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Top Science Fiction Books of November 2025

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Claire North’s ‘Slow Gods’ tracks deep space pilots

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If you aim to stay updated on the fresh wave of science fiction hitting bookstores this November, you’ll need to be quick. New Scientist columnist Emily H. Wilson emphasizes the necessity of reading Claire North’s Slow Gods, and I’m inclined to trust her judgment (look for her review in next week’s edition). Additionally, I’m bracing myself for Rebecca Thorne’s chilling tale of a zombie-like virus aboard a submarine (talk about claustrophobia!). Grace Walker’s Merge has a central theme that terrifies me. This feels like a spooky month in the sci-fi realm. Yet, I also anticipate a poignant read about the extinct Great Sea Cow titled Sea Beasts, described as heart-wrenching and beautiful, devoid of any supernatural terror.

Emily H. Wilson has expressed her strong appreciation for this sci-fi novel. In my experience, it’s rare to encounter a science fiction columnist advocate for a book so passionately. This story illustrates the death and rebirth of deep space pilot Maukana na Vdnadze, exploring a supernova that “obliterated planets and devastated civilizations.” As Emily notes in her upcoming column, “Read this book. If you enjoy science fiction, it’s essential.” She consistently emphasizes value, and so do I.

Sea Beasts Written by Iida Turpeinen, translated by David Huxton

While not precisely science fiction, this tale delves into fictional interpretations of science. My fascination with sea cows began in childhood through Willard Price’s Adventure. The narrative kicks off in 1741, with naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller embarking on an expedition to identify a sea route between Asia and America, where he discovers the Steller’s sea cow. Then, in 1859, the governor of Alaska dispatched men to unearth the skeleton of a massive marine mammal that vanished a century earlier, with restoration efforts beginning in 1952.

Illustration of an extinct giant sea cow

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Though it may seem to tiptoe into the realm of fantasy, the publisher has likened it to a novel by Karian Bradley known for its time travel elements. The narrative unfolds within a library named “Jikoku,” filled with books containing the memories of individuals traversing the timelines between the post-war and Cold War periods in the U.S. At just 11, Lisavette finds herself trapped there, maturing into a world learned solely through the memories of the deceased. It becomes clear that government agents are infiltrating these times to eradicate memories that counter the official narrative…

We previously covered this novel during its self-publication in 2022, when our then-sci-fi columnist Sally Addie expressed enjoyment. Now endorsed by a major publisher, it seems laden with thrilling prospects and just the right amount of scare for the Halloween season, prompting me to finally dive in. A force known as the Anti-Meme preys on the book’s characters’ most treasured memories, covertly robbing them of their experiences while they remain unaware of the looming conflict.

Ice Written by Jacek Dukaj, translated by Ursula Phillips

Following the asteroid Tunguska’s 1908 impact, Russia unravels in a deadly winter. As the land succumbs to freezing temperatures, inhabitants flock to cities for survival. This extreme cold catalyzes a transformation of natural elements into bizarre new forms, spawning unique laws of physics.

Frozen Lake Baikal in Siberia

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Amelia’s mother, Laurie, is battling Alzheimer’s disease. As her condition deteriorates, Amelia opts into the world’s first experimental fusion treatment designed for Alzheimer’s patients. Laurie’s consciousness merges with Amelia’s, creating a singular identity. Together with other participants, they are placed in a luxurious rehabilitation facility known as The Village…yet all is not as it appears. Frankly, the notion of treatment options alone is unsettling.

Featuring themes of zombies, submarines, and maritime horror, Nix and Kessandra delve into a massacre in an underwater city. As they descend, Kessandra unveils the truth: a disease has triggered the massacre, transforming individuals into mindless killers, and it’s on the rise…

Within this narrative lies an interdimensional conflict described as “one of the most savage the multiverse has confronted” (and it indeed is brutal). We follow Beth, a teacher-turned-rebel, alongside a keen gun-slinging hero, Wakeful Slim. Unlike prior tales in Pandominion’s universe, this story stands alone, crafted by the author of The Girl with All the Gifts (a must-read zombie novel).

An extradimensional war is occurring on Outlaw Planet by MR Carey

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This monumental sci-fi narrative, Sun Eater, follows Hadrian Marlowe as he navigates life on the run from the Extrasolarians and the Soran Empire, whom he betrayed.

While not a new release, this 10th anniversary edition of humanity’s struggle for survival on a terraformed planet includes a special short story by Tchaikovsky, providing both enjoyment for fans and a perfect refresher for those new to the tale.

Described as an online cult phenomenon, this marks its inaugural English print edition. The narrative examines “the potential and pitfalls of human evolution,” delving into the author’s insights on genetic manipulation and the effect of colonizing Mars, accompanied by illustrations from Kosemen. Tchaikovsky himself described it as “a remarkable blend of scientific acumen and creativity.” Quite intriguing.

This thrilling high-concept story promises excitement. In a world governed by AI, everything comes to a halt right after your loved ones reveal their darkest secrets.

Mind Works Written by Neal Shusterman

This compilation of Shusterman’s short stories boasts a stunningly surreal cover and introduces readers to a realm where bats block the sun and a glacial life force resurrects the dead.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Webb Marks 3rd Anniversary with Stunning Cat Paw Star Photos

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To celebrate the remarkable advancements in science during the third year, astronomers have utilized the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to capture images of the Cat’s Paw Nebula.

This web image depicts the Cat’s Paw Nebula, a significant star-forming region located 5,500 light years from the constellation Scorpio. Image credits: NASA/ESA/CSA/STSCI.

The Cat’s Paw Nebula resides in the southern constellation of Scorpio and is approximately 5,500 light years from Earth.

First identified in 1837 by British astronomer John Herschel, this dynamic star-forming region spans an estimated 80 to 90 light years.

Also known as NGC 6334 or the Bear Claw Nebula, it is one of the most vibrant stellar nurseries in the night sky, producing thousands of young, hot stars that emit light not visible from our perspective.

Recent images captured by Webb’s NIRCam instrument reveal structural details and functionalities previously unseen.

“Massive young stars are actively interacting with nearby gas and dust, and their bright stellar light produces a luminous, hazy glow, represented in blue,” Webb astronomers stated.

“This scenario illustrates a transient period where a destructive young star plays a significant role in the broader narrative of the region, characterized by relatively short lifespans and high luminosity.”

“Due to the dynamic activities of these massive stars, the local star formation process will eventually come to a halt.”

“We begin with a central area identified as the ‘opera house’ because of its hierarchical circulatory structure,” they noted.

“The principal sources of the blue glow in this area are likely positioned towards the bottom, obscured by dense brown dust, interspersed with light from bright, yellowish stars or nearby sources.”

“Beneath the orange-brown dust lies a bright yellow star displaying distinct diffraction spikes.”

“This giant star is sculpting its surrounding environment but has not managed to push gas and dust away sufficiently nor create a compact shell of surrounding material.”

“Take note of smaller regions, such as the tuning fork-shaped area adjacent to the opera house, which contains fewer stars.”

“These seemingly vacant zones are still in the process of forming stars, indicating the presence of dense filaments of dust that obscure the light of background stars.”

At the center of the image, small, fiery red masses can be seen scattered within the brown dust.

“These glowing red sources highlight areas where large-scale star formation is occurring, albeit in a less visible manner,” the researchers explained.

“Some of the blue-white stars, particularly in the lower left area, appear more sharply resolved than others.”

“This sharper appearance is attributed to the material between the star and the telescope being diffused by the star’s radiation.”

Near the bottom of this area is a compact dust filament.

“These small dust aggregates have managed to survive the intense radiation, indicating they are dense enough to give rise to protostars.”

The small yellow section on the right marks the location of a massive star still in its formative stages, managing to shine through the intervening material.

Numerous small yellow stars are scattered across the scene, displaying distinct diffraction spikes.

“The bright blue-white stars prominently feature in the foreground of this web image, with some possibly being part of the larger Cat’s Paw Nebula region.”

A particularly striking feature of this web image is the bright red-orange oval shape located in the top right corner.

The low concentration of background stars indicates it is a dense area where the star-forming process has only recently commenced.

Several visible stars are distributed throughout the region, contributing to the illumination of central materials.

Some of the developing stars have left behind traces of their existence, such as the shock wave visible in the lower left area.

Source: www.sci.news

Chandra celebrates its 25th anniversary in space with 25 breathtaking photos

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In celebration of our 25th anniversary NASA’s Chandra X-ray ObservatoryThe Chandra team has released 25 new images of cosmic objects and phenomena.

This collection of images was released to celebrate Chandra’s 25th anniversary. Image credit: NASA/CXC/SAO.

On July 23, 1999, the Space Shuttle Columbia launched into orbit carrying Chandra, the heaviest payload carried by the shuttle at the time.

Under the command of Commander Eileen Collins, the astronauts aboard Columbia successfully placed Chandra into a highly elliptical orbit roughly equivalent to one-third the distance to the Moon.

“For a quarter century, Chandra has made one amazing discovery after another,” said Dr. Pat Slane, director of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center.

“Astronomers have used Chandra to explore mysteries that were unknown when the telescope was built, including exoplanets and dark energy.”

“Chandra is a great success story for humanity and its pursuit of knowledge,” said Dr. Andrew Schnell, acting Chandra project manager at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.

“The telescope’s incredible achievements have been made possible through the hard work and dedication of the team.”

The new series of images is a sample of the roughly 25,000 observations Chandra has taken during its quarter-century in space.

In 1976, Riccardo Giacconi and Harvey Tananbaum first proposed the mission that would become Chandra to NASA.

Eventually, Chandra was selected as one of NASA’s great observatories, along with the Hubble Space Telescope, the now-retired Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, and the Spitzer Space Telescope, each observing a different kind of light.

In 2002, Giacconi was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his pioneering contributions to astrophysics that led to the discovery of cosmic X-ray sources and laid the foundation for the development and launch of Chandra.

Today, astronomers continue to use Chandra data in conjunction with other powerful telescopes, including the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope and NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE).

“On behalf of the STS-93 crew, we are incredibly proud of the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the talented team that built and launched this astronomical gem,” said Eileen Collins, commander of Space Shuttle Columbia, which launched Chandra into space in 1999.

“Chandra’s discoveries have continued to amaze and inspire us for the past 25 years.”

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This article is a version of a press release provided by NASA.

Source: www.sci.news

Hubble marks its 34th anniversary with stunning images of Messier 76

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Messier 76also known as M76, NGC 650/651, or the Little Dumbbell Nebula, is a planetary nebula located approximately 3,400 light-years away in the northern constellation of Perseus.

This Hubble image shows Messier 76, a planetary nebula about 3,400 light-years away in the constellation Perseus. Image credit: NASA/ESA/STScI.

Since its launch in 1990, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has made 1.6 million observations of more than 53,000 celestial objects.

To date, the Space Telescope Science Institute's Mikulski Space Telescope Archive contains 184 terabytes of processed data.

Since 1990, 44,000 scientific papers have been published from Hubble observations.

Hubble is the most scientifically productive space astrophysics mission in NASA history.

Demand for the use of Hubble is so high that it is currently oversubscribed by a factor of 6 to 1.

Most of Hubble's discoveries, such as supermassive black holes, exoplanet atmospheres, gravitational lensing by dark matter, the presence of dark energy, and the abundance of interstellar planet formation, were not anticipated before launch.

To commemorate the 34th anniversary of Hubble's launch, astronomers took a snapshot of the planetary nebula Messier 76.

“Messier 76 is located approximately 3,400 light-years away in the northern constellation of Perseus,” Hubble astronomers said.

“It is classified as a planetary nebula, an expanding shell of glowing gas ejected from a dying red giant star. The star will eventually collapse into a super-dense, hot white dwarf.”

“Although planetary nebulae are not related to planets, they got their name because astronomers in the 1700s using low-power telescopes thought these types of objects resembled planets.”

“Messier 76 consists of a ring that is visible head-on as a central bar structure and two lobes located at openings on either side of the ring. Before burning out, the star ejected a ring of gas and dust. ”

“This ring was probably formed by the influence of a star that once had a binary companion.”

“This sloughed off material formed a thick disk of dust and gas along the orbital plane of the companion star.”

“The hypothetical companion star is not seen in the Hubble image, so it may have been later swallowed by the central star.”

“The host star has collapsed to form a white dwarf,” the researchers said.

“It is one of the hottest stellar remnants known, at a scorching 139,000 degrees Celsius (250,000 degrees Fahrenheit), 24 times the surface temperature of the Sun.”

“The blazing white dwarf is visible pinpointed in the center of the nebula. The stars visible projected beneath it are not part of the nebula.”

“Sandwiched by the disk, two clumps of hot gas escape from above and below the 'belt' along the star's axis of rotation perpendicular to the disk.”

“They are propelled by hurricane-like outflows of material from dying stars, tearing apart space at 2 million miles per hour.”

“That's fast enough to travel from Earth to the Moon in just over seven minutes.”

“This intense stellar wind is channeling cooler, slower-moving gas that was ejected during the star's early stages of life, when it was a red giant.”

“Intense ultraviolet radiation from superhot stars makes the gas glow. The red color is due to nitrogen, and the blue color is due to oxygen.”

“Given that our solar system is 4.6 billion years old, according to cosmological timekeeping, the entire nebula is a fleeting event. It will disappear in about 15,000 years.”

Source: www.sci.news

WWE 2K24 Review: Celebrating WrestleMania’s 40th Anniversary with Slapstick Arcade Fighting Gameplay | Games

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IThis is a storyline worthy of a WWE Superstar. Smashed, widely ridiculed, and clearly on the way to obscurity, WWE 2K20 was video game wrestling’s lowest ebb. Less than five years later, the game, which has probably done all sorts of off-screen training him montages in Meat Locker, not only dazzles and even works well, but actually gives users It’s back activated with controls that will put a smile on your face.

Conceptually, wrestling has always been difficult to translate into games. Why not just hold the leather against your opponent’s face until they’re too shocked to resist the pin? Because that would make for bad TV, and you couldn’t tell from the smell of body oil and hairspray yet. Contrary to some people, this is the world of sports entertainment. No, being “good” in WWE 2K24 or its predecessors means putting on a show. So does it know how to make you do it?

There is always fluidity in the movements in the ring. Chops transition into grapples without annoying delays, and the highly varied animations ensure that even the most specific and situational actions are executed well, even allowing you to throw a slim-shelf gym into Cena’s face. In celebration of WrestleMania’s 40th Anniversary, Showcase Mode lets you play through the furry’s most iconic matches from the 1980s to the present. It’s a shame that we can’t rewrite history with such a well-recreated moment, but we have to respect the effort. The game also tries to faithfully reproduce his 80’s camera effects.

This is a modern sports game, offering around 40 different modes, and inevitably some modes are left to deteriorate between releases. (MyGM Manager mode is this year’s biggest casualty.) He has two newcomers among a dizzying array of match options. In Ambulance matches, your goal is to weaken your opponent enough that you can load him into the back seat of an ambulance parked right next to the ring inside the arena. It’s best not to ask too many questions to the ambulance. In the Special Guest Referee match, you play as…the Special Guest Referee. These sideshows also offer the shine and functionality fans have been dreaming of.

The story-focused career mode, on the other hand, offers two completely different interactive narratives. One positions you as a star female wrestler on the local indie scene trying to gain national attention, and the other positions you as a star female wrestler on the local indie scene trying to gain national attention, and the other places you in an unlikely play after Roman Reigns unexpectedly retires, leaving the title vacant. We will position you as an active male wrestler on Raw who is very successful. . Like just about every other corner of the game, they’re dripping with expensive production costs, fun star cameos, and endless different ways to beat people on TV.

Here’s an analogy about sports franchises. Taking a year off (like WWE did in 2020) could be a good thing. From the hilariously detailed character creation to the feel of Jarman’s suplexes, 2K24 hits the mark.

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Source: www.theguardian.com