Automatic Noodle★★★★★
Annalee Newitz A short but joyful tale of creating the future you want out of the present you’ve been stuck with, told by robots who would rather make noodles than war.
City of Illusions★★★★☆
Ursula K. Le Guin How can you be yourself when you don’t know who you really are? A story of isolation, adaptation, kindness, cruelty, trust and hope, and above all, how to piece together the truth (or at least pick out the lies) on a future, depopulated Earth.
Cordwainer Smith: Short Fiction★★★★☆
Paul Linebarger Three mid-century science-fiction stories about the future of war, space travel, symbiosis, and the dangers of cutting off your own humanity.
The Downloaded★★★★☆
Robert J. Sawyer A short, fast tale of frozen people reawakening after the fall of civilization, built around the premise that you need to keep a frozen person’s consciousness active in VR, and there are very different reasons you might put people into cryo storage and a simulation. Not a lot of plot, mainly concepts and character studies.
Flashforward (Novel)★★★★★
Robert J. Sawyer A fascinating exploration of time, destiny and free will after everyone on Earth gets a glimpse of the same moment 20 years in the future.
Good Time Travel Comics★★★★★Some DC stories I can recommend include DC One Million, JLA: Rock of Ages, Time Masters, and Chronos.
Head On★★★★★
John Scalzi The sequel to Lock In is a fast read with intriguing concepts, fun characters and an interesting mystery. This time locked-in FBI agent Chris Shane investigates the death of a locked-in athlete in a sport too extreme for human bodies, played with remotely-controlled robots.
Interference★★★★☆
Sue Burke An intriguing followup to Semiosis that weaves several drastically different sentient species (both plant and animal) into a story about factions, community, freedom, communication and war.
Parable of the Sower★★★★★
Octavia Butler Hard to put down. And hard to pick up again. It’s certainly not a fun book, but it’s extremely engaging, despite the bleakness of the slow-apocalypse setting and story.
Ready Player One (Book)★★★☆☆
Ernest Cline Back when I read it, the nostalgia and scavenger hunt were enough for me. Now, not so much.
Ready Player One (Movie)★★★★☆
Steven Spielberg Better than I expected, having soured on the book by the time it came out. Not a straight adaptation so much as a rewrite of the same premise that’s more character-driven and yes, more cinematic. With Spielberg.
Soonish★★★★★
Kelly and Zach Weinersmith Fascinating, accessible, funny, and still relevant overview of cutting-edge tech, even though it took me 7 years to get around to reading it.
Star Trek: Picard - Season 1★★★☆☆I have mixed feelings about the first season of Picard. But later seasons have given me a new appreciation for it.
The Telling★★★★★
Ursula K. Le Guin A thoughtful tale of discovery, as an observer from Earth struggles to find and understand fragments of the lost cultures hidden beneath a society that’s thrown away its past in favor of a single vision.
The Time Machine★★★★☆
H.G. Wells A bit dry, but it draws you in, and if the plot is simple, it’s enough to wrap around some thought-provoking speculation about the future of humanity - and a critique of industrial society.
Usurpation★★★★☆
Sue Burke A different sort of book than Semiosis and Interference, taking place entirely on Earth long after the second Pax expedition returns. Can the bamboo keep humans’ chaotic conflicts in check? Where do the robots fit in? With so many forms of intelligence, who counts as a person, anyway?
Worlds of Exile and Illusion★★★★☆
Ursula K. Le Guin Interesting to see Le Guin as she’s developing her craft. Not the best place to start with her work, but absolutely worth reading.
