The most recommended science fiction books

Who picked these books? Meet our 1,947 experts.

1,947 authors created a book list with their favorite science fiction books, and here are their favorite sci-fi books from those lists. You can browse by subgenres or topics. 

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Book cover of Hull Zero Three

Fred Nadis Author Of Star Settlers: The Billionaires, Geniuses, and Crazed Visionaries Out to Conquer the Universe

From my list on botched space colonization efforts.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™m fascinated with techno-utopian schemes. Decades ago, I had conversations with a friend who believed that humanity needed to evolve and leave the planet, just as early life once left the oceans. It was an intriguing idea that I have tried to follow up, critically, in Star Settlers. My book is a history not so much of the technology and nuts and bolts of space travel (although I do cover some of that), but of the rationale behind itā€”the idea that humanityā€™s ultimate destiny is in the stars. The idea is beguilingā€”but, likely, wrong-headed. To write the book, I spoke with physicists, science fiction writers, and space enthusiasts of all stripes. 

Fred's book list on botched space colonization efforts

Fred Nadis Why did Fred love this book?

This book has the ideal traits I appreciate in science fictionā€”as with H.G. Wellsā€™s classic tales, itā€™s reasonably short and can be read as pure adventure or allegory. We meet the archetypal figure of the ā€œTeacherā€ birthed by a bioprinting machine on a starship soon to terraform an exoplanet. The Teacher has to grapple with survival, his purpose, the shipā€™s mission, and his realization that everything is haywire in this high-tech Eden full of monsters. Hull Zero Three is a detective tale with philosophical undertones as the Teacher slowly makes sense of the chaos that surrounds him, contends with his earlier clones, and undergoes a quest. Anyone who has ever experienced the drudgery of actual teaching will appreciate Bearā€™s creation of the Teacher as a mythic archetype.  

By Greg Bear,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Trapped on a mysterious spaceship, the only way to escape is to survive. A thrilling novel from the Hugo and Nebula award-winning Greg Bear.

A starship hurtles through the emptiness of space. Its destination - unknown. Its purpose? A mystery. Its history? Lost.

Now, one man wakes up. Ripped from a dream of a new home, a new planet and the woman he was meant to love in his arms, he finds himself wet, naked, and freezing to death. The dark halls are full of monsters but trusting other survivors he meets might be the greater danger.

All he hasā€¦


Book cover of The Ice Limit

Peter Hogenkamp Author Of The Woman From Death Row

From my list on thrillers you probably haven't heard about.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love thrillers that give you something to think about, keep you on the edge of your seat and take you to new places. And, although I also like Daniel Silva and Lee Child and Tess Gerritsen et al, I love to find new voices in the thriller genre, especially ones (like mine) that havenā€™t become household names. And I am especially drawn to thrillers with great prose and great characters. Try some of the books I recommended. You will not be sorry. 

Peter's book list on thrillers you probably haven't heard about

Peter Hogenkamp Why did Peter love this book?

Itā€™s possible that you have heard of Preston & Childā€”in fact, you should have. Their Agent Pendergast thriller series is incredible. And, although this is a stand-alone book that isnā€™t part of the Pendergast series, it has all the signature elements of the dynamic duo: great writing, fascinating science, and unforgettable characters.

Throw in just a hint of sci-fi and an exotic location into the mix, and you have the perfect thriller. And I bet you will love it.

By Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

In the desolate reaches of southernmost Chile, a remarkable discovery has been made. It is a massive meteorite whose very existence will change science-and perhaps even mankind. In great secrecy, an expedition sets out on a converted tanker, bound for the bottom of the world. But almost as soon as the recovery process begins, the mysteries and enigmas begin to mount. What appeared to be simply an engineering challenge quickly becomes a perilous undertaking, for the bizarre, implacable artifact may not be what it seems. And when a raging storm drives the tanker beyond the dangerous Antarctic latitude known asā€¦


Book cover of Ten Tall Tales

David J. McCran Author Of 50 Berkeley Square

From my list on horror with fantasy or fantasy with horror.

Why am I passionate about this?

I've had many professions over the years: theatrical stage technician, stage manager, scenic artist, teacher, writer, driver, husband, and father. I've always had a love for horror and fantasy stretching from the classic Gothic to the incredible worlds of Tolkien, Pratchett, and many more. I never set out to write, but I love the escapism and freedom that both reading and writing allows. I was a military child and having followed my father across Europe, I settled in the beautiful cathedral city of Lincoln, UK, which itself has its horror, hauntings, and history. Fantasy writing seemed to be the next stage of my development, combining macabre with the fascinating task of creating a fantastical world.

David's book list on horror with fantasy or fantasy with horror

David J. McCran Why did David love this book?

This is another title from NewCon Press. I like the way this company produces anthologies, Ian Waites chooses with the stories stringent precision, creating fascinating collections. This anthology of stories delivers a mixture of varied and impressive styles, each unique in their conception of chilling tales. I love the extreme and this book does not dissatisfy the appetite for true terror. 

By Ian Whates (editor), Ramsey Campbell, Michael Marshall Smith , Sarah Pinborough , James Barclay , Maura McHugh , Edward Cox , Lynda E. Rucker , Simon Clark , Paul Kane

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

The final anthology produced in celebration of NewCon Pressā€™ 10th anniversary. Ten Tall Tales of horror, dark fantasy and dark science fiction, commissioned from some of the most twisted imaginations writing today. Each story is inter-leafed with a Twisted Limerick from that master of terror, Ramsey Campbell.

Contents:
1. Introduction ā€“ Ian Whates
2. Ten Twisted Limericks ā€“ Ramsey Campbell
3. The Power Ofā€¦ ā€“ Paul Kane
4. We Know By the Tenth Day Whether They Live or Die ā€“ Simon Clark
5. One Little Mouth to Kiss You Goodnight
ā€“ Lynda E. Rucker
6. The Fruit of the Treeā€¦


Book cover of Bury Your Gays

Maggie Downs Author Of Braver Than You Think

From Maggie's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Maggie's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Maggie Downs Why did Maggie love this book?

I donā€™t usually read horror, but I knew of Chuck Tingle from his, uh, unique brand of niche erotica, so curiosity got the best of me. "Bury Your Gays" turned out to be a surprisingly heartfelt, hilariously subversive dive into the horror genre, weaving together humor, sharp social insight, and real emotional depth. Tingle masterfully balances suspense with empathy, creating a story that not only celebrates queer resilience but also skewers outdated tropes with wit and charm.

By Chuck Tingle,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

From Chuck Tingle, author of the USA Today bestselling Camp Damascus, comes a new heart-pounding story about what it takes to succeed in a world that wants you dead.

Misha is a jaded scriptwriter who has been working in Hollywood for decades, and has just been nominated for his first Oscar. But when he's pressured by his producers to kill off a gay character in the upcoming season finale-"for the algorithm"-Misha discovers that it's not that simple.

As he is haunted by his past, and past mistakes, Misha must risk everything to find a way to do what's right-before it'sā€¦


Book cover of The Luminous Dead

Ness Brown Author Of The Scourge Between Stars

From my list on sci-fi about space missions gone terribly wrong.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an astrophysicist with a passion for narratives that stare unflinchingly at the inherent hostility of outer space. Professionally, I study graduate astrophysics and research the ways high-energy celestial objects impact cosmic evolution. Creatively, I use my training to write science fiction horror exploring the spookiest things the universe has to offer. I particularly love stories that throw wrenches in the best-laid plans of star-faring protagonists, and will never get tired of a good old space mission gone terribly and tragically awry.

Ness' book list on sci-fi about space missions gone terribly wrong

Ness Brown Why did Ness love this book?

Deep space can be scary, but I consider deep caves to be much more terrifying.

The Luminous Dead has an eerie mission to the depths of a cave on a distant exoplanetā€”the worst of both worlds! This book follows a non-regulation diver on a dangerous job shrouded in secrets and the enigmatic, untrustworthy voice in her helmet guiding her through the darkness.

Unsurprisingly, it doesnā€™t take long for the characters to descend into antagonism and uncertainty about whether the other things lurking in the cave are figments of paranoia or dangerously real. If you like feeling queasy, secondhand claustrophobia, The Luminous Dead is for you.

By Caitlin Starling,

Why should I read it?

8 authors picked The Luminous Dead as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Bram Stoker Award nominee for Best First Novel!

"This claustrophobic, horror-leaning tour de force is highly recommended for fans of Jeff VanderMeer's Annihilation and Andy Weir's The Martian." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

A thrilling, atmospheric debut with the intensive drive of The Martian and Gravity and the creeping dread of Annihilation, in which a caver on a foreign planet finds herself on a terrifying psychological and emotional journey for survival.

When Gyre Price lied her way into this expedition, she thought she'd be mapping mineral deposits, and that her biggest problems would be cave collapses and gear malfunctions. Sheā€¦


Book cover of The Diviners

Susan McCormick Author Of The Antidote

From my list on middle-grade YA fantasies entertain and educate.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a doctor, writer, and mother of middle schoolers, I was ready to scintillate the sixth-graders when I volunteered for the chicken wing dissection class, demonstrating the exciting connection between muscles, tendons, and bones. I opened and closed the wing, placed it in their hands, and showed them the thin strips of tissue coordinating all the action. Did I see fascination? Excitement? Feigned interest of any sort? Sadly, no. They were much more enthusiastic about a different topic I volunteered for. Mythology. Greek gods. Beasts with multiple heads. They knew everything, and I knew books like Rick Riordanā€™s The Lightning Thief series were the reason. Books can entertain and educate.

Susan's book list on middle-grade YA fantasies entertain and educate

Susan McCormick Why did Susan love this book?

Set in 1920s New York City, the story follows a girl with a hidden gift: the ability to read objects. She chooses to use her power for good and helps to solve a series of murders.

The setting is a character, and we learn all about the seamy side of Roaring Twenties New York, the fun and the feared.

By Libba Bray,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Diviners as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 14, 15, 16, and 17.

What is this book about?

It's 1920s New York City. It's flappers and Follies, jazz and gin. It's after the war but before the depression. And for certain group of bright young things it's the opportunity to party like never before.

For Evie O'Neill, it's escape. She's never fit in in small town Ohio and when she causes yet another scandal, she's shipped off to stay with an uncle in the big city. But far from being exile, this is exactly what she's always wanted: the chance to show how thoroughly modern and incredibly daring she can be.

But New York City isn't about justā€¦


Book cover of Death Troopers

Liz Ashlee Author Of Moving Forward

From Liz's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Reader Simmer Data Analyst Optimist Romantic

Liz's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Liz Ashlee Why did Liz love this book?

My husband and I like to listen to Star Wars audiobooks when we travel. I loved the character building in this book, but also the fact that this felt new, which is difficult to do in such an established world like Star Wars's. Add to that ZOMBIES (!!) and some surprise cameos and I was hooked from start to finish.

By Joe Schreiber,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

'This is the Star Wars of every horror fan's dreams - gory, funny, and brimming with a blood-spattered cast of swashbucklers and space-zombies.' Seth Grahame-Smith, author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

When the Imperial prison barge Purge-temporary home to five hundred of the galaxy's most ruthless killers, Rebels, scoundrels, and thieves-breaks down in a distant part of space, its only hope appears to lie with a Star Destroyer found drifting and seemingly abandoned. But when a boarding party from the Purge is sent to scavenge for parts, only half of them come back-bringing with them a horrific disease soā€¦


Book cover of Unbury Carol

Richard Farren Barber Author Of Twenty Years Dead

From my list on set in graveyards.

Why am I passionate about this?

In case it isnā€™t obvious, I have a thing about graveyards. Maybe itā€™s being Irish-Catholic ā€“ it must be infused into my blood. Itā€™s a rare family holiday that doesnā€™t involve a visit to the local cemetery. I think itā€™s the combination of gothic architecture with the sense of a social history collected. I have my own favourites (of course!) from Rock Cemetery in Nottingham to Pere Lachaise in Paris where the family spent an afternoon dodging the most unusual tour guide I have ever come across.

Richard's book list on set in graveyards

Richard Farren Barber Why did Richard love this book?

I loved BirdBox, but then I read Unbury Carol and discovered Josh Malerman had managed to peer directly into my brain and write a book just for me. I donā€™t know how he did it, and I donā€™t really want to know because itā€™s possibly more than a little freaky, but there you go.

This is not your typical horror novel. Iā€™m not sure if itā€™s even horror, but who cares? It feels like a real olde-worlde adventure yarn where steampunk meets western and they have a scrap to decide who is best, and the only winner is the reader.

By Josh Malerman,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

The New York Times bestselling author of Bird Box returns with a supernatural thriller of love, redemption, and murder.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NEWSWEEK

ā€œThis one haunts you for reasons you canā€™t quite put your finger on. . . . [Josh Malerman] defies categories and comparisons with other writers.ā€ā€”Kirkus Reviews

Carol Evers is a woman with a dark secret. She has died many times . . . but her many deaths are not final: They are comas, a waking slumber indistinguishable from death, each lasting days.

Only two people know of Carolā€™s eerie condition.ā€¦


Book cover of I Dream Of Mirrors

Seb Doubinsky Author Of The Song of Synth

From my list on to bend your mind.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a writer of dystopian novels, I have always been interested in narratives that challenge the reader. Why? Because I firmly believe that if literature is, as they say, "a window on the world," then mind-bending texts create their own windows, and hence allow the readers to free themselves from all sorts of conventions. What's more, many of my novels deal with a drug, "Synth," that allows the users to change their surroundings at will. So I do write some ā€œmind-bendingā€ stuff myself, with precisely the purpose I mentioned above. To challenge yourself through fiction is to challenge a reality you have not chosen to live in. It is not only an act of defiance, but also, very often, an act of courage. 

Seb's book list on to bend your mind

Seb Doubinsky Why did Seb love this book?

In I Dream Of Mirrors, Scottish writer Chris Kelso describes a nightmarish virtual world in which a self-proclaimed prophet who turns his followers into obedient programs by erasing their memories. The two main protagonists, a nameless narrator, and his unreliable partner Kad, are rebels who want to find out the truth. I absolutely love this book, as it challenges our vision of technological progress and what we assume is our identity. Remarkably well written and with a fantastic pace, it is, in my eyes, a true underground classic, on par with William Gibsonā€™s world-famous Neuromancer.

By Chris Kelso,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked I Dream Of Mirrors as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

My bones feel new, brittle. You wonā€™t have heard any apocryphal stories about me because no one seems to know anything about me. My body is a sheet of paper from a worn manuscript, folded into the origami shape of a man. My life has been stuffed into a satchel and carried to publishers. Its words are my words.

He has no name. He belongs to no race or nation. He has no definable personality or allegiance. Only the dead city of mirrors holds the key.

From the mind of Chris Kelso, author of The Dregs Trilogy, comes I Dreamā€¦


Book cover of The Essential Tales of H. P. Lovecraft

James L.P. Thompson Author Of Voidoxity: The Eternal King

From my list on realms of magic, mystery, and monsters.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™m a Canadian author and artist that loves to write and draw the darker side of fantasy. Ever since I was a child, I have adored mythology, horror, and the creatures and worlds that are present within the fantasy genre. The world of fantasy has unlimited imagination, and its lore and structure grow constantly, which gives endless ideas to us writers to create endless brilliant realms and the creatures that dwell within them.

James' book list on realms of magic, mystery, and monsters

James L.P. Thompson Why did James love this book?

The Essential Tales of H.P. Lovecraft is a collection of some of Lovecraftā€™s famous horror stories. "The Call of Cthulhu" is one that I truly enjoyed the most. If you are a fan of horror and otherworldly beings, then I believe that you would love this book as much as I do. The creatures and the ambiance that are present in his stories are fascinating, and just give a wonderful look into the many worlds of horror and the unknown that he created. His works are some of the things that inspired me to become a dark fantasy writer and a gothic-style artist.

By H. P. Lovecraft,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Essential Tales of H. P. Lovecraft as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Discover the true meaning of fear with these classic horror stories.

The Essential Tales of H.P. Lovecraft collects one of the author's most popular novellas, At the Mountain of Madness, and six of his most famous short stories, including The Call of Cthulhu, The Shadow Out of Time, The Dunwich Horror, The Colour of Space, The Shadow Over Innsmouth, and The Whisperer in the Darkness. These hair-raising tales have inspired generations of authors and filmmakers, including Stephen King, Alan Moore, Guillermo del Toro, and Neil Gaiman. This elegantly designed clothbound edition features an elastic closure and a new introduction.

Theā€¦


Book cover of Hull Zero Three
Book cover of The Ice Limit
Book cover of Ten Tall Tales

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