June Speculative Science Fiction Highlights Alternate Histories, Realms

Recent science fiction and fantasy literature explores diverse and imaginative themes, including alternate histories, dark romance, and speculative collections. In Ten Incarnations of Rebellion by Pat Patel, an alternate 1960s India under brutal British colonial rule focuses on the fight for liberation and the social complexities within the colonized society. V. E. Schwab's Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil offers a dark romance with vampires, sapphic love, and a plot spanning centuries and geographies, while Will Carver's Kill Them with Kindness imagines a dystopian world transformed by a virus that makes people kind, mixing grim plausibility with humor. The appeal of short speculative fiction collections is highlighted by Lyndsie Manusos, who praises their creative audacity and range, recommending them as accessible entry points into the genre. Additionally, several new and forthcoming children's and YA books feature themes from traveling carnivals to zombie survival and environmental bonds, showing the genre's broad appeal across age groups.