What to Read

My favorite authors (yes, heavy on the Fantasy/Sci-Fi... I like what I like):

Stephen R. Donaldson - Thomas Covenant has been a character stuck in my craw since first reading. Especially now... how well would I adapt to a magical alternate universe? Would I also struggle with my sanity?

China Mieville - This guy made me slow my reading down and raise my comprehension to absorb his truly alien worlds that explored truly human issues.

Charles Stross - His blog is as good as his books. Read the Laundry Files series for bonkers fun... all the other space opera sci-fi is nerdy bliss... and occasionally bonkers.

Piers Anthony - I grew up on the Xanth series, then Apprentice Adept, and Bio of a Space Tyrant. All classics.

Wesley Chu - The "Tao" series. Best "alien invasions" stories I've ever read.

J. R. R. Tolkien - What nerdy, Gen X, teenage boy didn't read The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings?

Douglas Adams - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (and sequels). Even sci-fi needs to take itself less seriously... but still be human. But don't sleep on Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency 

Frank Herbert - After Tolkien and Asimov, you were probably gonna read, and love, Dune... not ALL the Dune books, but at minimum the first three.

Robert A. Heinlein - Stranger in a Strange Land was a book with a big impact on how I viewed other people and our variety of religious belief systems. Elon Musk is a fucking douchebag for coopting "grok" for his stupid-evil techno-enshittification purposes.

Dr. Seuss - Even as an adult, all of Ted's books are as smart and touching as they are whimsical.

Isaac Asimov - One of the original masters of modern sci-fi, inspiring so many readers to become writers, scientists, astronauts... and all dreamers of something more than what we were living in. Like many white men and prolific authors of his era, not a flawless human being... but who is <sigh>?

Jules Verne - One of the fathers of sci-fi and adventure genres. The movies based on his novels captivated me as a kid.

Kim Stanley Robinson - Aka "KSR". The Mars series is where I started, but he is prolific and thought provoking.

Cixin Liu - I'm trying to get started on the Three Body Problem... via graphic novel edition!

Cory Doctorow - Spanning fiction and non-fiction of all scales. Thanks to him, we have "Enshittification".

Neil Stephenson - I started with The Diamond Age, not Snow Crash.

William Gibson - One of the cyberpunk genre founders

Bruce Sterling - One of the cyberpunk genre founders

Ray Bradbury - The Martian Chronicles. KSR's inspiration for the Mars series.

Umberto Eco - The Name of the Rose (Il nome della rosa) is where you start... everything after that is intellectual power lifting. Not for the faint of heart.

Haruki Murakami - I started with Norwegian Wood and am trying to tackle After Dark. Ooof.

Vernor Vinge - The Peace War is what I started with.

Philip José Farmer - I love the Riverworld series. But he has so many other wonderful products of his prolific career.

Susanna Clarke - Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell and Piranesi still sit on my shelf... of course, I almost never get rid of books!

Douglas Coupland - It starts with Generation X and goes down several rabbit holes from there

Olaf Stapledon - Sirius - Written in 1944, but a timeless read for all dog lovers and owners to ponder.

And some books on my shelf I've been meaning to tackle or am trying to tackle:

Claire North - The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August - This one I started before my diagnosis as a gift from my dear friend Angel Velez... I promise to finish, soon. It's kinda trippy, even if the premise is farfetched.

P. Djèlí Clark - A Master of Djinn

M.T. Anderson - FEED

Chen Qiufan - Waste Tide

Caitlin Rozakis - Dreadful

Alastair Reynolds - Harvest of Time (A Doctor Who novelization)

... and more coming?