I haven't read much fiction, in ages, but the last thing was The Passage... about vampires. Raymond Feist wrote some pretty good fantasy, starting with the Riftwar Saga. Wheel of Time, by Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson was pretty good. Game of Thrones... obviously, but it still isn't done. My favorite fantasy is The Complete Chronicles of Conan by Robert Howard. Robert Jordan also wrote a decent Conan novel. Kurt Vonnegut has always been my favorite sci-fi, but it is mostly satire. Galapagos and God Bless You Mr. Rosewater both spoke to me on a pretty deep level. Ayn Rand's Anthem is pretty classic sci-fi, dystopia and it is a short read. Very concise, simple language. It has a good style. It's not either genre, but Steinbeck's "The Pearl" is also short and should be considered essential reading since it explains banking scams on a very primitive level... also with great, simple style. Tolstoy short stories are pretty good, I'd start with "How Much Land Does a Man Need?" Dostoevsky has a good one called "The orphan and the Christmas Tree" or something like that. I think Disney did a short, at one point. I like that all the great literary figures have smaller works that are usually superior than their magnum opuses in their ability to convey their message. Oh yeah, if you haven't read Timothy Zahn's Star Wars, you're missing out because his way of telling the story after Return of the Jedi is far superior than what is in the movies. https://www.afio.com/publications/VAN%20CLEAVE%20Pages%20from%20INTEL_FALLWINTER2013_Vol20_No2.pdf Also... "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson is good.