The Scifi-punk Bookfeed

Want to walk a mile in someone else's shoes? The Many by Sylvain Neuvel. Published by Rebellion Publishing Thanks to Rebellion and Netgalley for the advance reader copy of this remarkable book! When I was a teenager, I recall intense feelings of wanting to see myself and others through the eyes of other people, especially my family and friends. This remarkable novel explores that feeling. But not just one person, but a whole group of people, virtual strangers. What starts out as a melding of just two or three minds becomes something much greater, a hivemind. How would knowing and seeing and feeling everything through someone else's point of view affect your views, your mind, your beliefs? Inside we all have beautiful parts and ugly parts: desperate, lonely, sad, angry feelings, things we dislike about ourselves; but we also have hope, kindness, love, generosity, the pride of doing something good for others, the self-worth that accompanies accomplishment. Now multiply that by 2,...

Flips The Superhero Story on it's head!  Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots If you need to run a criminal organization, or a heroic organization, you need, simply put, people to do the work. The everyday folks, who keep the lights on, buy, stock, and fix all your stuff, brainiacs to crunch the numbers, balance the sheets, HR and accounting to pay these folks and allow them to have basic healthcare.  And let's face it, who's CEO boss isn't a little bit evil? This is the story of one such small cog in the giant wheels of a supervillains empire who uses the power of data, the stories that unfurl from statistics to fight against evil, or at least against those who are hurting people, lots of innocent bystanders, including herself. I had a blast reading this book; taking this journey along with our heroine from no one of consequence to someone to be reckoned with. Sadly, it doesn't matter if you are a woman with mighty and awesome powers or not, you still have a fight on yo...

  How do you know that chat, voice, or video is really a human or not? Your Behavior Will Be Monitored, by Justin Feinstein. Published by Tachyon  In all the reviews of books I have read, and I read a heap of science fiction, I have never used the word 'prescient' to describe my thoughts on a novel; that is until now. This is foremost a prescient insight into, not a distant future, but a tomorrow that is highly plausible, chilling, but maybe hopeful, if we heed warnings. Indeed a commentary on AI sentience and what it is to be alive. In my day job I work for a company pushing AI into every product, and every tool that employees use. This whole book was relatable in a deeply personal level. I work in tech, I understand introverts and I see the way COVID has affected social competencies. Perhaps this book also quickly befriended me as I work in an office environment, and this was secondarily a satire of office life, but augmented with AI co-workers. I smiled, laughed, and nodded...