Best alternate history science fiction books according to redditors
We found 192 Reddit comments discussing the best alternate history science fiction books. We ranked the 51 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
Explored in "1632" by Eric Flint.
https://www.amazon.com/1632-Ring-Fire-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00BEQLQNE/
In the year 2000, the small town of Grantville (a small mining town in West Virgina) is transported by a mysterious "ring of fire" to Germany in 1632, in the middle of the Thirty Years' War.
I thought it was a very enjoyable read.
A couple of Meta posts: List of good fantasy hfy stories and Request for 'thrown into fantasy' subgenre and Fantasy is welcome, but where is it?
ones listed therein:
Published books, try: (Lol, all of these are "Novel Length")
More general fantasy:
Anywhere and pretty much under any circumstances. I have an autistic son who is never quiet, calls my name every 3-5 minutes and still knocks on the bathroom door when I go in there just to hear my voice (he's 12). I'm a single mom with no family near me and babysitters cost money (and are hard to find for a child with autism). The one great blessing to all that is I can write anywhere. I can focus no matter what's going on around me. My debut YA novel is in bookstores next February and it got there because I learned how to just power through and "write in spite."
Edit to add: Okay, I'll go ahead and out myself. I'm going to pimp it hard when it hits the shelves, anyway.
The book is already up for pre-order on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1250100402. Swoon Reads is an imprint of MacMillan Publishing - this is book one and I just finished book two of the series. Sort of "Sliders" meets "The Adjustment Bureau." Wish me luck!
There's a pretty great story that intersects the Radium Girls with the use of elephants for labour in the same era: "The Only Harmless Great Thing" by Bo Bolander
Yup, the womenfolk swept them Hugo Awards. Again. Manly men of SciFi writing, you really need to step up your game, if you want to get some recognition! As luck would have it, you can get a sneak peek at the works of your female betters without paying a dime! I urge you to read the first page of the literary juggernaut that swept the best novel category in 2019:
https://www.amazon.com/Calculating-Stars-Lady-Astronaut-Novel-ebook/dp/B0756JH5R1
Dude, that heady mix of a masterful plot in the making, the gripping prose and that unrelentless pacing really warms the cockles of my heart, it does!
Just for reference, you could read the first page of Barrayar, winner of the Hugo Award for best novel in 1992 for free on amazon, too. But that was written only by Lois McMaster Bujold. You know what, back in the day, a Hugo was a reward for high quality writing. Those days are gone.
MHI is part of Baen's free library. There's a large number of book 1's for various Baen series that remain free permanently on Amazon and other places.
----
The last time this was brought up here's what I said:
So Baen is heavier on SciFi than Fantasy/Urban Fantasy...and their authors tend to display their Conservative/Libertarian philosophies a bit more. But they do tell some fun stories if you lean towards their politics or can roll your eyes at that.
There's some others out there that I can't think of, but these are favorites of mine other than MHI...
John Ringo has a fantasy series I haven't gotten to yet and the weakest of his SciFi series up for free. I wish they had Live Free or Die or Through the Looking Glass, which are much much better series, but alas:
http://www.amazon.com/Hymn-Before-Battle-Legacy-Aldenata-ebook/dp/B00BEQP50Y/ref=la_B000APPSXE_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456879886&sr=1-1&refinements=p_82%3AB000APPSXE
http://www.amazon.com/There-Will-Dragons-Council-Wars-ebook/dp/B00BER04VI/ref=la_B000APPSXE_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456879886&sr=1-2&refinements=p_82%3AB000APPSXE
David Weber does great space navy battles in his Honor Harrington series.
http://www.amazon.com/Basilisk-Station-Honor-Harrington-Book-ebook/dp/B00ARPJBS0/ref=la_B000APBAFE_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456879923&sr=1-1&refinements=p_82%3AB000APBAFE
Williamsons Freehold is a Libertarian's utopian heaven, but it's a favorite popcorn read of mine - the latter half is heavy military SF.
http://www.amazon.com/Freehold-Book-Michael-Z-Williamson-ebook/dp/B00BEQLTZY/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1456879862&sr=8-1&keywords=freehold
The Ring of Fire series is about a 1990's era West Virginia coal mining town that gets thrown back into the year 1632 in Europe.
http://www.amazon.com/1632-Ring-Fire-Eric-Flint-ebook/dp/B00BEQLQNE/ref=sr_1_4_twi_kin_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1456882709&sr=8-4&keywords=1632
You should check out Eric Flint's 1632 series. Basically a West Virginia coal town gets transplanted to 1632.
1632 (Ring of Fire Series) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BEQLQNE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_Xv0DAbX15Z157
Great.
Is anyone here that likes Sci-Fi and alternative history?
I'd like to recommend to you the Belisarius Saga by Eric Flint and David Drake. Book 2 is as a kindle edition to be had for 0,00 Euro.
Huh. And I was just about to post... Damn that was fast! PM me and I'll send you a shirt as a reward, kind internet stranger!
Also, here are some links:
USA - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RM5VVZZ
UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07RM9HSMR/
Germany - https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07RM8NLWW/
Canada - https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07RJ2GXKP/
Australia - https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07RM7N2FD/
I really enjoyed Cast Under an Alien Sun. It has been since The Martian and HPMOR that I haven't loved a book this much.
The story is about a chemistry PhD student who is catapulted into another planet (no real spoilers there since it happens at the very beginning) where humans have been mysteriously "planted" many thousands of years ago and have developed into a culture akin to the Europeans in the 17th century. While it's a bit west-biased, it's really cool to see the main character using science and rational reasoning to get him out of troubles. There's a lot more to it but I can't recommend it enough.
I don't know if it still is, but for the longest time it was Free on Amazon.
EDIT: Still is free on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/1632-Ring-Fire-Eric-Flint-ebook/dp/B00BEQLQNE/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=
Download the kindle app somewhere and get reading if you don't have a kindle.
Pretty much anything by Robert Sawyer. And they're not just set here. Canadian-ness is essential to most of the plots. Start with his Neanderthal Parallax (Hominids, Humans, Hybrids). You don't get a lot of SF set in Sudbury.
Sci fi/fantasy books nearly always live up to the hype I find. Grabbed Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal which just won a Hugo Award and it’s super good. Also only $3 right now.
It’s an alt history sci fi where a meteorite hitting in 1952 increases the worlds efforts to go to space. It deftly handles racism and sexism without feeling preachy, with well realised characters and a fascinating concept.
Makes the bus commute so much better
For anyone who hasn't read it, /u/bogdaniuz is referring to this book, Little Brother by Cory Doctrow. It's an interesting look at what might happen if the government's reach extends a little too far into our personal lives. I'm not an expert on Homeland Security or any of the technology used in the book so I can't speak for its accuracy, but it features a likable and relatable protagonist and it will make you think about current events.
Children of Time and Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovksy both have strong sociological themes. If you enjoy these books you might also want to check out Semiosis: A Novel by Susan Burke.
Foundation by Isaac Asimov is about the fall and rise of a galactic empire. It is a bit dated in terms of science fiction but a classic in the genre.
Exhalation and Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang are collections of short stories and some of them contain strong sociological themes around communication and intersubjective understanding.
A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge also have some interesting speculative sociology.
Hominids: Volume One of The Neanderthal Parallax by Robert J. Sawyer also contains interesting speculative anthropology and sociology (but not a very interesting plot IMO) and is also worth a read.
Sample.
The Course of Empire (Course of Empire Series Book 1) by Eric Flint
1632 (Ring of Fire Series) by Eric Flint
Northworld Trilogy by David Drake
Starliner by David Drake
Star Soldiers by Adre Norton
Oath of Swords (War God Book 1) by David Weber
On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington Book 1) by David Weber
The Honor of the Queen (Honor Harrington Book 2) by David Weber
The Star Agency (The Star Agency Chronicles Book 1) by R.E. Weber
The Last Praetorian (The Redemption Trilogy Book 1) by Mike Smith
Hard Duty: Merkiaari Wars Book 1 by Mark E. Cooper
The Synchronicity War Part 1 by Dietmar Wehr
Dark Space by Jasper T. Scott
The Tank Lords by David Drake
Redliners by David Drake
A Desert Called Peace (Carrera Series Book 1) by Tom Kratman
Gunship by John Davis
With the Lightnings (Lt. Leary Book 1) by David Drake
Tales of Honor #1 by Matt Hawkins and Jung-Geun Yoon
The Fringe Worlds: (The Human Chronicles Saga Book #1) by T.R. Harris
Freehold (Freehold Series Book 1) by Michael Z. Williamson
The Last Roman (The Praetorian Series Book 1) by Edward Crichton
The Sea Hag by David Drake
Forbidden The Stars (The Interstellar Age Book 1) by Valmore Daniels
FCBD 2015: Tales of Honor by Matt Hawkins and Linda Sejic
The Philosophical Strangler (Joe's World Book 1) by Eric Flint
The Creatures of Man by Howard L. Myers
In the Heart of Darkness (Belisarius Saga Book 2) by Eric Flint
Northworld Trilogy by David Drake
Starliner by David Drake
Awesome! Thank you so much for this, I'll be sure to write a review as soon I'm done. Drop a link in /r/printsf too, if you haven't already.
Link for the lazy UKers
I think it is out of print now, but you should be able to find used copies of The Lost Regiment series by William R. Forstchen. It is about a Civil War regiment that is transported to an alien world full of different human civilizations also brought there to be subjugated by the native inhabitants. The first book in the series, Rally Cry, is available here.
Thank you so much, and I'm glad you're enjoying the story! I do have to say that it's a bit different than what I normally write (somehow, I don't think that sappy romance stories will do great on here), but I'm having fun with this band of military toughs!
I do have a couple books listed on Amazon:
In any case, I'll keep on writing Dark America - the current plan extends out to ~30 chapters or so, although it may end up pushing closer to 40 with wrap-up. I've got a few devious twists ahead...
Little Brother by Corey Doctorow https://www.amazon.com/Little-Brother-Cory-Doctorow/dp/0765323117
The God in the Clear Rock
So far it's very good. It is the sequel to one of my favorite books Little Brother, so read that first.
EDIT: I goofed the link.
EDIT 2: You can legally download LB for free from the author's website. Enjoy!
EDIT 3: When done with that, you can download Homeland here.
I like the 1632 series - first book available free for Kindle http://www.amazon.com/1632-Ring-Fire-Series-Flint-ebook/dp/B00BEQLQNE (and other formats elsewhere for free)
A West Virginia mining town gets sent back in time to, you guessed it, 1632, and they jump start the industrial revolution during the 30 years war.
This isn't an adaptation but it might be what you're looking for..? http://www.amazon.com/Little-Brother-Cory-Doctorow/dp/0765323117
I loved Stephen Baxter's Anti Ice and his "sequel" to H.G. Wells's The Time Machine called The Time Ships (both a more "hard sci fi" take on the genre).
I'm also really digging Lindsay Buroker's novella series set in the Yukon that starts with Flash Gold (the first one is free)
Michael Coorlim's series is also quite good: And they called her Spider (and the first one is free as well).
I've not yet read Michael Moorcock's The Warlord of the Air but I hear that is also pretty excellent.
EDIT: For a kind of more out-there (but tons of fun) steampunk, check out Michael Forstchen's Lost Regiment Series (the first book is Rally Cry) about a Civil War regiment transported to an alien world where the natives raise and eat humans as cattle. The steampunk doesn't really show up until the 2nd or 3rd book, but a very engrossing series.
Just got caught up with A Hero’s War it’s a pretty fun fantasy uplift story similar to Destiny’s Crucible , but with magic.
Currently looking for anything similar.
Hello all! Moving along to survive another day. Hey, if any of you are into webcomics, Questionable Content is a long time favorite. I usually read it, get all caught up, forget about it for a couple months, then binge read again. He has been going since about 2004, and has almost 4,000 comics at this point. He has the main core cast of characters, but he keeps changing the situations, so it doesn't get stale. Much better to read from the beginning, as it is not one of those comics where each comic is self-contained. He's gotten to the point with Patreon that it is his full time job, and he sometimes will do live drawings of the strip online, which is really cool to watch. Just thought I would share that with you.
QOTD: Was actually reading two at once (not uncommon for me...usually one audiobook and one physical/ebook). Just finished 2 yesterday: Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan and Blue Hope by John Dreese.
Altered Carbon is the basis for the new Netflix series of the same name. Very cyberpunk, which is not my usual fare, but it was pretty good. I wanted to read it before I started to watch the series, and now I have to read the rest of the trilogy. It starts fairly straightforward, but then he starts peeling back all of the layers of what is actually going on. Warning though...a couple of very explicit sexy time scenes, just to let you know. Thankfully, they weren't major parts of the story, but just wanted to warn you.
Blue Hope is the second book of the Red Hope series. OK, so I take this two ways. Yes, the story was very good, and continues from where the first book (his freshman work) leaves off. The first book was fairly short, more like a novella, and had some good concepts, but you can definitely tell that this was his first novel, as there are some parts that easily could have been developed more, some parts which seemed a bit trite and unnecessary, etc. And Dreese is not subtle with his "cliffhangers". The part where, in a story arc, an author will usually take a few chapters to come down from the end of the main conflict, and maybe hint at a possible follow on story. Nope....60mph to 0 in about 3 pages. With that said, moving onto the second book, Blue Hope. This one seems like he took his time in doing. Still some scenes that he seemed to rush, and that could have been developed a lot more, but the storyline gets into more detail about the mission, the problems, etc. The climactic scene at the end is good, but again seemed rushed. But he did it again. Screeching halt at the end, and it screams for another story.
If you guys want to read Red Hope and Blue Hope, they are both on sale for $0.99 on Amazon.
I just finished The Hate U Give, a book that I highly recommend. I'm currently in the middle of Traveler
Eifelheim - https://www.amazon.com/Eifelheim-Michael-Flynn-ebook/dp/B000V770AK
Google is scary good sometimes, got it from:
"book with aliens crash landing in medieval times"
Might be a little too mature for an 11 year old, but I'd recommend Little Brother and Homeland by Cory Doctorow.
I'd recommend you reading them as well. Some pretty good common-man explanations of some core security topics.
Thanks for that. Commenting to placemark the thread.
Here's the link for amazon.co.uk
There's a Globe map in both, and it's the most fun map type I think. It gives the whole game a "what would have happened if..." feeling (to me at least).
On a related note, if you enjoy thinking about things like this, you might also enjoy The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson. It starts off with the black plague wiping out all of Europe in the 14th century, and builds up a whole alternate history.
Edit: I think I misunderstood the question, but whatever
Alternative fiction like this has already been done several times and ways; it's one of my favorite genres.
Rally Cry
Jannisaries
Excalibur Alternative
Keep up the tradition, PruFrock451!
I love reading other Redditor's work as well. I am currently reading The God in the Clear Rock by another /r/writing member. It's sci-fi, pretty inventive, but it is a little graphic.
Here is the Smashwords page for my debut novel, it's a post-apocalyptic sci-fi. I also have a couple short stories posted on Smashwords as well. Both are modern science fiction.
Harry Turtledove - Worldwar series
Michael Chrichton - Timeline
James F. David - Footprints of Thunder
1632 series
S. M Stirling:
Conquistador
Dies the Fire
William Forstchen - Rally Cry
I can't believe new copies of this book are going for as much as $347. I'm going to hold onto my copy of it.
>Imagine if instead of Homo Sapiens it was the Neanderthals that became the dominant species, I wonder what kind of world would exist at this point in time. Would they have developed agriculture? Technology?
You might enjoy the book series Hominids by RJ Sawyer who explores this idea in his sci-fi novel. "We are one of those species; the other is the Neanderthals of a parallel world where they became the dominant intelligence. The Neanderthal civilization has reached heights of culture and science comparable to our own, but with radically different history, society and philosophy."
>I find it all fascinating. All the millions upon millions of people who exist now and before us, each and every one was a real individual with lives and thoughts just as nuanced and unique as mine or yours is now. They were all as real as you or I.
Me too, its very interesting to think about all the past lives of humans and how, I think at the root of it all their struggles probably weren't so different from ours. Lots has changed over the millennia but we still have the same basic needs, wants, and desires.
Or just read this book. At one point, you find out that parallel-Earth has all the women living together in a community, and their periods are synced. I think the character thought something like "An entire planet on the rhythm method!"
It's a good book, but a bit weird sometimes.
Hot sex with Dinosaurs? There's a book for you
Bones of the Earth by Michael Swanwick.
The Quintaglio Ascension Trilogy by Robert J. Sawyer.
West of Eden by Harry harrison.
Dinosaur Planet by Anne McCaffrey.
1632 by Eric Flint (Author released to to be free on Kindle)
Very well researched historical fiction about an American town from W. Virginia that gets dropped into the middle of Thuringia, Germany in the middle of the 30-years war.
http://www.amazon.com/Hominids-Sawyer-Robert-Neanderthal-Parallax/dp/0312876920
While all the anime/manga relations I can think of have already been mentioned, I can think of a number of Novels.
1) 1632 (aka The Ring Of Fire) Series.
Consists of roughly 40 books, with branching timelines. All the Timelines start with 1632 and 1633.
TLDR: The small american town of grantzvile and everything in a 2 mile circle is dumped in Germany during the middle of the cluster fuck that was the 30 years war.
[Summary of the first Novel.](/s "First thing they do is intervene in the pillaging of a nearby farm, second thing they do is rofl stomp a formation of ~600 french cavalry thanks to a nam vet and his M60 he had taken home with him , along about half the town arming themselves with bolt action hunting rifles and a few AR's. They then go on to form an alliance with Sweden, teaching them how to build and manufacture weapons that Sweden is realistically capable of mass producing like early 1800's era muzzle loading rifled muskets and breach loading cannons")
And they don't just go rofl stomping everything like the JSDF does, (Remember while gunpowder in the 15th century was still in it's early stages and melee combat was still the norm, it is still perfectly capable of killing someone) Such as when [Spoilers for 1633 & 1634: The Bavarian Crisis](/s "the spanish armada shows up, they manage to repel them with rocket artillery and napalm put together in the high school science lab, but they lose one of the 2 Fighter bombers they had built (Imagine a hellcat built with the Wood & Canvas materials of a WW1 Bi-plane and a Toyota Camry engine) and The only water craft that had come through with them, a speed boat with a jury-rigged knock off Katyusha launcher bolted to the deck. (Crew was almost all killed by 4 frigits broadsiding the speedboat with grape shot until they got lucky, then the only survivor Kamikazed the sinking boat into one of said frigits")
2) The Axis Of Time Trilogy
Consists of 3 books (In order); Weapon of choice, Designated Targets, and Final Impact. The first two books are available online in PDF format (Just ask and you'll get some dank links fam), the third book is paperback only as far as I can tell.
(W.I.P)
Also, The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson
I am not sure if this would interest you, but Eifelheim is set around this time.
>Father Dietrich is the village priest of Eifelheim, in the year 1348, when the Black Death is gathering strength but is still not nearby. Dietrich is an educated man, and to his astonishment becomes the first contact person between humanity and an alien race from a distant star, when their ship crashes in the nearby forest. It is a time of wonders, in the shadow of the plague. Flynn gives us the full richness and strangeness of medieval life, as well as some terrific aliens.
I thoroughly enjoyed it, it really isn't about aliens conquering earth or anything, it's a good read.
Jackal and The Prepper's Son.
Jane, Jill and Jasie and Dangerous Jade.
What's your favorite manga/anime?
I'm not sure what genres they are, but my current favorites are The Martian by Andy Weir, The Monster Hunters Series by Larry Correia, and Little Brother and Homeland by Cory Doctorow.
For anyone interested in completely fictional speculation about what a world ruled by Neanderthals would look like, this series is pretty interesting and entertaining.
Ready, Player One is a great read, and there is nothing like it. I'll give you something similar. Cory Doctorow, who is mentioned in Ready, Player One has two YA novels. Little Brother is very apt considering the whole Snowden situation. For the gamer in you I recommend For the Win, it's the modern day successor to Upton Sinclair's, The Jungle.
Withur We
Bonus points that it is scifi and FREE for download. Not only does the author present a "big brother" government but he also offers a solution.
Also check out anything by Cory Doctorow. Little Brother
Found the epub for free also.
Relevant
Quote: "after a terrorist attack in San Francisco, he and his friends are swept up in the extralegal world of the Department of Homeland Security. "
I can't contribute on the what if question, but I did enjoy a trilogy of books a bunch of years ago by Robert J Sawyer on a similar subject.
https://www.amazon.com/Hominids-Neanderthal-Parallax-Robert-Sawyer/dp/0765345005
Well there’s this
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0792N41ZY/ref=cm_sw_r_fa_dp_U_H71xAbNP5Y60A
Cory Doctorow is my boy. Good memories of reading him when younger. That man knows how to sell books to young teenagers with his "nerd fucks not-so-attractive-but-also-nerd-girl-with-female-body-parts" side narrative.
https://smile.amazon.com/Little-Brother-Cory-Doctorow/dp/0765323117https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/little-brother-cory-doctorow/1100352914#/
(corporations are all evil but there's not exactly an anarchist publisher that carries this and B&N donates to Dems and doesn't make workers piss in bottles)
and
https://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/ - free pdf
People here often complain about how stuff posted on /r/futurology almost never becomes reality. Well, rejoice! It seems the exact kind of thing Cory Doctorow predicted in his anti-surveillance book Little Brother from eight years ago has now become reality.
A paragraph from a summary of the book:
> The government has control over people in the form of surveillance which then exploits their privacy. The gait recognition system from the novel capture the privacy of individual on a visual level. This system recognizes your walking stance and corresponds your stance to one on the database.
https://www.bartleby.com/essay/Little-Brother-by-Cory-Doctorow-PKNUVRATC
If I remember right from the book, the system could also be easily abused, as people could just start "walking funny" to fool it.
A little off topic, but if you are interested in this kind of stuff, you will really enjoy Robert Sawyer's Neanderthal series, starting with "Hominids". It discusses a parallel earth where Neanderthals became the dominant species and incorporates much of the known science about Neanderthals into the storyline.
Amazonia by James Rollins
Actually, Rollins writes a lot of entertaining archeological thrillers.
Also, The Ancients of Earth series by fellow Redditor Lucian Randolph, a.k.a. luciantv.
I'm not going to call any of them "literature", but I've read and enjoyed a bunch of new-ish books recently.
I would like to think this is part of the reason Eric Flint used a coalmining town in his novels (The book is free and awesome and full of coalmining, gun nuts destroying European nobility). http://www.amazon.com/1632-Ring-of-Fire-ebook/dp/B00BEQLQNE/
I know this post is 2 days old, which puts it in some sort of reddit graveyard, but I'll add my thoughts.
First, Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan is the definitive "modern" cyberpunk novel so check that out for sure.
Also, for more of a "5 minutes into the future" cyberpunk, check out the Nexus trilogy by Ramez Naam. The third book in the trilogy won the Philip K. Dick Award if that means anything to you.
Another series I liked, which has a great dark humor to it, is the Avery Cates series by Jeff Somers. Seriously, just read the 'About the Author' section at the bottom of that page to get an idea of the humor.
Have you read William Gibson's The Peripheral? It's a neat update on Gibson's cyberpunk vision now that the world has changed.
Someone else recommended Cory Doctorow. I actually think Little Brother is his best work, though it's young adult so prepare yourself for that.
Finally, I feel weird recommending this, but if you were a child of the 80s, have you read Ready Player One? It's pretty polarizing in this sub since you either love it or you hate it, but it is a popular modern cyberpunk novel.
I have read both, and count them among my favorite books. In the real world today governments already exercise control over us in ways that even Orwell could never have imagined. These novels, however are works of fiction that necessarily predict a dystopian future for dramatic effect.
Since we're recommending books now, I would suggest you read the works of Robert J. Sawyer specifically the Neanderthal Parallax trilogy, and the WWW trilogy to see how 100% surveillance society may not be a bad thing.
Ok, I have a book called Driftless by David Rhodes and one called Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, if you'd like one of those.
On the fantasy end of things (since you mention Neil Gaiman), is City of Dreaming Books. German author so there's a good chance she hasn't read it and this isn't the only one in the series.
Cory Doctrow also writes YA, Little Brother, comes to mind.
At that age I was working my way through the Golden Age authors (Heinlein, Bradbury, Clark, Asimov, etc). Even if I didn't understand all the finer points, I really enjoyed them.
Couple new ones not mentioned:
M.C. Planck - "Sword of the Bright Lady"
Olan Thorensen - "Cast Under An Alien Sun"
Michael Oneill - "The Casere"
It's also a popular theme among the LitRPG crowd. Like the following:
Blaise Corvin - "Delvers LLC"
V. Moody - "How to Avoid Death on a Daily Basis"
Did you know Amazon will donate a portion of every purchase if you shop by going to smile.amazon.com instead? Over $50,000,000 has been raised for charity - all you need to do is change the URL!
Here are your smile-ified links:
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00J1HDEH4/ref=dp-kindle-redirect
https://smile.amazon.com/Cast-Under-Alien-Destinys-Crucible-ebook/dp/B01I8DTAKQ/ref=sr_1_1
https://smile.amazon.com/Aebeling-Casere-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00JS8VRV6/ref=sr_1_1
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M0U4B3S/ref=series_dp_rw_ca_1
https://smile.amazon.com/How-Avoid-Death-Daily-Basis-ebook/dp/B01H5G6ZR8
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^^i'm ^^a ^^friendly bot
The topic is also discussed and analyzed several times, although not really central to the plot, in Robert Sawyer's Neanderthal Parallax. Like all things Sawyer, the ideas and discussions the characters have are much more interesting than the actual plot.
Teeth are the most common find when digging Hominem sites. Heck, when digging any site. This is going to be a game changer,
LOL. I know Robert Sawyer, the author of the Neanderthal Parallax series. His books which weren’t written all that long ago have been obsoleted by science. Bob thinks that’s great 😎😎😎
https://www.amazon.ca/Hominids-Neanderthal-Parallax-Robert-Sawyer-ebook/dp/B000FBJAI2/ref=sr_1_6?crid=3DYRQRGRAIJL7&keywords=robert+sawyer&qid=1572364770&s=books&sprefix=Robert+saw%2Caps%2C159&sr=1-6
Little Brother
/smartass
It really is quite good, though.
"Little Brother", Cory Doctorow
https://www.amazon.com/Little-Brother-Cory-Doctorow/dp/0765323117/
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Little_Brother_%28Cory_Doctorow_novel%29
"He helps develop a clandestine wireless network, X-Net, that avoids DHS monitoring using anonymity and encryption. Using the X-Net as a secure communications medium, he organizes teenagers and twenty-somethings who are upset with the police state tactics imposed after the bombing. They develop innovative uses of existing technologies to foil DHS monitoring and cause mass confusion and embarrassment to law enforcement."
Also:
http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/b4t4m/fight_acta_with_the_darknet_plan_establish_our/
http://mesh-net.org/wiki/The_Darknet_Plan
Author Robert J Sawyer wrote a fiction called Hominoids which speculates on a world where Neanderthals lived among humans, after separately achieving their own cultural and scientific achievements.
Also on sale in Canada for the same price: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B0756JH5R1/ref=tmm_fbs_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1563651779&sr=8-1
For (currently) free Kindle books, David Weber's On Basilisk Station is the first book in the space-opera Honor Harrington series. The second book The Honor of the Queen, is one of my favorites in the entire series. Eric Flint's 1632 turned into a massive and awesome alternate-history series. If you'd like to delve into Alaskan-based murder mysteries, give Dana Stabenow's A Cold Day For Murder a try as the first in the some eighteen book Kate Shugak series.
For paid Kindle books, there's Hugh Howey's Wool Omnibus is the beginning of the dystopian Silo series; the followup Shift Omnibus is actually a prequel trilogy that I haven't gotten yet but is very readable. Naomi Novik's first novel in the alt-history Temeraire series, His Majesty's Dragon, is currently $.99.
In print, Elizabeth Moon's military fantasy The Deed of Paksenarrion is available used for a very affordable price and is an epic series. The Cage was my introduction to a fantasy universe written by SM Stirling, Shirley Meier, and Karen Wehrstein. Diana Gabaldon's Outlander is a sort of alternate history/light romance series set in Scotland that I've thoroughly enjoyed. Brent Weeks' assassin-based (excuse me, wetboy) fantasy Night Angel Trilogy was recently released as an omnibus edition. Empire from the Ashes collects Weber's Dahak sci-fi trilogy into an omnibus edition. Weber and John Ringo co-wrote March Upcountry and the other three novels in the sci-fi Prince Roger quadrilogy. If you haven't tried Harry Turtledove's alt-history sci-fi WW2 'Worldwar' series, In the Balance starts off a little slow plot-wise but picks up good speed. EE Knight's sci-fi/futuristic fantasy Vampire Earth starts off with Way of the Wolf. Mercedes Lackey wrote the modern-fantasy Born to Run with Larry Dixon, and the rest of the SERRAted Edge books with various other authors. Neal Stephenson's cyberpunk and slightly dystopian Snow Crash is hilarious and awesome. Maggie Furey's Aurian is the first of a fantasy quadrilogy that I enjoyed many years ago.
If you're at all familiar with the Warhammer 40k universe, the Eisenhorn Omnibus is Dan Abnett's wonderful look into the life of an Imperial Inquisitor. He's also written a popular series about the Tanith First-and-Only Imperial Guard regiment starting with The Founding Omnibus. He also wrote the first book in the Horus Heresy series, Horus Rising (I highly recommend reading the first three novels together as a trilogy and then cherry-picking the rest).
... and if you've read all that already, I'll be impressed.
Edit: Why yes, I do read a lot. Why do you ask?
There exists an excellent series of sci-fi novels in which this happened. Everything went better than expected.
Edit: People on the internet don't like books? I should have expected as much.