Here are 100 books that Beholder's Eye fans have personally recommended if you like
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Although I’ve written non-fiction articles on films and British history for magazines, my fiction reflects my love of science fiction, which goes right back to when I watched Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, and Star Trek on television as a child. You can read – or watch – the stories as straightforward adventures in imagination, or take away clever commentaries on contemporary problems. The possibilities are endless, and I always enjoyed conjuring stories and scribbling them down – though it took a long time for those scribbles to translate into publishing success! My first novel, Unreachable Skieswas published in 2018 by Mirror World, with Exile in 2019 and Ascent in 2020 completing the trilogy.
Chock full of great characters, political scheming, spaceships, and conflict, Elizabeth Moon’s terrific space saga features a strong, believable female protagonist in Heris Serrano. As the story begins, Heris has been forced to resign from a space fleet she’d lived for, banished to what she believes to be a dead-end job on a private cruiser. The layers of intrigue that underly the action and interactions throughout the story are beautifully realised, and the characters are all recognisable individuals, distinct, human, flawed, each looking for a path to follow. A page-turner that will have you looking for Book 2 (Sporting Chance) as soon as you’ve read it
Heris Serrano was an officer born of a long line of officers, and a life serving in the ranks of the Regular Space Service was all she had ever known and all she ever wanted - until a treacherous superior officer forced her to resign her commission. This was not just the end of a career path; it was the end of everything that gave her life meaning. But even ex-Fleet captains have to eat, and Heris finds employment as 'Captain' of an interstellar luxury yacht, working for the eccentric Lady Cecelia de Marktos. Being a rich old lady's chauffeur…
I’ve been reading science fiction and fantasy, and specifically space opera, since I was seven and first discovered The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet. I read my way through every book in the school library and public library that dealt with aliens, space travel, starships, and especially adventure.
Young Dane Thorson signs on to the Solar Queen as an apprentice cargo handler. The crew of the independent ship pools all their resources to buy trading rights to a planet in an auction, hoping to strike it rich. But Limbo turns out to be more than they bargained for.
Rich with vivid imagery, weird aliens, ancient artifacts, remnants of a lost civilization, space pirates, and a whole lot more, Sargasso of Space has been one of my favorite books since I was a teen. No list of Female SF authors would be complete without Andre Norton. Her vision of aliens and space travel has been a huge influence on my own writing.
Stellar exploration—and depredation—in the exciting first novel in the Solar Queen series from a “superb storyteller” (The New York Times).
In the future, venturing out into the stars is more than a way for humanity to chart the cosmos—it’s big business. Every time a new planet is discovered, the highest bidder gets first dibs with exclusive property rights for a year. Anything they can find, they can keep.
The planet Limbo was considered a waste of rock to most, which is the only reason apprentice cargo master Dane Thorson and the rest of the crew of the Solar Queen could…
I’ve had the urge to write stories as far back as public school. And despite encouragement from a creative writing teacher in high school, my first career ended up being corporate financial analysis. By the time I reached 59, I was (a) unemployed and unemployable (due to age) and (b) in a relationship with a wonderful woman who loved science fiction and was very creative (a former art teacher). With her encouragement, I finished my first SF novel at just the right time to benefit from the explosion of interest in reading ebooks bought on Amazon. I’ve now written 37 novels.
I was enthralled by this book. If memory serves me correctly, C.J. Cherrryh was awarded the title of Grand Master by an SF organization for this book and it’s obvious why.
The scope of the story universe she has created is mind-boggling. The characters are believable, and the action makes your heart beat faster. There are scenes in the book that make you want to see them in a movie. I can say that this book and her style of writing has had a bigger impact on my own writing than any other author.
If military SF is your thing, you’ll love this book.
The Hugo Award-winning classic sci-fi novel about interstellar war.
The Beyond started with the Stations orbiting the stars nearest Earth. The Great Circle the interstellar freighters traveled was long, but not unmanageable, and the early Stations were emotionally and politically dependent on Mother Earth. The Earth Company which ran this immense operation reaped incalculable profits and influenced the affairs of nations.
Then came Pell, the first station centered around a newly discovered living planet. The discovery of Pell's World forever altered the power balance of the Beyond. Earth was no longer the anchor which kept this vast empire from coming…
I’ve been reading science fiction and fantasy, and specifically space opera, since I was seven and first discovered The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet. I read my way through every book in the school library and public library that dealt with aliens, space travel, starships, and especially adventure.
Helva is a ‘brain’, a person with a defective body who becomes meshed with a starship as its controller. Each brain-ship is partnered with a ‘brawn’, a human who acts as the liaison for the ship as well as its partner and protector. Helva loves singing and brings heart to her role as a scoutship brain.
Anne McCaffrey brings her signature romance to this book with a complex relationship that grows between Helva and her brawn as they explore the universe. McCaffrey is deft at creating characters that are vulnerable but still strong in their own way. Though Helva has no physical strength, she has a heart that loves to sing. Even though she is basically a starship, she holds on to her humanity.
The brain was perfect, the tiny, crippled body useless. So technology rescued the brain and put it in an environment that conditioned it to live in a different kind of body - a spaceship.
Here the human mind, more subtle, infinitely more complex than any computer ever devised, could be linked to the massive and delicate strengths, the total recall, and the incredible speeds of space. But the brain behind the ship was entirely feminine - a complex, loving, strong, weak, gentle savage -a personality, all-woman, called Helva...
As a UK nature writer and amateur naturalist, I have a fascination with the natural world. If it squeaks, buzzes, croaks, hisses, or tweets, I want to know more about it. I enjoy books that are both captivating and easy to understand, and I’m at my happiest when uncovering unusual facts and exploring the rich folklore surrounding our wildlife. As a writer, I contribute to magazines focusing on nature and wildlife-friendly gardening. I also teach creative writing and have authored a book celebrating the wonders of our UK wildlife. I live in Dorset and find endless joy in observing and nurturing whatever wanders or flies into my overgrown garden.
In the summer, this book takes over from British Wildlife as my favourite reference book that doesn’t bamboozle me with science. I nearly always find the insect I’m looking for and then inevitably spend half an hour lost in details of the plants it eats or places it lives.
I wouldn’t want to be without this book, and I regularly buy it as a present for friends and family.
A photographic field guide to 1,500 species of insects found in Britain A photographic field guide to all the common and some unusual species of insects across Britain that the keen amateur naturalist is likely to spot. Approximately 1,500 species are illustrated with clear photographs chosen for their help in identification. / Details of distribution for each insect, and whether it is common or rare / Includes photographs of larvae / Each section is coded with a symbol for easy reference / Information on easily confused species / All the information on the species together in the same place Insect…
I have always been fascinated by the workings of the human mind.What instincts and influences make us who we are? This Alien Shore grew out of research I was doing into atypical neurological conditions.It depicts a society that has abandoned the concept of “neurotypical”, embracing every variant of human perspective as valid and valuable. One of my main characters, Kio Masada, is autistic, and that gives him a unique perspective on computer security that others cannot provide. What might such a man accomplish, in a world where his condition is embraced and celebrated? Good science fiction challenges our definition of “Other,” and asks what it really means to be human, all in the context of an exciting story.
This anthology has one of my favorite stories by Tiptree, it is called "We who stole the dream". The Joilani have long been enslaved and abused by humans. So has another race, of “delicately winged creatures”, whose sweat is a powerful intoxicant to humans. It is most potent when the donor experiences pain and fear, so humans have taken to torturing mated pairs of them, so the partners can watch each other suffer. The resulting sweat is a drug called Star Tears. Although that unnamed race plays no active role in the story, they are on my list because of the powerful manner in which they influence other species, invoking the darkest and most brutal aspects of human nature simply by existing.
The diminutive, weak, and peace-loving Joilani make a desperate break for freedom. Stealing a spaceship called The Dream, they seek out the mythical planet of their…
Ten tantalizing tales of man, woman and child - and their cosmic connections...
Contents: Angel Fix (1974) Beaver Tears (1976) Your Faces, O My Sisters! Your Faces Filled of Light! (1976) The Screwfly Solution (1977) Time-Sharing Angel (1977) We Who Stole the Dream (1978) Slow Music (1980) A Source of Innocent Merriment (1980) Out of the Everywhere (1981) With Delicate Mad Hands (1981)
I’ve been a non-fiction writer my entire career and I love learning new things and then sharing them with readers in an approachable and engaging way, as these books do. These books encourage curiosity and that kind of “Oh! I didn’t know that!” response, which can spark a young reader to dig deeper and even share their new knowledge with others.
This book is much meatier than the others on the list. But it also delivers information in easy-to-digest blocks and is filled with amazing photographs, many of which the author himself took.
This book provides information that corrects some myths or misunderstandings that people have about sharks.
Dive into the wild world of sharks! Get up close to learn the truth behind these fantastic, ferocious fish with famed National Geographic photographer and explorer Brian Skerry.
Join this amazing underwater adventure to track the sharks of the world, from the teeniest dogfish to the everfeared great white. This ultimate book features every species of shark on the planet, with awesome photos, fascinating facts, the latest science, and firsthand stories of real-life encounters with these incredible creatures. Learn how sharks live, how they eat, the challenges they face, and whether or not you are actually on the menu.
I’m an English professor in New England whose research and teaching interests focus on the Shakespearean Stage and the Environmental Humanities. As an educator, I’m always looking for ways to romanticize the impact that literature can have on the world—either politically, ideologically, or physically. The story that Kim Todd shares about the European Starling proliferating in North America because of a Shakespeare-loving member of a New York Acclimatization Society has changed the way that I look at birds, at Shakespeare, and the world. It has encouraged me to find other stories like this one to share with my students—and to tell a few of my own.
In addition to providing a fascinating biological history of North America, this book is also extremely well-written.
Its chapters offer history lessons of North American landscape and ecosystems, disguised as lyrical essays that focus on a series of unlikely non-human protagonists (or antagonists, depending on how you look at them)—including hessian flies, gypsy moths, pigeons, starlings, and honeybees.
These stories matter because they remind us of how great our illusion of control is, especially when it comes to the natural world, and how far the consequences of even the most well-intentioned actions can reach. It also showed me how engaging a story can be when the human characters are resigned to the margins.
A bewitching look at nonnative species in American ecosystems, by the heir apparent to McKibben and Quammen. Mosquitoes in Hawaii, sea lampreys in the Great Lakes, mountain goats in the Olympic Mountains of Washington State--not one of these species is native to the environment in which it now flourishes, sometimes disastrously. Kim Todd's Tinkering with Eden is a lyrical, brilliantly written history of the introduction of exotic species into the United States, and how the well-meaning endeavors of scientists, explorers, and biologists have resulted in ecological catastrophe. Todd's amazingly assured voice will haunt her readers, and the stories she tells--the…
I’m a penguin expert, TED speaker, and life-long animal lover. I was a Senior Penguin Aquarist at Boston’s New England Aquarium, where I worked for 9 years. In 2000, I helped manage the rescue of 40,000 penguins from the Treasure oil spill in South Africa. I founded my educational company The Penguin Lady in 2005, and give presentations at schools, universities, libraries, conferences (including the International Penguin Conference), and on National Geographic’s ships in Antarctica. I’ve given 4 TEDx talks, wrote and narrated a TED-Ed video about penguin conservation, and am a frequent guest expert on radio, podcasts, and TV in the US and abroad whenever penguins hit the news.
For serious penguin geeks, this book has long been the penguin bible. If you’re looking for scientifically accurate information about the biology and behavior of each penguin species, this is a fantastic reference book. Written by a leading ornithologist who has done field research on penguins, The Penguins gives a very comprehensive overview of each species, with detailed information about everything from breeding biology, to foraging ecology, to physical measurements, and much more. There are many illustrations and graphs as well. (The Penguins is manna for natural-science geeks and hard-core bird nerds.)
Bird Families of the World is a multivolume series of handbooks, intended to serve the interests of both the professional scientist and the serious amateur ornithologist. Each volume will provide a comprehensive and accurate synthesis of our knowledge of one bird family or several related families. In each book the reader will find: * Six to nine general chapters on the biology, feeding ecology, breeding behaviour, evolutionary relationships, and conservation of the family * Specially commissioned colour plates by a leading artist, showing both sexes and juveniles of all species and many subspecies * Black and white drawings illustrating special…
I’m a penguin expert, TED speaker, and lifelong animal lover. After getting a BS degree in Animal Science, I became a Penguin Aquarist at Boston’s New England Aquarium. For 9 years, I took care of the penguins there and educated visitors during daily talks. In 2000, I helped manage the rescue of 40,000 penguins from an oil spill in South Africa. (With the help of 12,500 volunteers, we saved most of them!) I founded my educational company The Penguin Lady in 2005, and speak at schools, universities, libraries, for TED-Ed and TEDx, and on National Geographic’s ships in Antarctica. I love sharing my knowledge, and passion for penguins with others!
This beautiful book is written by a famous penguin expert who wrote the ‘bible’ about penguins for adults, so you can be absolutely certain that all of the information is 100% accurate! (Which, unfortunately, is not always the case for books written by individuals who aren’t penguin experts. That said, you can be assured that every book on this curated list has extremely accurate information about penguins!) Each species in this book has a page with fact sheets, geographical ranges, and biological details. There are also numerous photos and absolutely gorgeous illustrations that are highly detailed, bringing the author’s words to life in a visually engaging way. This is the perfect book for children who want to take a deeper dive into the lives of penguins. Best for ages 9-12.
This illustrated guide to penguins includes profiles of emperor penguins, king penguins, adelie penguins, chinstraps and gentoos, rockhopper penguins, macaroni and royal penguins, fjordland snares island and erect-crested penguins, yellow-eyed penguins and jackass penguins.
