Need Help with that Square? Try Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror

If you are a Summer Reading Program Bingo game player and are approaching that Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror square with some trepidation, maybe we can help.

Let’s focus on science fiction.

You do not have to venture down those unfamiliar Science Fiction/Fantasy aisles of the library to find an appropriate title. There are many books in the library’s collection where the stories are grounded in our familiar world yet have just an element of science fiction. Many of these books could be considered thrillers or mysteries--still these titles would satisfy that Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror bingo square.

Here are a few titles "science fiction" titles to consider:

Brilliance by Marcus Sakey

"Starting in 1980, about 1% of all children born in the U.S. were gifted with unusual abilities. Thirty-three years later, these "brilliants" (also called "abnormals" or "abs") are leaders in various fields--including terrorism. Nick Cooper's one of them, though he works for a government agency charged with stopping ab terrorists. To stop them, Nick will have to demolish most of his beliefs about the world he lives in--and maybe most of that world itself. The too-close-for-comfort possibilities of this near-future thriller will linger long after the last page." --from Novelist. (Book 1 in the Brilliance Saga)

Lexicon by Max Barry
Recruited into an exclusive, secretive government school of "poets" where students are taught that words have the power to control and coerce, orphaned street hustler, Emily Ruff, becomes the school's most talented prodigy. Does she know that the fate of humanity could be at stake if the right words get into the wrong hands?

The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters

When the Earth is doomed by an imminent and unavoidable asteroid collision, New Hampshire homicide detective, Hank Palace, considers the worth of his job in a world destined to end in 6 months and investigates a suspicious suicide that nobody else cares about. (Book 1 in The Last Policeman trilogy) 

Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

A novel that imagines the coming-of-age of young Julia, whose world is thrown into upheaval when it is discovered that the Earth's rotation has suddenly begun to slow, posing a catastrophic threat to all life.