
McEntire, Myra – HOURGLASS
Ness, Patrick – MONSTERS OF MEN (2010)
O’Brien, Caragh M. – BIRTHMARKED (2010)
Osterlund, Anne – ACADEMY 7 (2009)
Pfeffer, Susan Beth – THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN (2010)
Reese, Jenn – ABOVE WORLD (2012)
Reisman, Michael – SIMON BLOOM: THE OCTOPUS EFFECT (2009)
Revis, Beth – ACROSS THE UNIVERSE (2011)
Smibert, Angie – MEMENTO NORA (2011)
Strickland, Brad – FLIGHT OF THE OUTCAST (2010)
Teague, Mark – THE DOOM MACHINE (2009)
Testa, Dom – THE COMET’S CURSE (2009) (re-release)
van Eekhout, Greg – LAST (2011)
Wallenfels, Stephen – POD (2009), and a sequel!
Westerfeld, Scott – LEVIATHAN (2009), BEHEMOTH (2010)
And there’s many more (see comments for some) from 2008, 2007 and earlier…
What else is there I’m missing? Or have I gotten any of the above wrong? Let me know! I will update this list (and the one xposted on livejournal). And feel free to spread the word if there are other folks who might be able to contribute to the list…
Thanks!
Long live scifi!
(*) – Of course this depends on your definition of “science fiction”. I’m not going to try to provide a definition. So this list may include things that one person or another may not consider “science fiction.” That’s okay. If you want a discussion on what scifi is, check out this post over on The League of Extraordinary Writers.
Tags: science fiction
Just testing comments since someone reported a problem…
Trying to comment again!
Huh. It worked that time. Accursed, tricksy technology! Well, what I said before was:
HOURGLASS by Myra McEntire
SHADOW HILLS by Anastasia Hopcus
MATCHED by Allie Condie
Thanks! Added them! And interesting — I would not have guessed Shadow Hills was sfnal from the goodreads description.
And so my to-read list grows…!
Yes ma'am. I've read it, and it's totally masquerading as a paranormal, but it's really SF. I enjoyed it thoroughly!
Love the idea of this list! (My mg WIP has a sci-fi bend to it.) Recent sci-fi definitely seems to be marketed more as fantasy/adventure/dystopian, but it's out there. My 11-year-old and I think COSMIC by Boyce, BOOM by Haddon, SIMON BLOOM by Reisman, THE ROAR by Clayton, FOUND/SENT by Haddix, IGNATIUS MACFARLAND, FREQUENAUT by Feig, THE GIRL WHO COULD FLY by Forester, and THE SEEMS: THE GLITCH IN SLEEP by Hulme and Wexler could all technically be sci-fi.
Oh, great! I will add these!
(and yay for your MG scifi bending WIP!)
BIRTHMARKED by Caragh M. O'Brien
RESTORING HARMONY by Joëlle Anthony
THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN by Susan Beth Pfeffer (#3 in a trilogy)
MONSTERS OF MEN by Patrick Ness (also #3 in a trilogy)
Thanks! I will add those too!
Adam Rex, The True Meaning of Smekday.
Paolo's truly excellent Ship Breaker (note title, not Shipbreaker will have a sequel, as well.
Sensel's Reality Leak, which might be 2007.
I hate to be a party rainer-on, but it's all relative. Some SF is getting through, but it's a very short list compared to, say, fantasy. It's good that publishers are willing to chance it, but I wonder how well it's selling…
Oops, thanks for the correction on Ship Breaker. Fixed, now. I just started reading it myself after all the glowing recommendations (including yours) and am enjoying it quite a lot. Glad there is a sequel coming!
Smekday and RL were both 2007, but it's nice to know there's been at least a bit of scifi coming out throughout the past several years. Sometimes I get the impression that folks think there is none AT ALL, and that's clearly not true.
No worries about raining on the scifi party. Like I said, I'm not sure if there really is a bit of an upswell, or if it's just that I'm paying more attention. And I bet fantasy will always get a bigger part of the readership/publishing pie. Why exactly that is is probably fodder for an entirely new post, though.
Thanks for commenting!
Hi Deva – it’s Julia from Verla’s.
Let’s see… have you visited The League of Extraordinary Writers’ blog yet? http://leaguewriters.blogspot.com/ We’re all sci-fi/speculative/dystopian YA authors being published in 2011.
I see you have Beth Revis’ book, Across the Universe included (she’s in the League)
Also – Angie Smibert’s – Memento Nora
Elana Johnson’s – Control Issues
Jeff Hirsch’s – The Long Walk Home
and Julia Karr’s (mine – lol!) – XVI
Nice to see this list!
Hi Julia! Thanks for stopping by!
And actually the LoEW is one of the things that's been making me feel like maybe there's a scifi upswell; I even linked to the League in my post (to the discussion of "what is science fiction"). But silly me I did not think to check the membership list for titles. I'll add them to my list!
Thanks for including Black Hole Sun in the list, Deva.
Of course! I'm really looking forward to reading it myself!
Great list! There's also PJ Haarsma's Softwire series, which are good reads.
Oh thanks, will add them. I remember taking note of them since that's what Nathan Fillion is holding in his READ poster.
I just read Stuck on Earth by David Klass. Great book. I think you would call it scifi.
Thanks! I've added it to the list!
LONG LIVE SF! Seriously, I have noticed the same thing, and am so, so pleased to see evidence of a turn-around. Thank you so much for the list! I have blogged about the dearth of kidlit SF before, and will definitely be linking to your list in the future!!
That's a great post, and you cover a lot of the same stuff that's been swirling around my mind – thank you for linking to it! I really enjoyed reading the comments. Thank you for stopping by here — I am pleased to meet other folks working on kidlit sf, especially former engineers and rocket scientists!
Personally I think there is plenty of room for a big sf explosion in kidlit, but it just needs the right book. I think Hunger Games kind of started it — and does seem to be creating a wave of scifi dystopia. But I'd like to see more space opera and science-based sf breaking out bigger too. And not only for selfish reasons
P.s. Leviathan rocked! And I can't wait for Behemoth.