Manchester City Library

Every Heart a Doorway, by Seanan McGuire. Children have always disappeared from Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children under the right condition–slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere… else. But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children. Nancy tumbled once, but now she’s back. The things she’s experienced… they change a person. The children under Miss West’s care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world. But Nancy’s arrival marks a change at the Home. There’s a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it’s up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of the matter. No matter the cost.

2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur Charles Clarke. This allegory about humanity’s exploration of the universe—and the universe’s reaction to humanity—is a hallmark achievement in storytelling that follows the crew of the spacecraft Discovery as they embark on a mission to Saturn. Their vessel is controlled by HAL 9000, an artificially intelligent supercomputer capable of the highest level of cognitive functioning that rivals—and perhaps threatens—the human mind.

A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller.  Many years after a nuclear war, scholars seeking the old learning come to a monastery where much knowledge has been preserved.

Influx, by Daniel Suarez. Jon Grady’s team achieves what they’ve been working toward for years: a device that can reflect gravity. Grady expects widespread acclaim for his entire team. Instead, his lab is locked down by the BTC, who uses the technologies they have harvested over the decades to fulfill their mission. Asked to join the BTC, Grady balks, and is put into a high-tech prison. Grady and his fellow prisoners must conceive of a way to usher humanity out of its artificial dark age.

The Last Policeman, by Ben H. Winters. When the Earth is doomed by an imminent and unavoidable asteroid collision, New Hampshire homicide detective Hank Palace considers the worth of his job in a world destined to end in six months and investigates a suspicious suicide that nobody else cares about.

Fool’s Assassin, by Robin Hobb. FitzChivalry–royal bastard and former king’s assassin–has left his life of intrigue behind. As far as the rest of the world knows, FitzChivalry Farseer is dead and buried. Masquerading as Tom Badgerlock, Fitz is now married to his childhood sweetheart, Molly, and leading the quiet life of a country squire. Though Fitz is haunted by the disappearance of the Fool, who did so much to shape Fitz into the man he has become, such private hurts are put aside in the business of daily life, at least until the appearance of menacing, pale-skinned strangers casts a sinister shadow over Fitz’s past … and his future. Now, to protect his new life, the former assassin must once again take up his old one.

Half a King, by Joe Abercrombie. “I swore an oath to avenge the death of my father. I may be half a man, but I swore a whole oath.” Prince Yarvi has vowed to regain a throne he never wanted. But first he must survive cruelty, chains, and the bitter waters of the Shattered Sea. And he must do it all with only one good hand. Born a weakling in the eyes of his father, Yarvi is alone in a world where a strong arm and a cold heart rule. He cannot grip a shield or swing an axe, so he must sharpen his mind to a deadly edge. Gathering a strange fellowship of the outcast and the lost, he finds they can do more to help him become the man he needs to be than any court of nobles could. But even with loyal friends at his side, Yarvi finds that his path may end as it began–in twists, and traps, and tragedy.