Chloe Benjamin Recommends 10 Hopeful Sci-Fi and Fantasy

Author Chloe Benjamin has compiled a list of ten literary science fiction and fantasy novels that offer hope for the future. The list, published by LitHub, draws from her personal journey into genre writing and features recommendations from Jorge Luis Borges to Mohsin Hamid.

Benjamin's own move into genre fiction came after her first manuscript, a novel-in-stories, was rejected by twenty publishers. Editors praised her prose but felt "nothing really happens." Reflecting on the formative books of her youth, like A Wrinkle in Time, she decided to commit fully to speculative fiction with her upcoming novel, Under Story. This book follows a divorced couple who discover a time-bending parallel universe.

The Shift to Genre Writing

Writing Under Story was a five-year process that Benjamin found both exhausting and thrilling. She aimed to blend real science with invented elements careful, creating an "airtight" magic trick for readers. The core of the novel, however, remains the emotional story of a couple's grief and healing, which she connects to her own experience with chronic pain. Benjamin reports receiving no pushback from her publisher about the novel's cross-genre nature, a sign she feels indicates changing attitudes in the industry.

A Personal Reading List

The following titles represent the literary-leaning science fiction and fantasy that inspired Benjamin. She describes them as offering a mirror and a line of hope in a world that often feels surreal.

On Specific Works and Influence

Benjamin holds particular admiration for Ted Chiang's approach. "As someone who is fascinated by aliens but continually frustrated by how often alien narratives end in war or violence, I was captivated by the way that Chiang braids time and language while imagining a new species," she writes. She also confesses to initially putting down Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell after seventy-five pages, only to return years later and find it a top-five favorite novel she wished was longer.

Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach series struck her as "genuinely fresh," while Mohsin Hamid's Exit West uses its fantastical device to allow for a "prismatic re-seeing in the way of a parable." For Benjamin, these works demonstrate that science fiction and fantasy can provide not only escape but also important alternate visions for a challenging world. She finished the first draft of Under Story immersed in its own invented world, a process she found ultimately rewarding.