New releases from the areas of fiction, non-fiction and comics that caught our attention.

Sums by Helen Phillips

Robots have become a permanent part of the working world and people are losing their jobs to AI. Climate change is wreaking havoc on the planet. It is becoming increasingly difficult for the average citizen to make ends meet. Facial recognition technology is being used for surveillance. Does this sound familiar? In her new novel Author Helen Phillips paints a picture of what our near future might look like.

The main character, May, has lost her job after her role has become redundant due to technology. Desperately in need of money to support her family, she agrees to take part in an experiment that will alter her face so that she is no longer recognizable by facial recognition. With the extra money she gets from the payment, she takes her husband and children on a short, technology-free vacation to the Botanical Gardens – but things go dangerously wrong. Sums is a gripping and disturbing work of dystopian fiction that makes it impossible not to draw parallels to our current reality.

Life as nobody knows it: The physics of the origin of life by Sara Imari Walker

There is so much we don’t know about the origins of life on Earth and how it might appear on other worlds. Arizona State University theoretical physicist and astrobiologist Sara Imari Walker addresses the perennial question “What is life?” and much more in her book. Life as nobody knows it: The physics of the origin of lifeIt examines the assembly theory, which, as Walker recently explained as a guest at the Podcast, it is said that “life is the only mechanism the universe has for generating complexity. So complex objects do not arise spontaneously, but only through evolution and selection.”

It’s an endlessly fascinating subject that has sparked much debate over the years, and Walker’s book presents his case in a way that’s compelling and readable even for us non-scientists. It will definitely give your brain a little workout… and maybe spark some (friendly) discussion. called it “Brilliant, but not for the faint of heart.”

Cruel Universe #1

EC Comics’ comeback continues with the release of another new series, Cruel UniverseThe recently resurrected publisher released the first issue of the science fiction series this week, with stories by Corinna Bechko, Chris Condon, Matt Kindt and Ben H. Winters and art by Jonathan Case, Kano, Artyom Topilin and Caitlin Yarsky. takes us into an interstellar battle arena, face to face with a black hole, in search of eternal life and more.

It’s a great sequel to , the new horror anthology from EC. If you liked the old ones Crazy Science Comics and EC’s other science fiction series, this is definitely worth a look.

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