65 books like The Abbey

I strongly recommend this book as not only does it weave spooky images of ghostly events in one’s psyche, but couples it with fascinating phenomena such as telepathic communication and willpower. Furthermore, I was fascinated by the complex personality of the main protagonist, who allows himself to become victim of evil forces leading to a gradual descent into madness.

It also emphasises that social isolation in a remote place can have a detrimental impact on oneself and those close to you. I found the fight for survival in this tale riveting.

I’ve read this book as a child, I was probably around 10 years old. I loved that a regular person was able to conquer the world given the right tools. I was also intrigued by the occult and mystical elements in this book. I found all the geographical and cultural references fascinating and I loved that it had a happy ending.

This book stayed in my head for a long time, I think I read it back in high school. I was fascinated by the occult happening in Louisiana. It was my first encounter with this kind of folklore, voodoo, and black magic. It sends me the same vibes as King Diamond’s Voodoo concept album.

I found the ancient curse theme intriguing and the origin of the evil within the Conway house fascinating. All in all, I remember how the convoluted and twisted plot kept the pages turning quickly.

Call me a sucker for some Stephen King and you’d be right! While I could go on and on all day about different Stephen King novels, Cell in particular was one of my favorites. This novel jumps right into the action, bombarding the reader with the chaos of what is essentially a zombie outbreak caused by a mysterious cell phone pulse. I always love King’s attention to character in his novels and his ability to weave that characterization in with the story while not bringing the plot to a total standstill. Throw in some mystery when the zombies start operating as though they’re part of a hive-mind and this novel kept me turning the pages.

I love the entire Dune series, but most readers don't get past the first book. The characters retained the growth and development from the first book and we see how they continue to deal with their differing struggles, like Chani who desperately wants children, while Paul knows that her desire will bring her death. Unable to marry Chani, Paul has taken a wife, in name only, but the woman loves him and desperately wants to be loved by him. I saw myself in these two women who wanted such simple things, but for reasons out of their control, were not able to have them. It made me realize that sometimes we have to let go of what we want and just be grateful for what we have, for as long as we may have it.

I love this book because I became deeply involved with every one of the characters and how they were changed by their interactions with one another and by the results of their first experience with another salient species. The book involves the age-old questions of faith, God, religion, and humanity. Beautiful and haunting.

This book sat on my parent's bookshelf when I was a child, and I would sporadically remove it and read it at various stages of my life. As an adult, I returned to it when I had three kids of my own. It reminds me how important family is and how fleeting childhood is. Angela learns this the hard way in my own book, and I pictured her reading this book after her children had been stolen from her. As I was writing, it always left me in tears.

This is a short, easy read. Some might even say it’s not sci-fi, but I think it fits. This was something I picked up in my teens and it helped create the framework for how I approach writing, creating, and my life. What if perception dictated reality, instead of the other way around? What would your life be like if you could change how you interacted with the world by just changing your mindset? 

Honestly, I could recommend any of Peter Cawdron’s first contact science fiction books–and there are many of them! Peter is one of the most prolific indie authors on Amazon, and I appreciate that most of his books are available on Kindle Unlimited.

The Simulacrum appealed to the side of me that craves stories with tension, drama, and a fast pace. At the same time, as a science-minded reader, I want the stories I read to be plausible. The author clearly did his research by producing a first-contact story that fits within the known laws of physics and interstellar travel.

As a bonus, this book includes an afterword with detailed explanations of the ideas, concepts, and hard science that went into the book–something I really appreciate.

Multidimensional books tend to focus on either the existence of higher and lower dimensions, or on parallel universes. The Dark Forest (book 3), like my novel, is one of very few that take the string theory approach rather than show parallel universes.

The Three-Body Problem is an epic three-novel series that takes you from the cultural revolution in the ’60s, all the way to…well, the end. There’s a lot of cryogenic freezing to get the main character through time. 

The final theme of the series, introduced in The Dark Forest, is the unfolding and collapsing of dimensions. In the first book, a radio telescope operator finds out that we aren’t alone. A battle with the alien species ensues, including a scene in the Panama Canal that convinced me to spend a few days visiting the modern marvel. It’s well worth the 1500+ pages.