"Infomocracy" by Malka Older

This is a fantastic read, really glad I got around to it! I've had Infomocracy on my list for a while now. The parallels with Palmer's Too Like The Lightning are surprisingly deep—Older's book is a much different read, and both the premise and time-setting more modest in comparison, but the big-idea, quasi-utopian politics, the quiet-but-huge tech advances, the slow and mostly irrational rumble of a peaceful world towards some kind of war—intriguing to put them side by side.

But that's getting ahead of myself. Infomocracy reads like a straight thriller, following two young activists/operatives in a near-future where the world has transitioned to "micro-democracy". Split into voting blocks of 100 thousand, people can now vote for a huge range of governments. Things are kept above-board by ubiquitous Information: an organization a bit like Google fused with Wikipedia and with a universal mandate. On the eve of an important election, with previous power blocs poised to tumble and rearrange, Mishima, Ken, and a handful of other characters are caught up in a complicated plot to subvert the voting process.

Classic Sci-Fi- Dune

For the February convocation of the Classic Sci-Fi Meetup, we discussed Frank Herbert's Dune (1965), one of the classicy-est of the classics.

Widely adapted and expanded on—films, games, sequels and spin-off novels—the original Dune is certainly a landmark. Set in a far-distant future, the novel is essentially a revenge story with a great deal of political, mystical, and ecological ideas.

Notes and probable spoilers below: