With my last column written in 2025, I wanted to highlight some works of excellent speculative fiction that might normally get overlooked. If I were going to list the best pure best of science fiction novels, it would be filled with titles like A Mountainin the Sea by Ray Nayler, Bannerless by Carrie Vaughn, Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson… All fantastic books that were bestsellers, won, and were nominated for awards. So this look is mostly independent releases, a few hardcovers that I consider overlooked or underrated. My tastes lean towards the darker stuff, certainly my position as a Phil-Dickian leads me naturally toward the surreal, but there are several mainstream releases. A few of these releases are out of print. So indie publishers take note.
23 Dreck by Cliff Jones Jr.
133 pages, Paperback
Published: 2023 by Fractured Mirror Publishing
Dreck blurs the lines. “Dreck: Part Drug, part nanotech, part biological material…all the taste and appearance of black strap molasses.” It may be that I know Cliff is a huge Philip K. Dick fan, but there sly easter egg-ish references to a fictional Phil. I am not complaining, this is a feature, not a bug. I would say Dreck: Part Surreal, Part Humor, Part Science Fictional Material… all the taste and appearance of a PKD nightmare, all wrapped into a unique and modern voice. Is it dreampunk? If Cliff says so, I can live with the label because I was a big fan of this novel.
22 Grunt Life (Task Force Ombra #1) by Weston Ochse
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published: 2014 by Solaris
How about military SF by someone who was in the shit. The late great Weston Ochse brings to THIS to the military Sci-fi sub-genre; he includes victims of PTSD as a twist on the classic Dirty Dozen set-up. He would explore this in the military horror novel Burning Sky as well.
This is a military sci-fi novel that is much deeper than a surface action novel. A story about PTSD, that explores the issues related to the trauma that is all too common in warriors. The novel is also very much about what it means to be a grunt, and of course, the title suggests that.
21 The Hematophages by Stephen Kozeniewski
326 pages, Paperback
Published 2017 by Sinister Grin Press
The Hematophages is bold and weird science fiction novel that feels old school and insane at the same time. It is bizarro, dark sci-fi and horror in equal measure. A super neat book that I am glad I picked up. It is a little bit a parallel of Aliens, A reversal of Carpenter’s The Thing (paranoia with all women), and with world-building and SF body horror that reminded me of Neal Asher’s The Skinner. That is a good mix.
The story of Paige Ambroziek a young woman who has lived the majority of her life on a space station. Paige’s history makes her a perfect narrator, because she has no experience out in the ink(cool slang for space) or being on worlds. Paige is a student who has expertise on ship salvage and is given a mission by a mega-corporation to find the wreck of a famous spaceship lost for hundreds of years. The major problem with this operation is the ship is on a fleshworld with oceans of blood. I enjoyed the universe of this novel that involved nasty corporations, wormy blood-drinking monsters, cancer-ridden zero-g Mutant pirates (the Skin-wrappers) and a planet with bat-shit crazy ecology that was more surreal than hard sci-fi.
20 UBO by Steve Rasnic Tem
320 pages, Paperback
Published: 2017 by Solaris
I am cheating as this was nominated for a Stoker award, but it is underrated. Set in a weird as hell, surreal prison, maybe in space? Maybe out of space time? The first half of the book has a mystery as powerful as the setting, and that is saying something. When you mix the “I want to shoot myself” grim tone of McCarthy’s The Road, with the political concepts and sheer “what the fuck is real?” of Philip K Dick, you earn the word masterpiece.
UBO is a story seen through the eyes of Daniel, a prisoner in UBO. He and the other prisoners have vague memories of a life before UBO, his family, but he doesn’t know where or when UBO is. Is it another time or world? he can’t say, but the prison guards are not human; they are giant cockroaches, and what view they have is of a destroyed landscape. The Roaches are not just holding them in this horrible place, feeding them just enough flavorless protein paste to keep them alive; they are also using them for experiments.
These experiments involve mind swapping with some of the most notorious murderers throughout history. From Charles Whitman, Heinrich Himmler, to Jack the Ripper. Daniel and the residents are subjected to live through the memories of the greatest killers, sometimes more than once. The worst part is they are simply passengers.
19 A Matter of Blood by Sarah Pinborough
432 pages, Paperback
Published: 2010 by Gollancz
Pinbrough is a bestselling author, sure, and she has had major TV shows based on her work, but this dystopia, earlier in her career, is overshadowed by her hits in the women’s thriller genre. This trilogy was released in England under the title Dog Faced Gods, and was published here in America under the title Forgotten Gods. This is a brutal mystery with a weird crime backbone. The very near future world that Pinborough has created here is filled with very dark shades of grey, with almost zero characters worth rooting for. Oh, you’ll be interested in them; you’ll want to keep turning pages. On top of all those elements, this novel also has a powerful plot line about a serial killer, including one of the creepiest killers I have read about since Brite’s Exquisite Corpse, but at the same time were talking about a novel with a subtle social conscience. The whole trilogy is fantastic.
18 Goliath by Tochi Onyebuchi
336 pages, Hardcover
Published: 2022 by Tor Books
Award-nominated, sure, but not talked about enough. There is nothing soft, gentle, or politically sensitive about this novel. Which is kind of a pleasant (from my perspective) divergence from much of modern fiction that at times, is afraid to push boundaries. I think the reaction will be interesting as it is a very progressive story politically, but the delivery is zero fucks given, warts and all depiction of the post-climate world. Of course, the future TO envisions is one where most of the wealthy have escaped Earth to orbital colonies while the marginalized struggle to survive in our mutual home.
This novel is about the intersection between Racism/Classism and the growing climate change apocalypse.
17 Should Have Killed The Kid by R. Frederick Hamilton
296 pages, Paperback
Published: 2011 by Legume Man Books (out of print)
This book is filled to the brim with very unpleasant situations, but if you’re a fan of good, creepy, unsettling, weird end-of-the-world fiction, then that is what you are looking for. Should have killed the Kid is a supernatural Apocalypse thriller which has both Lovecraftian vibe (without direct connection to the mythos) and an extreme horror feel. At first, I thought of it as Stephen King’s The Mist with A Quentin Tarantino structure, but after the first 100 pages, the structure smooths out into a linear fashion. I always say that great suspense novels feel like climbing a very tall, unstable ladder. And that is what I felt like I was doing when I read this novel.
16 The Deadheart Shelters by Forrest Armstrong
144 pages, Paperback
Published, 2010 by Swallowdown Press, 2018 King Shot Press (Out of Print)
I found myself reading sentences and feeling compelled to read them out loud. DHS is a deeply emotional, surreal novel filled with poetic prose that is disturbing and beautiful all at once. This story of an escaped slave is like a journey on a spiral staircase into another world. Armstrong creates a surreal landscape that is vivid, and the prose itself has to be savored like fine chocolate that slowly melts in your mouth. This is an amazing book; it deserves to be celebrated.
15 Underground Airlines by Ben H. Winters
336 pages, Paperback
Published: 2017 by Mulholland Books
Strange case, this was nominated for like fourteen awards, but I don’t know anyone who has read it. This Man in High Castle-like alternate history set in modern Indianapolis is about a modern world where slavery still exists in two states. This world is well-realized, even if it is a little far-fetched, you just kinda have to ride with the idea to enjoy what the author is trying to get across. In 2016, when a national movement exists just to remind many in this country of the basic concept that human rights and black lives matter, I think this is an important novel. Speculative fiction at its best is a story not grounded in realism, but one that explores ideas. I loved this novel and thought it was a quick and powerful read.
14 Dr. Identity by D.Harlan Wilson
212 pages, Paperback
Published March, 2007 by Raw Dog Screaming Press
What is Dr. Identity? Bizarro? Science Fiction? Humor? Future-Noir? Speculative? Satire? Social Commentary? Dystopian? Cartoonish? Pulp? Surrealist? The short answer is yes! All of the above and then some words I can’t think of.
The novel is about a professor (Dr.Blah Blah Blah) in a quite absurdist future that has to go on the run after his substitute doppelganger decided to slaughter his class. On the run in Bliptown where time doesn’t always move forward, or you must shop in stores where bug-eyed monsters attack you for not buying fast enough, provides a hilarious and inventive backdrop.
13 Meru by SB Divya
432 pages, Paperback
Published:2023 by 47North
Meru is more than just a science fiction story. Diviya has stated in interviews that she wanted to point to a future where the survival of the species has happened. She was resisting the many negative dystopias that the genre is overflowing with. That doesn’t mean she is blind to the risk we face in the future. in Meru, salvation comes in the form of humanity’s evolution into alloys, something led by technology. A love story about living spaceships, this is a fantastically thought-out novel. Between this and Machinehood, I don’t understand how Diviya is not a bestseller.
Meru is an earth-like planet that is set to be colonized by Transhuman descendants of humans called Alloys. It has been five centuries since humans were allowed by the Alloys to leave Earth. This was declared after a disastrous attempt to terraform Mars. Alloys are genetically altered beings who have become the dominant culture that survived Earth, although most live in space and explore the galaxy. Some are called pilots, large enough to transport humans inside themselves, they are the living spaceships of this future. Great stuff.
12 The Skinner by Neal Asher
432 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published: 2005 by Tor Science Fiction
What if you mixed the ecological world-building of Dune with the swashbuckling tales like Master and Commander, and added a bad guy worthy of Khan? Spatterjay is like a body horror planet, and The Skinner is a fantastic epic. The Skinner has fans, and they are passionate but it doesn’t get the attention it deserves in my opinion.
Sable Keech a monitor (Basically a cop) who has been hunting this planet’s founder for 700 years after his death. How is that, you ask? He is cybernetic, his dead body linked to a computer that stores his mind. Some Moby Dick vibes. An inventive, brutal, and super fucking weird science fiction epic.
11 The City, Awake by duncan b. barlow
232 pages, Paperback
Published: 2017 by Stalking Horse Press
This novel is a genius surrealist noir that perfectly balances character, narrative drive, and experimental prose. Delightfully weird, The City, Awake is an experience. It has the effect of feeling like we are being led by an expert.
It opens with a note in a man’s pocket. “You are David. You were made in God’s image. You are the author of all language, emender of sins.” After a few chapters, we see David get the same note in other moments. Sometimes he accepts the note, but in one case he doesn’t accept, and insists that his name is Saul, and through Saul, we look into the mystery. A strange and experimental novel.
10 Skullcrack City by Jeremy Robert Johnson
332 pages, Paperback
Published: 2015 by Lazy Fascist . Reissued 2021 Coevolution Press.
This book is like nothing else you have ever read, but everyone loves a comparison, right? JRJ wears his influences on his sleeve, but not to crutch level. If you forced me, I would say it felt like a way weirder take on Carpenter’s They Live if William Burroughs and Clive Barker worked on the script and Cronenberg directed. The story of SP Doyle, a weirdo turned corporate who accidentally develops a career working at a bank. He is overseeing loans and getting a behind-the-scenes look at the corporate world. The corruption is one thing, but Doyle is corrupting himself. He has a habit that involves an experimental drug called Hex. It makes him feel powerful and, at the same time, opens another reality. Once there, that is when the DNA-doped mutants, drug-addled freak show celebs, experimental surgeons, depraved doomsday cults, and drug freak-outs get going.
9 Secrets of the Weird by Chad Stroup
294 pages, Paperback
Published 2017 by Grey Matter Press
This novel has a middle-era Clive Barker feel of dark fantasy without the elaborate overwriting that books like Imajica or Everville fell into. Certainly, the world of this novel has its share of erotic fantasy, and that is why you’ll hear Barker comparisons. But Sweetville was a setting written by a hardcore kid, and not a theater nerd so Secrets of the Weird is filled with Neo-nazis, punks, metal dudes, non-binary prostitutes and more. These characters are not marginalized like extras on the punk episode of Quincy or freak show on stage at 90’s Jerry Springer taping. They are all written with depth, even the characters who only briefly appear in the pages. Even the villains of the piece are given depth.
Secrets of the Weird is a fantastic read. This novel paints an erotic and dangerous picture of a city that you would only want to visit in the safety of a novel.
8 Unamerica by Cody Goodfellow
448 pages, Paperback
Published 2019 by King Shot Press (out of Print)
This novel explores religion, drugs, capitalism, social Darwinism, and probably more I didn’t catch. It is a lot to take in, but it is OK because Goodfellow fills the 436 pages with texture and swag. Goodfellow is one of the smartest writers of my generation and I can’t read his work without marveling at his skill, intelligence, and ability page after page. This is a must-read for fans of weird fiction that lives on the border of science fiction and Horror. Goodfellow’s most assured work is a dystopia not to miss. Set in an underground city on the U.S. Border, an epic showdown is building between two prophets. One who believes the psychedelic mushrooms he is selling will spur a revolution in human consciousness; the other a preacher endowed by strange angels it is like a radical dark spin on The Stand, inspired by the Bush, as the factions build towards conflict. Not currently in print, but if you can’t find a used copy, Goodfellow new novel “New Tomorrow” is also amazing.
7 Stormland by John Shirley
300 pages, Hardcover
Published 2021 by Blackstone Publishing
Stormland is a warning novel, no different from classics like Alas, Babylon or 1984. The issue at hand is the temperature in the Atlantic Ocean. The lineage is more directly connected to the eco-Science Fiction of John Brunner’s bleak horror novel The Sheep Look Up. The best we can hope for is the world moves to avoid this fate.
A welcome return of the master of social satire science fiction with a razor-sharp punk edge. It is a fierce and angry book that confronts climate change with the proper venom the topic needs. It is written with skill and a quality of prose that will remind you quickly how strong of a voice John Shirley has honed over the years. It is not too far from the tone and attitude he expresses with a rock and roll beat. It is every bit as urgent.
6 Sweep of Stars by Maurice Broddus
368 pages, Hardcover
Published 2022 by Tor Books
Sweep of Stars mixes deep cultural mythology and African vibes with characters who keep it real. Characters who give their family members shit and curse like normal people.
Sweep of Stars is a space opera with an African feeling. It is an epic tale with lots of characters, narrative shifts, and twists, and at the heart is an entertaining story. Leguin and Spinrad are some of the most well-known genre anarchists, and I am not saying this book goes that far but it is clear MB is suggesting a divorce from Western culture and standard capitalist monoculture. Book two is excellent.
5 Sip by Brian Allen Car
304 pages, Hardcover
Published 2017 by Soho Press
Sip is one of the weirdest end-of-the-world novels I have ever read. The structure of the narrative is a little more straightforward; there are no one-sentence chapters like his novella – “The Last Horror Novel in History of the World”, but the idea is plenty weird enough. It takes place in a post apocalypse western setting, the world was not ended by nuclear war or climate change. In this future, our world fell apart when junkies developed an addiction for consuming the souls of others through their shadows. Drinking the shadows gives you rest and the dreams of the person or animals you steal from, but leaves the creature dry. One neat aspect is how the concept and setting subvert the nothing setting or the dark or darkness being home to horror. In this world, the sunlight and light in general is source of terror.
4 Immobility by Brian Evenson
256 pages, Hardcover
Published 2012 by Tor Books
The story of Josef Horki, who wakes up disoriented in a world he doesn’t recognize. His memory is shot, but in better shape than his legs, which are basically dead. He is told that in his former life, he was a fixer, and after 30 years in a deep sleep storage, the survivors of the collapse have a mission for him. Travel across the wasteland and get a frozen vial of seeds. His Transportation are mules – that is what the twin humans engineered to be beasts of burden will carry him on the mission.
This is a strange and unsettling novel that is so powerfully written that it has a spooky feeling throughout. It is all done with a subtle tone, and no wasted words. Evenson is not so in love with his words and never overwrites; he writes with tight control, rarely, since in genre work that is also considered “high lit.” It doesn’t remind me of any other book immediately, but if pressed to make a comparison, I would have to say a cross between Cormac McCarthy’s The Road with a little bit of THX-1138.
3 Boris Says the Words by Kyle Winkler
307 pages, Paperback
Published 2022 by Independent/Self-published
I am normally in favor of gatekeepers and nervous about self-published books. I have been burned many times by novels that were not ready. Boris Says the Words is as independent as it gets; it doesn’t even have a publisher label. This is 200% the kind of book that justifies the democratization of self-publishing. Agents or publishers couldn’t possibly deny the quality of the writing, but this novel defies simple marketing, and I am sure sailed straight over the heads of many agents and editors. I don’t have to be in the room to hear “great stuff, but I don’t know how to sell this.” Something to that effect.
What genre are we talking about? That is the first problem that shouldn’t be a problem this novel has. Boris Says the Words is many genres. Science Fiction, yes, but also Horror, Bizarro, and surreal. BSW is a dystopia but if you’re not careful you might miss the slow-developing apocalypse of radiated villages and dying Russian countryside. It is done subtly and taken matter-of-factly by the characters. There is so much great stuff going on in this book it is easy to miss some of these aspects, I often re-read pages because of gorgeous prose or weird WTF I just read. Don’t forget in the middle of all this creepy and great prose, why we are here, ecological terror. Boris Says the Words is a miracle, a bool that feels market researched to appeal to this fucking weirdo, so I can’t really say if you will find it as genius as me, but goddamn this book is amazing.
2 The Song My Enemies Sing by James Reich
230 pages, Paperback
Published 2018 by Anti-Oedipus Press
Many of this novel’s most captivating moments are set on Mars, not the one in our solar system but the one preserved in the amber of the imagination of the past. It might not be for everyone, but if you love the genre, I think there is a good chance you will dig this one, too. During the war in Vietnam, a general was famously quoted as saying they had to burn down a village to save it. Did Reich destroy Science Fiction or honor it? I think he honored it. This book challenges modern science fiction by embracing the traditions of the past. Many modern novels get compared to Ballard, Brunner, Leguin or Dick, but few embody those traditions like the Songs My Enemies Sing. It is a masterpiece. I don’t say that lightly.
1 The Circumference of the World by Lavie Tidhar
256 pages, Paperback
Published 2023 by Tachyon Publications
The Circumference of the World is one of those novels that is a love letter to the genre. It benefits from nerdy insider knowledge of the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Lavie Tidhar knows this stuff, and while he has always created science fiction that lovingly feels like it was lost from that era, this novel is a mirror to the golden age. This novel is a powerful work of meta-fiction; we can compare it to PKD, which is a compliment around here, but it is a pure product of Lavie Tihar’s genius. His blend of imagination, genre history, and ability to blend into thought experiments is what makes him one of my favorite modern writers. This novel is not for everyone, but for the people in the crosshairs, this is a bullet straight to the science-fictional parts of the brain. I loved it.
David Agranoff Grew up in Bloomington, Indiana hanging in the park that inspired this novel. His future wife worked at the Spoon serving the real-life Electric Fred. They have two of his notebooks and a house full of rescued animals. David is a novelist, screenwriter and a Horror and Science Fiction critic. He is the Splatterpunk and Wonderland book award nominated author of 11 books including the novels the WW II Vampire novel – The Last Night to Kill Nazis, and the science fiction novel Goddamn Killing Machines from CLASH BOOKS, The Cli-fi novel Ring of Fire, Punk Rock Ghost Story He co-wrote a novel Nightmare City (with Anthony Trevino) that he likes to pitch as The Wire if Clive Barker and Philip K Dick were on the writing staff. As a critic he has written more than a thousand book reviews on his blog Postcards from a Dying World which has recently become a podcast, featuring interviews with award-winning and bestselling authors such Stephen Graham Jones, Paul Tremblay, Alma Katsu and Josh Malerman. For the last five years David has co-hosted the Dickheads podcast, a deep-dive into the work of Philip K. Dick reviewing his novels in publication order as well as the history of Science Fiction. David’s non-fiction essays have appeared on Tor.com, NeoText and Cemetery Dance. He just finished writing a book, Unfinished PKD on the unpublished fragments and outlines of Philip K. Dick. He lives in San Diego where you can find him hooping in pick-up games and taking too many threes.
