Yume Kitasei is the author of The Deep Sky and The Stardust Grail. She is Japanese and American and grew up in a space between two cultures―the same space where her stories reside. She lives in Brooklyn with two cats, Boondoggle and Filibuster. Her stories have appeared in publications including New England Review, Catapult, SmokeLong Quarterly, and Baltimore Review.
A Wall Is Also a Road (2026) Annalee Newitz "A brilliant, wholly original adventure of an alien scholar who stumbles upon a discovery that could upend scientific understanding of life in the universe: us. Only Newitz could deliver such a daring, mind-bending yet tender story of Roman history, anthropology, academia, and ethics. Single-celled eukaryotes have never been so sexy."
The Jellyfish Problem (2026) Tessa Yang "Tessa Yang's prose is like a friend in your ear: laugh out loud funny one minute and deeply vulnerable the next. Her debut novel, The Jellyfish Problem, deftly combines elements of sea creature horror, romance, and island mystery into a moving story about lost friendship and a love of the ocean. You will drink this right down and want another."
The Iron Garden Sutra (2026) (Cosmic Wheel, book 1) A D Sui "This book is atmospheric as hell! The Iron Garden Sutra has everything: space opera, horror, philosophy, mushrooms, and love in an enthralling story about a monk and a group of academics trapped on an ancient generation ship that may not be as abandoned as they think. A. D. Sui's world is lush, unique, and deliciously claustrophobic. It's still tickling my brain stem. Fans of S. A. Barnes and the movie Sunshine will eat this up. Read it!"
The King Must Die (2025) Kemi Ashing-Giwa "Ashing-Giwa demonstrates her master worldbuilding skills in her new dystopian science fantasy, The King Must Die. A stunning, continually surprising novel focused on friendship and the value of resisting autocracy even when it seems hopeless - it's everything I need right now. It's WILL OF THE MANY meets BLOOD OVER BRIGHT HAVEN with the earnestness of Becky Chambers."
Volatile Memory (2025) (Volatile Memory Duology, book 1) Seth Haddon "A dark but tender story about love, vengeance, the masks we wear for ourselves and others, and the never-ending quest for a more perfect sense of self. It's a beautifully intimate story set in the sprawl of space, especially recommended for fans of This is How You Lose the Time War."
The Memory Hunters (2025) (Consecrated, book 1) Mia Tsai "The Memory Hunters is a gorgeous, haunting dystopia that will infect your blood with its hyphae and fruit inside your heart. Tsai is a master at building romantic tension, even as revelations unfold in a cascade of "oh shit, OH SHIT, OH SHIT," amidst a plot as complex as the story's world. The story surfaces deep questions of culture and institutional preservation, and who has the right to remember things. The yearning of Tsai's characters is exquisite, and the worldbuilding rich with detail and meaning. I'll be thinking about this one for a long time."
This Great Hemisphere (2024) Mateo Askaripour "This Great Hemisphere is a tense, urgent exploration of power in all its forms and how it corrupts. It's a story of America and subjugation and hope and all the things some may choose not to see. An allegory reminiscent of Colson Whitehead's Intuitionist and Zone One, this one will keep your brain churning long after you've finished it."
Ghost Station (2024) S A Barnes "A skin-crawling, delicious tale of exploration, exploitation, and electrifying horror. I loved (and screeched through) every moment of it."
Shoot the Moon (2023) Isa Arsén "A deep, bold, and crackling smart debut. In the vein of Hidden Figures and The Glass Universe, Shoot the Moon is a complex speculative literary novel imbued with physics and math, but also love and loss and trauma. Arsen will break your heart and light all of the neural pathways of your brain on fire."
