Science fiction roundup

“Pride and Prometheus” by John Kessel, Saga, 384 pages, $27.99

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” so we can expect a flurry of tributes, almost inevitably focusing on the iconic monster rather than the actual novel. Fortunately, John Kessel treats Shelley’s story with great respect while introducing characters from another classic published only five years earlier: Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.” That might sound like the formula for a lightweight mashup, but Kessel, though not lacking in wit, is more interested in how the themes of these very different novels resonate with each other.

In Shelley’s novel, Victor Frankenstein and his friend Henry Clerval flee to England and Scotland after his creature demands the creation of a mate. In Kessel’s version, there they meet Mary Bennet, the studious but unattached Bennet sister from Austen’s novel, who is portrayed as a budding amateur scientist, fascinated with Victor’s ideas.

Needless to say, the creature has followed them, and soon the Bennet family becomes entwined in the Gothic melodrama of the Frankenstein saga. The shifting viewpoints between Mary, Victor and the tragically conflicted creature help make this a nuanced novel of character.

“Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach” by Kelly Robson, Tor.com, 176 pages, $14.99

In Kelly Robson’s grim but fascinating 23rd century, humanity has just begun to recolonize the surface after having been driven underground by massive deadly pandemics and catastrophic climate change. One of those working to develop footholds is an environmental scientist named Minh, a rather cranky middle-aged woman with prosthetic tentacles instead of legs, the result of one of those diseases. But some things haven’t changed: Funding for scientific projects still depends on grant applications, unrealistic deadlines and bureaucracy. To make matters worse, most of this funding is drained off by the glamorous recent discovery of time travel.

So Minh jumps at the opportunity to use time travel to help restore the environment and assembles a team to visit Mesopotamia in 2024 B.C. to study a river system almost undisturbed by human action, the Tigris and Euphrates valley.

Robson, who has garnered major award nominations in only a few years, builds both her future and ancient worlds with convincing detail for such a short novel, populating them with characters who are believable and engrossing, even when they have tentacles. It’s likely to be one of the most impressive debut novels of the year.

“The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Twelve,” edited by Jonathan Strahan, 620 pages, Solaris, $19.99

Annual anthologies help us spot promising talents and give us a sense of issues that concern writers. If you weren’t worried about losing your job to an artificial intelligence, you might be after Greg Egan’s story. If you wonder whether your steak might someday come from a 3-D printer, Vina Jie-Min Prasad shows how it works. If you don’t understand how homegrown cryptocurrencies like bitcoin can radically affect the economy, Karl Schroeder makes it clear.

One highlight is the first science fiction story in years from Samuel R. Delany, describing a future in which gender fluidity has become the norm. Another is Charlie Jane Anders’ chilling tale of the fate of transgender people in a repressive society. Kai Ashante Wilson offers a disturbing fantasy of racial violence, while Dave Hutchinson’s story of a Somali spy takes a different approach to intolerance. Theodora Goss’ moving tale of disfigurement and Mary Robinette Kowal’s tale of glove-makers show us a very unromantic Victorian England, a reminder that the past can be as grim as the future.