Fans pick 32 books like A Year Among The Stars

By M.T. Decker,

Here are 32 books that A Year Among The Stars fans have personally recommended if you like A Year Among The Stars. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Starplex

Steven Harper Author Of Resurrection Men

From my list on bending your mind.

Why am I passionate about this?

I took an introduction to philosophy class in college and the professor showed us how to think about thinking. Can you know something if itā€™s actually untrue? Can people in a universe with an omniscient god who knows what theyā€™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. Iā€™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.

Steven's book list on bending your mind

Steven Harper Why did Steven love this book?

The book starts small(ish).

A single starship crewed by three different species and captained by a human explores space using a series of wormholes created byā€¦ 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, ā€œI look forward to reading it.ā€ I didnā€™t actually intend to. But a couple weeks later, I idly flipped it open and started readingā€”and couldnā€™t stop.

By Robert J. Sawyer,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

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.


Book cover of The Shape of Thunder

Jessica Vitalis Author Of The Wolf's Curse

From my list on on grief and healing that are actually fun to read.

Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up in the shadows of a father who died before I was born. As a child, I had other negative experiences with grief and loss and lived a transient childhood characterized by poverty and fear. A prolific reader, I couldnā€™t find stories that reflected the reality I was living, stories that might have helped me cope and given me hope for the future. Now my mission is to write entertaining, thought-provoking, and ultimately hopeful stories for middle-grade readers and to introduce them to new books through Magic in the Middle, a series of free monthly recorded book talks.  

Jessica's book list on on grief and healing that are actually fun to read

Jessica Vitalis Why did Jessica love this book?

This is a fresh take on gun violenceā€”this time the story is a dual point of view, told by academically inclined Cora and soccer player Quinn, who were best friends until Quinnā€™s brother killed Cora's sister, two other kids, and himself. I love the contrast in voices between the two girls, who are both fully realized and distinctive and yet both suffering the same intense grief. What I really love about this story, though, is that the girls finally reconnect over a plan to find a wormhole in the universe and travel back in time to change the day their lives were forever altered. This magical read about grief and the power of friendship gripped my heart and didnā€™t let go even after Iā€™d turned the very last page. 

By Jasmine Warga,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Shape of Thunder as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

An extraordinary new novel from Jasmine Warga, Newbery Honor-winning author of Other Words for Home, about loss and healing-and how friendship can be magical.

Cora hasn't spoken to her best friend, Quinn, in a year.

Despite living next door to each other, they exist in separate worlds of grief. Cora is still grappling with the death of her beloved sister in a school shooting, and Quinn is carrying the guilt of what her brother did.

On the day of Cora's twelfth birthday, Quinn leaves a box on her doorstep with a note. She has decided that the only way toā€¦


Book cover of Pandora's Star

Andrew Fraknoi

From my list on science fiction books that use good astronomy.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an astronomer and college professor who loves science fiction. For many years, I have kept a webpage recommending science fiction stories and novels that are based on good astronomy. I love explaining astronomy to non-scientists, and I am the lead author of OpenStax Astronomya free online textbook for beginners, which is now the most frequently used textbook for astronomy classes in the U.S. I actually learned English at age 11 by reading science fiction comics and then books for kids,  After many decades as a fan, I have recently realized a long-held dream and become a published SF author myself.

Andrew's book list on science fiction books that use good astronomy

Andrew Fraknoi Why did Andrew love this book?

Although Hamilton is not a scientist, he is a science-fiction writer who frequently uses the latest ideas from science.

This book begins with an astronomer making a surprising discovery and then broadens into a complex tale of intraspecies and interspecies war. It is the first book in an exciting series by Hamilton called The Commonwealth Saga, all of which I really enjoyed as both adventure and ā€œat the edgeā€ scientific speculation. 

By Peter F. Hamilton,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Pandora's Star as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In AD 2329, humanity has colonised over four hundred planets, all of them interlinked by wormholes. With Earth at its centre, the Intersolar Commonwealth now occupies a sphere of space approximately four hundred light years across.When an astronomer on the outermost world of Gralmond, observes a star 2000 light years distant - and then a neighbouring one - vanish, it is time for the Commonwealth to discover what happened to them. For what if their disappearance indicates some kind of galactic conflict? Since a conventional wormhole cannot be used to reach these vanished stars, for the first time humans needā€¦


Book cover of Cosm

John Gribbin Author Of Don't Look Back

From my list on science fiction by scientists.

Why am I passionate about this?

John Gribbin has a Ph.D. in Astrophysics and is best known as an author of science books. But he has a not-so-secret passion for science fiction. He is the award-winning author of more than a hundred popular books about science, ranging from quantum mysteries to cosmology, and from evolution to earthquakes. He has also produced a double-handful of science fiction books. He specialises in writing factual books about the kind of science that sounds like fiction (including time travel), and fictional books based on scientific fact (including climate change). His recent book Six Impossible Things was short-listed for the prestigious Royal Society prize, but he is equally proud of Not Fade Away, his biography of Buddy Holly.

John's book list on science fiction by scientists

John Gribbin Why did John love this book?

At the other extreme from Contact, Greg Benfordā€™s COSM involves very small wormholes. Or at least, a wormhole that starts out small. In his variation on the theme, an experiment on Earth accidentally opens a wormhole which in effect creates a new universe, which the experimenters can study and eventually communicate with through the wormhole. Again, real science, but technology a little (this time only a little!) beyond our present capabilities. And it raises the intriguing question of whether our Universe might have been made in this way by a race of superior beings (gods?) in another universe.

By Gregory Benford,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

COSM brings the extraordinary passion, drama and politics of scientific research to life in a stunning near-future thriller.

On an otherwise ordinary day not long from now, inside a massive installation of ultra-high-energy scientific equipment, something goes wrong with a brilliant young physicist's most ambitious experiment. But this is not a calamity. It will soon be seen as one of the most significant breakthroughs in history. For the explosion has left something behind: a sphere the size of a basketball, made of nothing known to science. As the forces of academia, government, theology and the mass media fight for controlā€¦


Book cover of Transgression

Randy C. Dockens Author Of Mercy of the Iron Scepter

From my list on biblical prophecy in fiction format.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™ve always been fascinated by science fiction and by Biblical Scripture. That may seem dichotomous to some, but not to me. I have a passion for science and for Scripture because both bring understanding about our world from the microcosm to the macrocosm. My writings are a mixture of science and mystery with a science fiction feel and a Christian perspective. I like stories that show how truth arises even from the dark, confusing, and ambiguity of life to help one discover something about God they may not have considered before, and at the same time enjoy a fun, fast-paced, and exciting journey as they read.

Randy's book list on biblical prophecy in fiction format

Randy C. Dockens Why did Randy love this book?

This novel has an interesting reveal on first-century history. Two people, one on purpose, one accidentally, leave the present age to be teleported back to first-century Jerusalem and cannot find a way to get back to their modern times. Much of the New Testament history is told up close and personal where the author makes you feel like an integral part of this time of history. I was enthralled and surprised by how words affected all my senses to such a degree. I found the storyline engrossing and made me feel as if I was there.

By R.S. Ingermanson,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

All your life, you dreamed about the City of God.

But you never thought youā€™d ever actually go there.

Until now.

Your name is Rivka Meyers, and you are a total misfit.

You are a Messianic Jew, studying at UC Berkeley. Misfit.

You are a woman getting your PhD in archaeologyā€”a manā€™s field. Misfit.

You are in Israel working on an archaeological dig, pretending to be someone youā€™re not. Misfit.

Your Israeli co-worker on the dig tries to set you up with his cousin, Ari Kazan. Disaster.

Because Ari likes you. And you havenā€™t told him youā€™re Messianic.

Ari isā€¦


Book cover of The Algebraist

Jason Jowett Author Of Alchemy Series Compendium

From my list on inspiring sci-fi that reforges your worldview.

Why am I passionate about this?

As an avid explorer having thrice traveled around the world, living and working in over 40 countries, my inspirations as so originally science fiction have found grounding. I looked to level my imagination in the real world and filtered out the impossible from the unnecessary on a path to utopia. Sharing our ideas, exposing misgivings too, all contribute to a shared realization of human potential. This is much of the reason for who I am as a founder of business platforms I designed to achieve things that I envisage as helpful, necessary, and constructive contributions to our world. Those software endeavours underway in 2022, and a longtime coming still, are Horoscorpio and De Democracy.

Jason's book list on inspiring sci-fi that reforges your worldview

Jason Jowett Why did Jason love this book?

The biggest challenge to setting out a worldview within a universe is describing the detail about entities that imbues the feelings associated with living as those entities within it. Banks manages the sensation of living beings masterfully, where they are so alien and so abstract your pure imagination is put to the test. What would life be like for you as a jelly blob that flies around a gas giant? Pretty damn good thanks to Iain, and it's something I tackled in my book too with not nearly as much success it seems, at least yet.

By Iain M. Banks,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

It is 4034 AD. Humanity has made it to the stars. Fassin Taak, a Slow Seer at the Court of the Nasqueron Dwellers, will be fortunate if he makes it to the end of the year.

The Nasqueron Dwellers inhabit a gas giant on the outskirts of the galaxy, in a system awaiting its wormhole connection to the rest of civilisation. In the meantime, they are dismissed as decadents living in a state of highly developed barbarism, hoarding data without order, hunting their own young and fighting pointless formal wars.

Seconded to a military-religious order he's barely heard of -ā€¦


Book cover of Every Anxious Wave

Gigi Little Author Of City of Weird: 30 Otherworldly Portland Tales

From my list on sci-fi & fantasy that take you to unexpected places.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™ve been a sci-fi and fantasy fan ever since my childhood when I thought looking for spaceships and dragons in the night sky was just a normal kid nightly activity and not, you know, fiction. When seeking stories for my anthology City of Weird, I reached back into my childhood obsession with all things out of or beyond this world, but I found that I wanted tales that took my favorite themes and slanted them. Went to unexpected places, not only in time and space, but also in theme and approach. Like these five books, which I hope you will enjoy.

Gigi's book list on sci-fi & fantasy that take you to unexpected places

Gigi Little Why did Gigi love this book?

I love time travel storiesā€”and Every Anxious Wave is my favorite. What would you do if you discovered your own personal wormhole that would allow you go anywhere, anywhen? Well of course youā€™d set up shop as an agency that takes clients through time and space toā€¦ see their favorite bands play! From this unique premise, Daviauā€™s novel widens into not only a heck of a musical time-travel good time but also a moving story of human connection. Oh, and some great commentary on climate change to boot. A deceptively deep but thoroughly fun wild ride.

By Mo Daviau,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Karl Bender is a good guy whose life lacks love and meaning. When he stumbles upon a time-traveling worm hole, Karl and best friend Wayne develop a business selling access to people who want to travel back in time to listen to their favourite bands. It's a pretty ingenious plan, until Karl, intending to send Wayne to 1980, transports him back to 980 instead. Though Wayne sends texts extolling the quality of life in tenth century "Mannahatta," Karl is distraught that he can't bring his friend back. Enter brilliant, prickly, astrophysicist, Lena Geduldig. Karl and Lena's connection is immediate. Whileā€¦


Book cover of The UNtied Kingdom

Melody Johnson Author Of Beyond the Next Star

From my list on sci-fi that will melt your heart.

Why am I passionate about this?

Science fiction is a wonderful genre and a fun one to write because it offers authors the opportunity to explore age-old topics from a fresh perspective. For me, as both a writer and a voracious reader, the one thing that ties me to a great storyā€”no matter the genreā€”is romance. Whether the hero is an alien from a faraway world or a werewolf with mechanical organs, the heart of a story is its characters, the relationships they form, and the healing power of love. Below are my top five recommended reads in science fiction that are sure to melt your heart!

Melody's book list on sci-fi that will melt your heart

Melody Johnson Why did Melody love this book?

A similar concept to Man in the High Castle, The UNtied Kingdom explores an alternate reality in which the Axis won World War II. The book begins in modern-day England where down-on-her-luck and former pop star, Eve, suffers a hang-gliding accident while filming a has-been ā€œwhere are they nowā€ reality TV show. She falls through a wormhole into the WWII alternate reality and is saved by Major Harker, only to be arrested as a potential Axis spy. When Harker embarks on a mission to infiltrate enemy lines, he drags Eve along on his mission for her Axis intelligence, and so begins their exciting, adventure-filled romance. Will he ever believe that she came from a different reality? Will she be able to help right the wrongs in his? Is this world the one she belongs inā€”with him? The questions that Johnson (no relation!) explores are intriguing, heart-wrenching, and kept me rivetedā€¦

By Kate Johnson,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

When Eve Carpenter lands with a splash in the Thames, it's not the London or England she's used to. No one has a telephone or knows what a computer is. England's a third world country and Princess Di is still alive. But worst of all, everyone thinks Eve's a spy. Including Major Harker who has his own problems. His sworn enemy is looking for a promotion. The general wants him to undertake some ridiculous mission to capture a computer, which Harker vaguely envisions running wild somewhere in Yorkshire. Turns out the best person to help him is Eve. She claimsā€¦


Book cover of Oblivion's Forge

Julie Elizabeth Powell Author Of Gone

From my list on independent authors building worlds.

Why am I passionate about this?

Because sometimes I think they go further than the formulas set by traditional publishing.  I love fantasy and similar genres because there are no limits for the imagination. The books Iā€™ve chosen fulfill what I think is important ā€“ world-building, imagination, thought-provoking, intelligent, and wonderful characters on a mission of some kind.

Julie's book list on independent authors building worlds

Julie Elizabeth Powell Why did Julie love this book?

This author is a ā€˜masterā€™ at creating fantasy worlds; his writing is intelligent and gripping. This particular series focuses on a battle between two immense powers with amazing descriptions, yet it is character-driven, making it relatable and believable. Itā€™s thought-provoking and immerses you into a world that feels very real, its descriptions potent, its characters intriguing ā€“ I loved it. 

By Simon Williams,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Oblivion's Forge as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

For thousands of years they have sought the world from which they were cast out. Now, at last, Aona has been found. The younger races of this world will all be swept up in a struggle for survival, as their ancient, malevolent masters, guardians of all Aona's secrets, rise to do battle with their foes, remorseless destroyers of world after world throughout the known Existence.


Book cover of Beyond Apollo

Allen Steele Author Of Coyote

From my list on lost classics of space science fiction.

Why am I passionate about this?

Okay, so youā€™ve read Dune, youā€™ve read Starship Troopers, youā€™ve read 2001: A Space Odyssey, and maybe youā€™ve even read From Earth to the Moon and The First Men in the Moon. Seen the movies, too (or maybe you cheat and say youā€™ve read the books when youā€™ve only seen the flicks). Bet you think that makes you an expert on science fiction about space, right? Not even close! If you want to read more than just the well-known classics everyone else has, find these books. Some have become obscure and are now out of print, but theyā€™re not hard to find; try ABE, eBay, and local second-hand bookstores. Theyā€™re worth searching for, and then youā€™ll really have something to talk about.

Allen's book list on lost classics of space science fiction

Allen Steele Why did Allen love this book?

In contrast to Marooned (and, in fact, just about every other SF space novel of the ā€™60s and ā€™70s) is this short and very dark masterpiece. The first winner of the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, this novel about the aftermath of a doomed mission to Venus is Malzbergā€™s dark answer to the over-optimistic view of space exploration that was prevalent in the post-Apollo period, and a stark reminder that the universe is an unforgiving and dangerous place.

By Barry N. Malzberg,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Two astronauts travel on the first manned expedition to the planet Venus. When the mission is mysteriously aborted and the ship returns to Earth, the Captain is missing and the First Officer, Harry M. Evans, can't explain what happened. Under psychiatric evaluation and interrogation, Evans provides conflicting accounts of the Captain's disappearance, incriminating both himself and lethal Venusian forces in the Captain's murder. As the explanations pyramid and the supervising psychiatrist's increasingly desperate efforts to get a straight story falter, Evans' condition and his inability to tell the "truth" present terrifying expressions of humanity's incompetence, the politics of space exploration,ā€¦


Book cover of Starplex
Book cover of The Shape of Thunder
Book cover of Pandora's Star

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