Summer 2025 is coming fast, and while the world is chaos, there is one thing you can be sure of: Nuketown’s Summer Reading List. I’m in the process of assembling the list so if you’ve got suggestions, post a comment or email me at nuketown@gmail.com.
There are a few books already on the list because they’re in flight, and I won’t finish them by Memorial Day (the traditional start of my list)
Wind and Truth (Stormlight Archives, Book 5) by Brandon Sanderson – Amazon – This book, like the rest in the series, is HUGE. It clocks in at 62 hours and 48 minutes, and I’ve still got 30 hours to go!
The Lost Metal # (The Mistborn Saga, Book 7)by Brandon Sanderson – Amazon – The latest book in the extended Mistborn series sees gunslinging protagonists Wayne and Wax dealing with conspiracies impacting not only their world, but the rest of the Cosmere (Sanderson’s linked universe) as well. I got this as an audio book, so I’ll likely listen to this late in the summer, after finishing Wind and Truth.
Alien: Into Charybdis by Alex White – Amazon – I enjoyed White’s The Cold Forge (and his sci-fi/fantasy mashup series The Salvagers) and love the ALIEN universe, so this was a logical pick-up.
Red Sonja Consumed by Gail Simone – Amazon – I got this as a Christmas present, and I’m looking forward to Gail’s take on Red Sonja in novel form (I already read the comic book series she wrote; it was great)
So what books am I buying? I’m still figuring those out. I have a few locks.
Cold Eternity by S.A. Barnes – Amazon – Barnes’ third sci-fi/horror/ghost story novel is out. I loved the creepy atmosphere of the first two, which makes this one an easy pick.
I read the first part of Jack Campbell’s Doomed Earth duology last year, in which a woman is thrown backwards through time by the destruction of Terra, and then works to prevent the tragedy. I enjoyed it, so reading the follow-up Destiny’s Way – Amazon – is a no brainer.
Infinite Archive (The Midsolar Murders #3) by Mur Laffery – Amazon – The third book in Mur’s space murder whodunnit series comes out July 1st, 2025, which means its definitely going to be on my vacation reading list. Who doesn’t want to take a cozy scifi murder mystery book to the beach? In.
Hydrogen Sonota by Iain Banks (The Culture, Book 9) – Amazon – The Culture series by Iain Banks is a long-standing part of my summer reading list. Hydrogen Sonota is the final one in the series. knew this bittersweet day would come, which doesn’t make it any easier. Of course, it goes on the list. That brings me to eight books. I’m planning to read 12-13 books. So what about the rest?
I’m thinking of doing a few re-reads. Given the anti-science hellscape we’re living in, I find myself nostalgic for the calm, reasonable voice of Carl Sagan and his non-fiction book, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Light in the Dark – Amazon – I read it many years ago and its advice (and warnings) are even more relevant now.
Robert Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress – Amazon – is a classic science fiction tale of revolution on the moon. I read it many years ago, and while it’s got the occasional Heinlein weirdness, it’s still one of his best. And hey, you never know when you might need a sci-fi handbook for resisting a dystopian regime.
A tour of Barnes & Noble turned up some other possibilities. The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler – Amazon – is a near-future novel about first-contact with intelligent octopi on Earth. You may have had me at “intelligent octopi”.
The Fractured Dark by Megan E. O’Keefe – Amazon – is Book 2 of the Devoured Worlds trilogy. The trilogy is a space opera in which humanity’s old worlds are being destroyed as quickly as new ones are being found. Since this is second book, I’ll need to fall back to the beginning and read the first novel, The Blighted Stars.
I’m a big fan of Adrian Tchaikovsky and his Children of Time series. The Doors of Eden – Amazon – involves an expanding multiverse of parallel worlds. Sounds like exactly the sort of thing I’d like. And hey, it’s Tchaikovsky.
Sci-fi horror hasn’t typically been a major force on my summer reading list, but that may be changing. Paradise 1 by David Wellington – Amazon – involve a successful space colony that suddenly goes dark. Naturally, a spaceship is sent to investigate. And naturally, horrible things happen.
And that’s my current thinking. I’ll post my final list Memorial Day Weekend, but until then I’m open to suggestions. Have one? Post a comment or email me at nuketown@gmail.com.