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If you want to know the future, get a crystal ball. If you want to know how people feel about the future, read a science fiction book.

It's the genre of both wonder and anxiety. Think Jules Verne tapping into the thrill of scientific exploration in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Journey to the Center of the Earth. Then remember how panicked listeners were convinced a radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds, H.G. Wells' tale of invading Martians, was a real news report.

Science fiction reflects how we think about our world and its potential, but each story is limited by its author's own perspective. While American and European writers have long dominated the genre, a new wave of sci-fi authors from around the world is reshaping speculative storytelling and offering fresh takes on traditional tropes.

"I am a sci-fi fan, maybe the first generation of sci-fi fans in China," says Cixin Liu, author of the bestselling Remembrance of Earth's Past series, through a translator. "Science fiction has so much more to offer. Using my own imagination and experiences, I had a desire to create completely new science fiction."

His first book, The Three-Body Problem, did just that. On the surface, it's about first contact with aliens, but Cixin Liu taps into deeper topics, questioning how innovation has shaped our past and challenging our optimism about the future. It's an exhilarating blend of "hard" science fiction (where the emphasis is on scientific accuracy), thought-provoking ideas, and—in a unique turn for the genre—the history of the Chinese Revolution.

The book was an international success. In 2008, it won the Galaxy Award, China's most prestigious science fiction award; after an English translation by fellow writer Ken Liu was published in the United States in 2014, it also took home the Hugo Award for Best Novel.

For Cixin Liu, connecting with readers in other countries is more than a nice surprise—it's necessary for the continued evolution of science fiction.

"Different cultural backgrounds in different parts of the world give science fiction a richer cultural perspective," he says. "The genre can become more colorful and, thus, more vital."

Dominican writer Rita Indiana found inspiration close to home when creating her own science fiction tale.

"I live in Puerto Rico, the oldest colony in the world, a territory of the United States that was hit in 2017 by a category 5 hurricane, a scale we’ll see more and more due to global warming," Indiana . "During the aftermath people in the mountains were left to starve and some buried their loved ones in their backyards... So, climate change is not just something I think about–it’s already affecting the way me and my family live."

Her dystopian novel, Tentacle, which was translated into English by Achy Obejas and published in the United States in 2018, is about a young maid named Acilde who travels back in time to save the ocean. It's a truly provocative work of speculative writing that tackles how our society is thinking about climate change, colonialism, technology, and queer politics.

Meanwhile, novelist Chen Qiufan focused his own dystopian future on the clash he currently sees between Chinese tradition and American ambition. His book, Waste Tide, is set on the fictional Silicon Isle, where downtrodden employees work day and night at an electronic waste-recycling plant. The novel was translated into English in the United States by Ken Liu earlier this year.