By Kim Filchak, writer and bibliophile currently residing in Los Angeles.

SyFy gets a lot of grief for their choices. I myself have still not gotten over the abrupt end to Farscape (No, Peace Keeper War was not enough) and I am not alone. There are many of us out there who lament the loss of a beloved show on the network; Eureka, Caprica, Alphas, Stargate: Atlantis, Stargate: Universe, Warehouse 13 currently in its last foreshortened lap, so many lost loves to poor one out for.

With that in mind SyFy is rolling out five brand new science fiction and fantasy series based on solid properties that all offer possibilities for endless wonder for us genre hungry fans. FIVE SERIES ENTER, but how many leave? Here are the contenders for ratings glory and a multi season renewal. May the odds be in their favor!

1. Letter 44. Based on a comic book series by Charles Soule and Alberto Alburquerque for Oni Studios, Letter 44 follows what happens when a newly elected president opens a letter from his much maligned predecessor and learns a paradigm shifting secret that sets off an intense space based mystery. The book is very new, the first issue only came out in November 2013, but so far the buzz has been good.

                2. Ronin. This property is based on a comic book written by icon (good or ill) Frank Miller for DC comics. The oldest origin material of these new series, it is also probably the best known even though it only ran for six issues back in the day from 1983 to 1984. The story is a dystopian/time travel based quest for vengeance following a samurai from the 13th century as he hunts the demon who killed his brother through present-day New York City. The premise sounds a little like Samurai Jack meets Sin City with possibly some Highlander thrown in for good measure, which actually sounds kind of awesome now that I think about it. SyFy plans to make this a miniseries, which is smart given the limited amount of material it based on, though if it does well who knows? They may turn it into an ongoing series as they have done before with BSG.

                3. Pax Romana. Written by Jonathan Hickman who is probably best known for his ongoing run as one of Marvel’s superstars, this four issue comic follows what happens when the Vatican discovers time travel and decide to use that technology to change the past in order to “fix” the future by sending heavily armed soldiers to Rome in 312AD. This can only end well.

                4. The Magicians. One of the only two new series not based on a comic book this show will follow the events of the New York Times bestselling novel with the same name written by Lev Grossman. Often called Harry Potter for adults, The Magicians follows the story of a group of students at a Magical College in upstate New York dealing with adult situations and serious consequences. I expect this one will be the sexy one, with minimum cheese/beef cake quota per episode, as they seem short one such show with the end of Being Human this past spring. I mean there is only so much Lost Girl can do on that front before they call it day and the show completely devolves into porn.

                5. The Expanse. Based on the book series Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey this show is going to be epic. Of the five it is the one I am really looking forward to, having read the books and found them completely awesome and also being a huge fan of a good unabashed space opera. Which is good since this has has been described as Game of Thrones in space and the series is going to be written by Academy Award-nominated screenwriting team Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby. If any of these shows is going to be a contender to the BSG throne it will be this one.

So there you have it. Five new series all vying to take up space in your DVR next to all those back logged episodes of Once Upon a Time and Hannibal (Or is that just me?). There seems to be a little something for everyone and should make for an interesting year.