If you’ve been curious about military science fiction, but the genre’s enormous series and complicated reading orders have intimidated you, here’s a good place to start. 📖 On Basilisk Station ✍️ David Weber 📅 Originally published in 1993 📚 My copy: Baen Books paperback, 2014 This is Book 1

This might seem like a strange recommendation at first. Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire → Phantom Thread (2017) But I’m not recommending Phantom Thread because it’s another gothic horror movie. It’s because of the relationships. Both explore: 🖤 Obsession 🖤 Possessiveness 🖤 E

One of my favorite things about collecting vintage paperbacks is discovering how much more there is to an author than their most famous book. Robert Bloch will forever be associated with Psycho, but his career as a horror writer was much broader. 📖 The Cunning ✍️ Robert Bloch 📚 Zebra Books

Before The Dark Tower became an enormous fantasy saga, it began with a very strange little book. 📖 The Gunslinger ✍️ Stephen King 📚 Signet Books — 1989 King’s story began in an unexpected place: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, where five connected stories appeared between 1978

Here’s one of those pieces of pop-culture trivia that feels obvious once you know it—but is surprisingly easy to forget. Dexter Morgan was a book character before he was a television character. 📖 Darkly Dreaming Dexter ✍️ Jeff Lindsay 🗓️ Originally published in 2004 The novel introduced

If you discovered Shōgun through the recent television series, there’s a whole history behind it. 📖 Shōgun James Clavell 📚 Dell paperback — 1980 Clavell’s epic historical novel was already a major bestseller before it became one of television’s biggest events in 1980. The original NBC ad

You probably know the movie. But the paperback has a pretty interesting story of its own. 📖 Hook ✍️ Terry Brooks 📚 Ivy Books (Ballantine Books) — 1991 Steven Spielberg’s Hook brought Robin Williams, Peter Pan and Neverland together in one of the most recognizable fantasy films of the ear

If you enjoy historical mysteries, serial-killer thrillers or dark detective fiction, you probably owe The Alienist a look. 📖 The Alienist ✍️ Caleb Carr 📚 Bantam Books paperback — 1995 Set in 1896 New York City, the novel follows an unusual team investigating a series of murders using the e

There are science-fiction authors everyone knows. And then there are the ones you discover and immediately wonder: “Why didn’t anyone tell me about this?” 📖 A Fire Upon the Deep ✍️ Vernor Vinge 📚 Tor paperback — 1993 Vinge was a master of ambitious, idea-driven science fiction, and th

Here’s a fun movie/book connection for anyone who loves rare books, occult mysteries, gothic atmosphere and stories about stories. 🎬 The Ninth Gate — 1999 📖 The Club Dumas — 1993 ✍️ Arturo Pérez-Reverte The film The Ninth Gate was inspired by Pérez-Reverte’s Spanish novel. The basic ingr

If you want to understand where so much of modern horror came from, start with Poe. 📖 The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales ✍️ Edgar Allan Poe 📚 Signet Classics — 1960 The edition itself is over half a century old, but the stories inside are much older, reaching back to the 19th ce

One of the things I love about older fantasy paperbacks is discovering what came before the books that eventually became household names. 📖 The Dragonbone Chair ✍️ Tad Williams 📚 1989 DAW paperback 🗓️ Originally published in 1988 Tad Williams’ Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn began before The Whe

If you’re into the grimy, neon-soaked cyberpunk world of William Gibson’s Neuromancer, here’s a movie worth putting on your list: 🎬 Johnny Mnemonic (1995) The connection is especially interesting because Gibson wrote the original “Johnny Mnemonic” short story too. So while this isn’t an ad

Sometimes you can see a cultural shift coming before it actually arrives. 📖 Rabbit, Run ✍️ John Updike 📚 1963 Crest Book Paperback Edition 🗓️ Originally published in 1960 John Updike’s Rabbit, Run helped establish him as one of America’s major novelists. It was also a finalist for the 1961

Some books become classics. Some books give a classic story a completely different perspective. 📖 The Dracula Tape ✍️ Fred Saberhagen 📚 1989 Tor Paperback Edition 🗓️ Originally published in 1975 🧛 Vampire Fiction We’ve heard Bram Stoker’s version of Dracula for more than a century.

Some books become classics. Some books become movies. And some manage to become both. 📖 Rosemary’s Baby ✍️ Ira Levin 📚 1968 Dell Paperback Edition 🕯️ Psychological Horror Ira Levin’s Rosemary’s Baby was first published in 1967 and quickly became a major bestseller. Then came Roman