It has been a superb yr for science fiction, with a novel set on the Worldwide House Station successful the 2024 Booker prize. Orbital is a fantastic, sublimely written, hopeful guide that takes place over 16 orbits of Earth.
One may argue that it isn’t science fiction. In any case, the ISS is an actual place and the guide is solely a novelisation of odd life upon it. Writer Samantha Harvey describes it as “house pastoral”. However then what…