Why am I passionate about this?

There were 3.7 billion people on Earth when I was born. By November 2022, there will be 8 billion. I am fascinated and terrified by this growth. I love stories that address this issue head-on, be it colonisation of other planets, compulsory euthanasia, or uploading consciousness into machines. When I started writing, I didn’t realise how I was bringing these themes together—I was writing a book I’d love to read. Now I can see those influences, and I am grateful for the authors who have shaped my thinking and my work.


I wrote

Tionsphere

By J.C. Gemmell,

Book cover of Tionsphere

What is my book about?

Forty years from now, the collapse of the Antarctic ice causes a sixty-metre rise in sea level, threatening our survival.…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Coyote

J.C. Gemmell Why did I love this book?

Coyote is a habitable moon orbiting Bear, a gas giant forty light years away. Earth’s first interstellar ship is hijacked by a group of engineers and scientists, usurping the post-US government loyalists who intend to make Coyote their home.

This book speaks to the aspirational me, the part that wants to evolve beyond Earth and build a new future, a better future, but inevitably the hubris of modern man threatens to destroy paradise. It’s a conceptually magnificent colonisation book built on plausible science, yet its success lies in the characters’ need to work together to conquer a seemingly benign world. I frequently revisit Coyote because it’s a great story, brilliantly told, and it makes me gaze at the stars.

By Allen Steele,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Coyote marks a dramatic new turn in the career of Allen Steele, Hugo Award-winning author of Chronospace. Epic in scope, passionate in its conviction, and set against a backdrop of plausible events, it tells the brilliant story of Earth’s first interstellar colonists—and the mysterious planet that becomes their home…


Book cover of Dayworld

J.C. Gemmell Why did I love this book?

Dayworld is an elegant but dystopic solution to a possible future population crisis and one that keeps me thinking about how we should restrain ourselves. Humanity can only endure overpopulation by placing people into suspended animation six days a week. Jeff Carid is a rebel and a daybreaker, living a different life each day as he illegally moves through the week. But, when Jeff’s ability to segregate his seven lives deteriorates, the rebels realise they can’t trust him.

I love how Jeff slips from Tuesday-World to Wednesday-World, etc., easing into distinct personalities. This story made me realise different cultures exist in the same place, often never noticing each other, which we see when Jeff looks back with distaste at a previous day’s persona.

By Philip José Farmer,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

In the year 3000 a remedy has been found for the world's overpopulation. For six days out of seven, everyone is kept in hibernation; on the 7th day they emerge - to live for a day. In this way the world can support a population whose one-day-a-week lives span hundreds of years.


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Book cover of Captain James Heron First Into the Fray: Prequel to Harry Heron Into the Unknown of the Harry Heron Series

Captain James Heron First Into the Fray By Patrick G. Cox, Janet Angelo (editor),

Captain Heron finds himself embroiled in a conflict that threatens to bring down the world order he is sworn to defend when a secretive Consortium seeks to undermine the World Treaty Organisation and the democracies it represents as he oversees the building and commissioning of a new starship.

When the…

Book cover of Red Mars

J.C. Gemmell Why did I love this book?

Red Mars is by far the best Martian colonisation story I have read. In 2027, one hundred scientists land on the surface of Mars, intent on terraforming its frozen wastes. Humanity’s future depends on colonising our solar system, yet the American and Russian teams diverge from the start.

Red Mars is incredibly rich in character and perspective, scientifically credible, and driven by politics. It brings together the best and worst in humanity. I’m on my second paperback copy of this book because I read the first one so many times it came apart. Most of the ‘First Hundred’ have their own story; in my opinion, any population or colonisation book needs a diverse cast. My only disappointment is humanity hasn’t set foot on Mars yet.

By Kim Stanley Robinson,

Why should I read it?

11 authors picked Red Mars as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The first novel in Kim Stanley Robinson's massively successful and lavishly praised Mars trilogy. 'The ultimate in future history' Daily Mail

Mars - the barren, forbidding planet that epitomises mankind's dreams of space conquest.

From the first pioneers who looked back at Earth and saw a small blue star, to the first colonists - hand-picked scientists with the skills necessary to create life from cold desert - Red Mars is the story of a new genesis.

It is also the story of how Man must struggle against his own self-destructive mechanisms to achieve his dreams: before he even sets foot…


Book cover of Logan's Run

J.C. Gemmell Why did I love this book?

I saw the 1976 film long before I discovered reading and love for dystopian fiction. The twenty-third century’s response to overpopulation is to ‘sleep’ on your twenty-first birthday, but those who refuse and choose to run are hunted down and killed by sandmen. As Last Day approaches, Logan 6 receives his final mission but discovers he is not ready to die.

I was shocked when I first read Logan’s Run. Partly because it is much harsher and darker than the film, but also because it painted a future I could not comprehend. I realised there are so many possible futures for humanity, and any one of them might come true, and I started to envisage potential scenarios for myself.

By William F. Nolan, George Clayton Johnson,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Logan's Run as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The bestselling dystopian novel that inspired the 1970s science-fiction classic starring Michael York, Jenny Agutter, and Richard Jordan.

In 2116, it is against the law to live beyond the age of twenty-one years. When the crystal flower in the palm of your hand turns from red to black, you have reached your Lastday and you must report to a Sleepshop for processing. But the human will to survive is strong—stronger than any mere law.
 
Logan 3 is a Sandman, an enforcer who hunts down those Runners who refuse to accept Deep Sleep. The day before Logan’s palmflower shifts to black,…


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Book cover of Bailey and the CEO: A Corporate Love Story

Bailey and the CEO By Amy Q. Barker,

A contemporary romance novel about second chances, love in the workplace, and balancing single parenthood with a career. Bailey Grant and Fox Goodman have given up on love. They’re working hard, they’re raising kids—romance is the last thing on their minds. Until they get seated next to each other on…

Book cover of Intervention

J.C. Gemmell Why did I love this book?

I have given copies of the Galactic Milieu Trilogy as gifts more than any other book. This is the bravest near-future sci-fi series I have ever read. Intervention, published in 1987, follows events from 1945 through to 2013 when the five races of the Galactic Milieu embrace humanity. I love the merger of historical events with future possibilities in a story centred around a dynasty of ‘operant’ human beings.

As a teenager, I was fascinated by stories of telepathy, etc., but I found most books that dealt with ‘higher mind powers’ were in the fantasy or horror market. But this series is perfect sci-fi, technically plausible while politically powerful—and again, with a large, diverse cast.

By Julian May,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Intervention as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 16, and 17.

What is this book about?

For 60,000 years, the worlds of the Galactic Milieu have observed Earth, waiting for humanity to evolve sufficiently to join them. Now, humanity is almost ready for Intervention. Across the world, children with unusual mental powers are being born, known as operants. One such is Rogi Remillard, humble book dealer. Helped by an entity he labels the family ghost, Rogi will inadvertently steer his family - and so all mankind - into the future.

Rogi's journey starts with his nephew Denis, as he guides his strong metapsychic abilities. The young man's irresponsible father certainly isn't interested, focusing instead on his…


Explore my book 😀

Tionsphere

By J.C. Gemmell,

Book cover of Tionsphere

What is my book about?

Forty years from now, the collapse of the Antarctic ice causes a sixty-metre rise in sea level, threatening our survival. Humanity’s solution is a technical marvel: the construction of concentric-spheres encircling the Earth. For centuries, the construction sphere is impossible to fill, but now, almost a thousand years after its completion, it has reached capacity, and its systems are on the brink of collapse.

Tionsphere is the story of people trying to make sense of their lives in an overpopulated, technology-dependent, massively interconnected world. When one young man slips away from his assigned life, discoveries are made that threaten the system and human life itself.

Book cover of Coyote
Book cover of Dayworld
Book cover of Red Mars

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