The Dog Stars

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller and Neuromancer by William Gibson. Both of these I've read twice. The Dog Stars held up well on my second reading. Neuromancer did not.

I am not your traditional sci-fi fan, so while the books below may not be considered masterpieces or even "true" sci-fi, they may be a good "gateway drug" for others like me: - The Postman by David Brin - The Dog Stars by Peter Heller - I am Legend by Richard Matheson

The trilogy of Neuromancer, Burning Chrome, and Mona Lisa Overdrive is still my favorite work of fiction, and also, to my mind, exemplifies the kind of taut, awesome writing that I would want to do if I wrote novels. It the only series of 3 books I have read more than once. I caught these books at just the right time in my life (age 13 or 14), leading my high-school fascination with Japan and rekindled interest in computing, and probably played an inordinately large role in me ending up as a programmer who lives in Tokyo, two decades later. I like great sci fi best, but I think most of it is crap, including virtually all of the old pulp sci fi and Asimov I grew up reading (which was basically all of it), Star Wars/Trek, etc. Other than Gibson's stuff, some of the truly spectacular sci fi I have read is the very-dense-and-not-at-all-thriller-ish Mars trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars), and the fast-paced-and-awesome Spin by Robert Charles Wilson. That led me to read all of Wilson's books, many of which are also good. Also Haldeman is an author worth reading, though not all of his books hit their mark.…

Top three: Mockingbird, by Walter Tevis; Riddley Walker, by Russell Hoban; Glimpses of the Moon, by Edith Wharton Some other favorites: The Dog Stars, by Peter Heller; To Reign In Hell, by Steven Brust; Machine Man, by Max Barry; The Dawn Patrol, by Don Winslow; The Woman, by Hank Ketchum