The Principle of Moments by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson

Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite

This promises a cozy, A Memory Called Empire meets Miss Marple experience. It takes place on the HMS Fairweather, a luxury interstellar passenger liner where guests are able to get new bodies, rest between lifetimes, and have their minds carefully preserved in glass in a mind library. Yeah, it’s extra, and so is the predicament Dorothy Gentleman—one of the ship’s detectives—finds herself in. She wakes up not only in a new body, but just as someone is found murdered. What’s more, she soon realizes that bodies and minds are being deleted. Though she quickly gathers a cast of possible suspects—which includes her chaotic nephew and the ex-girlfriend of the body Dorothy currently has—she finds she may have to think bigger in order to really get to the bottom of things.

Orbital by Samantha Harvey

This Booker Prize winner is set in space, but its reverence is focused on Earth. Six people—astronauts and cosmonauts from Russia, America, Britain, Japan, and Italy—are traveling through space as part of a program that is soon to be discontinued. We follow them, not as they battle aliens or ship-bound horrors, but as they communicate briefly with family, rehydrate meals, and exercise to stave off muscle atrophy. It’s these seemingly mundane activities, done in space and at such a distance for them to behold Earth in all its glory, that result in the profound contemplation that made this one of our best sci-fi books of the century.

The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei

Asuka is part of a crew of 80 people on a journey to a new planet after Earth’s environment has just about been completely ruined. The crew is composed of graduates of an elite and competitive program that has trained them to essentially save humanity since they were 12. But before they reach the new planet, a bomb kills three people and pushes the ship off course. Now, Asuka, the only surviving witness to the attack, needs to figure out what happened as the crew turns on each other—and before there is another attack.

The Red Scholar’s Wake by Aliette de Bodard

When a scavenging bot and data specialist is captured by a pirate fleet, she unexpectedly enters an arranged marriage with the sentient ship leading the pirates. Xích Si thought she would be tortured by the Red Banner. Instead, their leader, Rice Fish, offers her a marriage proposal she cannot refuse. She would get Xích Si’s technical proficiency to investigate Rice Fish’s wife’s death in exchange for protection. As they work together, their emotionless business proposal morphs into a caring relationship that defies both their expectations. It is truly a sapphic romance in space anyone would love to come aboard for. —R. Nassor

Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto

“Hammajang” is explained in the official blurb as being a word from Hawaiian pidgin that means chaotic or messed up, which describes Edie’s situation perfectly. She just got done spending eight years on an icy prison planet, and it was all because of Angel. And Angel is exactly who she sees when she steps into freedom after getting early parole. Angel has one last job that involves a trillionaire tech god—and it’s really tempting…