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Speculative Fiction November 2025 |
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An Oral History of Atlantis: Stories by Ed ParkIn Machine City, a college student's role in a friend's movie causes lines to blur between his character and his true self. In Slide to Unlock, a man comes to terms with his life, via the passwords he struggles to remember in a moment of extremis. And in Weird Menace, a director and faded movie star discuss science fiction, memory, and lost loves on a commentary track for a film from the '80s that neither seems to remember all that well. In Ed Park's utterly original collection, An Oral History of Atlantis, characters question the fleetingness of youth and art, reckon with the consequences of the everyday, and find solace in the absurd, the beautiful, and the sublime. Throughout, Park deploys his trademark wit to create a world both strikingly recognizable and delightfully other. All together, these fifteen stories have much to say about the meaning-and transitory nature-of our lives. And they are proof positive that Ed Park is one of the most insightful and imaginative writers working today.
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Open Wide by Jessica GrossOlive is desperate to get close to Theo--really, really close. She's always struggled to connect with people. And now she's in her thirties, single, and so flustered by relationships that she secretly records her conversations, hoping to decipher social cues and find a way to be less alone. Then Theo turns up for a shift at the same food pantry where she volunteers. He's a surgeon fascinated by human organs, a former soccer player, and possibly as weird as Olive. For the first time, someone seems to crave and understand her. Every recording of Theo is a balm, which just makes Olive more afraid of losing him. The only solution seems to be to bind him to her forever. Luckily, the gap between Theo's front teeth is just wide enough for something, or someone, to slip inside.
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The Hounding by Xenobe PurvisThe Crucible meets The Virgin Suicides in this debut novel about five sisters in a small village in 18th century England whose neighbors are convinced the girls are turning into dogs. Even before the rumors about the Mansfield girls begin, Little Nettlebed is a village steeped in the uncanny, from strange creatures that wash up on the riverbed to portentous ravens gathering on the roofs of people about to die. But when the villagers start to hear barking, and when one claims to see the Mansfield sisters transform before his very eyes, the allegations spark fascination and fear like nothing has before. The truth is that the inhabitants of Little Nettlebed have never much liked the Mansfield girls, but they've always had plenty to say about them and, as the rotating perspectives of five of the villagers quickly make clear, now is no exception ...
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| The Society of Unknowable Objects by Gareth BrownWithin the hidden corners of London lies a secret society tasked with finding and protecting hidden magical objects. When the first new object in decades emerges in Hong Kong, the newest member, Magda Sparks, must not only go and recover it, but investigate the possibility that a member has leaked the society's existence to an outsider. Gareth Brown's latest standalone contemporary fantasy will delight fans of fast-paced action, rich atmospheric detail, and plucky heroines. |
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High in the Rocky Mountains on a secluded campus, sits Hildegard College, a celebrated institution known for its scientific innovation and its sprawling, botanical gardens. Historian Robin Quain has been awarded a residency to examine Hildegard’s impressive collection of ancient manuscripts, but she has a secret. She’s actually on the hunt for an artifact―one she must find before her former best friend turned professional rival gets his hands on it first.
But Hildegard has secrets of its own. Strange sounds echo across the alpine lake, lights flicker through the pines, and the faculty seem more like Jazz-age glitterati than academics. And then there’s the professor who holds the key to Robin’s research. She vanished suddenly last spring. What exactly did she do at the college, and why does no one want to talk about her?
As Robin searches for answers, an unknown source sends her a series of cryptic messages that makes her question whether she’s the one doing the hunting, or whether someone is hunting her. Drawing on historical, botanical, and occult research, and steeped in the gothic tradition, Atlas of Unknowable Things considers what it means to search for meaning in the scientific, only to come face to face with the sublime. |
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| What We Can Know by Ian McEwanIn 2119, the world is in ruins from nuclear war and climate change. Scholar Thomas Metcalfe searches for a lost love poem from 2014, written for the poet's beloved wife. The search sends Thomas on a journey of love and artistic legacy. Ian McEwan's latest after Lessons "offers up a heady, intellectual tale that takes a searing look at how history is created -- and distorted" (Booklist). |
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| The Shattering Peace by John ScalziJohn Scalzi returns to the Old Man's War series with this latest installation. After a decade of peace reigning throughout space, a new force of intelligent creatures enters the fray, threatening civil war. Now, mid-level diplomat Gretchen Trujillo is caught in the middle during a secret summit representing every known faction. Fans will devour this "[c]lassic Scalzi space opera at its wisecracking, politically pointed, and, somehow, fiercely optimistic finest" (Kirkus). |
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Speculative Fiction Book Club - November and December |
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JOIN US on Tuesday, Nov 25, 2025 at 7PM at the library to discuss this book!
The problem: Where Mallory Viridian goes, murder follows. And NOT because she's the killer.
The solution? Murder magnet Mallory enters self-imposed exile aboard Space Station Eternity, where she hopes that a relative lack of humans will be enough to prevent yet another death. (No such luck.)
Series alert: Station Eternity kicks off the Midsolar Murders series, which boasts the in-depth characterization and twisty plot of author Mur Lafferty's previous SF mystery, Six Wakes, but is lighter in tone. |
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JOIN US on Tuesday, Dec 30, 2025 at 7PM at the library to discuss this book!
What it is: a "mesmerizing" (Publishers Weekly) debut novel inspired by the infamous queen from the Ramayana.
Starring: Kaikeyi, the magic-wielding woman determined to gain power and exert control over her own life, even if that means defying the gods.
For fans of: Madeline Miller's Circe, Genevieve Gornichec's The Witch's Heart, or Christa Wolf's Medea. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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