10 Obscure Sci-Fi/Fantasy Novels That You Need To Read
Stories from modern masterpieces to the bygone dystopias of yesteryear.
Despite what we may tell ourselves, reading has become something of a chore among the quick and consumable bites in this "fast-food" culture, especially the dense volumes that often come with the lofty genres of science-fiction and fantasy. I mean, why sit through more than a thousand pages worth of a stuffy old tome written more than a century ago when somebody has already taken the time to adapt it into a vivid, screen-based experience that you can wolf down in less than a couple of hours?
While it may be tempting to just pop in a disk and zone out for a while, there is actually something deeply satisfying about conjuring up a story within your own imagination where you can choose how the characters look, the vast scope of the worlds they are set in and the wider impact this little tale might have on this particular universe.
And even though we have the likes of Lord of the Rings or The Hunger Games dominating the markets year on year, sometimes there are little gems that crop up if you’re willing to dig a little bit deeper.
10. All Our Wrong Todays – Elan Mastai
Set in an alternative 2016, in which a sustainable energy source
was discovered in the 1960s, the world has become a technological utopia – a
world that our protagonist Tom feels he does not fit into. After being given
the job of a lifetime thanks to a disgruntled father and a healthy dose of
nepotism, Tom is invited onto a life changing project: the chance to be one of
the first four human beings to travel through time.
When an accident leads to the trip being abandoned, Tom decides to take matters into his own hands, electing to travel back alone to witness the birth of his own personal 21st century, though - as he soon discovers – one mistake could cost him his literal future.
While not the most technically astounding prose, All Our Wrong Todays offers a unique insight into what our world might have been, while all the time asking the reader whether love is truly worth the rest of the world paying the price. And also watch out for one of the most excruciatingly realistic portrayals of time travel you will possibly ever witness. Spoiler alert: it is harrowing.