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Malka Older

Biography

Malka Older

Malka Older is a writer, aid worker and sociologist. She is the Executive Director of Global Voices, a community of writers, editors and translators providing community journalism from all over the world and advocating for indigenous and minority languages, media literacy, digital rights and online freedom of expression.

Her science-fiction political thriller, INFOMOCRACY, was named among the best books of 2016 by Kirkus, the Washington Post and Book Riot; with sequels, it was a finalist for a Hugo award. THE MIMICKING OF KNOWN SUCCESSES, a murder mystery set on Jupiter, was on four best of 2023 lists and was a finalist for the Nebula, Hugo, Locus and Ignyte awards for Best Novella. The sequel, THE IMPOSITION OF UNNECESSARY OBSTACLES, was named one of the best science-fiction books of 2024 by Esquire, and the third book in the series is the newly released THE POTENCY OF UNGOVERNABLE IMPULSES.

She is a Faculty Associate at Arizona State University, where she teaches on predictive fictions. She is co-editor of WE WILL RISE AGAIN, an anthology of speculative fiction about social justice movements, coming out in December 2025.

Malka Older

Books by Malka Older

The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses
by Malka Older - Fiction, Mystery, Science Fiction

When a former classmate begs Pleiti for help on behalf of her cousin --- who’s up for a prestigious academic position at a rival Jovian university but has been accused of plagiarism on the eve of her defense --- Pleiti agrees to investigate the matter. Even if she has to do it without Mossa, her partner in more ways than one. Even if she’s still reeling from Mossa’s sudden isolation and bewildering rejection. Yet what appears to be a case of an attempted reputational smearing devolves into something decidedly more dangerous --- and possibly deadly.

The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles
by Malka Older - Fiction, Mystery, Science Fiction

Mossa has returned to Valdegeld on a missing person’s case, for which she’ll once again need Pleiti’s insight. Seventeen students and staff members have disappeared from Valdegeld University, yet no one has noticed. The answers to this case may lie on the moon of Io --- Mossa’s home --- and the history of Jupiter’s original settlements during humanity's exodus from Earth. But Pleiti’s faith in her life’s work as a scholar of the past has grown precarious, and this new case threatens to further destabilize her dreams for humanity’s future, as well as her own.

The Mimicking of Known Successes
by Malka Older - Fiction, Mystery, Science Fiction

On a remote, gas-wreathed outpost of a human colony on Jupiter, a man goes missing. The enigmatic Investigator Mossa follows his trail to Valdegeld, home to the colony’s erudite university --- and Mossa’s former girlfriend, a scholar of Earth’s pre-collapse ecosystems. Pleiti has dedicated her research and her career to aiding the larger effort towards a possible return to Earth. When Mossa unexpectedly arrives and requests Pleiti’s assistance in her latest investigation, the two of them embark on a twisting path in which the future of life on Earth is at stake --- and, perhaps, their futures together.