Books like Only forward by Michael Marshall Smith
Stark lives in the eclectic neighbourhood of Colour, where residents coordinate with their surroundings and strut spangly purple trousers beside the walls. Nearby is Sound, a zone where noise is banned except for a single hour of vented screams. The most perilous area, Red, offers a recreated tactical nuclear battle as a sales demonstration. When a mysterious "Something" threatens to erupt, Stark—and his friends in Red—must confront the event, which stems from his own past. The novel explores identity, memory, and the consequences of revisiting one’s history in a lively, speculative setting.
First publish date: 1994
Genre: General Fiction/General Fiction
Authors: Michael Marshall Smith
★
★
★
★
★
4.4 (7 community ratings)
How are these books recommended?
The books recommended for Only forward by Michael Marshall Smith are shaped by reader interaction. Votes on how closely books relate, user ratings, and community comments all help refine these recommendations and highlight books readers genuinely find similar in theme, ideas, and overall reading experience.
Have you read any of these books?
Your votes, ratings, and comments help improve recommendations and make it easier
for other readers to discover books they’ll enjoy.
Books similar to Only forward (23 similar books)
1818 novel by Mary Shelley about young scientist Victor Frankenstein who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox experiment.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A brilliant scientist invents a serum that grants invisibility, but the experiment turns him into a paranoid, murderous figure.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
William Gibson’s debut Sprawl novel, *Neuromancer*, blends cyberpunk with a visionary digital future, following a hacker’s final job against a powerful AI. It earned Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick awards.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Flynne, a young woman living in a drug‑reliant city, helps her veteran brother Burton test a new virtual reality game. When the beta test turns into a murder investigation, she discovers a deadly conspiracy that threatens her life.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Inspector Tyador Borlú journeys from Besźel to Ul Qoma to investigate the murder of a woman, navigating two distinct cities that both share one physical space yet have separate identities.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
After a massive comet strikes Earth, society collapses and survivors struggle to rebuild amid tsunamis, disease and ruthless scavenging, set against a backdrop of post‑apocalyptic America.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
In the grim, alchemical city of New Crobuzon, scientist Isaac Underwood faces a half-bird, half-human Garuda and a ravenous caterpillar that threatens the entire metropolis.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
In the 22nd century, visionary scientist Vannevar Morgan designs an unprecedented space elevator—36,000 km tall—docked to an equatorial island to revolutionize human space travel.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A teenager won a trip to a space station, where he encounters a mysterious ship, a deadly rescue mission, and a moon‑orbiting adventure that tests his courage and ingenuity.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
In a hilariously chaotic post-apocalypse, ex‑college friends Gonzo Lubitch and his buddy team up for a perilous mission that teeters between kung-fu combat, bizarre allies, and a sinister plot to seize global domination.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Robert Silverberg’s Hugo‑winning novella "Nightwings" explores a world dominated by the mystical Avluela the Flier, whose scarlet and ebony wings guide a lone watcher to an ancient city, leaving the sky and space unguarded.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
H. G. Wells’s speculative novel envisions a future World State, a benevolent dictatorship that prioritizes science, mandates English worldwide, and strives for a utopian society, while foreseeing a Second World War.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A collection of fifteen short stories by Arthur C. Clarke that explore speculative futures, from the dawn of satellite communications to a world six thousand years ahead.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
The Rook, by Daniel O'Malley, blends science‑fiction, fantasy, and paranormal elements to craft a fresh speculative narrative that invites readers into an imaginative, genre‑crossing world.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
In an alternate 1937, a totalitarian Nazi world has stripped women of identity, turning them into mere breeders while men live like sterile automatons. The novel questions how such a dystopia emerged.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A collection of interwoven tales where time travel, alien encounters, and future civilizations collide, each exploring the limits of humanity amid bizarre, distant worlds.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Following the Accident that sterilizes all males, Earth’s society deteriorates as factories shut down, cities crumble, and the remaining population retreats to isolated villages whose youngest members are in their fifties.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
A curated collection of Arthur C. Clarke’s finest short stories set on Earth, showcasing his view of our planet as a shared space within the cosmos.
Similar?
✓ Yes
0
✗ No
0
Some Other Similar Books
Spaceman Blues by Bryan SugarsHave a similar book in mind? Let others know!
Please login to submit books!