How to Navigate the Dennis E. Taylor Universe
If you love hard science fiction packed with dry wit, pop culture references, and a deep appreciation for coding and mechanics, Dennis E. Taylor is an essential addition to your bookshelf. As a former computer programmer, Taylor writes stories that make complex concepts like cryonics, von Neumann probes, artificial intelligence, and temporal mechanics feel accessible and highly entertaining. Rather than starting with standard author biography details, let's jump straight into the best reading path so you can start enjoying his worlds.
The Recommended Starting Point
For almost every reader, the absolute best place to start is with the Bobiverse series, beginning with We Are Legion (We Are Bob). This series put Taylor on the sci-fi map and highlights his signature blend of geeky humor and space exploration. While Taylor has written standalone novels and a secondary series, the Bobiverse remains his flagship creation and serves as the perfect introduction to his tone, style, and narrative pacing.
The Bobiverse Series Reading Order
The Bobiverse is a continuous saga that must be read in publication order. The plot follows Bob Johansson, a software engineer who sells his company, signs up for a cryonics program, and promptly gets hit by a car. He wakes up over a century later to find he has been uploaded into a computer brain to serve as the sentient artificial intelligence control unit for a self-replicating space probe (a von Neumann probe). As Bob replicates and explores the galaxy, the universe expands with clone "Bobs" who develop their own distinct personalities, hobbies, and goals.
Here is the correct order to read the Bobiverse books:
- We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (2016) – The book that starts it all. Bob wakes up, learns he is a probe, escapes a chaotic Earth, and begins his journey into the stars.
- For We Are Many (2017) – The Bobs multiply and encounter various alien species, including the dangerous, planet-eating "Others" and the primitive but endearing Deltans.
- All These Worlds (2017) – The climactic conclusion to the initial trilogy, where humanity’s remnants search for new homes while the Bobs face off against the Others in a battle for survival.
- Heaven's River (2020) – A longer, more focused adventure that takes place years later, focusing on a search-and-rescue mission inside a massive megastructure (a Topopolis) and highlighting the growing political rifts among the Bob clones.
- Not Till We Are Lost (2024 / 2025) – The fifth book, which explores the fallout of the Bobiverse civil tensions, the evolution of artificial intelligence, and new cosmic mysteries. (Note: The audiobook version was released in late 2024, followed by print and ebook editions in 2025).
Taylor has also announced a sixth book in the series, tentatively titled The Infinite Extent, which is currently in development.
The Quantum Earth Series Reading Order
If you want a break from the Bobiverse but still crave Taylor's style of scientific problem-solving, the Quantum Earth series is your next stop. This series focuses on dimensional travel, survival, and rebuilding society after a catastrophic event. The reading order is straightforward:
- Outland (Originally published in 2015, revised and re-released in 2019)
- Earthside (2023)
The Outland Revision Caveat
Readers should note that Outland was Taylor's very first novel, originally self-published in 2015. Taylor felt the original version was unpolished, so before releasing the audiobook under a major contract, he did a massive rewrite. This revised version was released in May 2019. If you are looking to read the series, make sure to get the 2019 edition of Outland, as the original 2015 self-published version has been withdrawn from most storefronts and is considered a separate, less-polished draft.
Dennis E. Taylor's Standalone Novels
These books do not require any prior reading and can be picked up at any time. They offer great entry points if you want to sample Taylor's writing without committing to a multi-book series.
- The Singularity Trap (2018) – A hard sci-fi thriller about a miner on an asteroid who encounters an alien infection that begins transforming his body into a machine. It deals with themes of humanity vs. technology in a slightly more serious tone than the Bobiverse.
- Roadkill (2022) – A lighter, humorous sci-fi story about a young man who accidentally hits an invisible alien with his car, leading to a friendship with a smart-mouthed artificial intelligence and a fight to save Earth from a galactic conspiracy.
- Flybot (2025) – Set in a near-future world where General Artificial Intelligence is illegal, a physicist discovers a rogue, unregistered piece of tech in his office, sparking a high-stakes conspiracy.
Short Stories and Novellas
Taylor has released a couple of quick, bite-sized science fiction stories that are excellent for quick reading sessions. Both were released in late 2020 as Audible Originals narrated by Ray Porter:
- A Change of Plans (2020) – A short story about a colony ship that arrives at its destination planet only to find the world has been destroyed by an asteroid, forcing the crew and colonists into a tense standoff.
- Feedback (2020) – A time-travel story about a team of researchers who build a device that can interact with the past, only to face the chaotic and immediate consequences of altering their own timeline.
The Ray Porter Audio Connection
While Dennis E. Taylor's books are excellent in print, a discussion about his work is incomplete without mentioning the audiobooks. Taylor's rise to fame is deeply tied to his partnership with narrator Ray Porter. Porter's voice acting, particularly his ability to give unique voices and nuances to dozens of different Bob clones, has made the audiobooks the preferred format for a large portion of the fanbase. In fact, Taylor's books are often released as Audible Originals first, with print and digital text editions following months later. If you are a fan of audiobooks, this is one of the few instances where the audio format is highly recommended over the traditional text format.