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  & 33 users

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Type: fiction

Status: now reading

Author: Philip K. Dick

Tags: drugs dystopia science_fiction

Description: A Scanner Darkly is a 1977 science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick. The semi-autobiographicalA Scanner Darkly is a 1977 science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick. The semi-autobiographical story was set in a dystopian Orange County, California in the future of 1994. The book can be considered Dick's master statement on drug abuse, in light of his extensive portrayal of drug culture and drug use....

2006-06-01

  & 5 users

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Type: fiction

Status: favorite

Authors: Iain Banks Iain M. Banks

Tags: science_fiction

Description: Amazon.com
In The Player of Games, Iain M. Banks presents a distant future that couldAmazon.com
In The Player of Games, Iain M. Banks presents a distant future that could almost be called the end of history. Humanity has filled the galaxy, and thanks to ultra-high technology everyone has everything they want, no one gets sick, and no one dies. It's a playground society of sports, stellar cruises, parties, and festivals. Jernau Gurgeh, a famed master game player, is looking for something more and finds it when he's invited to a game tournament at a small alien empire. Abruptly Banks veers into different territory. The Empire of Azad is exotic, sensual, and vibrant. It has space battle cruisers, a glowing court--all the stuff of good old science fiction--which appears old-fashioned in contrast to Gurgeh's home. At first it's a relief, but further exploration reveals the empire to be depraved and terrifically unjust. Its defects are gross exaggerations of our own, yet they indict us all the same. Clearly Banks is interested in the idea of a future where everyone can be mature and happy. Yet it's interesting to note that in order to give us this compelling adventure story, he has to return to a more traditional setting. Thoughtful science fiction readers will appreciate the cultural comparisons, and fans of big ideas and action will also be rewarded. --Brooks Peck...

2005-11-23

  & 59 users

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Type: fiction

Status: —

Author: Scott Card

Tags: hugo_award science_fiction nebula_award

Description: Speaker for the Dead (1986) is a science fiction novel by Orson Scott Card and a sequel toSpeaker for the Dead (1986) is a science fiction novel by Orson Scott Card and a sequel to the novel Ender's Game. This book takes place 3,000 years after the events in Ender's Game, although due to relativistic space travel Ender himself (who now goes by his real name Andrew Wiggin) is only about 30 years older.

Whereas the previous novel was hard science fiction with armies and space warfare, Speaker for the Dead is more philosophical in nature, although it still advances a xenology for the planetary setting unique in SF. Its story finds Andrew in a human colony on the colony planet Lusitania, believed to be the only remaining planet in Card's universe with an intelligent alien race after the xenocide of the Formics ("buggers") in the Ender's Game. The novel deals with the difficult relationship between the humans and the "piggies" (or "pequeninos", since the action is set in a Catholic/Portuguese research installation) and with Andrew's attempts to bring peace to a brilliant but troubled family whose history intertwines with that of the pequeninos....

2005-09-21

  & 14 users

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Type: fiction

Status: —

Author: Kim Stanley Robinson

Tags: science_fiction nebula_award

Description: The Mars trilogy is a series of three science fiction novels by Kim Stanley Robinson, chroniclingThe Mars trilogy is a series of three science fiction novels by Kim Stanley Robinson, chronicling the settlement and terraforming of the planet Mars. The novels are Red Mars (1992), Green Mars (1993) and Blue Mars (1996). An additional collection of short stories was published as The Martians (1999)....

2005-09-20

  & 28 users

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Type: fiction

Status: —

Author: Cory Doctorow

Tags: cyberpunk science_fiction

Description: Down And Out in the Magic Kingdom is a 2003 science fiction book, the first novel by CanadianDown And Out in the Magic Kingdom is a 2003 science fiction book, the first novel by Canadian author and digital-rights activist Cory Doctorow. Probably its most notable feature is the fact that, concurrent with its publication by Tor Books, the entire text of the novel was released under a Creative Commons license on Doctorow's website, allowing the whole text of the book to be read for free and distributed without his or his publisher's permission. This has not seemed to adversely affect the book's sales; it received mostly positive reviews and sold relatively well....

2005-09-20

  & 14 users

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Type: fiction

Status: —

Author: Cory Doctorow

Tags: cyberpunk science_fiction

Description: Eastern Standard Tribe is a 2004 novel by Cory Doctorow, who also wrote Down and Out in theEastern Standard Tribe is a 2004 novel by Cory Doctorow, who also wrote Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom and A Place So Foreign and Eight more. Like Doctorow's first two novels, the entire text was released under a Creative Commons license on Doctorow's website, allowing the whole text of the book to be read for free and distributed without his or his publisher's permission....

2005-09-20

  & 193 users

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Type: fiction

Status: —

Author: Douglas Adams

Tags: humor science_fiction

Description: "Join Douglas Adams's hapless hero Arthur Dent as he travels the galaxy with his intrepid"Join Douglas Adams's hapless hero Arthur Dent as he travels the galaxy with his intrepid pal Ford Prefect, getting into horrible messes and generally wreaking hilarious havoc. Dent is grabbed from Earth moments before a cosmic construction team obliterates the planet to build a freeway. You'll never read funnier science fiction; Adams is a master of intelligent satire, barbed wit, and comedic dialogue. The Hitchhiker's Guide is rich in comedic detail and thought-provoking situations and stands up to multiple reads. Required reading for science fiction fans, this book (and its follow-ups) is also sure to please fans of Monty Python, Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, and British sitcoms."...

2005-09-20

  & 137 users

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Type: fiction

Status: —

Author: Frank Herbert

Tags: hugo_award science_fiction nebula_award

Description: Dune is a science fiction novel written by Frank Herbert and published in 1965 . A winner ofDune is a science fiction novel written by Frank Herbert and published in 1965 . A winner of the Hugo Award and Nebula Award for outstanding science fiction, Dune is popularly considered one of the great science fiction novels of all time, and is frequently cited as the best-selling science fiction novel in history[1]. Dune spawned five sequels written by Herbert, and inspired a film adaptation by David Lynch, a mini-series made by the United States Sci Fi Channel, computer games, and a series of prequels co-written by Brian Herbert, the author's son, and Kevin J. Anderson.

Set far in the future amidst a sprawling feudal galactic empire where planetary fiefdoms are controlled by noble Houses which owe allegiance to the Imperial House Corrino, Dune tells the story of young Paul Atreides, heir apparent to Duke Leto Atreides and scion of House Atreides, as he and his family relocate to the planet Arrakis, the universe's only source of the priceless spice melange. In an action-packed story that explores the complex interactions of politics, religion, ecology, technology, and human emotion, the fate of Paul, his family, his new planet and its native inhabitants, as well as the Padishah Emperor, the powerful Spacing Guild, and the secretive female order of the Bene Gesserit, are all drawn together into a confrontation that will change the course of humanity....

2005-09-20

  & 193 users

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Type: fiction

Status: —

Author: Orson Scott Card

Tags: hugo_award science_fiction nebula_award

Description: The story of a child-genius with whom many geeks enjoy identifying. The subject of the series,The story of a child-genius with whom many geeks enjoy identifying. The subject of the series, Ender, is removed from him home by the military of the world government for training against an alien menace. ...

2005-09-20

  & 113 users

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Type: fiction

Status: —

Author: Neal Stephenson

Tags: cyberpunk science_fiction

Description: The science fiction novel Snow Crash (1992), written by Neal Stephenson, follows in the footstepsThe science fiction novel Snow Crash (1992), written by Neal Stephenson, follows in the footsteps of the cyberpunk novels by such authors as William Gibson and Rudy Rucker, though Stephenson breaks away from the typical "techno punk" stories by embellishing this story with a heavy dose of satire and black humor.

Snow Crash (Stephenson's third novel) rocketed to the top of the fiction best-seller charts upon its release and established Stephenson as a major science fiction writer for the 1990s.

Like many postmodern novels, Snow Crash has a unique style and a chaotic structure which many readers find difficult to follow. It contains many arcane references to geography, politics, anthropology, philosophy, linguistics, history, and computer science, which may inspire readers to explore these topics further, or at least consult relevant reference works. The novel explores themes of reality, imagination, thought, perception, and the violent and physical nature of humanity, in the context of a socially-constructed (virtual) reality imposed on a political-economic system in the throes of radical transition....

2005-09-20