2024

Revenant Gun by Yoon Ha Lee

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The novel “Revenant Gun” by Yoon Ha Lee was published for the first time in 2018. It’s the third book in The Machineries of Empire series and follows “Raven Stratagem”.

Shuos Jedao remembers being 17 years old and a cadet but his body is clearly much older, with scars that indicate he was wounded in the war. Hexarch Nirai Kujen explains to him that he’s a general and orders him to reconquer the planets that broke away from the Hexarchate.

Nine years after a heavy blow was dealt to the Hexarchate, the forces that broke away from it are preparing for a new clash. Kel Cheris has her own plans, which include an investigation aimed at uncovering the secrets of Hexarch Nirai Kujen.

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

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The novel “Snow Crash” by Neal Stephenson was published for the first time in 1992.

Hiro Protagonist makes do by delivering pizzas for the Mafia since being a freelance hacker earns too little to live on. He has very tight deadlines for his deliveries and during one of these jobs, he comes across a skater/kourier who calls herself Y.T. and works for another company, becoming friends with her.

In his free time, Hiro develops his activity in the Metaverse with his katana-wielding warrior avatar. A man calling himself Raven offers Hiro a hypercard containing Snow Crash, which he describes as a new drug. Hiro doesn’t trust what might actually be in it but his fellow hacker Da5id collapses after trying Snow Crash.

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The novella “Artificial Condition” by Martha Wells was published for the first time in 2018. It won the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards as the best novella of the year. It’s the second work of “The Murderbot Diaries” series and follows “All Systems Red”.

Murderbot is looking for crucial information to understand its past and to reach the place where it can conduct its investigation, it embarks on a cargo spaceship that has no human crew but is piloted by a powerful artificial intelligence. During the voyage, some exchanges with it lead to it being nicknamed the ART (Asshole Research Transport). Despite this, the two of them begin a collaboration.

Once it reached its destination, Murderbot finds a job as a security consultant for some scientists who carried out work on behalf of a company which then severed the relationship and kept the results obtained. Soon, it realizes that the company’s owner is ready to do anything to get rid of the scientist.

Agency by William Gibson

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The novel “Agency” by William Gibson was published for the first time in 2020. It’s the second book in the Jackpot trilogy.

Verity is a beta testing expert and is hired to conduct a test of Eunice, an advanced model of digital assistant that appears to be included in specially built glasses. However, she finds it incredibly advanced, with characteristics that cause to her perplexities and fears.

Ainsley Lowbeer is working on a project connected to Verity and Eunice and her intervention in the past generates a new timeline. She tasks Wilf Netherton with intervening in that timeline, where some bad events were averted but the threat of atomic war remains.

Views of of the Simoniteuthis michaelyi's fossil

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An article published in the “Swiss Journal of Palaeontology” reports the identification of a new species of so-called vampire squid that lived about 183 million years ago, in the Lower Jurassic period, and was named Simoniteuthis michaelyi. Robert Weis, Ben Thuy, and Dirk Fuchs examined a fossil attributed to the order of the vampyromorphs (Vampyromorpha or Vampyromorphida) found at an excavation site in Bascharage, Luxembourg, in 2022. This is a single specimen that died while it was feeding on two small fish and is very well preserved, to the point that even the soft tissues fossilized.