6 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books That Would Make Binge-Worthy Streaming Series

There was much rejoicing last week when news broke that Netflix has targeted Richard K. Morgan’s gritty cyberpunk mystery Altered Carbon for its next foray into streaming sci-fi goodness (let us pause a moment to make sure you have already watched their other ambitious speculative project, Sense8… you have? Good.) It’s not difficult to imagine why it seemed like a safe bet for adaptation; aside from being an outstanding example of the high-tech thriller genre (with a fabulous central conceit about humanity gaining quasi-immortality through the ability to digitize the mind and upload it to a new body), the futuristic story is stretched over the bones of some very sturdy noir tropes, creating a sound structure on which to build a narrative across a dozen hours or so.
The announcement got us thinking about other works of SF/F that would be particularly well-suited to the Netflix “binge watch” model: books that support their speculative elements with a narrative superstructure just sound enough to allow the creators to add those creative flourishes that make a TV show truly memorable. Here is our dream lineup.

Peridio Street Station, by China Miéville
The premise: The lauded first installment of Miéville’s Bas Lag trilogy takes us deep into the slums of New Crobuzon, the teeming, rotting capital city of one of the strangest landscapes in fantasy fiction, for a rollicking adventure packed with politics, betrayal, personal sacrifice, and a good, old-fashioned bug hunt. Isaac, an embittered, obsessive scientist, inadvertently unleashes a scourge upon the city: the slake moths, supernaturally powerful insect creatures that feast on dreams (and drive their victims mad in the process). To atone for his sins and save the bug-headed woman he loves (no, really), Isaac must team up with a disgraced birdman-in-exile and an aging, idealistic journalist to kill the moths while staying one step ahead of the city’s corrupt, ageless mayor and his cronies.
Binge-worthy qualities: Bas Lag is an endlessly imaginative world that you won’t soon tire of exploring. If done right, there will be something new and weird to discover in every episode, from a journey into the bureaucracy of hell, to an encounter with a homicidal spider god, to a heist inside of a giant greenhouse ghetto inhabited by talking cacti. Meanwhile, the race against time to defeat the slake moths as New Crobuzon descends ever further into madness will keep you auto-playing episodes long into the night (dreams are, after all, very precious commodities).

Aurora, by Kim Stanley Robinson
The premise: As a generation ship that set out years ago from an environmentally ravaged Earth nears its final destination, 170 years of wear and tear begin to take their toll on a fragile manufactured ecosystem. As tensions flare between the inhabitants (many of them less that thrilled with being the children’s children’s children of those who made the foolish decision to set out in the first place, evidence arises that suggests even if the ship can limp to their new home intact, it may not be remotely the paradise they were expecting.
Binge-worthy qualities: Everyone loves a good survival drama, and the stakes don’t come much higher than this. With the ship breaking down and each potential new planet offering hidden dangers, the generation ship itself becomes a ticking clock that is constantly threatening to shake loose its gears. Add in a soupçon of political intrigue and interpersonal drama, and you’ll be in it for the generations-long haul.

Passage, by Connie Willis
The premise: Joanna Lander is a psychologist specializing in the science of near-death experiences. What actually happens to the brain in the final seconds before death? Is there a physiological explanation for the famous phenomena experienced by those pulled back from the brink? The white light, the long tunnel, the presence of loved ones… are these the final sparks of a dying ember, or do they hint at something greater, just beyond the threshold?
Binge-worthy qualities: This “soft science” story is, in many ways, a mystery (considering, quite literally, the central question is the greatest mystery of them all), but it’s also something of a farce, as Joanna bumbles through her research while wandering the halls of a labyrinthine hospital with an impenetrable bureaucracy (not to mention a cafeteria that’s never open), even as bubbling “will they or won’t they” tension develops between her and another doctor. Once you hit the mid-season twist involving the Titanic (it makes sense, trust me), you’d have to keep going until the bittersweet end.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, by Becky Chambers
The premise: The crew of the cobbled-together deep space mining vessel the Wayfarer takes on a new crew-member just as they set out on a job that will give the hard-luck crew its biggest payday yet…provided they can survive each other, and a host of other complications, during a year-long voyage into hostile territory.
Binge-worthy qualities: Cobbled together spaceship? Ragtag crew? Does this remind you of any other sci-fi TVs shows you know and are obsessed with love? The book has often been compared to Firefly, yes, and if the parallels aren’t quite so stark, they both share one key quality that would keep you hitting “next episode” again and again: a cast of lovable, hatable, prickly characters, each with a unique reason for joining up for a mission that will take them far, far away from everything they’ve ever known.

The Quantum Thief, by Hannu Rajaniemi
The premise: Someone has hired the mercenary Mieli and her sentient starship to break the uploaded mind of notorious criminal Jean le Flambeur out of a digital prison in order to enlist him in a mission to steal something on behalf of her employer. Finding it will mean delving into a past he intentionally deleted from his memories—and returning to the Oubliette, one of the moving cities of Mars.
Binge-worthy qualities: This show would have something for every kind of viewer. Love mysteries? You’ll get sucked into the detective drama as Isidore Beautrelet, Mars’ greatest detective, investigates a techno-conspiracy that only grows more complex the deeper he goes. Love mind-bending SF-nal concepts? Rajaniemi’s ideas will break your brain: networked minds, editable memories, brains downloaded into the cloud and uploaded into time golems… it’s good stuff. Love a good heist? Jean le Flambeur is the galaxy’s greatest thief. Looking for action? Bioengineered enforcer Mieli, oh she of the thigh-embedded fusion reactor and retractable wings, is one of the biggest badasses in the genre. 

Every Heart a Doorway, by Seanan McGuire
The premise: We’ve long adored stories about children whisked away to magical worlds, but what happens to them after they’ve found their way back home? How can you go back to living a regular life when you’ve experienced true wonders, lived in a fairy castle, pledged your service to a vampire king, or danced on the webs of the spider queen? All that, and dealing with being a teenager… no wonder the students at Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children are messed up. A returnee herself, Eleanor hopes to teach the children in her care how to make peace with the fact that they’re stuck in our world… even as one student seems determined to do whatever it takes (even kill) to get back to fairyland.
Binge-worthy qualities: Nothing goes down easier that an addictive teen drama, especially one layered with a dusting of the supernatural. McGuire’s inventive novella combines a top shelf premise with an engaging cast of deeply flawed, deeply relatable teens who are searching, like all of us, for their proper place in the world (or out of it). Flashbacks to each kid’s time in their unique other worlds (from one where every human is still as a statue, to one terrorized by mad science, to a kingdom of vampires) could piece out the backstory even as a propulsive murder plot (one unafraid to slaughter sacred cows unexpectedly) drives the action forward.
What book to you want to watch all in one go?