girlfriend in a coma, by douglas coupland

a distinctively coupland look at the lives of six high school comrades, altered and bound together for decades by the fate of their friend karen. in the winter of 1979, karen slips into a coma after a raucus house-buster of a party... she remains eternally seventeen, untouchable as her friends age and enter the world. as they plod and careen through their lives, they're all haunted by the premonitions of empty, hopeless futures that karen shared glimpses of the night before she 'went away.'

then, seventeen years later, she awakens. as she does, the old friends' lives take on the scent of omen. the world is about to change, and their lives will be altered in unimaginable ways.

there are, sometimes, books that transcend plot and character. girlfriend in a coma is one of them. this isn't to say that it lacks an engaging story or fascinating characters; it has all of the above. the poetic beauty of this book lies in the essence, the kernel of inarticulate longing and regret and fearful hope and dormant wonder that it carries. these are things that transcend plot and style and genre -- they are captured here in a purer form than many books can ever approach. girlfriend in a coma is a work of art, a parable. major kudos.

mirrorshades, edited by bruce sterling

cyberpunk is, of course, one of my favorite literary genres. it takes all the technie-toy geek fodder of traditional science fiction and drops it in a pool of 80's punk sensibility. it's hg wells on speed, inverted and beamed around the planet on a satellite network.

the mirrorshades anthology is a collection of short stories from the early days of cyberpunk, before neuromancer and snow crash. back when max headroom was fresh. the compilation of shorts demonstrates the real diversity of cyberpunk, often overlooked by those who subscribe to the 'neuromancer is the true way' view of the genre.

the best of the bunch is the final short story: mozart in mirrorshades. corporations open portals to the histories of alternate-earths, looting natural resources without fear of the repercussions. marie antionette reads vogue while a young mozart studies bootlegged rock n' roll cassettes. freemason resistance fighters attack teflon-armored guards with flintlock rifles, and corporate employees schmooze with french intellectuals. it's nuts. it's brain-bending. it's cyberpunk.

the forever war

ten stupid things men do to screw up their lives, by dr. laura

inherit the stars

making killer web sites