WIJFR: The Mote in God’s Eye

In the year 3016, the Second Empire of Man spans hundreds of star systems, thanks to the faster-than-light Alderson Drive. No other intelligent beings have ever been encountered, not until a light sail probe enters a human system carrying a dead alien. The probe is traced to the Mote, an isolated star in a thick …

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WIJFR: Snow Crash

It is a world where the Mafia controls pizza delivery, the United States exists as a patchwork of corporate-franchise city-states, and the Internet–incarnate as the Metaverse–looks something like last year’s hype would lead you to believe it should. Enter Hiro Protagonist–hacker, samurai swordsman, and pizza-delivery driver. When his best friend fries his brain on a …

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My first Amazon purchase … 8 years later

Today is the 8th anniversary of my very first Amazon.com purchase. On May 7, 2000, I placed my first order on the book-selling web site for a paperback edition of Neal Stephenson’s “Cryptonomicon.” At that time I had no idea just how much stuff I would end up purchasing from Bezos’ brainchild over the next …

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WIJFR: A Princess of Mars

Ex-confederate army captain John Carter finds himself unwittingly transported to Mars, while fleeing Apache Indians. This new world is populated by a race of monstrous Martians, whose culture is based on the ability to fight for their race. Fortunately for John, the gravitational difference between Mars and Earth has endowed him with the strength that …

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