12 new science fiction and fantasy releases to get chills with this October

October 2021 release: Glimmer – Marjorie B. Kellogg

Glimmer, the latest novel from author Marjorie B. Kellogg, is part of a new trend of what’s being called “cli-fi” or climate fiction: Dystopian, often disaster-based science fiction stories that deal with the impact of climate change on human society. (And what potential futures for us might look like if we don’t find a way to stop it.)

In Glimmer’s world, it’s the year 2110 and the Earth’s glaciers have melted. The coasts are underwater and almost everywhere, refugees are heading as far inland as they can go, trying to escape the rising sea level. Most residents of New York City have fled in the wake of devastating superstorms that have destroyed most of its infrastructure. But a few locals remain, hanging on to the belief that they’ll be safer where they are.

These include a young girl named Glimmer, who’s lost her memory to trauma and her hope to…well, everything else. Is there still a future for her, and those like her, trying to build a new society in the wreckage of the old one?

The official synopsis describes the story in much more detail.

"It’s 2110, the Earth’s glaciers have melted, and there’s no climate fix in sight. As refugees stream inland from the inundated coasts, social structures and national economies are stressed to the point of fracture. Food production falters. Pandemics rage. Rising sea level and devastating superstorms have flooded much of Manhattan and wrecked its infrastructure. Its residents have mostly fled, but a few die-hards have bet their survival on the hope that digging in and staying local is a safer strategy. As the weather worsens, can a damaged population of poor folk, artists, misfits, and loners work out their differences in time to create a sustainable long-term society? In a lawless city, where the well-armed rich have appropriated the high ground, can an ex-priest find a middle road between non-violence and all-out war? The lives of his downtown band of leftovers will depend on it. Sheltering among them, a young girl named Glimmer struggles to regain a past lost to trauma. As her memory returns, she finds she must choose who and how to be, and who and what to believe in, even if it means giving up a love she has only recently found herself able to embrace."

Glimmer is available on October 12.