Author Simon Stålenhag has a new work out this month. December is traditionally a quieter month for new releases from publishers and that's definitely true this year, with a sparser than usual science-fiction offering to chew over. That said, there are some intriguing titles out this month, and I'm looking forward to the new book from artist and author Simon Stålenhag, another illustrated dystopia, as well as a mysterious-sounding Russian novel, and the conclusion of Bethany Jacobs's excellent space opera trilogy. Jacobs has written a piece for the New Scientist Book Club about how the late Iain M. Banks inspired her own world-building. The Book Club is currently reading Banks's classic Culture novel - do join us .

From drowned worlds to virtual utopias via deep space, wild ideas abound in Emily H. Wilson's picks for her favourite sci-fi reads of the year So: what were the best works of science fiction published this year? I will start with two new books that aren't actually new, but have only just been published in English. First up is Ice by Jacek Dukaj, originally published to great acclaim in Poland all the way back in 2007. It is an alternative history set in Europe in the early 1920s. A terrible winter grips the land, and the cause of it may be something very alien.

So far, it has been an encouraging year for science fiction. My favourite new offering to date is probably Hal LaCroix's Here and Beyond, but then, I'm a sucker for a good ark-ship story. In LaCroix's take on the trope, a vessel called Shipworld is heading for HD-40307g, "a habitable Super Earth hug orbiting a simmering red dwarf star". It is a journey of 42 light years – meaning that none of the 600 souls who begin the journey will actually live to see HD-40307g. Only the Seventh Generation will make planetfall. There are rules on board.

I mean, C-3PO and R2D2 were on my radar before I could even read. And ever since I learned to read, I've loved any book with robots in it. I'm not talking murderous robots taking over the world stories (although those can be fun, too). Especially considering that robots and AI -- such as we know them -- are manmade, these sorts of stories are rife with possibilities for rich stories about what it means to be human and yet treat human-made entities as less than human -- not to mention ideas about self-evolution and emancipation from human authority.