envisioning ascendancies mirrorshades worldchanging

books:

ASIMOV'S SCIENCE FICTION - Volume 9, number 10 - October Oct 1985: Green Days in Brunei; The Things That ...

1 review
Shawna (editor) (Bruce Sterling; Frederik Pohl; Avon Swofford; Gardner Dozios; Michael Swanwick; John M. Ford; Karen Joy Fowler) McCarthy

Davis Publications, 1985

Great reading!
This digest size sci-fi pulp magazine has stories by sf great Frederik Pohl, Gardner Dozois & Michael Swanwick & others, including the amusing "Scrabble With God," by John M. Ford.

Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century

50 reviews
Alex Steffen

"Harry N. Abrams, Inc.", 2006

An inspirational call to find your environmental calling
I found this to be among the most inspiring books that I have read this year. It is not a narrative but a vast collection of small essays and notes covering topics related to changing our environment for the better. Some stories are inspirational accounts of what others have done, others are calls to action for what can be done. They focus on six categories - stuff, shelter, cities, community, ...

20-Minute Crafts

1 review
Bruce Sterling, Kathie Stull

Topeka Bindery, 2002

Great Easy Crafts for Kids
Our daughter has been using this book almost exclusively to make projects for her summer craft camp for 2 - 7 year year olds. The crafts are wonderful, easy, inexpensive to get supplies for, well laid out and in a word the book is wonderful!

Schismatrix Plus

36 reviews
Bruce Sterling

Ace Books, 1996

Prophetic
I've read this novel 4 times, which beats Dune and The Silmarillion by one. This is easily one of the most richly imagined futures ever conceived. And it has aged better than just about anything else written in this era (early 80's). As far as it being "inacessible": Go read one of those awful Dune prequels if you want to be spoon-fed your predigested pap. Come back when you're ready.

The Glass Bees (New York Review Books Classics)

9 reviews
Ernst Junger

NYRB Classics, 2000

Top Ten ? Definitely in the Top 100 for the 20th Century
How do you even begin to do justice to a novel like this? I would imagine that this could very well be a polarizing novel. (Keep in mind my personal philosophy is largely derived from Rene Guenon, et al.) However, I don't think anyone could doubt the quality of the prose itself. As stated, very little actually happens. Actually, the "action" herein is probably a mere tenth or so of the ...

Crystal Express

4 reviews
Bruce Sterling

Ace, 1990

simply amazing
The first time I read this I was blown away. These stories are chock full of ideas, and at the same time contain some of the most weirdly beautiful moments I've ever read in SF. The impact hasn't really lessened with any of the half-dozen re-reads in the time since. Highly recommended to any fan of intelligent SF (not space opera).

Around the World in Eighty Days (Modern Library Classics)

2 reviews
Jules Verne

Modern Library, 2003

very exciting
Around The World in 80 Days is a thrilling adventure tale of Philleas Fog, a rich Englishman and his servant. He placed a wager of 20,000 pounds that he can go around the World In Eighty Days, and the people accepted it. So he got on a train and he was off. On the way he encounters Indians, gets arrested, and meets killers. will he get back in time to win the bet? Or will he lose everything? Find ...

Year's Best Fantasy 6 (Year's Best Fantasy)

1 review
Bruce Sterling, Esther Friesner, ...

Tachyon Publications, 2006

Bizarre and beautiful
YEAR'S BEST FANTASY 6, edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, is an engaging anthology of the absurd, the fantastic, the beautiful, and the horrifying, comprising twenty-three stories written by some of the best in the industry. The tales range from light and whimsical, as in "Still Life with Boobs" by Anne Harris, to dark and chilling, as in Laird Barron's much-acclaimed novella, "The ...

Tales of Old Earth

6 reviews
Michael Swanwick

Frog Books, 2001

The body of work of a true Master
Michael Swanwick's latest collection 'Tales of Old Earth' is masterful. The collection of stories ranges from Hard SF to the so-called Hard Fantasy (don't ask me to explain it). There are Hugo and World Fantasy Award Winners and numerous stories that were nominated for major awards. It's unfortunate that Michael Swanwick isn't widely-recognized as the writer that he is. His work is ...

Tomorrow Now: Envisioning the Next 50 Years

4 reviews
Bruce Sterling

Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2003

Amazing!
Tomorrow Now is essentially a long and brilliant essay by Bruce Sterling, a noted science fiction writer and futurist covering some of his ideas of what the future may hold. Sterling very cleverly breaks the book into seven parts based upon a soliloquoy from Shakespeare covering the ages of man from birth to death, and wittily prophesies what life may shape itself into in our near future. Two ...

HACKER CRACKDOWN, THE

41 reviews
Bruce Sterling

Bantam, 1992

Essential reading on computers, freedom and privacy.
Bruce Sterling of Cyberpunk fame takes a journalistic approach to researching law and disorder on the electronic frontier by examining two specific events in depth : the 1990 Operation Sundevil, a concerted nationwide effort by district attorneys, the Secret Service, the FBI, local authorities and various Telco security to bust and publicize a hacker crackdown; and the resulting trials and ...

The Difference Engine.

1 review
William & Sterling, Bruce. Gibson

Bantam Books, 1992

Great read
Excellent alternate history book. But first a history lesson. In the 19th century C.E. a man by the name of Sir Charles Babbage (hardware man) designed a mechanical, steam-powered calculating machine (World's first computer). He was aided by Lady Ada Byron the Countess of Lovelace (software woman; Ada programming language is named after her). The Difference Engine takes place mid 19th ...

A Place So Foreign and Eight More

10 reviews
Cory Doctorow

Running Press, 2003

Imaginative stories that defy easy classification
The nine stories contained in _A Place So Foreign_ can only be easily classified together as "imaginative" - any other grouping fails to do them justice. From the cyberpunk (or "Nerdc0re" as the author describes it) story "0wnz0red," the alien buddy story "Craphound," the time-travelling caper "A Place so Foreign," and the dark fantasy "Return to Pleasure Island," the author shows that he can be ...

Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction January 2007

1 review
marta randall, bruce sterling, ..., 2007

Not Free SF Reader
It seems like, with a story average of 3.33 this is a pretty average issue for one of these types of magazines. Lucius Shepard's film review sections confirms my opinion that I do not ever need to waste any hours on a Wicker Man remake, and some of the book stuff looks at some Slipstream type books, which apparently even anthology editors can't even define. Charles de Lint mentions the Touch ...

Ascendancies: The Best of Bruce Sterling

1 review
Bruce Sterling

Subterranean Press, 2007

good synopsis of Sterling's works
Bruce Sterling fans will find nothing new here, sadly. But the selection of his best works will be a pleasant reread. While newcomers to Sterling's works can get an excellent synopsis of why he is so highly regarded. The stories in this book originally appeared in sundry magazines, scattered over 20 or so years. The diversity of topics speaks to a versatile writing ability. As to what is be ...

Holy Fire

38 reviews
Bruce Sterling

Gollancz, 1997

Surprisingly Excellent
This book was a big surprise to me. I have been a fan of the Cyberpunk or Movement genre since the 80's, and while Gibson and Rucker have captivated me with almost every book they write, Sterling's work has always... lacked something for me. I've enjoyed his short stories more than I have his novels, and have given them a fair shot. Most of them I would rate about a 3. This novel however, I ...

Shaping Things (Mediaworks Pamphlets)

13 reviews
Bruce Sterling

The MIT Press, 2005

Setting the agenda..
If you're looking for a book on sustainable design, the intertwining of the informational and the material, and RFID, look no further. Sterling's account is more than a book for designers. Though some angles tend to originate from design-related topics, the implications and responsibilities pertaining to design cannot belong to a community of designers per se. That's a pretty self-evident ...

Globalhead

8 reviews
Bruce Sterling

Spectra, 1994

Third World Posse
"Apocalypse is boring," so spaketh Chairman Bruce, in his mission to overcome the faux-Terminator after-the-bomb scenarios which typify so much contemporary SF hack-work. It's been a long time coming since J. G. Ballard's classic planetary-disaster novels; those who do SF in his wake must write their way to new levels of subtlety and informed speculation, become a legitimate participant in the ...

A Good Old-fashioned Future

14 reviews
Bruce Sterling

Gollancz, 2001

The Quintessence of Sterlingism
A Good Old-Fashioned Future, (...), is an anthology of seven stellar stories authored by Austin, Texas novelist and seer Bruce Sterling. These yarns were originally published in magazines -- such as Asimov's, Hayakawa's Science Fiction Magazine, Omni, and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, -- that were sold between 1993 and 1998. And with the exception of one tale, they are all ...

Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology

14 reviews

Arbor House Pub Co, 1986

Best Collection For the Genre
This is simply a fantastic collection of the best stories of my favorite literary subgenre, the Cyberpunk Movement in the 1980s and early 1990s. While I may not like William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, I am not ignorant when it comes to their importance in popularizing and shaping the genre. Also here are Rudy Rucker, the acting grandfather of the genre; and Pat Cadigan, the Queen of Cyberpunk ...

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