3 book recommendations from Eliot Peper
Amazon is running a sale on my science fiction novel, Cumulus, and you can get the ebook today for just $.99. Led by a diverse cast, Cumulus is a dark, gritty rollercoaster ride through a near-future San Francisco Bay Area ravaged by economic inequality and persistent surveillance. It's earned praise from Businessweek, Gizmodo, Popular Science, Geekdad, and TechCrunch. In the words of Ars Technica, "Cumulus is your new favorite surveillance-fueled dystopian novel. It's a future we can all recognize - and one that we should all be genuinely afraid of."
Longtime fans will know that when Cumulus came out in May, I committed to donating the first six months of proceeds to help head off some of the darkest aspects of the future the book portrays. I'm extremely proud to report that this week I donated a total of more than $10,000 to the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Chapter 510. EFF fights to protect our civil rights in the digital world and Chapter 510 provides badly-needed literacy programs to underprivileged youth in Oakland. As readers and champions of the book, you are the people who made this possible and gave a science fiction adventure some real social impact. Thank you and kudos.
And now, books I love that you might too:
The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway is a kaleidoscopic ride through a future in which reality is tearing apart at the seams. Packed with kung-fu secrets, Mad Max-esque chases, relentless action, and unforgettable characters, this novel is a funhouse designed with breathtaking creativity and evil genius. But the most striking parts of the story are its heart-wrenchingly human moments and the hidden kernels of insight into the tragic/comic currents that shape our societies and individual lives.
Distrust That Particular Flavor by William Gibson is the most thought-provoking collection of essays I've ever read. Gibson, one of my all-time favorite novelists, shows that his pen has equal power when dissecting our world in nonfiction. So many pages are dog-eared in my paperback copy that I may as well simply reread it immediately. The essays weave together history, narrative, razor-sharp intelligence, and Gibson's unique perspective to yield many moments of clarity, compassion, and catharsis.
Normal by Warren Ellis is a technothriller starring a motley crew of professional futurists who wind up at a special recovery center for those driven insane by the bleak inevitability of the future they're paid to predict. The condition, termed "abyss gaze," is a something we all experience in these turbulent times. Darkly funny and compulsively readable, the story wrestles with surveillance, privacy, and how technology is radically reshaping our most fundamental assumptions.
Bonus recommendation: Cory Doctorow released Car Wars, a science fiction short story told through collection of multimedia vignettes. The tale explores the ethical, political, and technical dilemmas presented by self-driving cars or, as Doctorow would describe them, "computers you put your body in."
In other news, I'm hard at work on the rough draft of a new novel that wrestles with the role algorithms play in mediating our digital lives. I interviewed CIA operative turned NYT bestselling author Barry Eisler about the life lessons he's learned from his various and sundry adventures. I also talked to media entrepreneur Courtland Allen about how his Indie Hackers project has exploded in popularity over the past few months. Finally, the folks at decipherSciFi invited me on the show to discuss what Minority Report tells us about the future we're barreling into.
If you enjoy this newsletter and want to support it, forward this email to a friend. I love sharing amazing stories that explore the intersection of technology and culture. The goal of this newsletter is to recommend books, both fiction and nonfiction, that crackle and fizz with big ideas, keep us turning pages deep into the night, challenge our assumptions, help us find meaning in a changing world, and make us think, feel, and ask hard questions. In an age of digital abundance, quality is the new scarcity. The right book at the right time can change your life.
I also pull back the curtain on my creative process. When I'm not reading books, I'm writing them. If you're interested, you can find my books right here. They've been praised by Businessweek, Popular Science, TechCrunch, io9, and Ars Technica. I'd love to hear what you think if you give them a read.
Cheers, Eliot
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