Future Fiction #297 – Cover Reveals & Newly Discovered SFF Books

Welcome to Future Fiction, my reimagining of the Waiting on Wednesday meme! There are so many amazing new books coming out, that I can no longer pick just one. My goal with Future Fiction is to share at least three new books each week, a combination of recent cover reveals and books that I’ve recently added to my TBR pile. I’m still going to be linking up with Wishful Endings/Can’t Wait Wednesday, and I also want to give a shout out to Jill at Breaking the Spine for starting the original Waiting on Wednesday meme. I hope you’ll find some new books to add to your TBR piles, and as always, I look forward to hearing what YOU’RE looking forward to:-D

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Cover reveals are in short supply lately, but I found three upcoming science fiction books that sound amazing:

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A high-tech thriller about a crew of rebel spies and scientists on a mission to thwart a tyrannical autocrat.

The axe is buried in the forest, and only a select few know where to dig . . .

The world is dark and cold. Several world powers have tasked complex algorithms to govern their states and “optimize” political decision-making. These newly coded ministers begin their less-than generous assessment of mankind’s utility on earth, allocating or eliminating crucial resources and sending their once hopeful citizens into a panic. The body politic is extremely unwell, infected by its own single-minded pursuit of efficiency and subject to the artificially intelligent wills of their new rulers.

From seemingly distinct and far-flung corners of this empire, rebel forces converge to protect humanity from careening into oblivion. Lilia, a programmer and robotics expert; Palmer, a diplomat; and Nikolai, personal doctor to an immortal all race to follow a mysterious sequence of clues embedded in a new mind-bending technology meant to imitate human consciousness in real time. None of them can see the forest through the trees on their own, but together, there may be a chance to understand the complexities that engulf them and to avert the implosion of the human world.

Following the success of his debut novel, The Mountain in the Sea, Ray Nayler launches readers into a new and darkly thrilling world of geopolitical espionage. With an eerie prescience, Where the Axe Is Buried depicts a world where the boundaries between human and machine are porous and computer programs determine the value of a life, or of millions. As exciting as it is philosophical, it melds a near impossible revolutionary operation with a blistering indictment of authoritarianism, making a lyrical and potent case for human freedom.

Where the Axe is Buried by Ray Nayler. Releases in April 2025 from MCD. I have only read one book by Ray Nayler (Tusks of Extinction), but I’m very keen to read his next novel. It sounds completely different! And the cover is fantastic.

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A gripping and heartfelt horror-tinged space adventure from the BSFA award-winning author of Stars and Bones and Embers of War Readers of James S.A. Corey and Becky Chambers will love this fast-paced story of space piracy, deadly alien artifacts and a race to save what is left of humanity.

When archaeologist Ursula Morrow accidentally infects herself with an alien parasite, she fears she may have jeopardised her career. However, her concerns become irrelevant when Earth is destroyed, billions die, and suddenly no one needs archaeologists anymore…

Two years later, she’s plucked from a refugee camp on a backwater world and tasked with retrieving the artifact that infected her, as it just might hold the key to humanity’s survival. With time running short, and the planet housing the weapon now situated in hostile territory, she realises she’s going to have to commit an act of desperate piracy if she’s going to achieve her objective before the enemy’s final onslaught.

A thrilling, page-turning journey into deep space where the fights are brutal, the relationships are complicated and the world ended years ago.

Future’s Edge by Gareth L. Powell. Releases in February 2025 from Titan Books. I’m a big fan of Powell’s work, so this is an automatic read for me. This sounds like a fantastic space adventure!

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A novel about a bio-prosthetic surgeon and her personal AI as they are drawn into a catastrophic war.

The city of Bulwark is aptly a walled city built to protect and preserve the people who managed to survive a series of great cataclysms, Bulwark was founded on a system where sacrifice is rewarded by the AI that runs the city. Over generations, an elite class has evolved from the descendants of those who gave up the most to found mankind’s last stronghold, called the Sainted.

Saint Enita Malovis, long accustomed to luxury, feels the end of her life and decades of work as a bio-prosthetist approaching. The lone practitioner of her art, Enita is determined to preserve her legacy and decides to create a physical being, called Nix, filled with her knowledge and experience. In the midst of her project, a fellow Sainted is brutally murdered and the city AI inexplicably erases the event from its data. Soon, Enita and Nix are drawn into the growing war that could change everything between Bulwark’s hidden underclass and the programs that impose and maintain order.

A complex, imaginative, and unforgettable novel, We Lived on the Horizon grapples with concepts as varied as the human desire for utopia, body horror, and what the future holds for humanity and machine alike.

We Lived On the Horizon by Erika Swyler. Releases in January 2025 from Atria Books. I am always fascinated by AI stories, and this sounds really good. Atria isn’t a publisher I usually follow, but I’m definitely keeping my eye on this.

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What do you think of this week’s Future Fiction picks? Let me know in the comments!