If you asked my teachers during my “formative” years, I wasn’t much of a reader. Oh, I read books that I had to, mostly because English classes required it. To this day I still have a profound hatred for Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, thanks to an overzealous high school English teacher. She regularly argued that it was the height of literature. Me? I was bored to tears and didn’t appreciate culture, or something. I forget what the argument was, but it basically boiled down to the fact that I was insulting her intellect by not liking her favorite story. (side note: The Pearl was a superior story, ma’am.)

I was a jock. She was a nerd. We… did not fall in love. I know how the song goes, and it’s a total lie. I’m pretty sure she secretly hated me.

But I came out publicly as a regular reader in 2003, no thanks to her (or my college English professors, all of whom shall remain nameless…). However, I should point out that I’d already been reading for a long time, but because most of my English teachers didn’t consider the fantasy books I was reading as “worth anything,” they didn’t count as “real books.” Nor did my college professors (one of them absolutely lost his mind when he saw me on the quad once with a copy of Terry Brooks in hand).

Nowadays I hear a lot of people lamenting the lack of readers out there. Personally, I think there are more readers than ever, but (like who they vote for) people keep it a secret because we live in a massive collective society where it’s much easier to mock and belittle people from the safety of the internet. I’m guilty of it, too. I give the romantasy genre a lot of grief (but secretly wouldn’t mind those royalty payouts) and you can’t even admit to liking the Harry Potter books these days without someone frothing at the mouth. You used to have to put up or shut up if you were going to talk a lot of smack and bully people. These days? Bullies are 100 pound social media “influencers” who will deride anything for clicks and hide behind VPNs. It’s pretty damn cutthroat and one of the many reasons I hate social media (he says as he types this out on his website).

So instead of being like a lot of people who make fortunes on YouTube and places by talking about how awful everyone’s favorite book/movie/song/TV show is, today I’m celebrating what I enjoy and read (and re-read). I’m not saying you have to read these, mind you. These are simply my books and series I enjoy, and hope someone else will enjoy them as much as I do.

ALTERNATE HISTORY

This is secretly my favorite genre of all time to read. Yes, I read a lot of fantasy books growing up, but I didn’t realize until I was older that the reason I loved some fantasy and not others was because of the worldbuilding in it (and the history of the world behind it). The original Dragonlance series and follow-up series did a decent job of telling a fantasy story, but older me has reread them and realized that Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman did an excellent job at teasing the history of Krynn, offering glimpses to the readers as they went.

• The Ring of Fire series by Eric Flint — Probably the most defining alternate history series of my life. Reading the first book in the series caused me to shift my major in college and eventually, grad school. Seeing the cover of 1633 (co-authored with David Weber) on the bookshelf at the store actually stopped me dead in my tracks. There’s only one other author who I remember the exact moment of buying their first book like that (he’s further down on this list). I picked up it and 1632, the first book in the series, and that was that. Also, this series inadvertently landed me my job with Baen Books 20+ years later, as well as had a hand in launching my writing career.
  
• GUNS OF THE SOUTH by Harry Turtledove — before Turtledove, I never really wondered what would have happened had the South won the Civil War. Being a Californian, the Civil War didn’t have the defining impact that it had on the eastern half of the country, and most Californians don’t have a relative or someone buried within ten miles of their home who’d fought in the “War of Northern Aggression” (I live in North Carolina at the moment… they get a little weird about it down here). But Turtledove does an excellent job of showing a different South, one who (during the course of the war and the immediate aftermath) comes to realize that slavery must be dealt with if they want to be a true nation. Throw in the time traveling aspect of things, and it can make almost any alternate history fan happy.
  
• The Great War series (aka Timeline-191) by Harry Turtledove — look, the guy isn’t regarded as the Grandmaster of Alternate History for nothing. This is another fascinating look at precisely how the South could have won the Civil War, and this time it isn’t with AK-47s brought back from the future by time travelers. Now, the best part of this series isn’t the Civil War or immediate aftermath, but how the Confederacy winning shapes the trench-filled battlefields of World War 1. My only complaint is the second trilogy in the series is weak and doesn’t do a whole lot for the series as a whole except shuffle out older characters readers have come to enjoy for a new generation.
  
• The Nantucket series by S. M. Stirling — One of the defining alternate history series, I really enjoyed the heck out of this one. It uses a similar premise as 1632 does (mysterious cosmic event throws the island back in time) but whereas the storyline of the Ring of Fire series is slow-moving, Stirling does not make the reader wait to discover what happens next. These books are fantastic in how the world is being reshaped, and also explores a different path than Flint does. It asks what would happen if some of those who came back into the past decided to exploit the superstitions of the time to enrich themselves. This creates an interesting foil to the main characters who stayed on Nantucket Island and are working to integrate peacefully with local tribes and society.
  

SCIENCE FICTION

So this one was tough because in my head I actually subcategorize it into two categories — military science fiction, and other science fiction. Yes, I include Star Wars in the other science fiction category because while space magic is a thing, there are still spaceships and lasers and aliens.

MILITARY SF

• The Conquerors trilogy by Timothy Zahn — this is the series that made me want to write science fiction and, in my opinion, the best series that Timothy Zahn has ever written (and yes, I’m saying it’s better than the Heir to the Empire series). It tells the story of a Human fleet coming into first contact with an all-new alien species–and getting their butts handed to them when the aliens suddenly attack without provocation. One of the main characters is captured by the aliens and is held captive as they study him. But as time goes on throughout the series you learn some interesting things, and then in book two the POV switches to that of the alien invaders, who are convinced (and have proof) that these “Conquerors without reason” fired first. It’s just an amazing trilogy that I will never stop recommending to people.
  
• The Legacy of the Aldenata series by John Ringo — when I read A HYMN BEFORE BATTLE, I remember thinking “there is no way this is this guy’s first book he ever wrote.” Yet it was, and while the series never really came to the conclusive end readers were hoping for, the first four books in the series are some of the best Ringo’s ever written. The characters are well-written and have a lot of depth, and between the wanton slaughter there is a mystery involving the “helpful” aliens and Humans that stretches back to the dawn of time. Plus, as the series moves on, you get to understand the Posleen (the alien invaders eating and killing everyone) and what drives them.
  
• The Expanse series by James S. A. Corey — I actually watched the TV series first, and really enjoyed it. Granted, the last two seasons were meh but the early seasons (especially with Miller) were exquisitely done and really made me rethink how to do science fiction. I finally bit the bullet and bought the books, since I wanted to see just how different the books series was from the show. I was not surprised that as good as the show was, the books were better. The characters had more depth and felt more consistent than the show portrayed them as (except for Amos, who is pretty much a psychotic little badass across both). It straddles the line with classic science fiction and military SF for me, so I stuck it in this category.
  
• The Drop Trooper series by Rick Partlow — if you haven’t gotten into this series yet, you still have time. While it’s 14 books long (at this point), it doesn’t read slow at all. In fact, Partlow’s pacing is so frenetic at times it feels like a TV episode more than a full-length novel. It’s a classic premise (join the military or go to jail) but it’s the author’s style which sets this one apart from everything else. I’m not normally a fan of first-person, present tense storytelling, but it works here. Plus, you can’t help but rooting for the hero as he finds family and himself while on the battlefield — which is an admittedly awkward place to go through self-discovery.
  
• The Deep Man series by Michael Mersault — a relatively new author, his first book (THE DEEP MAN) completely blew me away. The last time I read someone’s first novel and was this impressed was with Christopher Ruocchio’s EMPIRE OF SILENCE (which is on the list down below). Mersault deftly combines elements of Dune with solid military footing in the same manner as David Weber and David Drake, and this series is secretly my favorite thing Baen has published in the last five years (and that’s including my own books).

SCIENCE FICTION

• The Sun Eater series by Christopher Ruocchio — Wow. I mean, just wow. I’ve known Christopher since he was just a brand new college graduate and I had no idea then he was capable of such an amazing series. Hadrian Marlowe is one of those literary creatures who comes along every generation and upends the status quo, and makes authors wish they were that good (secretly… we try not to project our insecurities in public, but damn it, Christopher!). I predict the next 10 years will be filled with authors trying to copy and mimic the way Ruocchio tells his story. Part memoirs and part novel, the series does not shy away from the fact that our hero does something very, very horrible at the end and earns his moniker of “Sun Eater.” But the path there isn’t a straight line, but with so many twists and turns along the way that the reader is entertained the entire time.
  
• THE FOREVER WAR by Joe Haldeman — This one was hard to classify. My first instinct was to stick it in the military SF category, but the more I thought about it the more I came to realize that the war is secondary in the story, and the first is how the mindset and war changes for the combatants the longer they fight. It also shows how the soldiers are changed as time goes on, and hits with the hard science of time dilation (they’re ageing slower than Humanity back on Earth is advancing, and thousands of years pass on Earth while only a dozen or so pass for the soldiers out in the great beyond). It’s also got some social commentary in the book that is sneaky good.
  
• The Honor Harrington series by David Weber — some might argue this is also belongs in military SF, which is fair, because the series is basically Horatio Hornblower in space. I absolutely adore these books and, when I’m feeling like I’m losing touch with the hopeful aspect in my writing (I have a reputation of being… less than pleasant towards my characters) I go back and reread ON BASILISK STATION. David does a tremendous job of creating this seemingly larger-than-life character while keeping her grounded and realistic at the same time. As the series has gone on, Honor has suffered heartaches, losses, deaths, injuries, and triumphs, finds love, and starts a family of her own.
  
• The Icarus series by Timothy Zahn — yeah, Zahn appears on this list twice. Deal with it, because the story of Gregory Roarke and his partner Selene combines elements of a spy thriller mixed with good, old-fashioned space exploring. The books are well-written and fast-paced, with lots of “whodunnits” thrown in while our heroes are struggling to simply survive in a very unpleasant universe. It’s also the sort of series that feels like could go on for as long as Zahn wants to write them, because the universe he’s created here is deep and has lots of little quirks he can throw out there.
  

FANTASY

Fantasy is a genre that I have a complete love/hate relationship with. On one hand, we’ve got such amazing modern works from authors like R. R. Virdi, George R. R. Martin, and Gregory Frost. On the other, we have romantasy. But we’re being positive here, so let’s dive into some of the books and series I love.

• FIRE & BLOOD by George R. R. Martin — though this is actually a history book set in his A Song of Ice and Fire universe, this is the favorite thing of his I’ve read. I’ve reread the book like three times now, and every time there’s a little historical factoid I discover that I missed during the previous read-through. The main series is a slog (and I hate about 90% of the characters) but when the story is told in this element, from a historical view of things, I hate the characters less and really can dive into the immersive worldbuilding better. I personally think Martin should write more of these because I’d rather read them then THE WINDS OF WINTER at this point.
  
• THE FIRST BINDING by R. R. Virdi — Man, Ronnie can wax poetic across page after page and still make it interesting. That’s a rare talent these days. Now, I will admit that the reader has to pay attention while reading, because certain elements which are presented early on reappear towards the end, and if you weren’t paying attention you’ll miss it and wonder what the heck happened. However, this book (haven’t picked up the second one yet, was planning on getting it at Dragoncon so I can have him sign it) is very much in the vein of Patrick Rothfuss, except I think Ronnie did it better. Just my two cents.
  
• The Codex Alera series by Jim Butcher — As much as I wanted to put the Dresden Files here, this is fantasy, not urban fantasy, and this series is one of those that flew under the radar after the amazing success of the Dresden Files. It’s also got a little bit of alternate history thrown in there, which is explained as the series goes on. However, the story of just how the elements work, why the young boy Tavi is important, and the mystery surrounding everything (including wondering why everything sounds Roman) is amazingly done. Don’t sleep on this series.
  
• The Rhymer trilogy by Gregory Frost — The second book hasn’t been released yet, but since my job allows me to read books months before they’re available to everyone else, I’d already read it (and immensely enjoyed it). Frost’s retelling of Thomas the Rhymer in his first book, RHYMER, brings the ancient myths to life while exploring just why elves and fae were so terrifying in historical legends. The second book looks at how Thomas, having escaped from the dread fae, must live a life of banditry. Coincidentally, the second book is titled RHYMER: HOODE which, if you’re catching on, has Frost telling his version of Robin Hood. These are fantastic books and it hurts that more people haven’t discovered them yet.
  
• Saga of the Forgotten Warrior series by Larry Correia (disclaimer: Larry is my friend and coauthor) — I like pretty much all of Larry’s books, but this series is by far his best. Ashok Vidal is one of the most complex and interesting characters he’s ever written, but at the same time the man is simplistic and straightforward. I can’t even begin to explain how he manages to make you root for this character. Other characters are richly developed and there really isn’t a one-dimensional person in the entire series. Plus, the setting being a mesh of Hindi and Punjabi cultures thrown into an epic fantasy series with demons who live in the water and want to destroy all of mankind is something to behold. Some of his best writing has happened on the pages in these books.

So now I throw the ball into your court. Was books/series do you like that have flown under the radar?