Books like Snow Crash
30 science fiction books to read after Snow Crash, by Stephenson, Neal, the closest match first.
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1. Anathem
by Stephenson, Neal
- Same author
- On the same lists
Wow, what a ride from beginning to end. True to a Neal Stephenson tradition, it ties a number of completely different ideas and themes together into a (somehow) working thread....
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2. The Diamond Age
by Stephenson, Neal
- Same author
- On the same lists
A coming of age story for a young girl in a world where nanotech has become part of all aspects of life.
Unlike the typical steampunk,, Neal Stephenson’s masterpiece does not feature steam and clockwork technology, but futuristic nano-technology that’s pervaded society on every level. This novel is so much more than...
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The Sprawl book 1 Start here
3. Neuromancer (1985)
by Gibson, William
- On the same lists
Gibson is the father of Cyberpunk and this novel in particular is significant. In this novel the term cyberspace is coined.
Case was the best hacker in the Sprawl until his employers damaged his nervous system, and now he can no longer reach cyberspace. He drifts through the criminal underworld of...
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Zones Of Thought book 1 Start here
4. A Fire Upon The Deep
by Vernor Vinge
- On the same lists
The first book in the Zones of Thought series and tells the tale of a galactic war. In the story the mind's potential is determined by its location in space.
Set thousands of years into the future, the universe is inhabited by various races, including super-intelligent entities in the Transcend and the simple creatures and technology of the Unthinking Depths....
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5. Termination Shock
by Stephenson, Neal
- Same author
A billionaire has an idea for reversing global warming, but will it work? And what will the consequences for the planet be? A disparate group of characters from around the...
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6. The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.
by Stephenson, Neal
- Same author
Tristan Lyons hires Melisande Stokes, a Harvard linguist, to translate historic texts for a classified government agency, the Department of Diachronic Operations. Her translations point to a past in which...
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7. Seveneves
by Stephenson, Neal
- Same author
"What would happen if the world were ending? A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band...
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8. The Windup Girl (2010)
by Bacigalupi, Paolo
- On the same lists
In a future Bangkok, walled in against rising seas and kept alive by a ruthless seed bank, the world's calories are controlled by a few giant corporations. Anderson Lake poses...
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9. Timescape (1981)
by Benford, Gregory
- On the same lists
A novel about ecological issues and scientific experiments that address current events at the time of writing.
In 1998 an ecological catastrophe is poisoning the oceans and the atmosphere. A group of scientists in Cambridge try to send a message back in time using tachyons, particles that...
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10. The Aleutian Trilogy
by Gwyneth Jones
- On the same lists
Gwyneth Jones's first novel for adults, Divine Endurance, set in a richly imagined South East Asia, marked the arrival of a novelist intent on using science fiction to explore the...
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11. The Affirmation
by Priest, Christopher
- On the same lists
In contemporary Britain, a young man called Peter Sinclair loses his job and his girlfriend, and retreats to a remote cottage where he sets out to write his life story....
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The Sparrow book 1 Start here
12. The Sparrow
by Mary Doria Russell
- On the same lists
Few debut novels since Neuromancer have had the impact that Mary Doria Russell achieved with The Sparrow. After this novel and its sequel, Children of God, she turned to writing...
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13. The Time Ships
by Stephen Baxter
- On the same lists
1995 was the 100th anniversary of the publication of The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, and in celebration Stephen Baxter produced one of the best novels in his long and...
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Fall Revolution book 1 Start here
14. The Star Fraction
by Ken Macleod
- On the same lists
Ken MacLeod was a lifelong friend of Iain Banks, and their interest in science fiction was parallel, though MacLeod's interest in Trotskyist politics gave his work a harder political edge...
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15. The Child Garden
by Geoff Ryman
- On the same lists
Imagine a London that has become semi-tropical, where people photosynthesise, where cancer has been cured but the human lifespan has been cut in half. Imagine a place where viruses are...
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The Ender Quintet book 1 Start here
16. Ender's Game (1986)
by Card, Orson Scott
- On the same lists
The first in a famous series that seems to become more literary as its characters age. Follows a child prodigy and in the process makes the reader think about war, the means to war, and even loneliness.
Earth has survived two invasions by an insect-like alien race, and the International Fleet is training the most gifted children to lead the next defence. Six-year-old Andrew "Ender" Wiggin is...
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17. Lanark
by Alasdair Gray
- On the same lists
Back in the 1950s, a young Alasdair Gray entered a short story in a competition. It came second. That story was part of what would become, nearly 30 years later,...
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18. Riddley Walker, Expanded Edition
by Russell Hoban
- On the same lists
Hoban first made his name with books for children, such as the wonderful The Mouse and His Child. When he turned to writing novels for adults, although they seemed to...
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19. The Handmaid's Tale
by Margaret Atwood
- On the same lists
An award winning, Canadian novel that explores themes of women in subjugation and agency in a futuristic theocracy.
Throughout its history, one of the strongest and most interesting aspects of science fiction has been its use in satire. And this is just about the most stunning of contemporary...
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20. Mindplayers
by Pat Cadigan
- On the same lists
Allie Haas likes to get high. Her dealer likes to get her high. One day he convinces her to try a new, stolen madcap' - very illegal. The experience nearly...
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The Book Of The New Sun book 1 Start here
21. 1981: The Shadow Of The Torturer
by Wolfe, Gene
- On the same lists
The sun has dimmed, the Earth is cooler and has been transformed in wondrous ways.
'The Shadow of the Torturer' is the first book in Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun tetralogy. Narrated by Severian, a member of the Guild of Torturers, the...
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22. Blood Music
by Bear, Greg
- On the same lists
A biotechnologist hides his biological computer creation in his body, but then they multiply and evolve. One of the first Sci Fi stories to treat DNA as a computational system that can be modified.
If Xenogenesis explores the emergence of posthumanity through exogamy, Blood Music explores it through infection. A renegade biotechnologist faces having his research shut down, so he injects himself with the...
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Vurt book 1 Start here
23. Vurt
by Jeff Noon
- On the same lists
A first time novelist, Noon has received high praise for this hip novel. A sister is lost in a coloured virtual reality that's existence is questionable and from which there is no escape. The story unfolds as her brother searches for her.
Feathers come in many colours, and each colour a different thing. There's. Black - painful, gentle; and Pink - for porno, your every eroticism fulfilled. Blues are legal, for dreaming...
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Culture book 3
24. Use Of Weapons
by Iain M. Banks
- On the same lists
Features a Utopian society (culture) that's post scarcity, controlled by benevolent A. I.'s who act for the good of the society. When Culture encounters less enlightened societies, the fun begins.
Iain Banks burst onto the literary scene with his controversial first novel, The Wasp Factory, the violent story of a girl who had been brought up as an emasculated boy....
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Mars Trilogy book 1 Start here
25. Red Mars (1994)
by Robinson, Kim Stanley
- On the same lists
A mission is launched to terraform Mars in this scientific epic.
In 2026, a hundred colonists set off on the first long voyage to Mars. Among them are John Boone, the first man to walk on the planet, and his rival...
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26. Downbelow Station
by Cherryh, C. J.
- On the same lists
A space opera about a rebellion between Earth and its colonies.
Downbelow Station is well known among science fiction readers. It's part of a sprawling set of novels - though each reads as a standalone, it's worth reading a few should...
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27. The Stars My Destination
by Alfred Bester
- On the same lists
A mechanic is the sole survivor on a ship that is just a wreck.
He was one hundred and seventy days dying and not yet dead. Gully Foyle is a shipwrecked sailor abandoned out in space, and when ships pass him by without stopping...
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The Clockwork Century book 1 Start here
28. Boneshaker
by Priest, Cherie
- On the same lists
Steampunk in an alternate American Civil War, also a gold rush, and some zombies. A literary novel that blends the fantasy, science fiction, horror, and alternate history genres.
This one is for the discerning steampunk reader who loves a well-thought-out tale, great writing, and an interesting premise. Set in an alternative American Civil War, a son’s quest to...
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Culture book 2
29. Player Of Games
by Iain M. Banks
- On the same lists
Probably the best of Ian Bank's Culture novels. Strong characters and a light-hearted tone to the novel despite the "seriousness" of the actual plot make this an easy, addicting read....
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30. The Dosadi Experiment
by Herbert, Frank
- On the same lists
This novel is a fan-lovers secret. It didn't win anything. But, it should have. Usually readers find a copy by accident recognizing Herbert from his Dune series. Nothing prepares you...
Matches come from series and authors, from the lists the books share, and from the books readers open together. They are rebuilt every night. Back to Snow Crash.
The shortlist
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