Why am I passionate about this?

Alpha Max is set in the multiverse, so I thought a list of other multiverse books would be a fun comparison. In my work, I’ve had a recurring character, Dr. Maximilian Tundra; a reader noted that he always seemed slightly different novel-to-novel. A very astute reader. You see, the whole time, all of my books took place in slightly different versions of my hometown. Parallel Earths! So, I thought it was time to let Max take center stage and explore why this might be. In this book, we get to meet not just one Max, but dozens of divergent Maxes from alternate realities. Mind-blowing stuff!


I wrote

Alpha Max

By Mark A. Rayner,

Book cover of Alpha Max

What is my book about?

Maximilian Tundra is about to have an existential crisis of cosmic proportions. When a physical duplicate of him appears in…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Nine Princes in Amber

Mark A. Rayner Why did I love this book?

This is the first of a ten-book series called The Chronicles of Amber (there are two five-book cycles.) I started reading these mind-bending novels when I was a wee lad, in the 1970s, and I didn’t really understand them, but I loved the vivid worldbuilding.

The characters were real, and the plots of these books were a page-turning pleasure. In this series, Amber is the prime world, and all the other versions of reality were shadows of the original. In Plato’s philosophy, he has this theory of forms, and in this world-view, he sees our reality as an imitation of the “real” or ideal world. Interestingly, a lot of fantasy that deals with the multiverse seems to have this idea at its heart.

In this particular expression, only the royal family of Amber can move between realities, by physically travelling through the shadow worlds, or by using magical portals they call “trump cards.” The first five books, about the crown prince of Amber, Corwin, are still quite readable and slightly psychedelic. 

By Roger Zelazny,

Why should I read it?

8 authors picked Nine Princes in Amber as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

One of the most revered names in sf and fantasy, the incomparable Roger Zelazny was honored with numerous prizes—including six Hugo and three Nebula Awards—over the course of his legendary career. Among his more than fifty books, arguably Zelazny’s most popular literary creations were his extraordinary Amber novels.

Now officially licensed by the Zelazny estate, the first book in this legendary series is now finally available electronically.

Carl Corey wakes up in a secluded New York hospital with amnesia. He escapes and investigates, discovering the truth, piece by piece: he is really Prince Corwin, of Amber, the one true world…


Book cover of Dark Matter

Mark A. Rayner Why did I love this book?

I read this in one sitting during my summer vacation last year. Crouch writes for the screen as well as writing for print, and it shows. His pacing is amazing and this book is a real thrill-ride of a science fiction tale set in the multiverse.

Unlike a lot of other science fiction, where the multiverse is just a background fact that informs the story, this novel really digs into the theoretical ideas behind it, and then uses that to ramp up the emotional stakes.

No spoilers, but the protagonist is a physicist who is drugged, kidnapped, and left in a different iteration of his hometown of Chicago. A parallel world in which he never met his wife! One of the things that I really loved about the book is that the characters’ state of mind is so critical to how they are able to visit different realities – a version of an idea that I used in my own book

By Blake Crouch,

Why should I read it?

14 authors picked Dark Matter as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Brilliant. . . I think Blake Crouch just invented something new' - Lee Child, author of the Jack Reacher series.

From Blake Crouch, the author of the bestselling Wayward Pines trilogy, Dark Matter is sweeping and intimate, mind-bendingly strange and profoundly human - a relentlessly surprising thriller about choices, paths not taken, and how far we'll go to claim the lives we dream of, perfect for fans of Stranger Things and Ready Player One.

'Are you happy in your life?'
Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious.
Before he awakes to find…


Book cover of The Man in the High Castle

Mark A. Rayner Why did I love this book?

Now, you may be thinking – hey, that’s an alternate history SF. And you’re right, but in my view, alternate history is a subset of multiverse novels. Dick’s book relies on an interpretation of an idea in quantum physics which answers the paradox of Schrödinger’s cat. (You know, the one where the cat is both alive and dead in the box, until you look at it – and then it’s one or the other?)

The Many Worlds Interpretation (MWI) suggests that if the cat is alive in your world, it’s dead in another. There are two worlds because of that choice. And Dick’s book suggests just that. It’s set in a reality where the Axis powers won WWII and split America between Nazi Germany and the Japanese Empire. The book is truly haunting and disturbing. I was about thirteen or fourteen when I read it, and it blew my mind. 

By Philip K. Dick,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked The Man in the High Castle as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Dick's best work, and the most memorable alternative world tale...ever written' SCIENCE FICTION: THE 100 BEST NOVELS

It is 1962 and the Second World War has been over for seventeen years: people have now had a chance to adjust to the new order. But it's not been easy. The Mediterranean has been drained to make farmland, the population of Africa has virtually been wiped out and America has been divided between the Nazis and the Japanese. In the neutral buffer zone that divides the two superpowers lives the man in the high castle, the author of an underground bestseller, a…


Book cover of The Knight of the Swords

Mark A. Rayner Why did I love this book?

I’ve always loved Moorcock’s work – I find his writing can be quite beautiful stylistically, even while he’s telling a compelling story. The Knight of Swords is the first in the Corum series, two trilogies, which is also part of the eternal champion multiverse. (It’s actually Moorcock who coined the term “multiverse” in a novel he wrote in the 60s.)

I prefer Corum to his arguably more famous other protagonist, Elric of Meliboné. Corum is significantly less emo and whiny than Elric, and I also really enjoyed the allusions to Irish mythology. But both of these characters are examples of what Moorcock calls the eternal champion – a hero that emerges whenever the universe experiences imbalance. This hero appears in many different realities, the multiverse, and is set the task of righting the balance between Law and Chaos.

If you like high fantasy and you haven’t read Moorcock, you really should. So much of what comes later starts with him. And this is truly a mind-boggling view of the multiverse!

By Michael Moorcock,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

The ancient races, the Vadhagh and the Nhadragh, are dying. By creating Mankind, the universe has condemned Earth to a pestilence of destruction and fear.

Prince Corum is the last remaining Vadhagh. He sets out on a crusade of vengeance against the forces that slaughtered his family and his race, to challenge the unjust power of the puppet masters of Man: the Lords of Chaos. Along the way he will barter with his soul for the limbs of gods to repair his mutilated body, and will encounter a member of the very race who caused the mutilation, the irresistible Rhalina...


Book cover of The Golden Compass

Mark A. Rayner Why did I love this book?

The first of Pullman’s His Dark Materials series, this book is an ambitious combination of time travel, Platonic fantasy, Schrödinger’s cat-fancying multiple worlds, and a tonic for the overly religious nature of C.S. Lewis’s Narnia books (which I’m sure would be on many people’s lists instead of Moorcock or Zelazny).

The Golden Compass isn’t always totally successful in doing all of that, but the storytelling is great, and Lyra is a wonderful and compelling character. As a Canadian, I especially enjoyed the northern setting of the first book and the fact that the story has talking polar bears that run around in suits of armor. Brilliant!

By Philip Pullman,

Why should I read it?

30 authors picked The Golden Compass as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 12, 13, 14, and 15.

What is this book about?

The first volume in Philip Pullman's groundbreaking
HIS DARK MATERIALS trilogy, now a thrilling, critically
acclaimed BBC/HBO television series. First published
in 1995, and acclaimed as a modern masterpiece, this first
book in the series won the UK's top awards for children's literature.

"Without this child, we shall all
die."

Lyra Belacqua and her animal daemon live
half-wild and carefree among scholars of Jordan College, Oxford.

The destiny that awaits her will take her to the frozen lands
of the Arctic, where witch-clans reign and ice-bears fight.

Her extraordinary journey will have immeasurable consequences
far beyond her own world...



This…


Explore my book 😀

Alpha Max

By Mark A. Rayner,

Book cover of Alpha Max

What is my book about?

Maximilian Tundra is about to have an existential crisis of cosmic proportions. When a physical duplicate of him appears in his living room, wearing a tight-fitting silver lamé unitard and speaking with an English accent, Max knows something bad is about to happen. Bad doesn’t cover it. Max discovers he’s the only human being who can prevent the end of the world, and not just on his planet! In the multiverse, infinite Earths will be destroyed.

Personally, Max thinks the multiverse is in big trouble, because he can’t even keep his toenails clipped on the regular, let alone stop the apocalypse. His only “allies” are a race of manic pixie aliens and dozens of other versions of himself; and let’s face it, both groups are annoying as heck!

Book cover of Nine Princes in Amber
Book cover of Dark Matter
Book cover of The Man in the High Castle

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Defection in Prague

By Ray C Doyle,

Book cover of Defection in Prague

Ray C Doyle Author Of Lara's Secret

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Why am I passionate about this?

I have been writing for many years, and my main preference is political thrillers with criminal overtones. I first became interested in politics when I worked at several political conferences in the 60’s and 70’s. I have been involved in several criminal cases, including my own, and within my family, I have a nephew in the police force. For many years I have had the opportunity to mix with the upper tiers of society as well as the criminal classes and this has given me great insight into creating my characters and plots.

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What is my book about?

Pete West, a political columnist, travels to Prague to find a missing diplomat, later found murdered. He attempts to discover more about a cryptic note received from the diplomat and is immediately entangled in the secret Bilderberg Club’s strategy to form a world federation.

Pete meets a Czechian agent who wants asylum. She has a murdered EU Commissioner’s diary containing clues to the civil unrest planned by the club, encrypted in algebraic chess notations. West seeks answers and links up with retired MI6 officer Tosh. While escaping would-be captors, they decode enough chess moves to reveal the anarchy of the…

Defection in Prague

By Ray C Doyle,

What is this book about?

Pete West, a political columnist, travels to Prague to find a missing diplomat, later found murdered. He attempts to discover more about a cryptic note received from the diplomat and is immediately entangled in the secret Bilderberg Club’s strategy to form a world federation.

Pete meets a Czechian agent who wants asylum. She has a murdered EU Commissioner’s diary containing clues to the civil unrest planned by the club, encrypted in algebraic chess notations. West seeks answers and links up with retired MI6 officer Tosh. While escaping would-be captors, they decode enough chess moves to reveal the anarchy of the…


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