Ask HN: Favorite Fiction Books of 2018?

Martha Wells' The Murderbot Diaries (a series of four novellas) was completed this year. It's about an AI which figures out how to break out of it's control module, and decides to not go on a stereotypical murderous rampage, and instead just do their job well enough that no one notices they're watching soap operas in their free time.

Elevation by Stephen King. I'd count King among my favorite authors. I regularly go back to reread classics like Salem's Lot and The Stand. But I've fallen out of the habit of reading him lately because his output is so prodigious, and his books have taken on a sameness that I find wearying. In that context, Elevation, which is sweet-natured and short, is a refreshing change of pace and probably my favorite King book of the last 20 years.

And another vote for the Murderbot Diaries. Not groundbreaking, but fast and fun with an interesting POV character.

Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville (of Moby Dick fame.) Incredibly well-written and hilarious short story about an apathetic office worker.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartleby,_the_Scrivener

http://moglen.law.columbia.edu/LCS/bartleby.pdf

Kind of OT but since this is a thread about fiction books, I read a very interesting short story on HN but can't remember the author or the title. It was about a person who meets god and then finally realizes that every person he has met on earth is his past self (or incarnation?). Anyone know that one? Also any good recommendations for similar short scifi stories?

Past Tense - Lee Child

The Forbidden Door - Dean Koontz

The Crooked Staircase - Dean Koontz

The Outsider - Stephen King

Sleeping Beauties - Stephen King & Owen King

The Fallen - David Baldacci

Zeroes - Chuck Wendig

The Supernatural Enhancements - Edgar Cantero

A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller Jr.

A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle

I enjoyed Lake Success a lot.