Moss’d in Space, by Rebecca Thorne (2026). It’s some time after the year 90,000. Torian Razner has spent her savings on a derelict alien starship to take her sick sister to Rhymarra – the only planet fit for humans. Little does she know, its organic operating system is a sentient, moss-covered supercomputer with abandonment issues and an attitude problem. What? The tech is whimsical, while the second-chance Sapphic romance and found-family dynamics put an unusual spin on AI.
A rag-tag group of food-service robots have a dream: To sell the best biang biang noodles in war-torn, climate-ravaged, near-future San Francisco. But not even bots can escape corporate red-tape and fake one-star reviews. Newitz writes about cooking with the same care that other sci-fi might lavish on futuristic gadgets. The fantasy has a distinctly political bite. Capitalism may be soulless, but at least the noodles are handmade. Yes, the title is a mouthful. Mechanic Rusty and buddy Mike are accidentally beamed aboard Nessie, a spaceship run by clumsy, scatterbrained aliens. Space travel is all laundry, dishes, hauling cargo and using duct tape to keep things running. But friendships and romance grow without melodramatic detours. Phew! We worry about AI ruling the world, but what if it did a better job than our leaders? In this fantasy, Sui has peacefully taken over, cleaning up global governance, tackling medicine and poverty. Zero shots fired. The catch? Humans must reckon with a world where they’re no longer the smartest species. The superintelligence holds up a mirror to what it means to be human. Surely there’s more to our species than efficiency? A planet run by a tyrannical homeowners’ association AI? Check. Murderous robots and space-faring corgis? Naturally. A junkyard world and a galactic emperor who can’t be bothered to rule? Why not? This band of spectacularly unqualified adventurers is scouting space for a replacement shield for a doomed Earth. It’s got the comedic energy of Futurama. The weirdness is part of the fun, and space travel seems more like a comic caper than an epic struggle for survival.
Automatic Noodle, by Annalee Newitz (2025). No Stress Space Express: A Cozy, Low-Stakes, Slice-of-Life Science Fiction Adventure, by Jack Bodett (2025). Yes, the story spans 14 instalments, each a chapter in an interstellar road trip. Now, they’re stranded in space for 300 years. After Us: A Tale of Life Beyond Super Intelligent AI, by Akshay Chopra (2025). The Best of All Possible Planets, by Alex Shvartsman (2026).
