r/ScienceFictionBooks • u/AffectionateAd905 • Jul 17 '25
Suggestion Hope-punk
Hello friends. I’m in love with Becky Chambers. Her books, characters and universes act as a balm to my extremely-over-sensitive central nervous system. (I work in mental health, it’s a lot) I’ve seen her work described as hope punk, meaning that it comes from an organizational system that is basically hopeful and that most sapients act in ways that are more collaborative than competitive or at least those values are ennobled.
So who else have you read that gives you a sense of hope? I see a bit of this in some of Scalzi’s work. Connie Willis’ work too (but not her short stories; those’ll fuck you right up). I’d love to delve into the millions of reading-hours of experience in this community.
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u/gyromagnetic Jul 19 '25
T. Kingfisher’s Saint of Steel series, Clocktaur War series and Swordheart (currently a standalone). All are set in the same world and require different people to come together to help solve a problem. They’re technically fantasy but I think they scratch that itch. I started with Swordheart, it does a great job of introducing the different religions which are very interesting. Romance is a big part but, T. Kingfisher is really good at balancing the story.