Blindsight
The first Firefall novel and a self-contained introduction to Watts's hard science fiction.
Author guide
Peter Watts Books in Order
Peter Watts (born 1958) is a Canadian science-fiction author and former marine biologist. His fiction includes the Rifters sequence, the Firefall novels, and the Sunflower cycle, with recurring interests in biology, consciousness, artificial intelligence, ecology, and posthumanism. He also writes essays and nonfiction.
science fictionhard science fictionnonfiction
Catalog record updated .
Not sure where to begin?
Start with one of these
Starfish
The opening novel of the Rifters sequence.
The Freeze-Frame Revolution
A standalone novella and the book-length entry in the Sunflower cycle.
Read in order
Books by series
novel sequence · complete
Rifters
A near-future sequence about genetically modified geothermal workers and the ecological threat of the organism known as the betahemoth.
- 1 Starfish
Book 1 · novel · 1999
Civilization rests on the backs of its outcasts. So when civilization needs someone to run generating stations three kilometers below the surface of the Pacific, it seeks out a special sort of person for its Rifters program. It recruits…
- 2 Maelstrom
Book 2 · novel · 2001
An enormous tidal wave on the west coast of North America has just killed thousands. Lenie Clarke, in a black wetsuit, walks out of the ocean onto a Pacific Northwest beach filled with the oppressed and drugged homeless of the Asian world…
- 3 βehemoth: β-Max
Book 3 · novel · 2004
Starfish lit the fuse. Maelstrom was the explosion. But five years into the aftermath, things aren't quite so simple as they once seemed... Lenie Clarke--rifter, avenger, amphibious deep-sea cyborg--has destroyed the world. Once exploited…
- 4 βehemoth: Seppuku
Book 4 · novel · 2005
Hiding out with her fellow cyborgs and their surviving creators for five years, Lenie Clarke is horrified when they are discovered by the doomsday microbe Behemoth, a situation that forces Lenie to take responsibility for her role in…
novel sequence · complete
Firefall
A science-fiction sequence exploring consciousness, artificial intelligence, alien intelligence, and posthumanity.
- 1 Blindsight
Book 1 · novel · 2006
*Two months since the stars fell...* Two months since sixty-five thousand alien objects clenched around the Earth like a luminous fist, screaming to the heavens as the atmosphere burned them to ash. Two months since that moment of brief,…
- 2 The Colonel
Book 2 · novella · 2014 Optional
From the author of Blindsight comes Peter Watts's sci-fi adventure story "The Colonel," an action-packed Tor.com Original Colonel Keaton is in trouble. His wife has retreated into a virtual heaven and his son remains missing after joining…
- 3 Echopraxia
Book 3 · novel · 2014
A follow-up to the Hugo Award-nominated Blindsight, Echopraxia is set in a 22nd-century world transformed by scientific evangelicals, supernatural beings and ghosts, where defunct biologist Daniel Brüks becomes trapped on a spaceship…
story cycle · ongoing
Sunflower
A cycle centered on the Eriophora, a starship building interstellar transfer gates across immense spans of time and space.
- 1 The Freeze-Frame Revolution
Book 1 · novella · 2018
"How do you stage a mutiny when you're only awake one day in a million? How do you conspire when your tiny handful of potential allies changes with each job shift? How do you engage an enemy that never sleeps, that sees through your eyes…
Outside the series
Bibliography by category
Novels (2)
- Crysis: Legion
novel · 2011
A soldier on his own in alien-controlled New York City, on the run from his own superiors as well as the enemy when the rest of his unit is massacred, is convinced that he might be able to change everything if he only knew the true…
- Peter Watts Is an Angry Sentient Tumor: Revenge Fantasies and Essays
nonfiction · 2019
"A brilliant bastard." --Cory Doctorow "Makes sure we understand the biology and neurology behind both vampirism and zombieism, whether we want to or not." --Locus "Watts, undoubtedly, is a genius." ―Medium "Comfort, of course, is the…
Other (2)
- Beyond the Rift
collection · 2013
Combining complex science with skillfully executed prose, these edgy, award-winning tales explore the shifting border between the known and the alien. The beauty and peril of technology and the passion and penalties of conviction merge in…
- Ten Monkeys, Ten Minutes
collection · 2001
Frequently asked questions about Peter Watts
Who is Peter Watts?
Peter Watts is a Canadian hard-science-fiction author and former marine biologist. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia and is known for scientifically rigorous fiction.
Sources: us.macmillan.com (opens in a new tab)rifters.com (opens in a new tab)
What did Peter Watts do before becoming a science-fiction writer?
He trained in marine biology and completed a 1991 University of British Columbia Ph.D. on harbour-seal behaviour. His career included research, teaching, and consulting in marine-mammal science.
Source: rifters.com (opens in a new tab)
What influenced Peter Watts's interest in science fiction?
Watts has said that he discovered science fiction at age six through a radio play based on Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, around the same time he became interested in marine biology. He remains drawn to science fiction because it explores where humanity and other species may be going.
Source: actusf.com (opens in a new tab)
What awards has Peter Watts won?
His story “The Island” won the 2010 Hugo Award for Best Novelette, while “The Things” won the 2010 Shirley Jackson Award for Short Story.
Sources: thehugoawards.org (opens in a new tab)shirleyjacksonawards.org (opens in a new tab)
What is Peter Watts's legacy in science fiction?
Watts is regarded as an important twenty-first-century science-fiction writer whose hard SF uses biology, engineering, and ideas about consciousness to examine ecological and posthuman futures. His work has also become part of university teaching in fields including philosophy and neuropsychology.
Sources: sf-encyclopedia.com (opens in a new tab)us.macmillan.com (opens in a new tab)