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Eight Worlds #1

Steel Beach

Name: Steel Beach
Rating: 3.97 (3367 reviews)
Author: John Varley

John Varley January 1, 1992

3.97 3.4k Ratings

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Synopsis

Fleeing Earth after an alien invasion, the human race stands on the threshold of evolution, like a fish cast on artificial shores. Their new home is Luna, a moon colony blessed with creature comforts, prolonged lifespans, digital memories, and instant sex changes. But the people of Luna are bored, restless, and suicidal — and so is the computer that monitors their existence…

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Catspaw

★ 4.16

Joan D. Vinge

CAT: Street Punk, Psion, Telepath, Survivor. . .

Kidnapped by an interstellar corporation and dragged to Earth, Cat is forced to use his skills to protect those he most hates, those who most hate him . . . .

The taMings. A cyber-augmented, DNA-incestuous clan of such wealth and power that their family arguments change the destiny of worlds. Now one taMing is a killer's target. But which? And who would dare?

Seeking answers, Cat finds lies and savagery, passion and atrocity--trails that lead from crystal valleys to clubs for silver-skinned beauties. From the homicidal enclaves of drug kings to a fanatic's pulpit. From the halls of the Assembly to a cyberspace hell. Seeking assassins, Cat discovers a mystery that could cost him his future. His sanity. His life.

Because Cat is no longer a bodyguard . . .

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The Golden Globe

★ 4.06

John Varley

Winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards, John Varley is truly one of the "greats" of science fiction, comparable only to Heinlein, Herbert, Asimov, and Clark. Now the all-time master returns -- with his long-awaited epic novel of life beyond the great beyond...All the universe is a stage, and Sparky Valentine is its itinerant thespian. He makes his way from planet to planet as part of a motley theater troupe, bringing Shakespeare -- a version of it anyway -- to the outer reaches of earth's solar system. He journeys through the outlands, where thousands of artificial satellites drift, conglomerates of junk and rock welded together to support meager communities of human life. Here Sparky plies his trade, transforming himself from young to old, fat to thin, man to woman, by altering magnetic implants beneath his skin. Indispensable hardware for a career actor and an interstellar con man wanted for murder -- for while Sparky Valentine may have a song in his heart, he also has a price on his head. But his galactic roamings are bringing him closer to home, closer to justice -- and closer to the truth of his strange and prolonged existence...

Wraith

★ 4.25

M.R. Forbes

A retired captain. An experimental starship. A war like no other.

When the research starship Galileo vanishes without a trace, the powers-that-be are quick to bury the incident, eager to prevent escalating tensions that could lead to war. As a former POW, Soren refuses to give the ship up for lost.

His daughter is one of the missing.

Taking matters into his own hands, Soren starts pulling strings and calling in favors, determined to launch a clandestine mission to bring Galileo home. When an old friend offers him a ship for the operation, he expects a rusty relic headed for the scrapyard.

Instead, he's given the Wraith—an unfinished, experimental starship with plenty of potential and just as many problems. A marvel of engineering…if his crew can keep her running.

They’d better.

Because Galileo’s disappearance is just the beginning. War is coming to the Federation from the most unlikely of places.

And Soren may be the only one who can stop it.

Diaspora

★ 4.1

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By the end of the 30th century humanity has the capability to travel the universe, to journey beyond earth and beyond the confines of the vulnerable human frame.The descendants of centuries of scientific, cultural and physical development divide into fleshers — true Homo sapiens; Gleisner robots — embodying human minds within machines that interact with the physical world; and polises — supercomputers teeming with intelligent software, containing the direct copies of billions of human personalities now existing only in the virtual reality of the polis.Diaspora is the story of Yatima — a polis being created from random mutations of the Konishi polis base mind seed — and of humankind, Of an astrophysical accident that spurs the thousandfold cloning of the polises. Of the discovery of an alien race and of a kink in time that means humanity — whatever form it takes — will never again be threatened by acts of God.

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★ 3.78

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With over a hundred million viewers, Jack Barron is a media star of the highest celebrity―think Jerry Springer crossed with Ted Koppel―and his call-in talk show is the perfect platform for reform. But every man has his price, and when a cryogenics millionaire makes Jack an offer he can't refuse―immortality―anything can happen. Bug Jack Barron, Norman Spinrad’s fourth novel, was first published in 1969, and is commonly acknowledged to be the book that established Spinrad’s brilliant style and made his name. Its exploration of the timeless and universally relevant theme of big business corrupting democratic process, stands out now as an unforgettable and bitingly satirical work of imagination that remains as relevant as ever to today’s television and media obsessed culture.

Steel Beach

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The Golden Globe

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Catspaw

The Golden Globe

Wraith

Diaspora

Hard Knocks

Idoru

Virtual Light

Bug Jack Barron

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