Future Fiction Index

A curated selection of speculative fiction for thinking about the 21st century.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about inevitable futures, the imagination gap and why speculative fiction matters for futures thinking. I ended the piece with a promise of book recommendations. So here they are. The idea for this index grew out of Future Fiction Lab, a virtual collective I host for reading and writing speculative fiction.

This is a curated, living index of speculative fiction titles, selected for their futures thinking value. It spans novels, novellas and short story collections — something for every appetite and reading capacity. All titles are from the 21st century, by authors from the Anglo-American canon and beyond. They’re not at all comprehensive, but new titles will be added over time.

Speculative fiction overwhelmingly spotlights the US and UK, so I’ve made sure to include stories set elsewhere. The index includes that as a label. I’ve also distinguished between stories that unfold on an individual, community or civilisational scale. Longer stories and more complex worlds lend themselves better to big picture thinking, whereas shorter and more intimate stories consider change on a smaller scale.

Zoe Scaman’s Imagination Curriculum is worth reading for a deeper explainer on why fiction has value as a futures tool, with plenty of examples. It informed my selection here and covers some 20th century essentials too.

Head to the full index to read a short summary of each book. The tables below are for quick browsing: