I took an introduction to philosophy class in college and the professor showed us how to think about thinking. Can you know something if it’s actually untrue? Can people in a universe with an omniscient god who knows what they’re going to do have free will? Are there universal principles of justice, or is justice based on circumstances? The class changed my taste in reading. I’d read science fiction and fantasy since I was a child, but after this class, I looked for fiction that made my brain hurt but also told a wonderful story. I try hard to meet this standard in my own fiction.
A single starship crewed by three different species and captained by a human explores space using a series of wormholes created by… whom, exactly? No one knows.
Then an unknown ship with no visible propulsion system drops out of a wormhole and we're catapulted into an adventure that brings us to the mind-twisting origins of the universe as we know it. Rob Sawyer lives across the river from me in Canada, and we ran into each other at several local science fiction conventions.
He gave me a copy of Starplex, and I accepted it with a vague, “I look forward to reading it.” I didn’t actually intend to. But a couple weeks later, I idly flipped it open and started reading—and couldn’t stop.
Twenty years after the discovery of artificial wormholes launches Earth space exploration to unforeseeable heights, Starplex Director Keith Lansing investigates a mysterious vessel that soon threatens the station with intergalactic war. Original.
Do worshipers need their gods? Or is it the other way around?
The mighty god Om finds himself in reduced circumstances due to a lack of true believers, and he latches onto Brutha, one of the few true believers left, as his salvation.
Terry wrote this book when his skill as a writer of satirical fantasy was finding its groove. His earlier work was entertaining, but here is where he really starts asking important questions, all while telling a cracking good story.
The book explores the nature of faith, compassion, and belief, and gently turns your mind inside out.
Fans of Sir Terry Pratchett will love this stunning graphic novel adaptation of his bestselling standalone Discworld novel Small Gods. Beautifully brought to life by illustrator Ray Friesen, it takes a close look at religion's institutions, its people, its practices and its role in politics in Pratchett's unique way...
'An intriguing satire on institutionalized religion corrupted by power...' - Independent 'Deftly weaves themes of forgiveness, belief and spiritual regeneration' - The Times 'I loved this book. I wish it could go on and on and on because it was so enjoyable to read. I wish more books are like this…
Nine Stories Told Completely in Dialogue is a unique collection of narratives, each unfolding entirely through conversations between its characters. The book opens with "God on a Budget," a tale of a man's surreal nighttime visitation that offers a blend of the mundane and the mystical. In "Doctor in the…
Most people cite Kindred as Butler's best book, but I vehemently disagree.
Wild Seed takes a hard look at what it truly means to be an immortal who literally can't die. And how much free will do we have when someone can use love as a weapon against us?
Anywanu and Doro are the power couple to two continents, and this book is the grandmother of the modern Afrofuturism genre.
If you pick only one book from my list, pick this one.
Quintessential 1980s science fiction that takes creationism to new levels.
A group of astronauts find a very strange bio-ship orbiting Saturn, and it unexpectedly sucks them inside. When you find out what's really going on, your jaw will drop.
No, seriously. It will.
I’m cheating a little here by recommending a trilogy, but they read like one book.
Born the half-breed, bastard son of an orc chieftain, Wrank tries to survive life in OrcHome among ignorance and spite aimed at his human heritage even as he develops a Talent for folding shadow. When life is no longer viable among the clans, he escapes into the world of humans…
I actually got to read this book before it was published because Jessica Freely was in my writer's group.
I fell in love with the characters and was thrilled whenever we got a new chapter. The plot twists and turns, and the finale is nail-biting suspense with mind-altering twists along the way.
It’s a book I wish I had written. Jessica passed away last year, but this novel is a powerful legacy.
It sucks being the son of a super villain. At home, Harry spends half of his time getting medical treatments and the other half tied up in his father's underwater lair. It was different when his mother was alive, but she disappeared when Harry was six. He can't seem to stay out of trouble at school, and his new roommate, Antonin, thinks he's a spaz, but somehow Harry has to find a way to stop his father's evil plans. Antonin Karganilla wants to become a comic book artist, but other than that, being gay is the most normal thing about…
Arthur Tor steals the dead for a living. As a resurrection man, he creeps around graveyards, hoping to dig up corpses to trade for medical school tuition. Unfortunately, a local judge has gotten wind of Arthur's activities and has sworn to send him to prison—or the hangman's noose.
Jesse Fair has fled his corrupt family in Baltimore and landed in Ypsilanti, Michigan, where he becomes the town gravedigger and undertaker, and he works hard to help grieving families through their pain with warmth and compassion. But his venomous family is still searching for him. Relentlessly. When Jesse catches Arthur in the act of robbing a grave, the two of them form a strange friendship and even stranger partnership that digs deep into social taboos—and into their own souls.
The Pact is a contemporary fiction novel about Australian sisters, Samantha and Annie, who are doubles tennis champions. This story amplifies the usual sibling issues and explores their professional partnership and personal relationships – similarities, differences, motivation, competition, abandonment, and grief – and how they each respond to the stress…
