Dave's Blog

This list continues from part 1.

Douglas Adams

Adams’ most famous work, the Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series, started out as a radio show. He also worked on TV shows and computer games. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is the funniest book ever written.

• Masterpieces
  • Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
    • The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
    • The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
  • Last Chance to See (nonfiction, with Mark Carwardine)
• Great books
  • Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
    • Life, the Universe and Everything
    • So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
• Good book
  • Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
    • Mostly Harmless
• Strange little book
  • The Meaning of Liff (with John Lloyd)

Iain M. Banks

Banks’ science fiction books are mostly in his Culture series, in which the stories in each book are unconnected but take place in the same universe.

• Masterpiece
  • The Player of Games
• Great books
  • Consider Phlebas
  • Use of Weapons

Stephen Baxter

Baxter had the audacity to write a sequel to H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine — but it was brilliant. His novel that told the story of various species of mammals millions of years apart was also brilliant.

• Masterpieces
  • Evolution
  • The Time Ships
• Great books
  • Time’s Tapestry
    • Emperor
    • Conqueror
• Good but very science-y
  • Manifold: Time

Alfred Bester

Bester wrote some brilliant science fiction and then sadly left the field for many years, working in television and magazines. The character of Alfred Bester in Babylon 5 was named after him.

• Masterpieces
  • The Demolished Man
  • The Stars My Destination
  • Virtual Unrealities (collection)
• Great books
  • Redemolished (collection)

Philip K. Dick

Dick became more famous after his death, when his work became the source for a bunch of movies — the best of which are Blade Runner, Minority Report, and The Adjustment Bureau.

• Masterpieces
  • The Man in the High Castle
  • Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick (collection)
• Great books
  • Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
  • Ubik

Jim Munroe

Munroe has only written four books but they’re all worth reading. He’s also worked on graphic novels, video games, and movies.

• Great books
  • Flyboy Action Figure Comes with Gasmask
  • Angry Young Spaceman
  • Everyone in Silico
• Good book
  • An Opening Act of Unspeakable Evil

Sean Russell

Russell started out writing fantasies, but lately he’s branched out to historical fiction.

• Masterpieces
  • Initiate Brother
    • The Initiate Brother
    • Gatherer of Clouds
• Great books
  • Moontide and Magic Rise
    • World Without End
    • Sea Without a Shore

Dan Simmons

Simmons has written in several genres, but his four-volume science fiction series is brilliant.

• Masterpiece
  • Hyperion Cantos
    • Hyperion
• Great books
  • Hyperion Cantos
    • The Fall of Hyperion
    • Endymion
    • The Rise of Endymion

Vernor Vinge

Vinge helped popularize the idea of the “singularity,” the point at which artificial intelligence is created — he proposes that there is no way to predict what will happen after this event.

• Masterpieces
  • Realtime/Bobble series
    • Marooned in Realtime
  • Zones of Thought series
    • A Fire Upon the Deep
    • A Deepness in the Sky
• Great books
  • Realtime/Bobble series
    • The Peace War

Connie Willis

Willis has written several brilliant books about time travel, and one brilliant book about near-death experiences.

• Masterpieces
  • Doomsday Book
  • To Say Nothing of the Dog
  • Passage
• Great books
  • Lincoln’s Dreams
  • Impossible Things (collection)
  • Bellweather
• Good books
  • Remake
  • Uncharted Territory