What Was It?
by Fitz James O'Brien
****
Entertaining, old school horror that envelopes you in the aesthetic of late 1800's fiction. First in the Miskatonic Literary Society readings.
Woken Furies
by Richard K. Morgan
***
Entertaining, but semi-incoherent story with a revolving door of characters. Nicely evolves the Martian artifacts theme that persists in the background across all Kovacs books.
Broken Angels
by Richard K. Morgan
**
Largely forgettable with too many paper characters. Steals a little from Gibson's incorporation of voodoo into cyberspace.
The Faceless God
by Tomas Vincente
***
A valiant effort to connect Lovecraftian mythology with Egyptian mythology and archetypes in witchcraft. Although short, it is filled with quality research and inferences that help bring another facet of reality to the Lovecraft Mythos.
Echoes from the Primal Grimoire: Kenneth Grant, H.P. Lovecraft and Magical Reality in the Quantum Universe
by Richard Ward
***
Never quite gets around to the "quantum universe" in enough detail that would warrant a subtitle inclusion, but Ward does provide a very readable expose of the Grant/Typhonian/Lovecraft influence.
Shades in Mauve: A History of the Typhonian Tradition
by Edward Gauntlett
****
Incredibly lucid "historical" account of the Typhonian Tradition across time. Leans heavily on the incorporation of ideas through a mythological context.
Sounds Beyond Meaning: Kenneth Grant & His Work
by Michael Staley, Caroline Wise, Mike Magee, Alaster Aleph, Edward Gauntlett, and Richard Ward
***
Edward Gauntlett and Michael Staley both have stand-out essays exploring Kenneth Grant's work, with Staley's doing an excellent job of exploring the use of fiction as a tool.
Altered Carbon
by Richard K. Morgan
*****
Read the book before you watch the first season of the show. Probably the best modern (i.e., published post-2000) cyberpunk book out there.
Mona Lisa Overdrive
by William Gibson
*****
Each Gibson Sprawl story escalates the pseudo-religious themes, the self exploration, and the merging of humanity and technology. The only natural conclusion is to go outside of humanity.
Count Zero
by William Gibson
*****
Corporate espionage, vodoun loa, cyberjockey wannabes... Count Zero tells an engaging story among the backdrop of emerging artificial intelligence and programmable biology.
Neuromancer
by William Gibson
*****
The original. Although cyberpunk (or proto-cyberpunk) existed before, Neuromancer defined the genre.
Burning Chrome
by William Gibson
****
Some stories are okay at best, while others really break through. Rating is based on the excellent stories in the Sprawl universe (e.g., Johnny Mnemonic, Burning Chrome, New Rose Hotel).
The Infinite Resource: The Power of Ideas on a Finite Planet
by Ramez Naam
***
Three stars for when it was published, but two stars reading it today. Quality, optimistic view of overcoming climate and energy obstacles, but also capitalist apologetics.
Snow Crash
by Neal Stephenson
***
Four stars for the cyberpunk, but loses a star because of the overt satire. The characterization of the metaverse gets all the press, but Stephenson shines with his exploration of Sumerian mythology and viruses.
The Ministry for the Future
by Kim Stanley Robinson
**
Read it to understand the possible fallout from climate change and to understand potential solutions. Don't read it as a fiction book.
The King in Orange: The Magical and Occult Roots of Political Power
by John Michael Greer
**
Very little actual occult discussion. Although Greer is correct in his assessment of Clinton's downfall and Trump's appeal, he loses credibility
by acting as an apologist for Trump's actions and policies.
The Boy Who Could Change the World
by Aaron Swartz
***
Collection of blog posts and essays. Not the best read, but offers insight into Swartz's thoughts from different years in this life.
Time Loops
by Eric Wargo
***
Starts slow. Then ramps up to a mind-blowing hypothesis. Slows down again. Then Philip K. Dick. The hypothesis makes a lot of logical sense though.
The Red Web
by Andrei Soldatov & Irina Borogan
*****
This is the gold standard for the history of Russian telecoms and Internet—the growth of technology through the lens of Russian geopolitics.
The Conspiracy Against the Human Race
by Thomas Ligotti
***
Introduction into the philosophy of pessimism. Starts and ends strong, but drags long throughout the middle. Ligotti is most comfortable analyzing Lovecraft, Shelley, Conrad, etc., but seems less so in his philosophical arguments.
The STEMpunk Project
by Trent Fowler
***
Short, blog post-like collection (self-published
by the author) of meta-learning techniques that borders on metaphysics, and contains a small handful of gems.
Time Traveler: A Scientist's Personal Mission to Make Time Travel a Reality
by Dr. Ronald L. Mallett
****
An emotional biography about one man's attempt to build a working time machine to visit his deceased father in the past.