It's spring Friday outside the window, and I really want to take a break from coding, testing and other work. We have compiled for you a selection of your favorite science fiction books and films that came out in about the last year.

Books

"Red Moon", Kim Stanley Robinson

A new novel by the author of The Martian Trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars). The action takes place in 2047, the moon is colonized by China. There are three main characters in the book: an American IT specialist, a Chinese journalist-blogger, and the daughter of a Chinese finance minister. All three find themselves embroiled in harsh events that will affect not only the Moon, but the Earth as well.

Sea of ​​Rust, Robert Cargill

30 years ago, people lost the war against the rebellious machines. The earth is devastated, and only the remaining robots roam the ashes and deserts. The two main artificial intelligences "living" in supercomputers are now trying to connect the minds of all robots into a single network and turn them into extensions of themselves. The book tells about the adventures of a garbage robot that roams the expanses of the American Midwest.

"Perfect Imperfection" by Jacek Dukaj

At the end of the XNUMXst century, the Earth sends a research expedition to a strange astrophysical anomaly, but, having not reached the goal, the ship disappears. It is found several centuries later, in the XNUMXth century, and only one astronaut, Adam Zamoyski, is on board the wrecked ship. He does not remember what happened, does not understand how he survived, and besides, he does not appear on the crew list, but this is not what worries him in the first place. Adam found himself in a world where the very meaning of the word “man” has changed, where the language has been modified, where reality is being recreated, where it is changeable, and the very concept of personality has been transformed beyond recognition. Here, competition is the engine of evolution, and whoever has the best control over the resources of the planet and the very laws of physics wins. There is a complex struggle for power between people, alien civilizations and post-human creatures. This is a world that is threatened by an unimaginable danger, and, paradoxically, a mysterious and primitive alien from the past has something to do with it.

"Dogs of War", Adrian Tchaikovsky

Bioforms are genetically modified animals with increased intelligence and various implants. In fact, they are weapons, they were created for military and police (punitive) operations. The plot is based on an ethical conflict between man and his creation, and the analogy is more than transparent: after all, many of us are thinking about what the improvement of artificial intelligence technologies will turn out for humanity.

Return of the "Eagle", Vladimir Fadeev

In the late 80s, a group of nuclear physicists tried to use the chance to prevent the catastrophe of the country by becoming the team of the mystical ship "Eagle", which invariably returns to our reality three years before the national tragedy. The result of the mission is not yet known, but it is in our hands. The scene of action is the village of Dedinovo, the birthplace of the Russian tricolor and the first warship Oryol.

Burnt offering, Caesar Zbeshchovsky

This is a world where you can exchange thoughts, feelings and memories like files. This is a world in which there is a war with the Locust - mutated people whose goals no one knows, and with the territories captured by it, contact is lost. This is a world where artificial intelligence and modified soldiers have turned combat into an art form; a world in which the soul is not a metaphor, but a very real phenomenon.

Franciszek Elias, heir to the Elias Electronics Corporation, takes refuge from the war with his family in the vast family estate, the High Castle, unaware that he will soon witness the incredible horrors associated with the very essence of this reality. And in the orbit of the planet, the Heart of Darkness reappears, an interdimensional ship that once disappeared in the depths of space. Now, having fallen into the space-time loop, he himself has turned into an impenetrable mystery, returning for the sixth time. The ship does not communicate, does not transmit any signals, it is not known what or who is on board. Only one thing is clear: before disappearing, he discovered something unimaginable even in comparison with the goal of his mission - to find the Supreme Intelligence.

Films

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The Black Mirror series has long been a cultural phenomenon. The term "series" is applied to it conditionally, rather, it is an anthology of various scenarios and visions of our near technogenic future. And at the very end of 2018, under the "umbrella brand" of "Black Mirror", the interactive film "Bandersnatch" was released. The main plot of the plot: mid-1980s, a young man dreams of turning a book-game of one of the writers into a chic computer game. And for about 1,5 hours, the viewer is repeatedly offered to make a choice for the character, and the further course of the plot depends on this. Game lovers are familiar with this mechanic. However, if in games everything usually comes down to a couple of different endings, then Bandersnatch has ten of them. One inconvenience: due to the technical implementation, the film can only be viewed on the Netflix website.

Alita: Battle Angel

This film is an adaptation of old manga and anime, plus the creativity of the producers and director. The distant future, the middle of the third millennium. Humanity is not prospering: after a nightmarish war that ended 300 years ago, the elite settled on a giant flying city, and below it, the impoverished remnants of humanity survive in the slums. Cyborgization is as common as brushing your teeth in the morning, and often very little organic remains from a person, everything else is replaced by mechanisms, and very bizarre ones. One of the characters finds the remains of a cyborg girl in a landfill, restores her, but she does not remember who and where. But the film has a telling title, and soon Alita demonstrates the incredible possibilities of her artificial body.

Annihilation

A strange and unusual film for modern Hollywood. By all standards, this is science fiction, but also a viscous psychological thriller.

After the fall of a meteorite on the coast in the United States, an anomalous zone was formed, covered with an energy dome, which is gradually expanding. It is impossible to see what is inside the zone from the outside, but obviously there is nothing good there - several reconnaissance groups did not return. Natalie Portman plays one member of yet another group, this time of 5 female scientists. This is the story of their journey to the epicenter of the zone.

Upgrade

Australian cinema is quite distinctive, and Upgrade is a good example of that. The near future, full of drones, total chipization of the population, cyber implants, unmanned vehicles and other attributes. The main character is far from all your high technologies, he loves old muscle cars, which he restores with his own hands on the order of wealthy clients. As a result of a strange car accident, he and his wife are attacked by a gang. His wife is killed, and he is turned into an invalid, paralyzed from the neck down. One of the clients, a very strange type and the owner of a very cool IT company, offers the main character to implant the latest secret development - a chip with built-in artificial intelligence that takes control of the body. Now you can start looking for the killers of your wife.

And yes, Australians are good at filming action scenes.

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We're wondering what other interesting sci-fi stuff you've come across over the past year? Write in the comments.

Source: habr.com