In any genre from time to time new people arrive, new authors. Some will need time to attract the attention of readers, while others manage to shine already with their debut work. Let’s talk a little bit about the brilliant new authors of space fiction that have appeared in the last five years.

Travis Corcoran, Powers of the Earth

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Corcoran has written two books, both of which have already received the Prometheus Award from the Libertarian Futurist Society.

“Powers of the Earth” is a fantasy about the near future, 2064. Planet Earth is very reminiscent of modern society, only the author further exacerbates many of its vices and problems. The president of the United States does not understand politics or economics, but he is an excellent specialist in the world of entertainment, it is fashionable among young people to accuse the whole world of racism and excessive consumption (justifying their own intolerance and their own consumption with high motives), quotas have been introduced for the disabled and minorities in the army… And so on.

Dissatisfied with such requests, businessmen and daredevils fled to the moon in the hope of establishing a normal existence there, without social pressures and the tyranny of governments. The lunar city they founded, Aristillus, has only existed for ten years, but even there the problems have already begun to accumulate: trade disputes, ideological disputes and growing social tension, because in these ten years the businessmen tired of politics and ordinary workers, and the military have arrived there as refugees. And the shadow of the Earth gradually rises over all of Aristillus, because the cradle of mankind really needs the resources of the Moon, and for this earthly politicians are ready for anything, including open military conflict.

Arkady Martin, “Memory Called Empire”

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The novel premiered in 2019 and a year later it already received a Hugo. The writer, in her own words, was inspired to create it in the study of Byzantine history, and questions of cultural expansion formed the basis of the world.

The main character is Makhit Dzmare, the ambassador of the independent space station Lsel in the capital of the larger Teikskalaan empire. Makhit plays an elaborate diplomatic game to prevent the Imperials from swallowing up his small but proud homeland. This is doubly difficult, since the inhabitants of the Teikskalaan capital consider all non-citizens to be barbarians a priori, the previous ambassador died a mysterious death, and the secret technology Lsel, a memory transfer device from this same previous ambassador, it has failed. And then the events twist more and more: a crisis of power begins in the capital and a civil war is brewing, and the heroine faces more and more new problems.

Teikskalaan clearly resembles Byzantium, with its strong culture, widely transported along long and rugged roads, but carried with spears and swords by legions who believe they are bringing civilization to their barbarian neighbors. Of course, no one asked the wishes of the neighbors. Such a state arouses admiration for its power and greatness, arouses the desire to be part of it, but at the same time frightens with the inevitable destruction of everything alien to it, including the culture of the weakest countries.

Yaroslav Kalfarzh, “Bohemian Cosmonaut”

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What child has not dreamed of being an astronaut? Jakub Prochazka gives himself completely to this dream, because this is all he has: he is an orphan without resources, over whom, moreover, the specter of his father’s sins dominates: the father of the hero was under the previous government a state security agent, and under the current one this automatically means the stigma of a villain and a monster. Thanks to a chain of happy coincidences and tireless work, Yakub still manages to become an astronaut, but what? He is sent on an important solo mission to orbit Venus. This expedition may overturn humanity’s ideas about the universe.

At some point, a sentient alien spider appears on Yakub’s ship, drinking coffee with chocolate paste and praising Earth’s cuisine. Despite the absurdity of the situation, this is not a hallucination of a long lonely journey in space: the spider Ganush is a very real creature, moreover, he is the same investigator as Yakub. They take turns revealing to each other the amazing aspects of life in their civilizations, and together they launch into Chopra’s cloud near Venus, hoping to learn the beginning of the universe.

Derek Kunsken, “Quantum Wizard”

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Kunsken is a molecular biologist by training, he is dedicated to genetic engineering and later began writing science fiction. Given the author’s main profession, it is not surprising that he is interested in the issues of “improvement” of man, which he addresses in “The Quantum Magician”.

Belisarius Archona, Homo Quantus, human-quantum computer is our protagonist. His ability to calculate anything is limitless, but this is both a blessing and a curse: in order not to go insane, Belisarius has to constantly charge his brain, even performing illegal acts that are furiously complex. And somehow he was offered (for a substantial amount) a completely deadly and impossible task related to transporting the ships of one side of the military conflict through a wormhole controlled by the other side.

In such a situation, even a quantum person will not come out alone, and Archon assembles a special team. Who’s not here: Homo Quantus himself, Cassandra, who goes to work out of a thirst for new knowledge, Matthew, an AI who considers himself the embodiment of that same Saint Matthew, a former military pilot Marie with a sick craving for explosives. , Still, a representative of the human seal dogs genetically modified to work at ultra-high depths, and Gates-15, a puppet creature with a religiously altered consciousness.

Christopher Ruocchio, The Empire of Silence

Ruocchio’s debut came out early (the book was published when the author was only 22 years old), but noisy. This is the first part of the cycle, cosmic both in terms of setting and scale; for example, the Solar Empire alone, the largest, but not the only state formation, consists of half a billion worlds. It is true that the plot focuses on a hero, Adrian Marlo, who tells the story of him. But he played such a big role in the fate of the universe that readers won’t have to complain about the lack of scope. Marlo brought victory to the town in a long and brutal conflict with the alien race of the Cielsin, but at the same time he committed a terrible crime.

The “Empire of Silence” can be compared to many of the more famous cycles. From A Song of Ice and Fire here is the scale and depth of the intrigue, from Dune, a scenario in which humanity conquered space, but almost died in a conflict with artificial intelligences, from Song of Hyperion, brilliant heroes and a religious aspect of history. The books are stylized as the memoirs of the protagonist, Adrián Marlo, who went through a very long and difficult road. The “Empire of Silence” describes the process of his growth, the first steps from the rebellious son of the ruler of the planet to exile and then to the idealistic warrior. But this is only the first volume of the cycle, and the road is still far from complete.

The material was prepared by the editors of the fanzon intellectual fiction publishing house.

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Source: IXBT

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