Ideas drive the narrative in all Terence Hawkins's work. His first novel, The Rage of Achilles, is a deeply researched account of the Iliad that describes a Trojan War as it really happened, informed by the theory of the bicameral mind--now the basis for HBO's Westworld. His second, American Neolithic, explores a dystopian near-future America from the point of view of the last surviving Neanderthals, who live in an abandoned warehouse on the Lower Easy Side. In naming it a Year's Best, Kirkus Reviews called it "a towering work of speculative fiction."

These stories test the boundaries of science and superstition, reason and faith. They are for readers who can't wait for the next season of Black Mirror and think the best thing about New Year's is the Twilight Zone marathon on SyFy.

Explore the limits.