Stranger Than Fiction: 5 Fabulous Nonfiction Books About SFF

This collection features essays from ten of the kick-ass writers working in science fiction today, sharing their thoughts on what they think the world will look like in the future. Like, for realsies. The direction of art and sci-fi under the introduction of AI is also discussed. Authors in the collection include Samit Basu, Vajra Chandrasekera, Aliette de Bodard, Cassandra Khaw, Lavanya Lakshminarayan, Wole Talabi, and Lavie Tidhar.

Ground control to Major Tom: This is an examination of how mankind’s race to the moon in the 1960s brought about a huge fascination in pop culture with all things science fiction in the 1970s, like Star Wars and 2001: A Space Odyssey. These films and more influenced the music of the decade, from David Bowie and Pink Floyd, to Sun Ra and Jimi Hendrix. But really, Bowie was taken with it the most.

Like all good nonfiction books, the subtitle really says it all. Michio Kaku, a theoretical physics professor and author of many books on science, takes readers inside many the plausibility of science fiction staples. Will humans ever be able to travel through time, and will it be both forward and backward, or just one way? Can we create invisible force fields? Will we ever be able to teleport? Inquiring minds want to know!

And last but not least, writer and filmmaker Ytasha L. Womack digs deep into the history of Afrofuturism, the intersection of African diaspora and speculative fiction. Womack defines Afrofuturism as an “intersection of imagination, technology, the future and liberation” and discusses the roots of the movement and its influence on literature, film, music, art, and more. She also explores its place in works by such artists as N.K. Jemisin, Sun Ra, Octavia Butler, and George Clinton.