I discovered the work of Becky Chambers during the MMD team’s Best Books of the Year 2020 event, when former WSIRN producer Brenna Frederick discussed the Wayfarer series, specifically naming the second of the series, A Closed and Common Orbit, as her best book of the year. Bren read the first two books in the series in one week and read A Closed and Common Orbit in 24 hours, saying the books brought her so much joy and made her feel cared for as a reader. 2020 sent me into a tailspin and I was in need of joy and wanting to be cared for. So even though I wasn’t a science fiction reader, I decided to give the series a go. Chambers is a great entry point into the sci-fi genre; her world building is not too complex and I was able to orient myself quickly.
Becky—and I’m calling her Becky because she told me to when I spoke with her before her appearance on the 300th episode of What Should I Read Next?—is a two-time Hugo Award winner, writing in two subgenres of sci-fi: hopepunk and solarpunk. These two subgenres feature kindness, empathy and sustainable community building with amiable spaces as a form of resistance. Found family is a recurring theme in her work.
Her 2014 debut, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, is the first in the four book Hugo-award-winning Wayfarer series. This series is more traditional sci-fi; think adventure to faraway galaxies but including the elements of hopepunk and solarpunk mentioned earlier. Her second series, Monk & Robot, is what I call gentle sci-fi and it sent me on an intentional search for more of the same. After 2021, this subgenre, which focuses on coziness, connection and emotional rest and healing, exploded. I like to believe the success of A Psalm for the Wild-Built had something to do with it.
I adore Becky’s writing style, especially the way she crafts a sentence. She is a very descriptive writer; her descriptions of food always leave me hungry. In the first chapter of Psalm, I knew I was in for a good time when she described Sister Mara “slathering a golden piece of toast with as much jam as it could structurally support.” In Long Way, during the first communal meal on the ship, she made the preparation of red coast bugs, with “melted butter flecked with shredded herbs ooz(ing) out from the gaps in the spindly joints,” sound delicious.
The description of red coast bugs is followed by a crew member’s declaration that they prefer bugs over mammals. Because of the Western culture I am a part of, I find eating a cow more acceptable than eating a bug. And I was raised a vegan! But Becky details the pros of consuming bugs vs. mammals in the world that she has created, which gets me to rethink my perspective.
I love books that make me think about the world differently and cause me to question my preconceived notions and the way I’ve always done things. This mammal vs. bugs conversation is only one example of the kind of questions and philosophical themes that are substantive of Becky’s work. Her stories are set thousands of years post the collapse of earth. Mankind has made some changes. On Panga, in Psalm, they have been intentional about reallocating the surface between the natural world and mankind using only what is an actual necessity. In one town, called the Woodlands, they live in the trees to preserve the natural world below: “the resourcefulness of the rot, the wholeness of fungi.”
These details and questions keep me coming back to Becky’s work. She inspires me to be a better human in our world. In Long Way, she describes various species living together on the Wayfarer, accommodating each other’s many differences. For example; Sissix has clawed feet and one of the crew lays carpet over the grated metal stairs so that Sissix doesn’t hurt herself. It’s a little detail but goes a long way, pun intended, in showing us who Becky is and what she wants for us.
There is hope and joy and meaning and belonging in all of Becky’s work. Most importantly, for me, there is care. She cares about her characters and she cares about her reader. Her dedication of Psalm reads, “for anybody who could use a break.” If that’s you, read a Becky Chambers book.
Publication order:
- The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (2014)
- “Chrysalis” – Jurassic London’s Stocking Stuffer anthology (2014)
- A Closed and Common Orbit (2016)
- “The Deckhand, The Nova Blade, and the Thrice-Sung Texts” – Cosmic Powers: The Saga Anthology of Far-Away Galaxies (2017)
- Record of a Spaceborn Few (2018)
- “Last Contact” – 2001: An Odyssey in Words anthology (2018)
- To Be Taught, If Fortunate (2019)
- The Vela, co-written with Yoon Ha Lee, S. L. Huang, and Rivers Solomon (2019)
- “A Good Heretic” – Infinite Stars: Dark Frontiers (2019)
- The Galaxy, and the Ground Within (2021)
- A Psalm for the Wild-Built (2021)
- A Prayer for the Crown-Shy (2022)
- “The Tomb Ship” – Lost Worlds & Mythological Kingdoms anthology (2022)
- As You Wake, Break the Shell (2026)
Completist Author: Becky Chambers
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The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers Book 1)
To Be Taught, If Fortunate
A Psalm for the Wild-Built
A Closed and Common Orbit (Wayfarers Book 2)
As You Wake, Break the Shell
What’s your favorite Becky Chambers novel? Please share in the comments.
P.S. Where to start with Emily St John Mandel and more of our team’s Completist Author series.
About the author
Shannan Malone is our MMD Cohost and What Should I Read Next? Patreon Community Manager. Her go-to genre depends on her mood! You can find Shannan on Instagram @shannanenjoyslife.
