Sci Friday: Modern Masterpieces

~post by Tommy

While there is always much to be said for the classics (indeed, where would we be without the foundations laid by Asimov or the 20,000 leagues covered by Verne), the last ten years have seen some of their very own masterpieces. Here are my favorite modern masterpieces.

Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan

Morgan’s debut novel is set in a dark cyberpunk future in which mankind has spread to the stars. In addition to the ability to sail among the stars, man has developed a technology that allows people to download their memories and personality and transfer them from body to body. When one of the richest businessmen in the galaxy is killed, he calls in a favor and gets prisoner-turned-investigator Takeshi Kovacs to investigate his death and the six hours he lost since his last memory backup. To do this, Kovacs must not only dig into the mystery surrounding Laurens Bancroft and his apparent suicide, but he must also delve into the meaning of humanity and the soul. Morgan crosses dark cyberpunk and trans-humanist science fiction with noir crime writing to introduce us to the world of Takeshi Kovacs, a former military envoy, that continues in two more volumes: Broken Angels and Woken Furies.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

In the future, the ’80s will be cool again. At least that’s the theory behind Ernie Cline’s Ready Player One. In 2045 mankind has worn out many of the resources of Earth and most of the people in the world are barely scrapping by. Those who can afford it live in the virtual reality paradise of the Oasis, a game created by a designer who is two parts Will Wonka and one part Steve Jobs. When James Halliday, the man behind the Oasis, dies he hides his fortune and the control of the Oasis as an Easter Egg in his game. For five years everyone in the Oasis looks for clues hidden in Halliday’s ’80s pop culture laden video will. Then one fine day a sixteen year old kid living in the trailer park stacks in Oklahoma discovers the first riddle in Halliday’s quest. This kicks off a giant awesome adventure full of magic, suspense, and more pop culture references per page than an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Year Zero by Rob Reid

Of the thirty-seven noble cultural arts recognized by the league of alien races that shepherds all life in the galaxy, the only one at which humanity excels is music. Indeed our music is so good, and the rest of the galaxy’s so bad, that the theme song to Welcome Back Kotter was good enough to cause entire worlds to die from sheer sensory joy. In the thirty years since the aliens have discovered Earth they have disseminated a copy of every song ever written on earth to every being in the galaxy. Of course since they follow the copyright laws of the individual planet from which they borrow art, this leads to them realizing that they owe us roughly six to seven times the combined wealth of the known universe. This leads to two groups of thought amongst the aliens. Group one wants to induct Earth into their league despite the fact that we have yet to stop warring amongst ourselves or wiped out disease and poverty. Group two simply wants to blow up our planet even though that will mean destroying the galaxy’s only good source of music. The only thing that stands in the way of group two and its goal is a young copyright attorney who hates his job. Rob Reid is a great new voice in absurdist science fiction and Year Zero is an absolute scream.

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey

Mankind has achieved its dream of making it to the stars, but that dream has not turned out to be exactly what they wanted. Jim Holden, an itinerant ice miner, stumbles across a secret stashed in a broken down spaceship, a secret that could plunge the entire solar system into war. At the same time the book is also part detective novel, as a P.I. does his best to track the missing daughter of a wealthy and influential couple. His search leads him to the same broken down ship that Holden and his crew find and together the two men must figure out what’s going on on the Scopuli, and do their best to keep everyone alive. This book reads like two parts sweeping space opera, one part hard boiled mystery, and one part John Carpenter’s The Thing. It’s the best space opera I’ve read in years and the first time through I felt the same sense of awe and wonder that I had when I watched Star Wars for the first time, I cannot recommend this book enough.

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Sci Friday is a weekly post focusing on all things Sci Fi. Booksellers Tommy and Marie are you intrepid leaders on this journey through awesome new books; the best and worst of what’s come before; Sci Fi film adaptations and more. Check back next Friday for more!