Here are 60 books that On Basilisk Station fans have personally recommended if you like
On Basilisk Station.
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I’ve always been drawn to stories where light trembles on the edge of annihilation. The Deathly Shadow grew from that space—where broken people must still try, even when hope is an ember. I’m especially interested in how violence shapes children—their choices, their trust, and the way they carry themselves through a collapsing world. I strive to write characters with real emotional weight and a filmic sense of presence—where every gesture, glance, and silence means something. I believe the darkest stories, when told with care, can reveal what we most need to protect. This book explores the cost of survival—and whether love, memory, and courage are enough to challenge even the worst of endings.
This book is prophecy, power, and paranoia wrapped in a sandstorm.
It was the first book that showed me how deeply philosophy and politics could be embedded in a fantastical world. It taught me that “epic” doesn’t mean loud—it means legacy. I still marvel at Herbert’s precision—his control of tone, symbolism, and tension.
It’s the rare kind of book that makes you feel like you’re trespassing into something sacred and dangerous. Every time I return to it, I leave with something new—and a little unsettled.
Before The Matrix, before Star Wars, before Ender's Game and Neuromancer, there was Dune: winner of the prestigious Hugo and Nebula awards, and widely considered one of the greatest science fiction novels ever written.
Melange, or 'spice', is the most valuable - and rarest - element in the universe; a drug that does everything from increasing a person's lifespan to making interstellar travel possible. And it can only be found on a single planet: the inhospitable desert world of Arrakis.
Whoever controls Arrakis controls the spice. And whoever controls the spice controls the universe.
A series of galactic empire building, space battles, and the personal struggle of an exiled war leader to bring down the Galactic Empire that killed his mother and destroyed the Keeno Order.
I’ve spent my career with my students exploring microbes in all kinds of worlds, from cosmetics on our skin to the glaciers of Antarctica. In Antarctica, I discovered bizarre bacteria that form giant red blobs; we call them the “red nose” life form. In our lab at Kenyon College, we isolated new microbes from a student’s beauty blenders. These experiences, and those of the books I list here, inspire the microbial adventures of my science fiction. If microbes could talk, how would they deal with us? Find out in my novel, Brain Plague. And I hope you enjoy all the microbial tales on this list!
This is the best novel I’ve read about bubonic plague.
Student historian Kivrin travels back in time to England of the Middle Ages—unknowingly at the start of the Black Death. The cause of Black Death was the plague bacteria, unknown to people of that time.
What makes the book memorable is its depiction of everyday life, where children who get lost in the forest must find their way home by the tolling of the village church bell. Ultimately, the bell tolls for all the plague’s victims.
The vivid characterization makes me experience people of a time so distant their minds feel alien to us, yet still deeply human.
"Ambitious, finely detailed and compulsively readable" - Locus
"It is a book that feels fundamentally true; it is a book to live in" - Washington Post
For Kivrin Engle, preparing an on-site study of one of the deadliest eras in humanity's history was as simple as receiving inoculations against the diseases of the fourteenth century and inventing a bullet-proof backstory. For her instructors in the twenty-first century, it meant painstaking calculations and careful monitoring of the rendezvous location where Kivrin would be received.
I have always had an interest in military history. I have read biographies of numerous senior officers from different countries from World War II, World War I, and the Korean War. I have read books covering the actions of different military groups during the same periods. I have watched many documentaries covering a wide variety of topics that arose from those periods of time, including the socioeconomic impact they all had. Whenever I see this theme rendered in a story, I feel compelled to view it through a more discerning lens, to ensure the author is presenting an environment that has a consistent internal logic.
I loved the setting that the blurb on the back promised me.
The whole 'man out of time' trope can be fantastic when done right. I loved the character building, the world building, and the pacing that the author moved the story in.
This is the first novel in this series, and it convinced me to go looking for the rest.
The first novel in the New York Times bestselling Lost Fleet series!
The Alliance has been fighting the Syndics for a century—and losing badly. Now its fleet is crippled and stranded in enemy territory. Their only hope is a man who's emerged from a century-long hibernation to find he has been heroically idealized beyond belief....
Captain John “Black Jack” Geary’s exploits are known to every schoolchild. Revered for his heroic “last stand” in the early days of the war, he was presumed dead. But a century later, Geary miraculously returns and reluctantly takes command of the Alliance Fleet as it…
Johnny Talon and the Goddess of Love and War
by
W.B.J. Williams,
The spirits, sorcerers, and truly desperate in San Francisco’s seedy neighborhoods know Johnny Talon, a private detective who can solve impenetrable cases in a way no one else can. His use of lucid dreams and subconscious insights lead him to the truth.
I am interested in social justice issues, and the books in my list deal with these issues. My background is in finance, but I’ve tried to use this knowledge to help others. I serve on the board of two not-for-profit organizations, one a dance company that works with at-risk teens in various countries, and the other is an animal sanctuary that takes in farm animals that have been abused. I consider myself very fortunate and privileged, and it's important to remember not everyone has had the opportunities I have had. I feel it’s crucial to connect with others, understand where they’re coming from, and help if you can.
I like the psychological nature of this book. It pits human beings against an idea–a computer model of society. Having a degree in economics the concept particularly intrigued me.
It showed no matter how big and important we think we are there are forces outside of our control. This was one of the most innovative books I have read.
The first novel in Isaac Asimov’s classic science-fiction masterpiece, the Foundation series
THE EPIC SAGA THAT INSPIRED THE APPLE TV+ SERIES FOUNDATION, NOW STREAMING • Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read
For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. But only Hari Seldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future—to a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years. To preserve knowledge and save humankind, Seldon gathers the best minds in the Empire—both scientists and scholars—and brings…
I’ve been obsessed with sci-fi romance since I was a kid watching the Klingon wedding of Worf and Jadzia Dax in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. I love the idea of mashing these two distinct genres together. While sci-fi and romance both explore the human condition, sci-fi goes wide while romance is intimate. I think this makes the crossover of these two genres work especially well. My foremost inspiration for sci-fi romance is Lois McMaster Bujold, who offers a masterclass in how to deftly weave compelling romance into a sci-fi setting without sacrificing any action or political intrigue.
This book inspired my love of sci-fi romance. I adore the characters and the deceptively simple premise. Cordelia Naismith is a badass survey captain stranded on a wild planet with only her enemy, Aral Vorkosigan, known as The Butcher of Komarr, for company.
As they trek through the wilderness, Cordelia gets to know Aral and realizes her assumptions about him are all wrong. Originally published in 1986, this book launches the Vorkosigan Saga—my favorite sci-fi series. What I love about this book is how Bujold takes the time to let Cordelia and Aral get to know each other as people and bond on a deep emotional and intellectual level. They may be on opposite sides of a war, but they recognize the humanity in each other.
When Cordelia Naismith and her survey crew are attacked by a renegade group from Barrayar, she is taken prisoner by Aral Vorkosigan, commander of the Barrayan ship that has been taken over by an ambitious and ruthless crew member. Aral and Cordelia s
I’ve been in love with science fiction since I watched Star Wars for the first time at the age of seven, and haven’t looked back since. Besides being a voracious lifelong reader, I’ve written several dozen science fiction books myself, and my favorite sub-genre is space opera. I’ve read most of the Hugo and Nebula-winning novels, as well as several that those awards have overlooked, and my stories have been published in numerous anthologies and magazines including Again, Hazardous Imaginings,After Dinner Conversation, Bards and Sages Quarterly, and Twilight Tales LTUE Benefit Anthology.
Shards of Honor and Barrayar form a duology within the wider Vorkosigan Saga, and starting with them both is the best way to become acquainted with the wider series universe and with the origins of Miles Vorkosigan. All of the later books refer back to events that happen in Barrayar, and one of the core conflicts of the novel is the struggle between the conservative isolationists who don’t want to integrate with the rest of the galaxy, and the liberal reformists who do. The political intrigue is extremely well done, and the adventure is superb.
Sick of combat and betrayal, Cordelia Vorkosigan is ready to settle down to a quiet life. But when the Emperor dies, her husband Aral becomes guardian of the infant heir to the imperial throne of Barrayar and the target of high-tech assassins in a dy
I’ve had the urge to write stories as far back as public school. And despite encouragement from a creative writing teacher in high school, my first career ended up being corporate financial analysis. By the time I reached 59, I was (a) unemployed and unemployable (due to age) and (b) in a relationship with a wonderful woman who loved science fiction and was very creative (a former art teacher). With her encouragement, I finished my first SF novel at just the right time to benefit from the explosion of interest in reading ebooks bought on Amazon. I’ve now written 37 novels.
I found this book, the first of four in the series, to be fascinating in its portrayal of a race of intelligent, upright-walking lions. Cherryh’s ability to invent believable and fully fleshed-out alien races is delightful.
In this series, humans are the aliens. I loved how Cherryh made the reader root for the lions and their strange but understandable culture. It's a great concept by a great writer.
It’s just my favorite trope, that’s all: the character who isn’t what he seems. I love the deception, I love the complications, I love the clues dropped along the way, I love the big reveal. I love the sensation I get when I, the reader, know just a little bit more than the characters do but still feel surprised and wonder when the whole truth is unveiled. When I sit down to write, I know I want to create that exact sensation in my readers.
This is the first in a long-running, action-packed science fiction series starring Miles Vorkosigan. He is brilliant, driven, ambitious, hyperactive, and neurotic. He also suffers from a chronic disability that makes him unfit for military service on his home planet. This is why he takes to the stars for a life of adventure and excitement under the pseudonym Miles Naismith, Admiral of the Dendarii Free Mercenaries.
This book is our introduction to Miles and shows the birth of the Naismith persona, and it is fabulous fun on every page. I devoured this series like potato chips.
NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING AUTHOR. NEW EDITION OF THE BOOK THAT STARTED THE VOKOSIGAN SAGA LEGEND. WITH AN ALL-NEW INTRODUCTION BY LOIS MCMASTER BUJOLD!
Why hopepunk, and why me? Look, it’s no surprise that you can look around today and find all sorts of indicators that we are entering Heinlein’s “Crazy Years.” Imagining a dystopian or grimdark future isn’t difficult; all you have to do is read the news. But I think that we are writing the history of the future right now, by the choices we make every day. Writing stories that present that optimistic view of the future is not just the right thing to do but necessary, at least to me. As Heinlein said, “A pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun…”
I’m going old-school, back to one of the grandfathers of science fiction, Robert Heinlein.
Not only is his book a masterful example of character-driven storytelling, but it takes a critical eye to many of the things our current society takes for granted as being “true” and “right,” finding them wanting. It’s also been a huge influence on me in my writing, as have many of Heinlein’s other works, and I couldn’t not put it in here.
In 2075, the Moon is no longer a penal colony. But it is still a prison...
Life isn't easy for the political dissidents and convicts who live in the scattered colonies that make up lunar civilisation. Everything is regulated strictly, efficiently and cheaply by a central supercomputer, HOLMES IV.
When humble technician Mannie O'Kelly-Davis discovers that HOLMES IV has quietly achieved consciousness (and developed a sense of humour), the choice is clear: either report the problem to the authorities... or become friends.
And perhaps overthrow the government while they're at it.
I have always had an interest in military history. I have read biographies of numerous senior officers from different countries from World War II, World War I, and the Korean War. I have read books covering the actions of different military groups during the same periods. I have watched many documentaries covering a wide variety of topics that arose from those periods of time, including the socioeconomic impact they all had. Whenever I see this theme rendered in a story, I feel compelled to view it through a more discerning lens, to ensure the author is presenting an environment that has a consistent internal logic.
I have loved Robert Asprin as a storyteller since I read his fantasy series.
When I saw his name on a sci-fi action/adventure/comedy, I knew I had to give it a go. I am very glad I did. I loved the main character and how he was introduced; it had to be one of the best setups I have ever read in this genre.
This novel went by too fast. I finished it in just over a day because I did not want to put it down.
Willard J. Phule, the rich son of a millionaire arms manufacturer, reforms a group of misfits in the Space Legion, a fictional organization similar to the French Foreign Legion, into an "elite fighting force".
