Books like Show of Force

This one isn’t fantasy at all. In fact, it’s probably the most accurate fictional retelling of the battle of Gettysburg out there. But I love it so much I had to list it here.

Furthermore, the characters involved—such as Lee, Longstreet, and Chamberlain—are deeply spiritual men, meaning that many pages meditate on the meaning of all this blood and loss. These meditations evoke a sense fantasy often can: that the visible world contains a mystery deeper than our limited minds can grasp. 

Yet the text remains deeply human. The Civil War pits brother against brother, friend against friend. In it, there is a great speech by Col. Chamberlain addressing his men which captures a theme of the book.

“This is a different kind of army,” he says. “If you look back through history you will see men fighting for pay, for women, for some other kind of loot. They fight… show more.

I’m recommending this book because it is another “formative text” for my writing style, and I have kept a paperback copy of it for almost 40 years.

Unlike Coyle, Barrett Tillman is known primarily for his nonfiction books. This is a crying shame because this book displays some of the most deft aviation fighting I’ve ever seen. Almost as important, Tillman actually develops characters and their relationships (think if Maverick and Charlie had continued past Top Gun, but if Maveric was a mercenary)

Lastly, you can tell that Tillman really did his research as a historian in his fiction. The F-20 Tigershark (central to the plot) doesn’t have a lot of information available on it. Tillman clearly not only loved the airframe, but found everything he could. This makes it work both as a technothriller and (now) alternate history. 

First off, I’m recommending this because it’s an amazing technothriller. Harold Coyle is much better known for his first novel, Team Yankee. However, this book is the first time we get to see Coyle in the full “world-building” phase (as Team Yankee was set in Sir John Hackett’s World War III universe). 

Coyle does a very good job of getting you vested in his characters…then swiftly proceeds to show you he’s not playing around with mortal peril. Moreover, it’s written at the very end of the Cold War when folks believed in a powerful Red Army versus the "traveling circus with ATGMs" caricature they’re often portrayed as by the late 1990s. 

Personally, Team Yankee made me want to become an armor officer. Sword Point reinforced that I wanted to be a military fiction writer. It’s oft-forgotten almost thirty-five years on, but with Desert Shield rapidly hurtling towards Desert Storm,… show more.

As you can see from my book, I write alternate history. This is one of the finest World War II alternate histories I’ve ever read. Conroy does a very good job of sticking to historically accurate portrayals of all the major players as they were in 1945, not how people writing many years later wish they had been. It’s a delicate tightrope to balance on, and Conroy walks it like the experienced author he was by this point.

As with every other book else on this list, 1945 doesn’t kill a character for shock effect. No, Conroy does in historical figures because it’s necessary and in accordance with the “What if…?” frameworks he sets up earlier in the plot. 

When I’m wearing my uber-nerd hat, I enjoy Doctorow’s stories that are filled with cyber chat.

This story wonders what would happen if the world’s population was drastically reduced to a small collection of nerds. Would they be able to survive, or would they be unfit for life on Earth? Could they learn to farm, repair the planet’s aging infrastructure, and become administrators of a new and budding world? I’m rooting for the nerds here because I know they have the necessary skills.

The apocalypse has come and it is in the form of an alien takeover that looks like a video-game system. Less tongue and cheek and more grim and gritty we follow John as he tries to survive in the newly re-made world. This book starts one of my favorite series in the LitRPG genre and holds a special place in my heart as one of the series that inspires me to write in that sub-genre. I consider it one of the best places to start if you are interested in the gaming/science-fantasy mix that is the genre.

I read this book anytime I’m feeling down and want an upbeat reminder that there are good things everywhere–you just need to find your tribe.

As a nerd myself, I love that Barny the Lamb, Shaama Llama Ding Dong the…llama, and Billy the Kid have all fallen into an odd but relatively successful friend group. But life as a nerd can be tricky, especially on a farm with ferocious bulls and mean cats.

I love the whole series!

Gamers, wake up for this one! The moment I saw that there was a horror novel centered around a Twitch streamer, I had this book in my shopping cart. Viv’s trying to revive her channel with an exciting new game but makes the fatal mistake of downloading a mysterious file (we’ve all been there).

It seems like a normal-enough indie horror at first, but then, well… Things get not-so-fun. This book was, as expected, everything a fan of spooky games and livestreaming could ask for.

Nerds are the new sexy in this adorable young adult rom-com. This story has an excellent character focus. Both Zoe and Zak have true character traits that don’t leave anything as fill-in-the-blank. It’s like reading about your two best friends getting together and giggling through the whole thing. Cassie Mae is a pro at comedy. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard in my life. Even if the characters aren’t Korean—they are true nerds—so the fangirl-like pop-culture references of the characters make it amazing. There’s nothing to dislike about this book, it’s an all-around good time.

Did I mention that I am a Trekkie and a science nerd? When I was in eighth grade, my science project was on ani-matter. I was thrilled to discover that it was a real thing, not just something Star Trek made up. In fact, Star Trek has inspired many things, from the cell phone to the tablet, and even Bluetooth communication devices.

In this book, Mark Brake explores all those things, from cyborgs and aliens to planet hunting, and even asking when we will boldly go into the galaxy. It’s available for pre-order now and drops on May 26.