Life After Life by Kate Atkinson - A woman is reincarnated over and over until she completes her goal of killing Hitler. Super readable but beautiful prose and a goal we can all get behind!
Severance by Ling Ma and Oryx & Crake by Margaret Atwood. Sea of Tranquility is such a gorgeous read, and these picks may be more dystopian than desired (I like my books dark), but their mixing of language with imagining the near future is just next level great. Also, have all linguists read the Pontypool books by Tony Burgess?
As a literary fiction guy, I’m looking forward to your novel. I don’t read much sci-fi so I can’t really make any recs; I did recently read Dark Matter (before watching the AppleTV series), but that’s a lot more than “mild flavor.” I think the last book I read that seems akin to what you describe was way back in 2020: You Will Never Be Forgotten by Mary South, a collection of short stories like “Jabberwocky for Recovering Internet Trolls” and some Black Mirror-esque titles like "Keith Prime." The portmanteau lover in you (aside: In my Cultish review, I wrote “Amanda Montell is singlehandedly responsible for my use of phrases and words like ‘woo woo’ and ‘portmanteau.’”) might appreciate “starchitect” in the story "Architecture for Monsters."
Please read anything (and everything) by Carmen Maria Machado! In The Dream House is a good place to start, or her collection of short stories too ... really, seriously, just read anything by her!
A novel where the main character is trapped in a cult and has to decipher what everything means using an enigma code like methodology. Maybe add some Agatha Christie element to it on who is behind the cult.
I really liked Sociopath and would love to hear a conversation with the author. There’s been some discussion online about the veracity of the events described in the book, but I think that misses the point. I’m more interested in how her mind works.
How High We Go in the Dark is a beautiful lit-fic novel in short stories that imagines the impacts of a global pandemic on our world over millennia into the future. It's one of my favorite books ever!
Never Let Me Go is the GOAT of literary fiction with a sci fi twist IMHO. Can't wait to read what you come up with!
The Ministry of Time MUST be on your list if this is the genre you're pursuing!!!
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson - A woman is reincarnated over and over until she completes her goal of killing Hitler. Super readable but beautiful prose and a goal we can all get behind!
I LOVED Ministry of Time, it’s sci-fi/historical fiction/comedy all rolled into one.
Severance by Ling Ma and Oryx & Crake by Margaret Atwood. Sea of Tranquility is such a gorgeous read, and these picks may be more dystopian than desired (I like my books dark), but their mixing of language with imagining the near future is just next level great. Also, have all linguists read the Pontypool books by Tony Burgess?
Omg I have heard of those books but haven’t read!!!
There's a Pontypool film too - all about language as disease!
As a literary fiction guy, I’m looking forward to your novel. I don’t read much sci-fi so I can’t really make any recs; I did recently read Dark Matter (before watching the AppleTV series), but that’s a lot more than “mild flavor.” I think the last book I read that seems akin to what you describe was way back in 2020: You Will Never Be Forgotten by Mary South, a collection of short stories like “Jabberwocky for Recovering Internet Trolls” and some Black Mirror-esque titles like "Keith Prime." The portmanteau lover in you (aside: In my Cultish review, I wrote “Amanda Montell is singlehandedly responsible for my use of phrases and words like ‘woo woo’ and ‘portmanteau.’”) might appreciate “starchitect” in the story "Architecture for Monsters."
More of a thriller, but GIRL IN ICE by Erica Ferencik has a linguist MC -- & is set in Greenland! Also has a speculative bent.
For the linguistics alone, Babel by RF Kuang is a must-read!
THE SHAMSHINE BLIND by Paz Pardo... ask your favorite publicist at Atria for a copy ;)
!!!!!!
I can not wait for this novel journey ☺️
Please read anything (and everything) by Carmen Maria Machado! In The Dream House is a good place to start, or her collection of short stories too ... really, seriously, just read anything by her!
Kindred and Parable of the Sower/Talents by Octavia Butler
A novel where the main character is trapped in a cult and has to decipher what everything means using an enigma code like methodology. Maybe add some Agatha Christie element to it on who is behind the cult.
I really liked Sociopath and would love to hear a conversation with the author. There’s been some discussion online about the veracity of the events described in the book, but I think that misses the point. I’m more interested in how her mind works.
Yes! Machado and Jeanette Winterson! At least PowerBook (totally underrated)
How High We Go in the Dark is a beautiful lit-fic novel in short stories that imagines the impacts of a global pandemic on our world over millennia into the future. It's one of my favorite books ever!