{"id":3073,"date":"2026-08-03T03:37:54","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T03:37:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/futureknowledge.in\/?p=3073"},"modified":"2026-08-03T03:37:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T03:37:54","slug":"the-best-new-science-fiction-novels-of-august-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/futureknowledge.in\/?p=3073","title":{"rendered":"The best new science-fiction novels of August 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A galaxy-spanning empire features in Richard Swan\u2019s The Infinite State<\/div>\n
NASA\/CXC\/SAO\/ESA\/CSA\/STS\u200bcI\/Webb\/L. Frattare<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

August is traditionally a quiet month in publishing, and this one is no different. But there are still science-fiction gems to look forward to, including a fascist empire, courtesy of Richard Swan, and some scary Korean sea monsters from Kim Bo-young. I can also recommend M. John Harrison\u2019s The End of Everything<\/em>, published earlier this year but just longlisted for the Booker prize. It\u2019s rare for sci-fi to make this prestigious literary longlist so that is a tribute to Harrison\u2019s writing \u2013 as our sci-fi columnist Emily H. Wilson highlighted<\/a> last month. And do join<\/a> us at the New Scientist Book Club, where we\u2019re reading Peter Heller\u2019s post-apocalyptic novel The Dog Stars<\/em>, set after a superflu has wiped out most of humanity (and written well before covid-19). A Ridley Scott-directed film adaptation of it is about to be released, so we\u2019re ahead of the crowd.<\/p>\n

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Read an extract from The Dog Stars by Peter Heller<\/p>\n

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The Infinite State <\/em><\/a>by Richard Swan<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I hear good things about this one from Emily H. Wilson, who has a review forthcoming. It\u2019s set in a fascist and galaxy-spanning empire, where Katherine Fuller\u2019s husband has died, leaving her an immensely wealthy woman. Katherine is given the chance to buy a world, and create a better society \u2013 but will the empire let her make a democracy? It\u2019s pitched by its publisher as Nineteen Eighty-Four<\/em> meets The Man in the High Castle<\/em>, which is enough to hook me.<\/p>\n

A Plagued Sea<\/em><\/a> by Kim Bo-young, translated by Sophie Bowman<\/h2>\n

I\u2019m also really excited about this one, in which bodyguard Mu-young is heading to an isolated Korean seaside village with her niece when she learns that a huge earthquake has hit the region. She travels there regardless, but the earthquake unleashes an ancient plague, which turns those who catch it into \u201cfishy monsters\u201d. The village is locked down \u2013 and Mu-young is trapped. Perfect beach reading, perhaps?<\/p>\n

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The best new science-fiction novels published in July 2026<\/p>\n

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The Jewel and the Comet<\/em><\/a> by Tim Pratt<\/h2>\n

This space opera with a \u201ctouch of romance\u201d follows graduate student Glenn and his girlfriend Vivy, a spy who has been tasked with stopping a rogue comet but finds herself also trying to find a stolen jewel that can destroy universes.<\/p>\n

The Two of Us at the End of the World<\/em><\/a> by C.A. Fletcher<\/h2>\n

I always love a post-apocalyptic story in which a few hardy souls are struggling to survive. As previously noted, we\u2019re reading Peter Heller\u2019s The Dog Stars<\/em> in the New Scientist Book Club this month, and it\u2019s a prime example of the genre. In Fletcher\u2019s intriguing-sounding take, humans have stopped being able to have children (shades of P. D. James\u2019s The Children of Men<\/em>, perhaps?), and Mouse and Cat are our indomitable duo living in an almost-empty world, 200 years on.<\/p>\n

The Redemption Center Is Closed on Sundays<\/em><\/a> by Andrea Hairston<\/h2>\n

I rather like this title \u2013 and the story sounds fun, too. It\u2019s a murder mystery set in the multiverse, in which Oona (a St Berdoodle, which I\u2019m assuming is a type of dog) and her owner Zsuzsu are investigating the death of a local celebrity. Oona, it turns out, can travel between dimensions, and she knows the identity of the killer. We are also promised \u201cconundrums\u201d and \u201calien tricksters\u201d from the publisher.<\/p>\n

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A huge and dangerous flood is the subject of No Higher Ground<\/div>\n
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No Higher Ground<\/em><\/a> by Nicole Brooks<\/h2>\n

A \u201conce-in-a-lifetime flood\u201d hits Raven\u2019s family home, and she finds herself trapped on the roof with her children, her dog and her stepmother, struggling to survive. The novel is set over 6 hours and sounds very nail-biting \u2013 more thriller-y than sci-fi perhaps, but it\u2019s an exploration of the power of a changing nature, so I\u2019m keen to read it.<\/p>\n

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Them<\/em><\/a> by W.H. Chizmar<\/h2>\n

Described as a post-apocalyptic horror survival novel by its publisher, and therefore ticking all my favourite boxes, this follows the fallout when a government project to transport matter across the universe brings back something alive \u2013 and dangerous. When this \u201csomething\u201d is being transported (in a lorry \u2013 come on, people!), its lorry overturns and \u201cunleashes an otherworldly horror upon an unsuspecting New England countryside\u201d. Three years on, a man is trying to stay alive on the US\u2019s now-deadly East Coast.<\/p>\n

A Family Affair<\/em><\/a> by Jodi Taylor<\/h2>\n

This is the latest Smallhope and Pennyroyal time-travelling adventure, and sees Lady Amelia Smallhope attempting to relax after she nearly died in the last book. However, she and Pennyroyal are targeted by someone with knowledge of the latter\u2019s \u201cmurky past\u201d, and further adventures ensue.<\/p>\n

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Source: Read the original article on www.newscientist.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A galaxy-spanning empire features in Richard Swan\u2019s The Infinite State NASA\/CXC\/SAO\/ESA\/CSA\/STS\u200bcI\/Webb\/L. Frattare August is traditionally a quiet month in publishing, and this one is no different. But there are still science-fiction gems to look forward to, including a fascist empire, courtesy of Richard Swan, and some scary Korean sea monsters from Kim Bo-young. I can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,36,3],"tags":[17,29,33],"class_list":["post-3073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-important","category-share-suggestions","category-technology","tag-impact-jpm","tag-signal-avoid","tag-stage-stage-4"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/futureknowledge.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/futureknowledge.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/futureknowledge.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futureknowledge.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futureknowledge.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/futureknowledge.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futureknowledge.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/futureknowledge.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futureknowledge.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futureknowledge.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}