Here are 72 books that The Forerunner Factor fans have personally recommended if you like
The Forerunner Factor.
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I'm an author, inventor, military veteran, (mostly) self-taught scholar, and an entrepreneur. Every internet-connected person interacts with things I invented (the tracking pixel, the ebook, etc) every day, but I'm best known for my books about business and personal development. As I write this, I'm serving as the Founder and CEO of a software platform called "Simpleology." It's designed to solve what I think is one of mankind's greatest threats to survival as a species: "The Complexity Gap." It's the gap between the amount of information in the world and our ability to navigate it. It solves this by guiding you to focus on what we call "HIME" (high impact, minimal effort).
While it is not as intellectually subtle or mature as Heinlein's later work, it has served as my blueprint for a life of self-reliance, discipline, and hard work. It is a stoicism-how-to book disguised as an entertaining yarn about killing bugs in space.
This book took the soft young man I was when I read it and made him hard. Then, Heinlein's later work made me balance that hardness with softness.
Reading Heinlein's entire body of work now allows me to observe the Tao revealing itself in the arc of a great man's life.
'The historians can't seem to settle whether to call this one 'The Third Space War' (or the fourth), or whether 'The First Interstellar War' fits it better. We just call it 'The Bug War'. Everything up to then and still later were 'incidents', 'patrols' or 'police actions'. However, you are just as dead if you buy the farm in an 'incident' as you are if you buy it in a declared war.'
5,000 years in the future, humanity faces total extermination. Our one defence: highly-trained soldiers who scour the metal-strewn blackness of space to hunt down a terrifying enemy: an…
I am Kurt D. Springs. If you read my back of the book bio, you’ll find I have advanced degrees in anthropology and archaeology and a focus on European prehistory. However, I’ve always been fascinated by military history. I’ve recently studied how modern warfare has changed many old paradigms. I’ve also studied modern and ancient religions, and many of the fiction works I enjoy have ESP or magic elements, especially Andre Norton’s works. I am also a fan of the HALO game universe. I like to tell people my stories are the children of Andre Norton’s Forerunner series and HALO.
Storm Over Warlock was an earlier book by Andre Norton, but part of her Forerunner series.
The human Shann Lantee works as low-ranking survey personnel on the planet Warlock when the insectoid Throg attack the base, killing everyone and leaving him with his two pet wolverines. I enjoy how he and the local aliens, known as the Wyverns, use psychic powers to turn the tables on their enemies.
I am one of those people who enjoys the underdog overcoming the odds.
Stranded on the alien world of Warlock, Shann Lantree's expedition camp has been wiped out by the Throgs, beings so alien that humans have yet to communicate with them. Lantree must quickly learn how to survive under harsh conditions while being chased by the Throgs - and how to distinguish the real from the dreamed when he meets the mysterious Wyverns.
I am Kurt D. Springs. If you read my back of the book bio, you’ll find I have advanced degrees in anthropology and archaeology and a focus on European prehistory. However, I’ve always been fascinated by military history. I’ve recently studied how modern warfare has changed many old paradigms. I’ve also studied modern and ancient religions, and many of the fiction works I enjoy have ESP or magic elements, especially Andre Norton’s works. I am also a fan of the HALO game universe. I like to tell people my stories are the children of Andre Norton’s Forerunner series and HALO.
While I found all the original trilogy stories enjoyable, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back fascinated me with the weaponry and battles at the beginning.
Luke’s Jedi training under Yoda was something that I found inspirational. Yoda’s admonition on focus, control, and belief inspired the scenes of Liam being trained. I enjoyed the final interplay between Luke and Darth Vader, ending with Luke’s realization that experience matters.
I am Kurt D. Springs. If you read my back of the book bio, you’ll find I have advanced degrees in anthropology and archaeology and a focus on European prehistory. However, I’ve always been fascinated by military history. I’ve recently studied how modern warfare has changed many old paradigms. I’ve also studied modern and ancient religions, and many of the fiction works I enjoy have ESP or magic elements, especially Andre Norton’s works. I am also a fan of the HALO game universe. I like to tell people my stories are the children of Andre Norton’s Forerunner series and HALO.
The Mighty First series follows Earth’s First Orbital Marine Division’s battles with Grozet’s Storian Empire for planet Earth.
I like how Mark Bordner handles the future military end of his stories, making them as relatable as possible for people who know present-day weapons. In The Mighty First, Episode 4: Minerva Rising, the protagonist, Minerva, receives a premonition of planetary conflict based on the breaking of the seals in Revelations.
This scene struck me as a foreshadowing of the coming conflicts and the destruction of Earth and Storia.
The Storian occupation of Earth has been broken. Even the global celebration of V-Day can bring no solace for young Minerva Corbin. Word has come down from High Command---take the war to Storia's doorstep. Earth's military forces prepare for a protracted forward deployment, a task that promises monumental challenges for the 1st Global Marine Division as they face liberating occupied worlds along the way. Minerva's desperation and anger swell, making her a force to be reckoned. Pitched battles on a biblical scale cannot stop her on her determined trek to end the costliest war of mankind's history. A timid, small-town…
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.
Years before Game of Thrones became a household name, Martin was best known for this hauntingly beautiful and deeply disturbing novella. Two telepaths, Robb and Lya, are sent to an alien planet to investigate a disturbing religious movement. The planet is home to a race called the Shkeen, and to a gelatinous parasite called the Greeshka. In middle age the Shkeen allow the Greeshka to infect them, and ten years later they visit a cave where they allow a massive specimen to consume them. Some humans living on the planet have even joined the native religion, and have allowed themselves to be infected and devoured. The administrators are desperate to know why.
Robb and Lya have an unusually close relationship, but she suffers from a sense of isolation that telepathy cannot banish. While they watch some Shkeen being devoured by the Greeshka, she can sense how isolated the Shkeen feel…
Two telepaths investigate the newly discovered world of Shkea, where every native inhabitant, and an increasing number of human colonists, worships a mysterious and deadly parasite. Winner of the 1975 Hugo Award for Best Novella.
I am a professor of English at the University of Florida, and an author of SF/F myself; I teach it both as a creative writer, and as a scholar of both American Literature and feminist thought. This is my subject and I am passionate about it, and I’ve been teaching SF/F, American literature of the 19th and 20th centuries for thirty years, so I know my topic well.
Vonda N. McIntyre is an often over-looked science fiction and alternate history author whose prose is lush, whose imagination is daunting, and who was unfailingly generous to the fan community, and to the community of writers she knew and supported; she was also my teacher, my mentor and my friend of thirty years, and she knew how to make you laugh! Exile is back in print after being out of print, and it is a terrifyingly beautiful, thought-provoking read.
The Exile Waiting was the first novel by the Hugo and Nebula award-winning novelist Vonda N McIntyre, published in 1975. It introduces the world that McIntyre later made famous with her multi-award-winning Dreamsnake: a post-apocalyptic world in which Center, an enclosed domed city, is run by slave-owning families who control the planet's resources, and exile the dissidents.
It is an ordinary day. A transport arrives from off-world, piloted by two pseudosibs, a powerfully intelligent threat to Center's dominant families. A girl is punished for being in the wrong room under the gaze of the wrong person. A visiting stranger defends…
The Multiverse had been my deepest passion of interest for a long time. Experiencing crossover stories in various mediums, both official and fan-made, especially fan-made. To see how two different worlds would meet. I spent hours reading fanfictions involving crossovers, as well as conjuring up my own. I considered the multiverse as a grand bedrock to create any story, hence why I wrote The Mariverse, followed by The Mariverse: Guardians, to create my own bedrock for my writing career.
For those who don’t want to read a novel length but want to experience worlds beyond worlds, this book I would recommend, a neat short story where the protagonist uses the multiverse as a form of self-discovery, experiences he would never have in his own life and considers to a change of character.
Might not be a full-blown adventure, but a calmer mundane life experience, relatable while simplifying the multiverse without any complexities.
When writing fantasy and science fiction, I enjoy writing about strong female characters and strong female leads. I also like exploring fundamental questions such as what it means to be human. I grew up reading all the science fiction and fantasy I could get my hands on, and that vast landscape of stories has influenced my writing in many ways. I love to explore the limits of consciousness and darkness. I hope the books on this list inspire you and make you think. They have all influenced me in one way or another and made me a better writer.
From the strong female protagonist—who is telepathic and a poet—to the use of language as a kind of mind weapon, to the non-traditional exploration of sexuality, I found this novel to be original and interesting. It also explores the nature of perception, which is something I have always been interested in. Samuel is a genius, and I very much enjoy the way he writes.
The Nebula Award Winner: “By looking at a typical space opera adventure from a different angle, Delany . . . give[s] us a weird, welcoming book” (Tor.com).
At twenty-six, Rydra Wong is the most popular poet in the five settled galaxies. Almost telepathically perceptive, she has written poems that capture the mood of mankind after two decades of savage war. Since the invasion, Earth has endured famine, plague, and cannibalism—but its greatest catastrophe will be Babel-17.
Sabotage threatens to undermine the war effort, and the military calls in Rydra. Random attacks lay waste to warships, weapons factories, and munitions dumps,…
I’ve always loved a good mystery that doesn’t give you all the details upfront. My favourite stories growing up were those where I had little epiphanies along the way until I got to the end, where everything finally fell into place. But perhaps why I’m most drawn to these types of stories is because they parallel learning about your surroundings in the real world. After living in several different countries, I’ve come to learn many situations piece by piece, where some ended in danger, while others were more humorous events that I can now laugh about.
I loved this book for the new concepts it brought to me about psychic abilities, specifically telepaths that could block other’s psychic abilities.
After this, I was drawn to the book for the way it blurred the lines of reality, making me question alongside the main character if anything they were experiencing was real. I also thought the idea of the UBIK drug that kept people in a 'half-life' was fascinating and a different way to show addiction and its consequences.
Lastly, the ending was quite thrilling and kept me reading into the wee hours of the morning, even though I had work the next day!
A classic science fiction tale of artifical worlds by one of the great American writers of the 20th century
Glen Runciter is dead.
Or is he?
Someone died in the explosion orchestrated by his business rivals, but even as his funeral is scheduled, his mourning employees are receiving bewildering messages from their boss. And the world around them is warping and regressing in ways which suggest that their own time is running out.
If it hasn't already.
Readers minds have been blown by Ubik:
'Sheer craziness, a book defying any straightforward synopsis . . . a unique time travel adventure…
I love escapist fantasy and science fiction. I like stories that stretch the imagination and take me places I’ve never been. I want to be lost and be completely confused after taking my eyes off the written word, still in the fantasy world of the story. My picks are those kinds of stories. Worlds where anything is possible, and the characters have skills and powers which can help them achieve anything, something I want for my own characters.
Peter Reidinger is confined to his bed because of a life-altering accident that renders him unable to walk.
While recuperating in the hospital, he uncovers a remarkable ability to harness generators to awaken his dormant telekinesis skills. As someone who shares a connection with a wheelchair-bound individual, I found myself closely relating to Peter's struggles.
With his new abilities and an unrelenting determination, he defies all odds to venture into space and exceed everyone's expectations. This mesmerizing tale, blends elements of science-fiction, fantasy, and gripping adventure to deliver a truly unforgettable read.
Let Anne McCaffrey, storyteller extraordinare and New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author, open your mind to new worlds and new concepts: telepathy and tele kinetics. Worlds where amazing gifts can lead to power and persecution. Perfect for fans of David Eddings, Brandon Sanderson and Douglas Adams.
'Anne McCaffrey, one of the queens of science fiction, knows exactly how to give her public what it wants' - THE TIMES 'One of those can't put it down books' -- ***** Reader review 'Anne McCaffrey does it again' -- ***** Reader review 'So exciting' -- ***** Reader review 'Absolutely fantastic!' --…
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