6 up and coming sci-fi and fantasy authors to watch

Isaac Asimov spent a decade pitching short stories to science fiction magazines until he was finally published. J.R.R. Tolkien wrote The Hobbit in the 1920s but it wasn’t published until the 1960s. Douglas Adams tried to be an actor and a radio personality before The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy took off.

These names are practically gods in the world of science fiction and fantasy literature. But they all have one thing in common: they’re dead.

The COVID 19 pandemic helped reinvigorate the entire publishing industry, particularly science fiction and fantasy, and today we have a new breed of up-and-coming authors who are starting to make waves. Here are six of them.

Sequoia Nagamatsu

Sequoia Nagamatsu is a Japanese-American who’s first book made the NYT bestseller list and won several awards. He’s an editor and an associate professor, so he’s not exactly a stranger to the world of literature.

Nagamatsu’s groundbreaking book, How We Go In The Dark, spans hundreds of years. It begins in 2030 with a deadly virus which ends the world. It then follows several people and their descendants as humanity rebuilds.

John Scalzi

John Scalzi has been writing for years. He’s the former president of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. But he was relatively unknown outside of the sci-fi world until Kaiju Preservation Society became an international hit.

The book follows an Uber delivery driver who decides to take a job with a wildlife organization. The only problem is that the wildlife they’re preserving are huge interdimensional monsters. Shenanigans ensue.

Khan Wong

Khan Wong is one of the most eccentric writers in the world today. He toured with a circus and was also a hula-hoop instructor. He played cello in a folk-rock band. Now he’s an international best selling author.

Wong’s book, The Circus Infinite, is a mind-bending ride to a moon where there’s a never-ending party and the cast of characters changes constantly as people come and go. Oh, and the entire thing is run by a mafia who learn there’s a price on the protagonists head.

Mike Chen

Mike Chen has had four literary hits, back to back, so he’s definitely an author you want to keep an eye on. He’s from San Francisco, where he started writing at a young age.

His debut novel, Here and Now and Then, was an instant hit, and Chen went on to publish several more novels including two Star Wars books which are considered canon in the franchise.

Chen’s latest book, Light Years From Home, follows a young pair of siblings investigating a possible UFO invasion of earth.

Emily St John Mandel

Emily St John Mandel is a Canadian essayist and novelist from beautiful British Columbia, on Canada’s Pacific coast. She began publishing in 2009 with her first book, Last Night in Montreal.

Then she became an international bestseller with Sea of Tranquility, which follows three very different people: an exiled aristocrat, a lunar colonist, and a detective lost in the wilderness.

Sue Lynn Tan

Sue Lynn Tan burst onto the scene in 2021 with her debut novel Daughter of the Moon Goddess, which recounts an ancient Chinese story of the moon goddess’ daughter escaping from the evil Emperor who sends his army to capture her. She must race against time to save her mother.

Tan is originally from Malaysia but now lives in Hong Kong.