Hugh Howey's 10 Favorite SF Books

Hugh says: "I read this classic when I was twelve, not long after it first came out. It opened my eyes to twin dreams, each one made slightly more tangible by Card's example. The first was that children could be not only taken seriously, but could become galactic heroes. The second was the equally insane idea that a regular guy from small-town North Carolina could become a bestselling author. NASA wouldn't have me back then, of course, so I'm busy chasing the latter."

Hugh says: "This was the first book that made me feel miserable while reading it while simultaneously being unable to put it down. My love affair with dystopias was born with Orwell's masterpiece. Later readings would teach me the importance of saying two or three things with every sentence."

Hugh says: "Frank Herbert was the master of writing science fiction you believed in. He created a lore and a tone for his worlds that rivaled Tolkien in their world-building."

Hugh says: "The entire saga is a masterpiece of plotting and character development. Asimov shows how quickly a new cast can be made endearing. This ability is handy for jumping forward in time (or, as I'm fond of, for killing characters)."

Hugh says: "Stephenson is one of my top 5 authors from any genre. In this work, we see how science fiction can be built on the technology of today. He also blends two stories told at two eras in American history as well as I've seen it done."

Hugh says: "Peter F. Hamilton does it all in this epic saga. It's horror and hard science fiction; it's space opera and romance; it's military sci-fi and it has Al Capone coming back from the dead. What more could you ask for?"

Hugh says: "Forget the film. Forget the religion. This book is nothing but pure enjoyment. I've read it half a dozen times. Just mentioning the book has me wanting to grab it and march through it again."

Hugh says: "The first volume of his that I picked up started with Roog and blew me away with each story. Great fiction should keep you thinking about it for days and days. Dick could do this with just a handful of pages."

Hugh says: "Yeah, it's science fiction. Hey, Swift made up two moons around Mars, a coincidence confirmed a century later. I think it qualifies. And he is my model for layering satire and meaning in otherwise serious-seeming adventure stories."

Hugh says: "Neal deserves two spots on the list with this one. A strong heroine; a tale of rags to riches; and a look at the future of nanotechnology well before it became a buzz word. It also turned my wife onto science fiction, and there should be an award for that."