What are some upcoming trends for the next year?

I’ve been seeing more science-fiction and fantasy novels that are overtly political; many feel like critiques of or reactions to the current political climate—even though quite a few of them must have been written before the 2016 election in order to publish in 2018. Two that I’m working with come to mind: Afterwar by bestselling author Lilith Saintcrow and Torn by debut author Rowenna Miller. Afterwar is set in a near-future dystopian America rebuilding from the ashes of a second Civil War, and Torn—loosely inspired by the French Revolution—is about a magic-casting seamstress who gets swept up in an anti-monarchist plot. Despite their vast and obvious differences, both these books feel viscerally relevant—and I suspect we’ll only see more such stories in the coming year.

What book/genre/topic would you like to see cross your transom?

I will never turn down an opportunity to talk about my wish list! I love books that ask hard questions about issues of social upheaval and culture clash and about the impacts of new technologies. I want more protagonists who are not only irresistible characters, but whose stories tell us more about the greater forces at work, who are harbingers of change, or whose voices go against the grain of the society they inhabit. I’m always looking for unconventional voices, too; I see that as a quest rather than a trend. Give me books that stretch my brain!

What topic don’t you ever want to see again?

It’s difficult to issue a blanket statement about topics I’d categorically reject, because the reading experience depends more on execution than subject matter. One often hears that “urban fantasy is over,” for example, but then I went and fell in love with Jade City by Fonda Lee—a Godfather-style gangster fantasy set in an Asia-inspired metropolis—and Orbit ended up publishing it last November. No subgenre is dead if it’s done that well.

That said, I’d love to see books that upend traditional science-fiction and fantasy tropes—like political systems that default to absolute monarchy, penniless orphans who are prophesized saviors, protagonists who fall for their preordained One True Love, fantasy civilizations that look suspiciously like medieval England, and so on.

What is unique about your corner of the publishing industry?

One of my favorite things about working in science fiction and fantasy—something I think our genre does better than most—is that we can challenge accepted paradigms and push boundaries that other genres more rooted in the real world can’t. It’s no coincidence that some of our most searing social and political critique, from Gulliver’s Travels to Fahrenheit 451 to The Handmaid’s Tale, has come out of speculative fiction. It’s been said that SFF is the fiction of ideas; I love working with books that challenge readers to think about the world in ways they wouldn’t otherwise have experienced.

Sarah Guan is an associate editor of science fiction and fantasy at Orbit Books, an imprint of Hachette Book Group. She has previously worked both for other SFF publishers and for a literary agency. She is enthusiastic about amplifying underrepresented and marginalized voices of all stripes.