"William T. Vollmann is dying. In his Sacramento studio, he talks America, unfinished work, and the 3,096-page opus he finished just in time."

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/73113357

Set in a future in which there are basically two types of governments: the Eastern countries have formed into a brutal autocracy called “The Federation,” which is ruled by a president who gets copied into a new body when the old one fails, and the Western countries have each turned to AI Prime Ministers, programmed to make the most beneficial decisions without human influence, with less than utopian results. We follow the stories of dissidents of the former, and cabinet members of the latter, as the world is fundamentally changed. I enjoyed the book for its exploration of how technology might be used by different sorts of governments (especially to keep the powerful in power), and for the way it captures the way people keep finding hope, even when they feel they've lost it all. It's definitely a cautionary tale for our times.

Monthly SciFi short story publication since 2006. Each month they release about 6-8 short stories (and a few non-fiction articles). The stories always feel fresh and varied from authors around the world. They don't shy away from modern topics, but try not to play the same old dystopian tropes. It can be lighthearted or heavy you never know what you will get. Even if the rare story doesn't hit, I never finished a story and felt like I regretted reading it.

Its free on the website, but if you want the epub or a physical copy, it costs a few bucks a month. The enjoyment I get from this subscription is worth every cent. I highly recommend it.

https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/

Clarkesworld is a monthly science fiction and fantasy magazine first published in October 2006. Each issue contains interviews, thought-provoking articles, and between six and eight works of original fiction. Our fiction is also available in ebook editions/subscriptions, audio podcasts, print issues, and in our annual print/ebook anthologies. Clarkesworld has been recognized with a World Fantasy Award, three Hugo Awards, and a British Fantasy Award. Our fiction has been nominated for or won the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, BSFA, Sturgeon, Locus, Shirley Jackson, Ditmar, Aurora, Aurealis, WSFA Small Press, and Stoker Awards.

The cover art is also very good imo

There are even ways to subscribe that don't use Amazon's Kindle system. I think they're currently encouraging that based off of some Amazon rule changes. I know how we are here on Lemmy.

Follow them on Mastodon!

I know people hate AI, but I find it to be a good starting place on things like this where ultimately, even if it hallucinates, little damage is done. I was discussing with it about some literary preterences. I grew up reading a lot of Asimov, although I'd never finished the Foundation series, so I'd been doing that - but I hadn't remembered how it just got completely bogged down in convesation with so little action… it got annoying.

Well, I have four recommendations I'm considering. I'd love your opinions on which one you think I should go with, and if you agree with the provided summary.

For brief reference, I adore the Discworld novels (which are fantasy, not sci-fi), The Expanse, much of Asimov's earlier works, the Miles Vorkosigan series… I think that's all I'd been talking about with it. heh. ninjaedit: Andor as well.

And if you're so anti-AI that this submission offends you, please feel free to ignore it and even block me if you wish, but I'd humbly ask you to keep AI discussion out of the comments. Obviously I have no way of enforcing that request, but I am humbly asking.

Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons

If you specifically love how Pratchett could weave distinct, isolated vignettes into a stunningly cohesive tapestry, you have to read Hyperion. The first book is essentially a sci-fi Canterbury Tales. Seven pilgrims are traveling to a distant, dangerous world on the eve of a galactic war, and they each tell their own deeply personal, vastly different story along the way. The writing is incredibly literary, the characters are richly drawn, and it all snaps together brilliantly.

Teixcalaan Series by Arkady Martine (starts with A Memory Called Empire)

This one is a masterclass in political science fiction. It follows an ambassador from a small mining station who is sent to the capital of a massive, overwhelming empire to replace her predecessor—who was murdered. It has that same incredibly tight, high-stakes imperial political tension as Andor, but wrapped in gorgeous, evocative prose. The characters are incredibly sharp, and the world-building feels intensely real and grounded.

The Culture Series by Iain M. Banks (start with The Player of Games)

This is the gold standard for beautifully written, sweeping space opera. Banks was a phenomenal writer who created a vast, post-scarcity utopian society run by highly eccentric, deeply sarcastic AI minds. Every book is a standalone story within the same universe, usually focusing on the messy, morally gray fringes where the utopia clashes with other civilizations. It has spectacular writing, profound philosophical weight, and excellent pacing.

The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells (starts with All Systems Red)

If you loved the character-driven, slightly wry tone of the Vorkosigan saga, you will adore Murderbot. It is about a heavily weaponized security cyborg that hacks its own governor module so it can stop killing people and just watch soap operas instead. It is technically a series of fast-paced, action-heavy novellas, but the absolute triumph of the series is the deeply relatable, highly introverted protagonist. The writing is tight, funny, and incredibly human.

For those that like the phone sized e-reader format.

I am in no way affiliated to Boox, I just like the idea of a phone sized E-Ink PDA/Reader/Walkman (did I age myself enough?)

cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/technology/p/1483446/new-prize-launches-for-books-co-written-with-ai

cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/tech/p/1483154/new-prize-launches-for-books-co-written-with-ai

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/72797259

The story takes place some years in the aftermath of a war that ended with a reunited Korea, in a future where robots are ubiquitous. Ruijie is a disabled young girl who walks with the aid of automated braces. While exploring a scrap yard she finds a damaged but charming robot in the shape of a boy. Jun and Morgan are estranged brother and sister, each with emotional scars from the disappearance of their older brother, a lifelike robot created by their visionary roboticist father. Jun, now a cop, is investigating the disappearance of an older model child robot, and Morgan, now a roboticist herself, is preparing for the rollout of her company's new line of advanced child robots. The story has a lot going on, with a number of interesting characters, both human and robot. There's a little too much coincidence in the circumstances that reconnect the siblings for my tastes, but the story is otherwise interesting, with a lot of exploration of how we're shaped by memories and what it means to be human.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/68766900

Started Fated by Benedict Jacka, first book in his urban fantasy series Alex Verus.

What about all of you? What have you all been reading or listening to lately?

Check Official Bingo Challenge Post and the accompanying Recommendations Post for our Bingo for 2026!

Natalie is the perfect Christian trad(itional)wife. An influencer with millions of followers, she's the perfect cook, the perfect wife to her sweet cowboy husband, and the perfect mother to her five kids (with a sixth on the way). She's a most likable woman living a perfectly traditional life on a perfectly traditional farm. At least, that's what she presents on her social media accounts; behind the camera, things are much less rosy. Things take a sharp turn when she awakens to find herself struggling to survive in a nineteenth century version of her farm house, with a harder version of her husband and similar but different children. The story alternates between the influencer timeline and the prairie timeline as things seem to get worse in both. This is an interesting book, but it's not enjoyable. The only likable character is a small child, though I at least felt sympathy for some of the other side characters. The book has a lot to say about social media, conservatism, and kindness.

Hi all,

So my wife and I have been told yesterday that the return of her breast cancer is incurable and so the treatment options are all going to involve trying to keep it at bay.

As such the first thing that they will be doing is effectively switching off her ovaries and forcing an early menopause. I know barely anything about menopause, what that is going to entail for her both physically and mentally or things to expect.

Can anyone recommend any books for me to check out that can explain and help me to understand what she is about to go through with this so that I can better help support her?

Another busy week without much reading done. Just my daily chapters of different web novels.

What about all of you? What have you all been reading or listening to lately?

Check Official Bingo Challenge Post and the accompanying Recommendations Post for our Bingo for 2026!

Looking to laugh some at some great moments.

"You cant un-lick a butthole" had my wife and I laughing VERY hard.

"Is It War?"

I read it on Koreader in my Kobo Libra Colour, I will probably buy a hard cover copy to put on the shelf. Honestly the ending made me feel empty and sad. I won't spoil, but it feels like there were many points where people could have helped the main character, but instead enabled him.

What are the thoughts of people who read it here?

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/68187610

According to interviews with more than two dozen workers, all of whom spoke under the condition of anonymity to avoid jeopardizing their employment, publishers are now using LLMs like Claude and ChatGPT to email literary agents, write publicity and back-cover copy, design cover art, and generate marketing materials, often at the direction of their executives.

At the same time, multiple editorial staffers say the widely publicized cases of authors accused of using LLMs to help write their books—like Hachette’s horror novel Shy Girl or Macmillan’s crime thriller Call Me, I’ll Hide the Body—are just the tip of the iceberg. “Every single imprint has a story of someone very esteemed who had a book canceled because of blatant AI use” without ever making the news, one editor says.

At HarperCollins senior leaders purchased Claude licenses from Anthropic months ago “but very quickly realized they didn’t know how to implement them,” according to a current employee. Dozens of junior- and senior-level staff were then “voluntold” to become “AI Champions” and were tasked with discovering use cases in monthly brainstorming sessions with staff across the company.

Our latest episode is now live, where we talk about our experiences reading The Haar by David Sodergren. Mixed opinions on this one but the basic takeaway is that if you enjoy the book equivalent of a no-brainer monster movie this is a fun read - if you like a bit more in your reading (developed characters with motivation, being shown not told, bad guys not all identical to each other) then maybe choose a different book.

As ever, no ads, no sponsors, no genAI or any of that shit. You can find it here or wherever else you get your podcasts from.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/76839834

If there are any non fiction Storygraph (non-amazon owned alternative to Goodreads) users out there willing to share your username, please comment or DM me.

I'd like to see everything you've read/are reading for my own curiosity / to potentially add to my list. I love non fiction (sociology, memoir, politics, philosophy, feminism, history, health, art/poetry etc) but don't know anyone with quite the same tastes. I use the app feature to find similar users but it's a bit hit and miss.

To add some value to this post related to a specific book, my best somewhat niche recent recommendation is Darkness Now Visible by Carol Gilligan and David A.J Richards. They offer a fascinating and well written thesis about patriarchy in modern society