Having trouble finding a book for this category? Here are some of our recommendations.
The man in the high castle
Philip K. Dick
2011
ISBN: 9780547572482
It's America in 1962. Slavery is legal once again. The few Jews who still survive hide under assumed names. In San Francisco, the I Ching is as common as the Yellow Pages. All because some twenty years earlier the United States lost a war -- and is now occupied by Nazi Germany and Japan.
Ebook available from the Alaska Digital Library.
1635 : the papal stakes
Eric Flint, Charles E. Gannon
2012
ISBN: 9781451638394
Held hostage by a papal usurper, 1635 uptimer Frank Stone and his pregnant downtime wife, Giovanna, become targets in a rescue effort by Harry Lefferts and his infamous Wrecking Crew at the same time the true pope is targeted for assassination.
Audiobook available from the Alaska Digital Library and audiobook always available on hoopla.
The underground railroad : a novel
Colson Whitehead
2016
ISBN: 9780385542364
Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted. Their first stop is South Carolina, in a city that initially seems like a haven. But the city's placid surface masks an insidious scheme designed for its black denizens. And even worse: Ridgeway, the relentless slave catcher, is close on their heels. Forced to flee again, Cora embarks on a harrowing flight, state by state, seeking true freedom. Like the protagonist of Gulliver's Travels, Cora encounters different worlds at each stage of her journey -- hers is an odyssey through time as well as space. As Whitehead re-creates the unique terrors for black people in the pre-Civil War era, his narrative weaves the saga of America from the brutal importation of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day.
Ebook and audiobook available from the Alaska Digital Library.
The calculating stars
Mary Robinette Kowal
2018
ISBN: 9780765378385
On a cold spring night in 1952, a huge meteorite fell to earth and obliterated much of the east coast of the United States, including Washington D.C. The ensuing climate cataclysm will soon render the earth inhospitable for humanity, as the last such meteorite did for the dinosaurs. This looming threat calls for a radically accelerated effort to colonize space, and requires a much larger share of humanity to take part in the process. Elma York's experience as a WASP pilot and mathematician earns her a place in the International Aerospace Coalition's attempts to put man on the moon, as a calculator. But with so many skilled and experienced women pilots and scientists involved with the program, it doesn't take long before Elma begins to wonder why they can't go into space, too. Elma's drive to become the first Lady Astronaut is so strong that even the most dearly held conventions of society may not stand a chance against her.
Ebook available from the Alaska Digital Library.
Boneshaker
Cherie Priest
2009
ISBN: 9780765318411
Inventor Leviticus Blue creates a machine that accidentally decimates Seattle's banking district and uncovers a vein of Blight Gas that turns everyone who breathes it into the living dead. Sixteen years later Briar, Blue's widow, lives in the poor neighborhood outside the wall that's been built around the uninhabitable city. Life is tough with a ruined reputation, but she and her teenage son Ezekiel are surviving--until Zeke impetuously decides that he must reclaim his father's name from the clutches of history.
Audiobook available from the Alaska Digital Library.
Watchmen
Alan Moore, writer ; Dave Gibbons, illustrator/letterer ; John Higgins, colorist
2019
ISBN: 9781779501127
"Considered the greatest graphic novel in the history of the medium, the Hugo Award-winning story chronicles the fall from grace of a group of superheroes plagued by all-too-human failings. Along the way, the concept of the superhero is dissected as an unknown assassin stalks the erstwhile heroes."--Publisher.
Ebook always available on hoopla.
My Lady Jane
Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows
2016
ISBN: 9780062391742
Edward is the King of England. He's also dying, which is inconvenient, as he's only sixteen and he'd rather be planning his first kiss than who will inherit his crown. Jane, Edward's cousin, is far more interested in books than romance. Unfortunately, Edward has arranged to marry her off to Gifford secure the line of succession. And Gifford is, well, a horse. That is, he is an Eðian (eth-y-un, for the uninitiated) who becomes a chestnut steed every morning, but wakes as a man at dusk, with a mouthful of hay. Very undignified. The plot thickens as the three are drawn into a dangerous conspiracy, and have to engage in some conspiring of their own. But can they pull off their plan before it's off with their heads?
Ebook and audiobook available from the Alaska Digital Library and ebook and audiobook always available on hoopla.
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Susanna Clarke ; illustrations by Portia Rosenberg
2004
ISBN: 9781582344164
In nineteenth-century England, all is going well for rich, reclusive Mr Norell, who has regained some of the power of England's magicians from the past, until a rival magician, Jonathan Strange, appears and becomes Mr Norrell's pupil.
Ebook and audiobook available from the Alaska Digital Library.