"In the twenty-fifth century, humankind has spread throughout the galaxy, monitored by the watchful eye of the U.N. While divisions in race, religion, and class still exist, advances in technology have redefined life itself. Now, assuming one can afford the expensive procedure, a person’s consciousness can be stored in a cortical stack at the base of the brain and easily downloaded into a new body (or 'sleeve') making death nothing more than a minor blip on a screen. Ex-U.N. envoy Takeshi Kovacs has been killed before, but his last death was particularly painful. Dispatched one hundred eighty light-years from home, re-sleeved into a body in Bay City (formerly San Francisco, now with a rusted, dilapidated Golden Gate Bridge), Kovacs is thrown into the dark heart of a shady, far-reaching conspiracy that is vicious even by the standards of a society that treats “existence” as something that can be bought and sold. For Kovacs, the shell that blew a hole in his chest was only the beginning. . . ."
Somewhere between "L.A. Confidential" and "Jurassic Park," readers can find this comic noir mystery about a private investigator (who happens to be a dinosaur) in contemporary New York.
Detective Charlotte Holmes of a futuristic United Nations police investigates the
murder of a geneticist, killed by man-eating flowers. It is the first of several such
murders and in each case the flowers were delivered by a beautiful woman.
Half-human half-alien Ukiah Oregon finds himself under scrutiny by Homeland
Security when a dead member of the Temple of New Reason cult is found with
photographs of Ukiah. Before he can investigate the cult's interest in him, Ukiah's
son is abducted.
There is a long tradition of Great Detectives, and Dirk Gently does not belong to it.
But his search for a missing cat uncovers a ghost, a time traveler, AND the
devastating secret of humankind! Detective Gently's bill for saving the human race
from extinction: NO CHARGE.
Rick Deckard prowls the steel-and-microchip jungle of 21st-century Los Angeles. He's a 'blade runner' stalking genetically made criminal replicants. His assignment: kill them. Their crime: wanting to be human. Basis of the film Blade Runner.
His name : Miles Flint. His occupation: Retrieval Artist. His job : Hunt down the Disappeared-outlaws on the run, wanted for crimes against alien cultures. The catch : Flint isn't working on the side of the law.
Gumshoe Conrad Metcalf has problems-not the least of which are the rabbit in his waiting room and the trigger-happy kangaroo on his tail. Near-future Oakland is an ominous place where evolved animals function as members of society, the police monitor citizens by their karma levels, and mind-numbing drugs such as Forgettol and Acceptol are all the rage. In this brave new world, Metcalf has been shadowing the wife of an affluent doctor, perhaps falling a little in love with her at the same time. But when the doctor turns up dead, our amiable investigator finds himself caught in the crossfire in a futuristic world that is both funny-and not so funny.
The Boston of a century from the present serves as the gateway to Earth for aliens and has become a technological marvel where humans and aliens mix, struggling to create a new society while coping with greed, immense wealth, and murder.
We must not think of learning as only what happens in schools. It is an extended part of life. The most readily available resource for all of life is our public library system.
