Over the holiday’s my brother in-law asked for science-fiction and fantasy recommendations, so here goes, with some caveats.

• I don’t always trust my recollection/taste past a year or two. There are lots of books I recall falling in love with, but cannot remember how when I pick them up again, so the recommendations are heavily influenced with recent reads.
• The list is biased by recent titles, partially because of the previous caveat, but also because science fiction and fantasy don’t usually age well.
• I don’t have much patience for long n-ogies. Maybe I’m not a real fan, but so many great books begin repetitive series. The initial book creates a fantastic setting, and then I lose interest.

In somewhat arbitrary (alphabetical author order):

• Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale: Is this really science fiction? I wish this story didn’t age so well. If you cannot absolutely bear the investment of the short read, see the Hulu series, snark. Really, I’m a poseur — I didn’t read the book until I started watching the TV series. Nobody portrays dystopia better then Atwood, so this recommendation serves as a embarkation point for lots other work from her.
• Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Mists of Avalon: I wish I were observant enough to be a feminist. Helping me, Bradley uncovers stories of Morgaine and Guinevere that build the foundation for the Arthurian legends. The accusations of her personal life, cast a darker tone upon the novel….
• Philip Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?: Philip Dick is great at tersely posing puzzles that unwind into short stories. Check out the short stories for more examples.
• Nicholas Eames, Kings of the Wyld: This is what I wish my Dungeon and Dragons games sounded like. I love the humor in a world depicting adventurers as rock stars.
• N. K. Jemisin, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms: The mythology Jemisin weaves into the story has all of the drama and politics of classic Greek mythology, but you haven’t heard these stories a million times– or maybe all of them by the time you finish…..
• Anne Leckie, Ancillary Justice: There’s a great mixture of perception, cognition, and gender here…. OK, I think everyone should be able to choose their pronouns, but I’m also a fan of gender-neutral pronouns that don’t shadow the plural.
• Usula Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness: This is the earliest gender-politic sci-fi I know of. I love the discussion of gender roles by portraying an “alien” society. The story is 50 years old now, but it ages well.
• George R. R. Martin, Storm of Swords: Storm of Swords is an anti-example of the value of tome-laden series…. except for installments of A Song of Fire and Ice series that follow don’t nearly live (or die) up to the standard set in book three. I haven’t found a better work from Martin than the story leading up to the Red Wedding, so just skip the rest…. Except that part of what makes the story so satisfying is your investment into all the victims.
• Dexter Palmer, Version Control: An alternate take on reality, perception, and causality. There’s also a love story in code.
• JY Yang, The Black Tides of Heaven: Kung-foo-fantasy-meets-steampunk setting, written with contemporary progressive gender views.