Best Science Fiction Audiobook Performances

Andy Weir wrote The Martian in 2011. The story puts an American astronaut, Mark Watney, alone on Mars in 2035. Watney must improvise to survive. Ridley Scott directed the film adaptation, starring Matt Damon. The Martian hit theaters in October 2015.

George Orwell wrote the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, published in 1949. The novel sets the action in Airstrip One, a province of Oceania in a world of constant war, total government spying, and public control. English Socialism governs this world, led by an Inner Party elite that crushes individual thought as "thoughtcrimes." Big Brother, the Party's leader with a strong personality cult, embodies this tyranny.

Cormac McCarthy wrote The Road in 2006. This post-apocalyptic tale follows a father and his young son traveling for months across a land ruined by an unknown disaster that wiped out most civilization and Earth's life. The 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the 2006 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction went to the book. John Hillcoat directed the 2009 film adaptation.

Orson Scott Card wrote the 1985 military science fiction novel Ender's Game. The book takes place in a future Earth facing peril after two wars with the insectoid alien species called "buggers." To prepare for a third invasion, children, including protagonist Ender Wiggin, undergo intense training, including zero-gravity exercises that show Ender's tactical skill. The story began as the short story "Ender's Game," published in the August 1977 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fac.

Andy Weir wrote the 2021 science fiction novel Project Hail Mary. The story centers on Ryland Grace, a school teacher and former biologist who wakes up on a spaceship with amnesia in the near future.

Stephen King wrote the science fiction novel The Running Man, first published in 1982 under the pseudonym Richard Bachman as a paperback original. The novel is set in a dystopian United States in 2025, where the economy is broken and violence increases. Protagonist Ben Richards joins the game show The Running Man, where contestants travel the world and "Hunters" pursue them to kill.

Stephen King wrote 11/22/63. The novel features a time traveler trying to stop the assassination of President John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy on November 22, 1963. King's site announced the novel March 2, 2011. A short excerpt hit online June 1, 2011. Another excerpt appeared in the October 28, 2011 issue of Entertainment Weekly. The novel published November 8, 2011, and quickly became a number-one bestseller. It stayed on The New York Times Best Seller list for 16 weeks. 11/22/63 won the 2011 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Best.

Max Brooks wrote World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. This apocalyptic horror novel gathers individual accounts narrated by a United Nations Postwar Commission agent. These accounts follow the global conflict against the zombie plague. Other passages detail a decade-long desperate struggle for people from various nations. The personal stories also show social, political, religious, and environmental shifts. World War Z follows Brooks' "survival manual," The Zombie Survival Guide, but its tone shifts.

Stephen King wrote 'The Stand,' a post-apocalyptic horror/fantasy novel. It builds on his earlier short story, "Night Surf." King first published the novel in 1978. In 1990, it saw a re-release as The Stand: The Complete & Uncut Edition. King restored some cut text, added and revised sections, shifted the story's setting from 1980 to 1990, and updated some pop culture references. The Stand received a World Fantasy Award nomination for Best Novel in 1979. ABC adapted the book into a television miniseries.

Stephenie Meyer wrote The Host. This romance novel shows Earth invaded by a parasitic alien race called "Souls." The book follows one Soul whose human host refuses to cooperate with the takeover of her body. The Host released May 6, 2008, with 750,000 copies printed initially. The UK publishing division released an international version on April 2, 2008, in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Indonesia, the Philippines, Australia, and Hong Kong. The book translated into Norwegian and Finnish.

William R. Forstchen wrote 'One Second After' in 2009. The novel shows an unexpected electromagnetic pulse attack hitting the United States. This attack affects people in and around the small town of Black Mountain, North Carolina. Released in March 2009, 'One Second After' ranked 11th on the New York Times Best Seller list in fiction in May 2009. A trade paperback edition appeared in November 2009.

Stephen King wrote 'Revival' in 2014. Scribner published the novel. A minister and a boy share a deep bond built on a secret obsession.