Why am I passionate about this?

Growing up, I’d always been fascinated by science fiction narratives, having been suckered in by Star Wars at a very young age. But it wasn’t until I stumbled upon The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy that I realized stories didn’t have to take everything so seriously. This pivoted to an obsession with comedy, leading me to write skits for the stage and screen in my late 20s as a fun side-gig along with my own comedic sci-fi novel series. I’ve always appreciated stories that lean into the lighter side of things. Reality is grim and dark enough as it is, our escapism doesn’t need to double down on that.


I wrote

Dicks For Hire

By G.M. Nair,

Book cover of Dicks For Hire

What is my book about?

Michael Duckett is fed up with his life. His job is a drag, and his best friend, Stephanie Dyer, only…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Audacity

G.M. Nair Why did I love this book?

Carmen Loup's The Audacity is the successor to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy that I've been looking for for a long time. Loup takes strands of Hitchhiker's Guide DNA lovingly engineers it into its own unique tale filled with bright, colorful, and snarky characters and a fun, insightful (and, indeed, inciteful) voice that rings incredibly true to an Americanized Douglas Adams (that is, lacking in British poise and restraint). The Audacity is simply an amazing sci-fi comedy from start to finish and feels like a love letter to The Hitchhiker's Guide and, indeed, to all its fans. Plus, the entire first trilogy is available now (with more to come!).

By Carmen Loup,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Audacity as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Rocket racing can be deadly, but working in food service is worse. 

May’s humdrum life is flung into hyperdrive when she’s abducted, but not all aliens are out to probe her.  She’s inadvertently rescued by Xan, an “I Love Lucy” obsessed alien with the orangest rocket ship in the universe. 

But you still have to eat in space, and rocket racing is a quick, if life-threatening, way to make a living. 

Finally, May has a career she loves and a friend to share her winnings with. Until a Chaos goddess possessing Xan’s ex decides to start a cult on Earth…


Book cover of The Hike

G.M. Nair Why did I love this book?

The Hike is a completely bizarre, surrealist masterpiece by former Deadspin Columnist Drew Magary. While it’s impossible to describe the plot, I personally recommend this book if you don’t mind being taken on a strange, strange journey filled with fantastical creatures, a bit of horror, and some mind-bending introspection. You might not know where you’re going to end up, but part of the fun is strapping in and enjoying the crazy ride. Fans of animation like Infinity Train or Adventure Time might enjoy this if they’re looking for something with a grittier, adult edge to it.

By Drew Magary,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Hike as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“The Hike just works. It’s like early, good Chuck Palahniuk. . . . Magary underhands a twist in at the end that hits you like a sharp jab at the bell. . . . It’s just that good.” —NPR.org

“A page-turner. . . . Inventive, funny. . . . Quietly profound and touching.”—BoingBoing

From the author of The Night the Lights Went Out and The Postmortal, a fantasy saga unlike any you’ve read before, weaving elements of folk tales and video games into a riveting, unforgettable adventure of what a man will endure to return to his family

When Ben,…


Book cover of Lingeria: Book One of One

G.M. Nair Why did I love this book?

Lingeria is a sarcastic, humor-infused take on the portal fantasy, which forces the author of a beloved fantasy series into the world that he's written - and come to despise.

It's a solidly entertaining book that appropriately skewers a lot of the tropes of fantasy fiction and the associated fandom.

I enjoyed the world of Lingeria and it's definitely a fun read for people seeking to scratch that Discworld itch.

By Daniel Kozuh, Rocky Negron (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Lingeria as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

LINGERIA: A wondrous world of centaurs, goblins, elves, knights, bounty hunters, giant centipedes, angry bookies, four-armed Yetis, and a single wizard. There is just one problem – Lingeria shouldn’t exist. It is the product of acclaimed, and depressed, author Norman Halliday

So, how did Norman come to be sleeping on the couch of one of his fiction characters? And why are Norman’s novels revered as Lingerian scripture? Also, why does all of Lingeria believe Norman to be God? Actually, a better question is … Who s this cruel wizard, about whom Norman never wrote, that seized power over the land?…


Book cover of Old Cold Cannibal

G.M. Nair Why did I love this book?

Old Cold Cannibal is a bit of an outlier in this list, as it doesn’t fully conform to the Douglas Adams/Terry Pratchett style of humor/narration or plotting. But it’s a unique book with an amazing voice. I have a soft spot for harsh 1800s white narrators whose doubling down on arrogance and (historically accurate) racism wrap around from being awful to weirdly and unsettlingly charming. Old Cold Cannibal delivers on that 100% and allows it to infuse some humor into what is otherwise a very dark and disturbing narrative that follows a journey across the pre-Civil War U.S. to find and slay a dragon. It’s a rough, but entertaining read.

By Todd Maternowski,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Old Cold Cannibal as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

1849. Two men —professional con artists on the run— cross the dangerous deserts and plains of Texas and New Mexico, on a quest to find and slay a Dragon that has laid waste to the countryside.


Book cover of World Enough (And Time)

G.M. Nair Why did I love this book?

World Enough (And Time) is an absolute gem of a book that reads like Fawlty Towers set on Douglas Adams' Starship Titanic (if you’re old enough to remember that game!). It reads like a drawn-out comedy of errors that balances madcap situations and multiple outlandish characters into a brilliant narrative that – albeit a bit long at times – dovetails nicely with the protagonist's emotional journey. This is one to pick up if you enjoy character-driven stories told with wit and a bit of poignancy.

By Edmund Jorgensen,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked World Enough (And Time) as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In the 24th century, companies offer deep-space cruises on luxury ships, but no one takes a deep-space cruise for pleasure. Because the ships travel at nearly the speed of light, 20 years pass on Earth during a standard cruise, while the passengers age only two years. Most passengers are sufferers of degenerative diseases who hope that, during those extra Earth years, medical science will catch up with their maladies. Many of these passengers are elderly; nearly all are fantastically rich. And then there's Jeremiah Brown. 31 years old and in the pink of health, Jeremiah is "rich" only through his…


Explore my book 😀

Dicks For Hire

By G.M. Nair,

Book cover of Dicks For Hire

What is my book about?

Michael Duckett is fed up with his life. His job is a drag, and his best friend, Stephanie Dyer, only makes him more anxious with her lazy irresponsibility. Things get worse when they get evicted from their 5th-floor walk-up and find ads for their Detective Agency plastered all over the city. The only problem is: Michael and Stephanie don’t have one of those.

Despite their incompetence, Stephanie pursues this crazy scheme and they stumble upon a web of missing people linked by a sexually audacious theoretical physicist and his experiments with space-time. And unless Michael and Stephanie can put their personal issues aside and fix the hole they tore in the multi-verse, the concept of existence itself may, ironically, cease to exist.

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What Walks This Way: Discovering the Wildlife Around Us Through Their Tracks and Signs

By Sharman Apt Russell,

Book cover of What Walks This Way: Discovering the Wildlife Around Us Through Their Tracks and Signs

Sharman Apt Russell Author Of What Walks This Way: Discovering the Wildlife Around Us Through Their Tracks and Signs

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Why am I passionate about this?

Author Explorer Runner Mother

Sharman's 3 favorite reads in 2024

What is my book about?

Nature writer Sharman Apt Russell tells stories of her experiences tracking wildlife—mostly mammals, from mountain lions to pocket mice—near her home in New Mexico, with lessons that hold true across North America. She guides readers through the basics of identifying tracks and signs, revealing a landscape filled with the marks left by browsing deer, predatory weasels, and inquisitive bears, skunks, and raccoons. Master tracker Kim A Cabrera provides photos and illustrations.

Winner of the prestigious John Burroughs Medal, Russell also writes about community, a sense of place, and a renewed connection with the nonhuman world. She explores the health of…

What Walks This Way: Discovering the Wildlife Around Us Through Their Tracks and Signs

By Sharman Apt Russell,

What is this book about?

Did a red fox pass this way? Could that be a bobcat print there in the dirt? Do those tracks belong to a domestic dog or a coyote? Combining lyrical memoir with an introduction to wildlife tracking, What Walks This Way explores the joys of learning to recognize the traces of the creatures with whom we share our world.

The nature writer Sharman Apt Russell tells stories of her experiences tracking wildlife-mostly mammals, from mountain lions to pocket mice-near her home in New Mexico, with lessons that hold true across North America. With wit and compassion, she guides readers through…


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