Marlene Harris

These two buzzy SFF picks, originally self-published, get big publisher attention.

Take the deadly mystery and vicious academic politics of The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older, stir in the magic and the romance of the “Emily Wilde” series by Heather Fawcett (but make it sapphic), add several drops of the political shenanigans of epic fantasy, and stir with a sharp, prickly thorn of a main character to get this fraught enemies-to-lovers fantasy. YA author Saft’s (A Fragile Enchantment) adult debut is highly recommended.

Fans of Carmen Maria Machado will find in this debut novelist a new author to follow every bit as voraciously.

Readers of SF mysteries inflected with sapphic romance and political or corporate shenanigans may enjoy these two titles.

A thoughtful and compelling story about one robot’s journey through their own version of Dante’s circles of hell, complete with all the other hells they’d rather never have imagined. 

This wildly surprising caper fantasy from Clark will keep readers on the edge of their seats working out who “dunit,” and how and why, as they explore the gritty underbelly of this world of living contracts, dead gods, and legal necromancy, reminiscent of Max Gladstone’s “Craft Sequence” and “Craft Wars” series. This will appeal to all lovers of urban fantasy.

Librarian Westerbeke’s debut is highly recommended for anyone who enjoys armchair travel and stories that open wide to embrace every experience, even the sad ones.

A technothriller with heart that will appeal to fans of Martha Wells’s “Murderbot Diaries” but also to readers looking for more AI-led stories.

A story steeped in Irish folklore and mythology, a romantic fantasy quest, a goth-tinged speculative novel, and an entertaining series starter that combines galactic and personal stakes round out this list of first fiction.