Claire North’s Slow Gods follows a deep-space pilot Shutterstock/Vadim Sadovski We’ll need to get our skates on if we’re to keep up with all the new science fiction published in November. New Scientist sci-fi columnist Emily H. Wilson is adamant that we must read Claire North’s Slow Gods, and I’m inclined to take her at her word (you can read her review in next week’s issue). I’m also up for terrifying myself with Rebecca Thorne’s tale about a zombie-esque virus spreading on a submarine (claustrophobic!). And I am creeped out by the idea at the heart of Grace Walker’s The Merge. Everything feels frightening this month – perhaps the sci-fi world is still in Halloween mode. But I’m also looking forward to something different, a literary tale about the extinct Steller’s sea cow, Beasts of the Sea. It sounds poignant, moving and beautiful, and without any supernatural scares. Slow Gods by Claire North Emily H. Wilson is wild for this sci-fi novel: I’ve not heard our sci-fi columnist recommend a book so wholeheartedly in all the time she’s written for us. It follows Mawukana na-Vdnaze, a deep-space pilot who died and was reborn – and it tells of a supernova event “that burned planets and felled civilizations”. Emily says: “READ THIS BOOK. If you love sci-fi, this is for you” in her upcoming column. So, I will, as she’s always bang on the money. Beasts of the Sea by Iida Turpeinen, translated by David Hackston This isn’t really sci-fi, but it is fiction about science, and as a huge fan of the sea cow, ever since I first learned about them in Willard Price’s Adventure books as a child, I’ll be reading it. It starts in 1741, when naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller joins an expedition to scout out a sea route from Asia to America, and comes across the animal that will be named for him: Steller’s sea cow. Then in 1859, the governor of Alaska sends his men to find a skeleton of the huge marine mammal said to have vanished a century earlier, and in 1952, a restorer sets to work refurbishing the antique skeleton. Advertisement An illustration of the extinct Steller’s Sea Cow FLPA/Alamy The Book of Lost Hours by Hayley Gelfuso This might sound like it strays into the realm of fantasy, but its publishers are comparing it to Kaliane Bradley’s The Ministry of Time, so I am hoping there’s enough time travel there to satisfy sci-fi fans. Moving between postwar and cold-war US, it is set in “the time space”, a library filled with books containing the memories of those who have died. Lisavet is trapped there aged 11, in 1938, and grows up only able to learn about the world by sifting through the memories of the dead. Then she realises that government agents are coming to the time space to destroy memories that don’t fit in with their preferred version of history… There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm We covered this novel in 2022 when it was self-published, and our sci-fi columnist of the time, Sally Adee, really enjoyed it. It’s now been snapped up by a big publisher, and I might finally read it because it sounds like a lot of fun, and fittingly scary around the spooky season. Entities called antimemes are feeding on the most cherished memories of the book’s characters – and stealing those memories away without their knowledge. This enemy is invading – but no one even knows they are at war. Free newsletter Sign up to Book Club Join our friendly crowd of fellow book club members in reading and discussing the latest in science and science fiction. Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2502353-the-best-new-science-fiction-books-of-november-2025/