My players heard me rave about Blindsight by Peter Watts a month ago. Man, is it terrific, awe-inspiring and frightening all at once:

And if the best toys do end up in the hands of those who've never forgotten that life itself is an act of war against intelligent opponents, what does that say about a race whose machines travel between the stars?

Apparently this book is selling so fast and is so hard to find at the moment that the author has released the entire book online as a pdf. But a hard copy is definitely worth having. Dig the author's description:

...it might be best described as a literary first-contact novel exploring the nature and evolutionary significance of consciousness, with space vampires.

But be warned: this does not have a happy feel good ending. Quite the reverse. Still, it addresses some extremely interesting ideas in ways I haven't seen done before. By the way, this is by the same guy mentioned in this post, who wrote or contributed to the amazing Vampire Domestication PowerPoint presentation.
And to tie this all back to gaming, the world described in Blindsight would make an awesome base for the Questworlds science fiction world.

I think I need to get a copy of his first book, Starfish (Rifters Trilogy) The review makes it sound like a science fiction inversion of Seaborn Child.

Technorati Tags: HeroQuest, RPGs, Science Fiction

In contrast to SCIFFY, the Distopian Future tells a lesson of how technology for technology's sake leaves humanity behind.

Blatantly stealing a title used by my old friend Greg Maples, SCIFFY is a Science Fiction Utopia where technological advancement has rid the world of want and ignorance.

But not all is well, not everyone is happy.