Dennis E. Taylor

Dennis E. Taylor is a Canadian author and former computer programmer known for his large-scale hard science fiction stories exploring the interaction between artificial intelligence and the human condition.

Early life and career

Taylor is from the Greater Vancouver area. He attended British Columbia Institute of Technology but never completed a degree. He was a computer programmer for most of his career, having taught himself to program in his early twenties using a Tandy TRS-80. He spent most of his career working in corporate IT departments, including at Insurance Corporation of British Columbia.

Writing career

Taylor self-published his first novel, Outland, in 2015, and began working with an agent to try to publish his second novel, We Are Legion (We Are Bob). Taylor's agent struggled to find a publisher for the book but received an audiobook deal offer from Audible. The unabridged audiobook version of We Are Legion, read by Ray Porter, was a major success and was named Audible's 2016 Best Science Fiction Audiobook of the Year.

After the success of We Are Legion (We Are Bob), Taylor expanded the Bobiverse series with sequels For We Are Many and All These Worlds. The books delved into themes such as artificial intelligence, space exploration, and the future of humanity, all while maintaining a lighthearted and often humorous tone. In September 2020, Taylor released his sixth novel Heaven's River, the fourth book in the Bobiverse series. Book five, Not Till We Are Lost, followed in September 2024. The sixth book, The Infinite Extent, was released as an audiobook in September 2026, with text editions to follow in January.

Taylor's 2018 novel The Singularity Trap as well as his 2020 novel Heaven's River debuted on The New York Times Bestseller List for Fiction Audiobooks.

Taylor's works have been translated into several languages, including Japanese, German, French and Polish.

Major themes

Taylor's Bobiverse series examines themes such as cryonics, mind uploading, and artificial intelligence and their potential impacts on society and the human condition. Another major topic is global catastrophic risk, which is also featured in Outland and The Singularity Trap.

Recognition

The novel We Are Legion (We Are Bob) was a finalist of the 2019 Seiun Awards.

In October 2018, Taylor was added to the XPRIZE Foundation Science Fiction Advisory Council as a "Visionary Storyteller". This group of accomplished science fiction authors help advise the XPRIZE team on envisioning the future.

In May 2019, Taylor participated in a Talks at Google event where he shared insights into the inspirations behind his writings and discussed his plans for the upcoming years.

Personal life

Taylor resides near Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with his wife and daughter.

Works

Bobiverse (2016– )

The series follows Bob Johansson, a man whose mind is uploaded into a self-replicating space probe after death. As he creates multiple copies of himself, the “Bobs” spread across the galaxy, exploring star systems, encountering alien life, and helping humanity survive beyond Earth.

Over time, the expanding network of Bobs begins to diverge in personality and priorities, leading to internal conflicts alongside external threats. The series blends large-scale space exploration with questions about identity, autonomy, and the challenges of coordinating an ever-growing, decentralized intelligence across interstellar distances.

In 2025 it was announced that the film adaptation rights for the Bobiverse series were acquired by Lord Miller Productions

Audible Original stories

Stories released as Audible Originals as read by Ray Porter (who has also read other books by Taylor). Roadkill and Earthside were later published in paperback. As of September 2023, Feedback is available to read exclusively on Amazon's Kindle platform.