Southeast - 2nd Book

[Nick]

I know we haven't had the first meeting. But having some thoughts on the matter of the second book, I thought I would share. Two recommendations:

Neuromancer (1984) by William Gibson
THE cyberpunk novel. One of those books I've always wanted to read, and never have gotten around to it. According to The Wiki, "the novel tells the story of a washed-up computer hacker hired by a mysterious employer to work on the ultimate hack." It would continue our trend of books who won the Hugo and the Nebula awards.

Perdido Street Station (Bas-Lag) (2000)by China Miéville
This one is less science fiction, and more fantasy/steampunk. Miéville described this book as "basically a secondary world fantasy with Victorian era technology. So rather than being a feudal world, it's an early industrial capitalist world of a fairly grubby, police statey kind!" Seems in the same vein as Wind-Up Girl, and would be a good follow-up. This did not win the Nebula or the Hugo, though it was nominated for both (and losing to Gaiman's American Gods is nothing to be ashamed of).

[Michelle]

I'm glad my scintillating titling has continued. Jennifer had recommended The Illumination: A Novel by Kevin Brockmeier. Blurb from Amazon is: When wounds and illnesses, both superficial and severe, begin emitting a beautiful shimmering light--a phenomenon quickly coined "The Illumination"--a chain of characters learn to adapt to this unexpected change in Kevin Brockmeier's incandescent novel, The Illumination. No longer able hide their own pains from the world, and suddenly exposed to the discomfiting wounds of strangers, friends, and lovers, these characters struggle to adapt to a new way of experiencing life and, in very different ways, to understand the intrinsic connection between love and pain.

[Candi]

If you're interested in computer-y sci fi, I thought Daemon was really good. It's about the murder investigation of a big computer game designer where line separating the real world and virtual world becomes blurred. If you like it at all, you'll need to follow it up with the second book: Freedom (TM).