Den of Geek Most Anticipated Books of 2026 New Scientist Best New Science Fiction Books Gizmodo New Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Books " Foundling Fathers is an American revelation. Meg Elison is a singular, incisive wit (at least until they clone her)." --Charlie Jane Anders, author of Lessons in Magic and Disaster "Audaciously funny and painfully accurate. Elison sends up our nation''s flawed history and fervent mythologizing with creativity and wit." --Samantha Mills, multiple award-winning author of The Wings Upon Her Back "In this zany sci-fi satire from Elison ( Number One Fan ), readers meet four teens--Ben, Tom, George, and John--raised in isolation on an island off the coast of Virginia in what they believe to be 1750. Schooled in Ptolemy, Christian morality, manners, and marksmanship, these "brothers" are being groomed to be statesmen. Only their "mother"--whose real name is Dr. Mary Himmel--knows the year is really 2026 and that the boys, clones of the founding fathers, exist as part of a cockamamie plan funded by the Antediluvian Society to restore America to greatness.

Once the boys come of age, they''ll be introduced to the mainland. This scheme hits a few snags, first in Tom''s affairs with two of the servants, then when Ben discovers Mother''s phone in the bathroom, leading the boys to question their origins. As the Antediluvians initiate the Saratoga Protocol, a supposedly foolproof plan to transition the foursome to the real world, the teens prove to have minds of their own. Elison has a lot of fun with historicity and her characters are all finely wrought, especially Himmel, whose care for the boys as their surrogate mother butts up against her involvement in the Antediluvian cause. It''s a clever mash-up of American history and modern politics that will have readers both laughing and squirming ." -- Publishers Weekly "This is exactly the kind of preposterous shit I would expect if cloning became more widely available which is both sad and hilarious. This book absolutely hooked me in about two pages." -- Powder & Page "Relentlessly, brutally, scathingly, funny.

I''d expect nothing less from the one and only Meg Elison." --Sarah Gailey, author of Spread Me "Meg Elison delivers a satirical tale of arrogant billionaires so preoccupied with their attempt to re-create a mythical something (or in this case someones) they didn''t stop to consider if they should." --Stina Leicht, author of Persephone Station "This sharp and insightful work of speculative satire pokes holes in the formative myths of the United States via a world in which human cloning is used to rebirth the Founding Fathers." -- Shelf Awareness "A brilliant and timely premise that she weaves into a compelling tale that both unravels the founding mythology of the United States but somehow also gives me hope " --Auston Habershaw, author of If Wishes Were Retail "In there with the political satire and the pitch-perfect 18th-century diction is a moving story of found family and four ''brothers'' whose quirky brilliance does not get in the way of their being engagingly human." --Ellen Kushner, author of Swordspoint "Deftly hilarious. You will be tempted to read page after page, chapter after chapter. Do not resist!" --Eileen Gunn, author of Stable Strategies and Others "Meg Elison uses satire to brilliantly poke fun at our oppressors in her searing science fiction novella Foundling Fathers ."-- Reactor "With her crisp, shocking, and darkly funny story, Elison has taken a sledgehammer to American mythologizing.

" -- Reactor "A hilarious, satirical novella. Elegant and accessible, Elison''s razor-sharp satire brilliantly questions our cultural obsession with the ''great men'' theory of history." -- Masters Review "Meg Elison has produced a sly meditation on greatness, American politics, and the very notion of national hagiography. Also, this book is just a lot of fun to read." --David Liss, author of The Peculiarities "The perfect read for the United States'' 250th anniversary. Hilarious, curious, and furious, it gives this country''s toxic nostalgia the wedgie it deserves." --John Wiswell, author of Someone You Can Build a Nest In " Foundling Fathers has only grown more relevant--more current since Elison began writing it. It''s funny, it''s sad, it''s edged, and like all Elison''s work, it makes me believe that its world continues to run along without me after I finish reading.

" --Alex Jennings, author of The Ballad of Perilous Graves "It''s Elison''s birthday present to America, a country that she loves despite its flaws and lies, and it''s worth a read." -- Geek Dad.