Why am I passionate about this?

I write science fiction mostly. I’ve recently turned my attention to history. The shared interest is in the changing ground of human interaction. In a way, we are all aliens to each other (which is one of the chief fascinations with fiction to begin with, the psychologies involved). After 30-plus years as a writer, I am more and more drawn to work that reveals the differences and the similarities. Unique contexts throws all this into stark relief.


I wrote

Granger's Crossing

By Mark W. Tiedemann,

Book cover of Granger's Crossing

What is my book about?

St. Louis in 1780, a French village governed by the Spanish when the war for independence brings Americans to the…

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Spare Man

Mark W. Tiedemann Why did I love this book?

Science fiction and mystery are in many ways kindred forms and when they are successfully combined, the results are marvelous.

The Spare Man is Nick and Nora Charles in space. A “closed spaceship” murder mystery with a great cast of characters and a plot Hammet would be proud of.

Tesla Crane, heiress and CEO of a major manufacturing company, is on her honeymoon with Shal, a retired security specialist, when a murder occurs practically in front of them. Of course they have to get involved.

But they’re on a ship heading for Mars and the staff and crew are only so helpful...

By Mary Robinette Kowal,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked The Spare Man as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Hugo, Locus, and Nebula-Award winner Mary Robinette Kowal blends her no-nonsense approach to life in space with her talent for creating glittering high-society in this stylish SF mystery, The Spare Man.

Tesla Crane, a brilliant inventor and an heiress, is on her honeymoon on an interplanetary space liner, cruising between the Moon and Mars. She’s traveling incognito and is reveling in her anonymity. Then someone is murdered and the festering chowderheads who run security have the audacity to arrest her spouse. Armed with banter, martinis and her small service dog, Tesla is determined to solve the crime so that the…


Book cover of Rebecca

Mark W. Tiedemann Why did I love this book?

Novels written as contemporary narratives can age into historicals by the simple passage of time.

Rebecca is a classic and now can be read for the period as well as the fascinating mystery at the center of this, one of the best British manor house mysteries, psychologically intense, with a satisfying twist.

By Daphne du Maurier,

Why should I read it?

43 authors picked Rebecca as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

* 'The greatest psychological thriller of all time' ERIN KELLY
* 'One of the most influential novels of the twentieth century' SARAH WATERS
* 'It's the book every writer wishes they'd written' CLARE MACKINTOSH

'Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again . . .'

Working as a lady's companion, our heroine's outlook is bleak until, on a trip to the south of France, she meets a handsome widower whose proposal takes her by surprise. She accepts but, whisked from glamorous Monte Carlo to brooding Manderley, the new Mrs de Winter finds Max a changed man. And the memory…


Book cover of The Galaxy, and the Ground Within

Mark W. Tiedemann Why did I love this book?

Not a mystery, but one of the finest science fiction novels about a subject not often encountered in SF:  kindness.

A group of travelers arrive at a way station, each on their way elsewhere, when a catastrophe strands them. None of them are human, they are all aliens, and they default to helping each other, and by the end friendships are forged.

Chambers is amazing at exploring the heart of cooperation and recognition. Their are tensions born of mutual ignorance, but the default here is to figure the problems out and build. Refreshing. 

By Becky Chambers,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR AND HUGO AWARD WINNER FOR BEST SERIES. Winner of The Kitschie Red Tentacle for Best Novel.

The stunning finale to the award-winning Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers, author of the beloved The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet.

When a freak technological failure halts traffic to and from the planet Gora, three strangers are thrown together unexpectedly, with seemingly nothing to do but wait.

Pei is a cargo runner at a personal crossroads, torn between her duty to her people, and her duty to herself.

Roveg is an exiled artist, with a deeply…


Book cover of Bannerless

Mark W. Tiedemann Why did I love this book?

An elegant mystery set in a near-to-partly-cloudy future. In the wake of some sort of apocalypse, communities have rebuilt.

In the Coast Road region, a sustainable civilization based on careful attention to quotas and mutual regard would seem an idyll of peaceful coexistence.

And yet. Enid is an investigator, called upon at times of uncomfortable questions.

She and her partner are called to look into a suspicious death. The buried realities encountered reveal a less-than-ideal picture of communities coping with things that do not fit with their presumptions.

A quiet mystery built atop a fascinating portrait of What Comes Next. I was drawn to the characters, the situation, but most especially the questions hovering just outside the confines of the story.

By Carrie Vaughn,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Bannerless as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

WINNER OF THE PHILIP K. DICK AWARD

A mysterious murder in a dystopian future leads a novice investigator to question what she’s learned about the foundation of her population-controlled society

Decades after economic and environmental collapse destroys much of civilization in the United States, the Coast Road region isn’t just surviving but thriving by some accounts, building something new on the ruins of what came before. A culture of population control has developed in which people, organized into households, must earn the children they bear by proving they can take care of them and are awarded symbolic banners to demonstrate…


Book cover of There Are Places in the World Where Rules Are Less Important Than Kindness: And Other Thoughts on Physics, Philosophy and the World

Mark W. Tiedemann Why did I love this book?

A quantum physicist encounters the world outside science.

A touching collection of essays by one of the best science writers today, Rovelli examines the interface of critical thinking, science, and life as lived daily by ordinary humans.

Rovelli has become one of my favorite science writers, but it is his humanity on display in these pieces. 

By Carlo Rovelli,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked There Are Places in the World Where Rules Are Less Important Than Kindness as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

One of our most beloved scientists, a fearless free spirit, Carlo Rovelli is also a masterful storyteller. In this collection of writings, the logbook of an intelligence always on the move, he follows his curiosity and invites us on a voyage through science, literature, philosophy and politics.

Written with his usual clarity and wit, these pieces, most of which were first published in Italian newspapers, range widely across time and space: from Newton's alchemy to Einstein's mistakes, from Nabokov's butterflies to Dante's cosmology, from travels in Africa to the consciousness of an octopus, from mind-altering psychedelic substances to the meaning…


Explore my book 😀

Granger's Crossing

By Mark W. Tiedemann,

Book cover of Granger's Crossing

What is my book about?

St. Louis in 1780, a French village governed by the Spanish when the war for independence brings Americans to the Mississippi. Young Ulysses Granger finds his best friend’s body in the aftermath of battle. It is clear that this was murder and Granger is determined to find the killer. Before he can, he meets Martine, who captures his imagination. And then he is called away by duty. Three years go by before he can return. When he does, he has two missions—find his friend’s murderer and renew, if possible, his relationship with Martine.

You might also like...

Secret St. Augustine: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure

By Elizabeth Randall, William Randall,

Book cover of Secret St. Augustine: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure

Elizabeth Randall Author Of Fire is the Test of Gold

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Reader Baker Teacher Matriarch Adventurer

Elizabeth's 3 favorite reads in 2023

What is my book about?

Tourists and local residents of St. Augustine will enjoy reading about the secret wonders of their ancient city that are right under their noses. Of course, that includes a few stray corpses and ghosts!

Secret St. Augustine: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure

By Elizabeth Randall, William Randall,

What is this book about?

It is no wonder the ancient city of St. Augustine is steeped in secrets. St. Johns, the oldest continuously occupied county in America celebrated its 450th birthday on September 4, 2015. More like a European enclave than an urban landscape, it is a place of cannon fire, street parties, historical reenactments, concerts, and more. From admiring replicas of fine art at Ripley’s Believe or Not, to hunting haunts in restaurants and museums, to eating ice cream from a recipe originated by World War II bombardiers, St. Augustine has it all from beaches, gourmet dining, festivals, and attractions. A young and…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in romantic love, presidential biography, and London?

Romantic Love 927 books
London 844 books