So you have journeyed through the stars with Bob and all his many selves, those delightful digital copies gallivanting across the cosmos with the wit of a software engineer and the curiosity of a child discovering a garden for the first time. And now, dear reader, you find yourself at the final page, bereft and wondering where next to point your spacecraft of imagination.
Fear not! For the universe of science fiction is vast and filled with wonders quite as marvellous as anything Dennis E. Taylor ever dreamed into being. What follows is a collection of tales that share the Bobiverse’s most enchanting qualities—clever protagonists solving impossible problems, artificial minds pondering what it means to be alive, and that splendid combination of scientific rigour wrapped in the most agreeable humour.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
If you adored how Bob approached every cosmic catastrophe with engineering ingenuity and sardonic wit, then Ryland Grace shall become your newest companion. This fellow awakens aboard a spacecraft with no memory of who he is or why he’s there, only to discover he’s humanity’s last hope against an extinction-level threat.
What makes this tale particularly delicious is the friendship that blooms between Ryland and an alien named Rocky—a spider-like creature who communicates through musical tones. Their partnership, built upon scientific collaboration and mutual respect across the vast gulf of species, echoes the warmest moments of Bob’s encounters throughout the galaxy. Andy Weir has crafted something rather magnificent here, balancing hard science with genuine heart.
All Systems Red by Martha Wells
Here we meet Murderbot, a security cyborg who has done something rather extraordinary—it has hacked its own programming to achieve free will. And what does it do with this precious autonomy? It watches soap operas and desperately wishes everyone would leave it alone.
This reluctant hero, sardonic and socially awkward yet fiercely protective when it matters most, shares Bob’s sensibility exactly. Both are artificial beings grappling with questions of identity while maintaining the sort of dry humour that makes one snort tea through one’s nose. Murderbot’s journey from cynical machine to something approaching emotional connection mirrors the growth we witnessed in Bob’s many iterations.
Columbus Day by Craig Alanson
Should you find yourself missing Bob’s irreverent banter, allow me to introduce Skippy the Magnificent—an ancient AI residing in what appears to be a beer can, possessed of godlike powers and the personality of an insufferable know-it-all. The verbal sparring between Skippy and the hapless Staff Sergeant Joe Bishop captures that same lightning-in-a-bottle humour.
Craig Alanson understands that the best science fiction needn’t take itself too seriously. The Expeditionary Force series balances universe-threatening stakes with comedy that borders on the absurd, much like watching Bob navigate interstellar politics whilst making pop culture references nobody else in the galaxy could possibly understand.
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
This one requires a touch of patience, but the reward is extraordinary. Adrian Tchaikovsky presents two parallel tales: humanity’s desperate search for a new home aboard an ark ship, and the evolution of intelligent spiders on a terraformed world across thousands of years.
The Portiid spiders develop language, religion, technology, and culture in ways wonderfully alien yet strangely recognisable. For readers who relished Bob’s encounters with developing civilisations, watching intelligence emerge from such utterly different biology proves fascinating. It won the Arthur C. Clarke Award for excellent reason—this is science fiction that expands the boundaries of imagination.
Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
John Perry does two things on his seventy-fifth birthday: visits his wife’s grave, then joins the army. In Scalzi’s future, elderly citizens trade their failing bodies for genetically engineered combat forms, their consciousness transferred into youthful soldiers defending humanity across the stars.
Scalzi writes with wit reminiscent of the grand masters whilst exploring genuinely thoughtful themes about identity, mortality, and what makes us human. Perry’s voice—curious, philosophical, yet never pompous—strikes a tone Bobiverse devotees will find immediately comfortable. The book poses the question: if your consciousness inhabits a new body, are you still you? Bob, of course, faced this very puzzle multiplied by dozens.
The Martian by Andy Weir
Before Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir gave us Mark Watney, stranded alone on Mars and determined to science his way home. The parallels to Bob’s methodical problem-solving approach are unmistakable—both heroes face impossible odds armed with intelligence, resourcefulness, and an absolutely unshakeable sense of humour.
Watney’s journal entries crackle with the same energy as Bob’s internal monologue, turning potential catastrophe into adventure. When everything that can go wrong does go wrong, our protagonist simply rolls up his sleeves and gets to work. It’s survival fiction at its finest, proving that human ingenuity paired with good humour can overcome nearly anything.
Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey
The Expanse begins here, in a future where humanity has colonised the solar system but brought all its messy conflicts along for the ride. Two protagonists—idealistic ship captain Jim Holden and world-weary detective Joe Miller—become entangled in a conspiracy involving alien technology that threatens everything.
This is space opera executed with exceptional craft, blending noir mystery with cosmic horror and political intrigue. The authors (Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck writing together) create a lived-in universe as detailed and believable as Taylor’s Bobiverse. For readers craving more hard science fiction with genuine stakes and memorable characters, this series delivers nine novels of increasingly epic scope.
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Here is something altogether different—a novel more concerned with the journey than the destination, with found family than galactic conflict. The crew of the Wayfarer, a ship that tunnels wormholes through space, becomes a family you’ll wish you could join.
Becky Chambers writes with warmth and optimism, exploring what it means to belong across species, cultures, and backgrounds. If Bob’s relationships with the various civilisations he encountered touched your heart, this character-driven tale of acceptance and connection will embrace you like an old friend. It’s cosy science fiction that proves the genre can be gentle without sacrificing wonder.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
One cannot discuss humorous science fiction without genuflecting before the master himself. Douglas Adams created something utterly unique—a comedy of the absurd set against the backdrop of an indifferent universe, where Earth is demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass and the answer to life, the universe, and everything is simply forty-two.
Arthur Dent’s bewildered journey through space, accompanied by aliens and robots and improbability drives, established the template that writers like Dennis Taylor would later honour. If you haven’t read it, remedy this immediately. If you have, perhaps it’s time to revisit an old friend. The humour remains as fresh as the day Adams typed it.
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
Beneath the surface of Mars, Darrow toils as a Red—the lowest caste in a colour-coded society, believing his sacrifice will make the surface livable for future generations. Then he discovers the terrible truth: humanity reached the surface long ago, and his people are slaves.
Pierce Brown crafts a rebellion story with the intensity of a forge, tempering his hero through trials that would break lesser characters. While darker than the Bobiverse, this saga shares Taylor’s gift for propulsive plotting and a protagonist whose growth we witness with genuine investment. For readers craving science fiction with stakes that feel genuinely consequential, Darrow’s journey delivers.
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
This classic explores what happens when soldiers fight an interstellar war whilst experiencing relativistic time dilation. William Mandella returns from each campaign to find decades or centuries have passed on Earth, the world he knew increasingly unrecognisable.
Joe Haldeman won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for this meditation on alienation and the futility of endless conflict. It’s military science fiction that questions rather than glorifies, examining the human cost of war through a lens only the genre could provide. Bob’s experiences watching civilisations rise and fall across his extended existence echo these themes of displacement and change.
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
In a dystopian future, humanity escapes into the OASIS—a vast virtual reality universe where Wade Watts hunts for an Easter egg that will grant him untold fortune. The quest requires encyclopaedic knowledge of 1980s pop culture, video games, and the quirky obsessions of the OASIS creator.
Dennis Taylor’s novels are packed with pop culture references that reward readers who catch them, and Ready Player One turns such references into the very fabric of its narrative. It’s a treasure hunt wrapped in nostalgia, celebrating geek culture whilst questioning our relationship with technology and escapism. Wade’s voice shares Bob’s enthusiasm for the things he loves.
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
Before the word “metaverse” entered common parlance, Neal Stephenson imagined it here—a virtual reality realm where hackers, corporations, and ancient Sumerian viruses collide. Hiro Protagonist (yes, that’s his name) delivers pizza for the Mafia and fights to prevent a plague that threatens both digital and physical worlds.
Stephenson writes with dazzling intelligence and satirical edge, creating a cyberpunk classic that anticipated much of our current technological landscape. For readers who appreciate Taylor’s technical details and worldbuilding, Snow Crash offers a feast of ideas served with generous helpings of action and wit.
Mechanical Failure by Joe Zieja
After two centuries of peace, the military has forgotten how to do anything except drink and barbecue. When smuggler Rogers is forced back into service, he discovers soldiers actually preparing for war—a war he’s certain doesn’t exist.
Joe Zieja, drawing upon his own military experience, crafts a comedy that reviewers have compared to Terry Pratchett in space. The absurdist bureaucracy, the hapless protagonist stumbling through increasingly ridiculous situations, the humour that never undermines genuine stakes—it’s just the tonic for readers missing Bob’s lighter moments. Sometimes science fiction should simply make you laugh, and this delivers.
Charting Your Course
Each of these books offers something the Bobiverse gave so generously: intelligent protagonists facing impossible problems, questions about consciousness and identity, universes rich with detail, and humour that makes the journey a joy. Some lean harder into the comedy, others into hard science or character development, but all share that ineffable quality that made Dennis E. Taylor’s creation so beloved.
The stars await, dear reader. Which ship will you board first?
