100 books like Desolation Road

By Ian McDonald,

Here are 100 books that Desolation Road fans have personally recommended if you like Desolation Road. 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 Hyperion

Sergio Almécija Author Of Humans: Perspectives on Our Evolution from World Experts

From my list on the big picture of human nature and evolution.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have researched human origins professionally for almost decades by studying the trail of fossils that have survived millions of years. But, before then, and since I can remember, I’ve been a lover of adventure and science fiction stories in all formats: action movies (Indiana Jones, Back to the Future), TV shows (The X Files), novels (Jack London!), or anime and manga (Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Alita). So, I guess my mind constantly travels from the past to the future. I think this list will also work as a time machine for others.

Sergio's book list on the big picture of human nature and evolution

Sergio Almécija Why did Sergio love this book?

This book is a classic now and will still be one hundred years from now. It’s the only truly fiction book on this list, but it contains some of the deepest truths about human nature, the meaning of time, memory, and identity.

Different narrators tell their tragic stories, which converge in a beautifully wrapped-up end set in a dystopian future with an ongoing war among different species descent from modern Homo sapiens. What is not to love about it?

By Dan Simmons,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

A book of mystery, legend, romance and violence.


Book cover of The Female Man

David Wellington Author Of Paradise-1

From my list on genre mashups in science fiction and fantasy.

Why am I passionate about this?

Science fiction and Fantasy have always been about exploring new ideas in novel ways—right from the beginning, Mary Shelley saw the story of Frankenstein as a chance to explore ideas of liberation and equality that, at the time, were too uncomfortable for mainstream stories. Since then many writers have found success by mashing up sf with other literary genres to discover the boundaries—and the gray areas—between them. In my latest book I explore the deep connection between horror (the fear of the unknown) and sf (the drive toward wonder). Some of my most cherished books have similarly charted these murky borderlands.

David's book list on genre mashups in science fiction and fantasy

David Wellington Why did David love this book?

This science fiction and mystery story is about an astronaut from a world without men crashes on Earth and blows all our minds… except we’re also reading a story about a woman living in our 1970s, and a parallel Earth where WWII never happened… it gets a little confusing, in a really fun way.

Russ uses this engaging, sometimes funny, sometimes tragic multiverse story to explore topics of sex essentialism and gender fluidity in a way that still feels bracing and mind-expanding today.

You could say this is as much a philosophical treatise as a novel but that makes it sound like it isn’t any fun, when in fact it’s a blast. If you’re open to a far-out read you will not be disappointed.

By Joanna Russ,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

A landmark book in the fields of science fiction and feminism.

Four women living in parallel worlds, each with a different gender landscape. When they begin to travel to each other's worlds each woman's preconceptions on gender and what it means to be a woman are challenged.

Acclaimed as one of the essential works of science fiction and an influence on William Gibson, THE FEMALE MAN takes a look at gender roles in society and remains a work of great power.


Book cover of The Caves of Steel

Larry Haley Author Of Escape To Cadrius: Life and Philosophy in a Distant Future

From my list on explore strange worlds and new societies.

Why am I passionate about this?

When I look at the challenges our world faces, I find myself imagining how things could be better. For years, I've been captivated by the solutions that could bring about a better future. Through science fiction, especially in the books on this list, I seek out visions of better societies and ideas that could help shape a more hopeful world.

Larry's book list on explore strange worlds and new societies

Larry Haley Why did Larry love this book?

I found this book to be a masterful blend of murder mystery and science fiction, taking us on a journey through a future world where robots are beginning to take over jobs. The ethical and social questions raised by the integration of robots into everyday life are more relevant today than they were when the book was first published in 1953.

I liked Asimov's insights into the effects of robotics, offering a reflection into our own world as the AI revolution unfolds. Asimov's writing style is engaging, balancing technical detail with compelling storytelling.

I enjoyed this book immensely, not just for its intriguing plot but also for its thought-provoking exploration of a future that in many ways feels increasingly plausible.

By Isaac Asimov,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Isaac Asimov's Robot series - from the iconic collection I, Robot to four classic novels - contains some of the most influential works in the history of science fiction. Establishing and testing the Three Laws of Robotics, they continue to shape the understanding and design of artificial intelligence to this day.

In the vast, domed cities of Earth, artificial intelligence is strictly controlled; in the distant Outer Worlds, colonists and robots live side by side.

A Spacer ambassador is found dead and detective Elijah Baley is assigned to find the killer. But with relations between the two cultures in the…


Book cover of The Birthgrave

David Wellington Author Of Paradise-1

From my list on genre mashups in science fiction and fantasy.

Why am I passionate about this?

Science fiction and Fantasy have always been about exploring new ideas in novel ways—right from the beginning, Mary Shelley saw the story of Frankenstein as a chance to explore ideas of liberation and equality that, at the time, were too uncomfortable for mainstream stories. Since then many writers have found success by mashing up sf with other literary genres to discover the boundaries—and the gray areas—between them. In my latest book I explore the deep connection between horror (the fear of the unknown) and sf (the drive toward wonder). Some of my most cherished books have similarly charted these murky borderlands.

David's book list on genre mashups in science fiction and fantasy

David Wellington Why did David love this book?

I absolutely cannot spoil what might be the greatest twist in genre lit, so you’re just going to have to take my word on this one.

Lee was a master of character-driven plots and this one starts with an oldie but goodie trope: the character who wakes up with amnesia and has to explore a whole world to find herself. Our heroine has no name and no face—she always wears a mask—but the mystery of why she does so will keep your turning page after page.

If the title alone doesn’t make you want to read this book, you need to ask what happened to your sense of wonder. Don’t worry, though, because this novel will bring it back from the dead.

By Tanith Lee,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

A mysterious woman awakens in the heart of a dormant volcano. She comes forth into a brutal ancient world transformed by genocidal pestilence, fierce beauty, and cultural devastation. She has no memory of herself, and she could be anyone-mortal woman, demoness lover, last living heir to a long-gone race, or a goddess of destruction. Compelled by the terrifying Karrakaz to search for the mysterious Jade that is the answer to her secret self, she embarks on a journey of timeless wonder.

Rediscover this realm of brilliant cruel beauty and seductive immortal ruins, of savage war and grand conquest, of falling…


Book cover of Tunneling to the Center of the Earth

Matt Durand Author Of White Space: Short Fictions

From my list on blending science fiction, horror, and surrealism.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been a lifelong lover of short fiction, novels, and comic books since I can remember. Ideas were always king, leading me to a career in the creative arts as a graphic designer with years of experience in the world of advertising. Much of the core of what I did for advertising—crafting brief tales to engage with an audience in a creative/unique way—translated over well to when I began writing my own short stories. And all of the book recommendations here directly inspired me to write White Space.

Matt's book list on blending science fiction, horror, and surrealism

Matt Durand Why did Matt love this book?

I loved this collection of short stories primarily for the characters that Kevin Wilson created. The humanity and eclectic traits that he puts into them connected with me on a personal level. It’s almost as if the characters could live in a Wes Anderson film. While the people shine in these stories, the plots still have that inventive odd twist that left me smiling. And the story from which the collection takes its name was a melancholic surreal tale that left me thinking about its layers of meaning long after I finished reading it.

By Kevin Wilson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Tunneling to the Center of the Earth as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A debut short story collection in the tradition of writers like Kelly Link, Aimee Bender, and George Saunders—strange, imaginative, and refreshingly original—now back in print as part of Ecco’s “Art of the Story” Series, and with a new introduction from the author


Kevin Wilson’s characters inhabit a world that moves seamlessly between the real and the imagined, the mundane and the fantastic. “Grand Stand-In” is narrated by an employee of the Nuclear Family Supplemental Provider—a company that supplies “stand-ins” for families with deceased, ill, or just plain mean grandparents. And in “Blowing Up On the Spot,” a story singled out…


Book cover of Green Mars

Clare O'Beara Author Of Dining Out Around The Solar System

From my list on people adapting to changing future worlds.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m proud to be Irish, from a long heritage of storytellers and poets. Science fiction grabbed me from the first Asimov books I found, and I see the genre as an exploration of possibilities. I volunteer at SF Cons, including Dublin’s Worldcon in 2019. My profession is tree surgery, with an early apprenticeship in demolition, all of which has brought me to interesting places. I also love horses and became a national standard showjumper. I’ve qualified in multimedia journalism and ecology. My novels explore the past, present, and future. I write crime, science fiction, romance, and YA stories, including the Irish Lockdown series about young people during the Pandemic.

Clare's book list on people adapting to changing future worlds

Clare O'Beara Why did Clare love this book?

In this future, humanity needs to terraform Mars to provide a second home to a swelling population. The Mars Trilogy follows a group of scientists and astronauts, who gain extended lifetimes through a scientific breakthrough; this device enables us to follow the same characters through more than one normal active career span. 

My favourite book is Green Mars, because as a tree surgeon, I am fascinated by the methods shown of planting miniature trees and other plants, adapted from Nordic and mountainous shrubs. The people are experimenting with frontier lifestyles using available materials, and experimenting on adapting humans to the planet. Big business and inter-planetary politics keep raising their heads, as in any colonisation effort. And a few holdout scientists are saying that Mars is beautiful, precious, and unique, and we should study the red planet as it is, not terraform it.

By Kim Stanley Robinson,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

The first 100 scientists and engineers landed on Mars in 2027, their task to "terraform" the planet, creating an atmosphere, warming the environment, building human habitats, freeing the water trapped in underground aquifiers and seeding the new landscape. This book tells their story.


Book cover of Lakelore

Natalia Hernandez Author Of The Name-Bearer

From my list on queer Latin fantasy.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a queer Latinx author and avid reader. Long before I became an author, I was devouring books and losing myself in fantasy worlds. When I got older, I realized how few books in the market looked like me. I didn’t feel represented in the literary world. Now, I create queer fantasy novels that feature strong women of color in sweeping Latin American-inspired settings for future generations. 

Natalia's book list on queer Latin fantasy

Natalia Hernandez Why did Natalia love this book?

Lyrical prose. Nonbinary Latinx teens. A magical world underneath a lake. Neurodivergent rep. What doesn’t this book have? 

I was captivated from start to finish, watching Bastian and Lore navigate their ADHD, dyslexia, sexuality, and identity, and all while the magic world underneath their lake threatens to come up and drown their surface. Can these two teens - who haven’t seen or spoken to one another in years - learn to trust one another and work together to stop it, before it destroys everything?

I really don’t have the words for how captivating this book is, but the colors, descriptions, and magic are so vibrant they pull you right into the heart of the world and the story, and threaten not to let you go.

By Anna-Marie McLemore,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Lakelore as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 13, 14, 15, and 16.

What is this book about?

In this young adult novel by award-winning author Anna-Marie McLemore, two non-binary teens are pulled into a magical world under a lake - but can they keep their worlds above water intact?

Everyone who lives near the lake knows the stories about the world underneath it, an ethereal landscape rumored to be half-air, half-water. But Bastián Silvano and Lore Garcia are the only ones who’ve been there. Bastián grew up both above the lake and in the otherworldly space beneath it. Lore’s only seen the world under the lake once, but that one encounter changed their life and their fate.…


Book cover of The Passion

Trebor Healey Author Of A Horse Named Sorrow

From my list on erotic themes that are imaginative and insightful.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been writing stories and poems with erotic themes since I first entered the spoken word scene in 1980s San Francisco. As a young queer boy, raised in the highly eroticized Catholic Church, I was actually comfortable talking about and writing about sex and eros as I’d been stigmatized by it, and it got me fascinated with what the big deal was and why writers were afraid to approach it or why they did so in a corny/predictable/idealized and/or often dishonest and clumsy way. Soon I was teaching erotic writing and have been integrating it into my writing in honest, fresh, and enlivening ways—and helping others do soever since.

Trebor's book list on erotic themes that are imaginative and insightful

Trebor Healey Why did Trebor love this book?

In my opinion, one of the finest living writers in the English language, Winterson masterfully spins a tale of historical, poetic, eccentric, dreamy and highly sensual, and gender-bending eroticism involving an androgynous hero during the Napoleonic era, and taking place in the kitchens of the emperor, on the battlefield and along the freezing march into Russia, as well as amid the canals of Venice. Always thought-provoking and rife with magical realism and plain heart-stopping imagery, tension, and poetry, Winterson tells her story in a manner that willif not change your ideas about everythingcertainly challenge them. I always feel inspired to stretch my understanding widerand I actually fall deeply in love with the world all over againeach time I finish a novel by Winterson.

By Jeanette Winterson,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

From the frozen Russia of Napoleon's campaign, to the canals of Venice, this novel journeys through curious waterways of war and chance, where destiny and the heart cannot be forgotten - nor passion which is to be found somewhere between fear and sex passion, somewhere between God and the Devil. Jeanette Winterson is author of "Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit" which was winner of the 1985 Whitbread First Novel Award.


Book cover of Ethel & Ernest

Lucia Wilson Author Of The Adventures of Cedric the Bear

From my list on thought-provoking social themes for children.

Why am I passionate about this?

There is nothing more gratifying when you are reading your own books to a group of children to see that they are eager to know what is going to happen next. My top priority is to create a story that is a page-turner. My second wish is to include social topics that provoke ideas and questions. After I read to a group of schoolchildren, I like to encourage them to discuss the themes in the story; the children are always keen to give their views. Nonetheless, adding social topics to my children’s books needs to evolve naturally; ultimately, for me, the story is king! 

Lucia's book list on thought-provoking social themes for children

Lucia Wilson Why did Lucia love this book?

I really admire Raymond Briggs’ work; he’s a wonderful storyteller and a fantastic artist with a great eye for colour. Ethel & Ernest is a beautiful book. The strip-cartoon format works well and makes for an intense reading experience. Whilst this book has lots of humour and light, it also features some dark topics such as the Second World War, mental illness, and bereavement. It is generally considered unsuitable for children under the age of twelve. It’s a charming love story and a vivid social record. I find it heartbreaking at times. It becomes even more touching when you remember that it is based on Briggs’ own family.

By Raymond Briggs,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

A marvellous, life-enhancing book for all ages, now a major animated film starring Jim Broadbent, Brenda Blethyn and Luke Treadaway

Utterly original, deeply moving and very funny, Ethel & Ernest tells the story of Raymond Briggs' parents' marriage, lady's maid Ethel and milkman Ernest, from their first chance encounter in 1928, through the birth of their son Raymond in 1934, to their deaths, within months of each other, in 1971.

Told in Brigg`s unique strip-cartoon format, Ethel and Ernest live through the defining moments of the twentieth century: the darkness of the Great Depression, the build up to World War…


Book cover of The Seven Lives of Grace

Astrid V. J. Author Of The Companion's Tale

From my list on uplifting and transformational stories.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an award-winning and USA Today bestselling South African author, social anthropologist, and transformational life coach. Human transformation and the question of human social nature are key themes in all of my writing, which explores the experiences of people on the margins or with a background of overlapping cultures. I am a book dragon who loves reading adventures in almost every genre and that broad scope of my reading explorations has wormed its way into my writing style which, though broadly defined as fantasy, encompasses elements from other styles in a rich and ‘aromatic’ blend.

Astrid's book list on uplifting and transformational stories

Astrid V. J. Why did Astrid love this book?

This charming contemporary romance with a touch of magical realism totally hit the spot. It’s all about Grace’s transformation from an overworked, underpaid, unappreciated individual into a person who achieves her potential and flourishes. It’s one of those beautiful allegorical tales about finding your true self so you can become who you were meant to be. Totally uplifting and left me with all the warm and fuzzies.

By Elena Shelest,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

She has only seven days to choose her destiny...

Grace leads a fairy-tale-free existence in the rainy Seattle, struggling to provide for her frail mother and younger sister. But when a mysterious package arrives from her eccentric aunt, she is suddenly thrown into a whirlpool of unusual events.

Named the next "carrier of the gifts", she has only one week to sort through her supernatural inheritance or lose it all.

But in this story crystal slippers don't fit, "fairy godmothers" don't show up, and prince might not be so easy to charm.

As Grace blunders through unpredictable magic that challenges…


Book cover of Hyperion
Book cover of The Female Man
Book cover of The Caves of Steel

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Interested in Mars, terraforming, and space horror?

Mars 76 books
Terraforming 14 books
Space Horror 28 books