Ask HN: Dystopian Sci-fi books that take place in San Francisco to recommend? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Dystopian Sci-fi books that take place in San Francisco to recommend?

#21

Post by cushychicken » Sat, Jan 27, 2024, 3:14 PM UTC

lxgr wrote: post #8

theGeatZhopa wrote: post #3

"Altered Carbon" by Richard K. Morgan: primarily takes place in a futuristic Bay Area, including San Francisco. explores a world of technology, body swapping, and cyber intrigues. "The Diamond Age" by Neal Stephenson: a setting in a future San Francisco, handle topic nanotechnology "Counting Heads" by David Marusek: futuristic vision of San Francisco, focus on technology and AI. "Autonomous" by Annalee Newitz: not ex…

Diamond Age was great, but isn’t that mostly set in/offshore of Shanghai?

It does. I just re-read it over the Christmas holiday.

There’s a brief segment where one of the characters travels to Vancouver. But nothing happens in San Francisco.

Don’t let this fact dissuade you. It’s great post-scarcity sci fi.

Re: Ask HN: Dystopian Sci-fi books that take place in San Francisco to recommend?

#22

Post by chrisjh » Sat, Jan 27, 2024, 3:14 PM UTC

Earth Abides by George R. Stewart takes place around the Berkeley area in a post-apocalyptic world. Not quite sci-fi but a fantastic read nonetheless.

Re: Ask HN: Dystopian Sci-fi books that take place in San Francisco to recommend?

#23

Post by brensmith » Sat, Jan 27, 2024, 3:54 PM UTC

I particularly enjoyed "The Great Bay" by Dale Pendell. It's a collection of short stories that are linked through the next 16,000 years of Californian history after a 2021 global pandemic and subsequent environmental catastrophe.

Re: Ask HN: Dystopian Sci-fi books that take place in San Francisco to recommend?

#24

Post by noirbot » Sat, Jan 27, 2024, 5:23 PM UTC

janetacarr wrote: post #20

noirbot wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Parts of his new series takes place in SF - The Peripheral and Agency. I'd be more specific, but it's somewhat spoilers.

Only thing is, Agency isn't really dystopian imo.

Without getting too far into the plot, there are definitely dystopian elements, though the part in SF isn't really dystopian in the way that Bridge Trilogy is, so yea. Depends on what OP wants.

Re: Ask HN: Dystopian Sci-fi books that take place in San Francisco to recommend?

#25

Post by mdadgar » Sat, Jan 27, 2024, 7:18 PM UTC

theGeatZhopa wrote: post #3

"Altered Carbon" by Richard K. Morgan: primarily takes place in a futuristic Bay Area, including San Francisco. explores a world of technology, body swapping, and cyber intrigues. "The Diamond Age" by Neal Stephenson: a setting in a future San Francisco, handle topic nanotechnology "Counting Heads" by David Marusek: futuristic vision of San Francisco, focus on technology and AI. "Autonomous" by Annalee Newitz: not ex…

I think you're thinking of "Cryptonomicon" instead of "The Diamond Age." Cryptonomicon takes place almost entirely in the Bay Area, IIRC.

Re: Ask HN: Dystopian Sci-fi books that take place in San Francisco to recommend?

#26

Post by z2h-a6n » Sat, Jan 27, 2024, 8:55 PM UTC

mdadgar wrote: post #25

theGeatZhopa wrote: post #3

"Altered Carbon" by Richard K. Morgan: primarily takes place in a futuristic Bay Area, including San Francisco. explores a world of technology, body swapping, and cyber intrigues. "The Diamond Age" by Neal Stephenson: a setting in a future San Francisco, handle topic nanotechnology "Counting Heads" by David Marusek: futuristic vision of San Francisco, focus on technology and AI. "Autonomous" by Annalee Newitz: not ex…

I think you're thinking of "Cryptonomicon" instead of "The Diamond Age." Cryptonomicon takes place almost entirely in the Bay Area, IIRC.

It has been a while since I read it, but I recall Cryptonomicon taking place mostly in south-east Asia. Are you thinking of Snow Crash? It's set on the west coast of the US (if I remember correctly). Both books are great.

Re: Ask HN: Dystopian Sci-fi books that take place in San Francisco to recommend?

#27

Post by pkd6960 » Sat, Jan 27, 2024, 9:20 PM UTC

The Fact of The Moon Is Stranger Than Most Dreams by Jacob Daniel Palmer is shockingly good. Honestly, the best thing I’ve read in years. “ In a near future, slowly collapsing America, three bumbling stoner artists fall into a universe of murder and high strangeness.

Abram, a frustrated artist, and his girlfriend Edie, a successful artist and successful stoner, live in a nearly abandoned San Francisco along with Abram's best friend Kenner, a transient, philosophy-spouting psychonaut. Days run together in this post-work, climate-ravaged metropolis, until a stranger slips Abram a memory card loaded with cryptic government documents, flinging the trio into a bizarre world of hired assassins, aliens, bio-terrorists, and virtual reality deities. On the run, pursued by an evil they can't imagine, are they actually in danger, or are they unwitting pawns in a plot to put the dying Earth out of its misery? A psychedelic road story, it’s an intoxicating, absurd, conspiracy-laden ride into a not so distant future.”

Re: Ask HN: Dystopian Sci-fi books that take place in San Francisco to recommend?

#28

Post by vclouder » Sat, Jan 27, 2024, 10:44 PM UTC

theGeatZhopa wrote: post #3

"Altered Carbon" by Richard K. Morgan: primarily takes place in a futuristic Bay Area, including San Francisco. explores a world of technology, body swapping, and cyber intrigues. "The Diamond Age" by Neal Stephenson: a setting in a future San Francisco, handle topic nanotechnology "Counting Heads" by David Marusek: futuristic vision of San Francisco, focus on technology and AI. "Autonomous" by Annalee Newitz: not ex…

Thank you for a great list :)