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Solaris
Stanislaw Lem
Science Fiction-1961

From Storygraph:

“When Kris Kelvin arrives at the planet Solaris to study the ocean that covers its surface, he finds a painful, hitherto unconscious memory embodied in the living physical likeness of a long-dead lover. Others examining the planet, Kelvin learns, are plagued with their own repressed and newly corporeal memories. The Solaris ocean may be a massive brain that creates these incarnate memories, though its purpose in doing so is unknown, forcing the scientists to shift the focus of their quest and wonder if they can truly understand the universe without first understanding what lies within their hearts.”

Lem is an author that my library never had when I was at my deepest in classic sci-fi and fantasy in my tweens-teens. I decided I needed to fix that, starting with his most well-known work.
This is my favorite kind of classic science fiction.
The essential premise of the book is that we’ve discovered a planet covered in what we’ve determined is some kind of sentient ocean. With every new research trip, however, the researchers and scientists find they planet forces experiences on the them they can’t explain. For our main character, Kelvin, it’s a corporeal manifestation of his dead girlfriend, a death by suicide that he feels immense guilt over (for good reason).
So while very little actually happens in this novel plot wise, that’s sort of the point. What we have, instead, is a complex philosophical text that waxes and wanes on the nature of sentience and intelligence. Something that tries to break down colonialism and what it means at a cosmic scale. A book that asks us how we’re actually meant to deal with the existential dread of pure existence. And we’re left with an eloquent treatise on memory, guilt, and subconscious yearning.

Bury Your Gays
Chuck Tingle
Horror, SF-2024 (New release!)

From Storygraph:

“Misha knows that chasing success in Hollywood can be hell.

But finally, after years of trying to make it, his big moment is here: an Oscar nomination. And the executives at the studio for his long-running streaming series know just the thing to kick his career to the next level: kill off the gay characters, “for the algorithm,” in the upcoming season finale.

Misha refuses, but he soon realizes that he’s just put a target on his back. And what’s worse, monsters from his horror movie days are stalking him and his friends through the hills above Los Angeles.

Haunted by his past, Misha must risk his entire future – before the horrors from the silver screen find a way to bury him for good.”

I’ve been following the career of Chuck Tingle forever, so when he broke into horror with Straight a few years ago, I was ready to follow him into the new genre. I have not been disappointed, yet. Coming off Camp Damascus, Bury Your Gays continues with a blend of horror and science fiction that sits right on the pulse of technological concerns and issues that face the queer community. In this newest installment, he also embraces some older science fiction concepts and infuses them with these more modern ideas.
What this book gives us is peaks and valleys between the real life struggles of a young, closeted gay man growing up in rural Montana, the more modern issues of this same closeted gay man fighting for proper representation in Hollywood media, and the heightened terror of the unknown paranormal force tracking him down. When the terror of real monsters pairs with the horror of intellectual property rights, the ability to fight the ultimate evil of capitalism becomes insurmountable.

Centipede
Max Bemis and Eoin Marron
Science Fiction, Graphic Novel-2018

From Storygraph:

“When a terrifying creature from beyond the stars attacks his planet, Dale’s journey begins. But he is not out to save his world. It is already too late for that. As the lone survivor, the only thing he wants is revenge
Writer Max Bemis (Worst X-Man Ever, Foolkiller) and artist Eoin Marron (Sons of Anarchy Redwood Original) bring you a tale of survival and vengeance like you’ve never seen before.”

Yes, this is a graphic novel based on the Centipede game for the Atari 2600 and the thin veil of story and background they laid on top. On the surface is a story about a giant centipede monster destroying an alien world and the last man alive to fight her. Right underneath this, surprisingly, is a story about identity. About a queer man coming to terms with himself and his love for his best friend. About childhood trauma and how abuse affects our perception of and interaction with reality.
Moderately violent with a great flow of action and excellent use of artistic abstraction, honestly this book has no right to be as genuinely good as it is.

The Past is Red
Cathrynne M. Valente
Science Fiction, Post Apocalyptic-2021

From Storygraph:

“The future is blue. Endless blue…except for a few small places that float across the hot, drowned world left behind by long-gone fossil fuel-guzzlers. One of those patches is a magical place called Garbagetown.

Tetley Abednego is the most beloved girl in Garbagetown, but she’s the only one who knows it. She’s the only one who knows a lot of things: that Garbagetown is the most wonderful place in the world, that it’s full of hope, that you can love someone and 66% hate them all at the same time.

But Earth is a terrible mess, hope is a fragile thing, and a lot of people are very angry with her. Then Tetley discovers a new friend, a terrible secret, and more to her world than she ever expected.”

This is one of those tricky books for me. It’s a book I can recognize is objectively well-constructed with interesting thematic elements. I just don’t connect with this author’s writing. This is my second book of hers, and I think the science fiction side of her writing might just not be for me. If I dig into her again, there’s a fantasy series I might attempt next.
In this quirky novella, our main character Tetley is an inhabitant of an Earth that’s succumbed to rising ocean levels. We jump through time, spending a short period exploring Garbagetown, the outcome of civilizing a giant garbage patch in the middle of the ocean. What we end up with is a dialogue between optimism and complacency, but also an examination of the existential loneliness at the center of the human condition.
This is a good pick for newer science fiction fans who would be drawn in by the strong narrative voice and magical realism affect of the overall construction of the story.