Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and aesthetics inspired by, but not limited to, 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery. Steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the Victorian era or the American "Wild West", where steam power remains in mainstream use, or in a fantasy world that similarly employs steam power.
Diana Wynne Jones was a British novelist, poet, academic, literary critic, and short story writer. She principally wrote fantasy and speculative fiction novels for children and young adults. Although usually described as fantasy, some of her work also incorporates science fiction themes and elements of realism. Jones's work often explores themes of time travel and parallel or multiple universes. Some of her better-known works are the Chrestomanci series, the Dalemark series, the three Moving Castle novels, Dark Lord of Derkholm, and The Tough Guide to Fantasyland.
Glen David Brin is an American science fiction author. He has won the Hugo, Locus, Campbell and Nebula Awards. His novel The Postman was adapted into a 1997 feature film starring Kevin Costner.
Gene Rodman Wolfe was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He was noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith. He was a prolific short story writer and novelist, and won many literary awards. Wolfe has been called "the Melville of science fiction", and was honored as a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.
Catherine Ann Asaro is an American science fiction and fantasy author, singer and teacher. She is best known for her books about the Ruby Dynasty, called the Saga of the Skolian Empire.
Brandon Winn Sanderson is an American author of high fantasy and science fiction. He is best known for the Cosmere fictional universe, in which most of his fantasy novels, most notably the Mistborn series and The Stormlight Archive, are set. Outside of the Cosmere, he has written several young adult and juvenile series including The Reckoners, the Skyward series, and the Alcatraz series. He is also known for finishing Robert Jordan's high fantasy series The Wheel of Time. Sanderson has created several graphic novel fantasy series, including White Sand and Dark One.
Jeffrey Ford is an American writer in the fantastic genre tradition, although his works have spanned genres including fantasy, science fiction and mystery. His work is characterized by a sweeping imaginative power, humor, literary allusion, and a fascination with tales told within tales. He is a graduate of Binghamton University, where he studied with the novelist John Gardner.
Daniel James Abraham, pen names M. L. N. Hanover and James S. A. Corey, is an American novelist, comic book writer, screenwriter, and television producer. He is best known as the author of The Long Price Quartet and The Dagger and the Coin fantasy series, and with Ty Franck, as the co-author of The Expanse science fiction series, written under the joint pseudonym James S. A. Corey. The series has been adapted into the television series The Expanse (2015–2022), with both Abraham and Franck serving as writers and producers on the show. He also contributed to Wildcards anthology series shared universe.
Joseph Edward Abercrombie is a British fantasy writer and film editor. He is the author of The First Law trilogy, as well as other fantasy books in the same setting and a trilogy of young adult novels. His novel Half a King won the 2015 Locus Award for best young adult book.
Alex Hernandez is a Cuban-American science fiction writer based in South Florida. The first of his extensive Cuban family to be born in the United States, Hernandez writes in a genre of his own making, which he calls Transhuman Mambo. According to Hernandez this neologism is based on the popular coupling of a scientific term with a musical form, which accurately describes the combination of his love of science fiction with the Cuban culture of his upbringing. Deeply influenced as a child by the work of Isaac Asimov, Hernandez connected in a personal way to this immigrant whose first language was also not English. Discovering the novels of Octavia E. Butler while in college had an equally profound impact on his writing.
Daniel Andrew Wells is an American horror and science fiction author. Wells's first published novel, I Am Not a Serial Killer, was adapted into a movie in 2016.
Charlie Nicholes Holmberg is an American fantasy writer best known for The Paper Magician series. She is from Salt Lake City, Utah, and graduated from Brigham Young University with a bachelor's degree in English in 2010. Her first novel, The Paper Magician, was released in 2014. Holmberg expanded the book into a series, the film rights for which were purchased by Disney in 2016. In addition to her other book series, Holmberg has published six standalone novels with her seventh to be released July 1, 2024. She is a multi-Whitney Award recipient for The Fifth Doll (2017), The Will and the Wilds (2020) and Star Mother (2021). The Hanging City was a 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist. Many of her other works have been nominated for literary awards as well. In addition to writing, Holmberg cohosts the podcast Your Mom Writes Books.
R.R. Virdi is an American urban fantasy author. Two of his novels have been nominated for a Dragon Award: Grave Measures in 2016 and Dangerous Ways in 2017. His novelette, "Messenger", was nominated for a Nebula Award in 2019.
The Dragon Awards are a set of literary and media awards voted on by fandom and presented annually since 2016 by Dragon Con for excellence in various categories of science fiction, fantasy, horror novels, movies, television, and games.
Claire Suzanne Elizabeth Cooney is an American writer of fantasy literature. She is best known for her fantasy poetry and short stories and has won the Rhysling Award for her poem "The Sea King's Second Bride" in 2011 and the World Fantasy Award—Collection for her collection Bone Swans in 2016.
Rick Riordan Presents is a book imprint of Disney-Hyperion that was launched in 2018 and is led by Stephanie Owens Lurie. The line publishes books that utilize the mythology of various cultures and countries in its storytelling akin to Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson & the Olympians. The first book published under the imprint, Aru Shah and the End of Time, was released on March 23, 2018.
Sal and Gabi Fix the Universe is a novel written by Carlos Hernandez. The novel was published by Disney-Hyperion in May 2020 and follows Sal Vidón, a magician who can reach into parallel universes and Culeco Academy class president Gabi Reál as they find out from an alternate version of themselves that Sal's Papi's class-nine AI remembranation machine might destroy the universe as they know it.
Sal and Gabi Break the Universe is a novel written by Carlos Hernandez. It is a science fiction novel that is also about Cuban mythology. It was published by Disney-Hyperion in March 2019. The book also won the Pura Belpré Award. A short story by Hernandez about the Sal and Gabi characters are featured in the anthology book, The Cursed Carnival and Other Calamities.
Africanfuturism is a cultural aesthetic and philosophy of science that centers on the fusion of African culture, history, mythology, point of view, with technology based in Africa and not limiting to the diaspora. It was coined by Nigerian American writer Nnedi Okorafor in 2019 in a blog post as a single word. Nnedi Okorafor defines Africanfuturism as a sub-category of science fiction that is "directly rooted in African culture, history, mythology and point-of-view..and...does not privilege or center the West," is centered with optimistic "visions in the future," and is written by "people of African descent" while rooted in the African continent. As such its center is African, often does extend upon the continent of Africa, and includes the Black diaspora, including fantasy that is set in the future, making a narrative "more science fiction than fantasy" and typically has mystical elements. It is different from Afrofuturism, which focuses mainly on the African diaspora, particularly the United States. Works of Africanfuturism include science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, horror and magic realism.
