I’m an avid reader, and love the inspiration I get from reading the great works of other writers. Below are some recommendations from me. These appear in my Beyond the Bridge newsletter, so are usually added after issues have been released. (Yet, you might find some new gems added outside of that.)
Fantasy
- The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab
- A woman makes a deal to live forever but is forgotten by everyone she meets, until someone finally remembers her.
General Fiction
- Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
- A quiet, heartbreaking look at children raised for a purpose they’re only beginning to understand, told through a narrator who can’t face the full truth.
- We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
- Two sisters live in a decaying house after a family tragedy, and the story slowly reveals how much of their world is fear, imagination, or something darker.
- Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
- A man searching for meaning spirals into an underground fight club and an identity crisis that shatters his sense of reality.
Horror
- I Found Puppets Living In My Apartment Walls (I Found Horror) by Ben Farthing
- This is a great story that puts a spin on puppet characters not being so friendly.
- I Found a Circus Tent in the Woods Behind My House (I Found Horror) by Ben Farthing
- If you think you know what lurks just beyond the edge of your property, think again. This one gives you chills to cross into an unknown realm just feet from your home.
- A Lonely Broadcast: Book One by Kel Byron
- The woods at night can be scary all by themselves, but add a sinister element and you find what’s described in this book.
Mystery
- The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
- A classic detective story where the clues are all there, the narrator seems reliable, and the final twist redefines the whodunit forever.
Non-fiction
- Something Deeply Hidden by Sean Carroll
- This great book walks you through the science behind the many-worlds theory.
Science Fiction
- Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
- A life split into countless paths, and the fight to reclaim the one that matters most.
- Outland by Dennis E. Taylor
- Parallel worlds, looming disaster, and a crew that laughs in the face of apocalypse.
- The Quantum Curators by Eva St. John
- A secret organization plucks priceless artifacts from alternate realities, but every choice ripples across universes.
- The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
- A haunting look at a world where the Allies lost WWII.
- The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson
- A reimagined world history where the Black Death changed everything.
- Wraith Knight by C.T. Phipps
- A fantasy take on legacy, power, and who really wins the wars we’re told about.
- The Dread Machine by Ben Farthing
- Liminal, eerie, and questioning what makes one timeline “real.”
- The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
- A heartbreaking reminder that love doesn’t care about linearity.
- Recursion by Blake Crouch
- Memory, identity, and the terrifying idea of reliving your past with full awareness.
- Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
- A powerful look at history, survival, and what happens when time refuses to let go.
- Version Control by Dexter Palmer
- A “not quite” time-travel story about causality, choice, and the illusions we live in.
- We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor
- A masterclass in exponential thinking and the narrative consequences of self-replicating systems.
- Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Explores evolution and technological acceleration on a planetary scale.
- Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds
- Big ideas, slow reveals, and technology that reshapes civilizations over time.