Big hitter Peter F. Hamilton has a new sci-fi novel out this month - and Booker winner George Saunders ventures into speculative fiction with his latest book, Vigil Is it an asteroid or an alien in Van Jensen's Godfall? Welcome to January, a month when many of us are keen to escape from the world into the pages of a book. Thankfully, science fiction is here to help, whether that's with a story set on a generation ship where things aren't as they seem, courtesy of Peter F. Hamilton, or journeying to an alternate version of this world where the Roman Empire is still in charge, in Solitaire Townsend's . Add to the mix a time-loop murder, a UFO romance and some eco-horror, and there's plenty of choice for sci-fi fans this month. A generation ship is in search of a new home in Peter F. Hamilton's latest sci-fi novel Big hitter Peter F. Hamilton sets his latest outing on a generation ship in search of a new world, where people are only allowed to live for 65 years so they don't deplete the ship's resources. When a teenager Hazel's brother has an accident that means he is no longer productive, he is set to be killed off.

Hal LaCroix's Here and Beyond takes place on a spaceship journeying for centuries to a new planet Riches galore await sci-fi fans in July, with two of the books I've enjoyed most so far this year due to be published for all to read. Fancy a beautifully written vision of a world turning ever faster, in which the consequences of this speed-up play out in subtle but increasingly disturbing ways? Try Alex Foster's Circular Motion. Set in the not-too-distant future, this stunningly impressive debut novel imagines an Earth orbited by massive aircraft, which allow the sufficiently wealthy to pop from New York to London in an hour, or order in sushi from Japan. Earth's spin, meanwhile, is gradually accelerating, with days at first just a few seconds shorter but, nightmarishly, contracting to just two hours as the novel progresses, with all sorts of terrible consequences.