Ten top novels about mad scientists

Akemi C. Brodsky is the author of The Brill Pill. She graduated magna cum laude from Brown University with a bachelor of science, then moved to the UK to do a master’s in engineering at Imperial College London. She currently lives in the Bay Area and spends most of her spare time traveling, cooking, seeing family and friends, and watching TV.

At Electric Lit Brodsky tagged ten novels about mad scientists, including:

All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders

Nature and technology collide in this mashup of mad science and magic. Two outcasts in middle school (ugh, middle school) form an unexpected friendship that will be tested time and again by the harsh realities of the world (and all of the typical dramas that come between a witch and a techie). As the planet burns around them, mistakes are made on both sides, but we root for them throughout and wonder whether, if they can just stay friends, we all might be capable of something better. This story is all kinds of dark and all kinds of hopeful, terrifyingly honest and laugh out loud funny. Anders weaves together a brilliant narrative with an amusing dose of snark and pop-culture awareness.

Read about another entry on the list.

All The Birds in The Sky is among Jeff Somers's fifty science fiction essentials written by women, Nancy Kress's five best books with ambitious birds, and Laura Lam's five top books about futuristic California.

My Book, The Movie: All the Birds in the Sky.

--Marshal Zeringue