Our friends from SIMULACRON 3

[mattd]

What about Simulacron 3?
I haven't read this book but am concerned about the fact that it's being 
given credit for inventing cyberspace. What about Simulacron 3 by Daniel F. 
Galouye? It was written in 1964 and is all about that virtual world we call 
"cyberspace." (Simulacron 3 is no longer in print and is difficult to find 
but it's worth the read).
Enders Game is a very harsh and brash book. It shows the journey of one 
child from being a sheepish little schoolboy that is tormented by his 
sadistic brother and pampered by his caring sister, to becoming a ruthless 
soldier that is focused on ridding the universe of the buggers (An 
insectoid alien race controlled by a hive mind). This book will leave you 
on the edge of your seat from start to finish. (would also make an 
excellent movie).Xenocide.
The Assassination Bureau (1968)
Synopsis: A caper comedy, inspired by the book "The Assassination Bureau 
Limited," co-written by adventure novelist, Jack London. Oliver Reed plays 
Ivan Dragomiloff, the head of an organization, started by his late father, 
which assassinates political figures, on assignment. When Miss Winter, an 
intrepid, liberal, female reporter offers him the challenge of assigning 
his own execution, Ivan sees it as a golden opportunity to find out just 
how competent his international staff really is, and accepts. A mad chase 
throughout Europe is the result, with Miss Winter following Ivan's every 
move.(Miss Winter,very strict.)
Cities of the red night; The paradox of a post-modern classic...
If someone didn't know better, _Cities of the Red Night_ might come across 
as a simplistic homosexual pornographic pulp space-opera, Mappelthorpe 
meets Edgar Rice Burroughs. The interwoven plot lines (homosexual pirate 
communes? a psychic private detective? an invading radioactive mutant 
virus?) come across as emotionally distant and vacuous, borrowed from pulp 
novels and used as a simple excuse for episodes of vivid sci-fi imagery and 
descriptions of boys with erections. While interesting, they don't seem to 
be the work of genius touted on the front cover.
In the end, however, this book is hopeful and passionate, complex and 
absolutely unique. Burroughs is trying to both conjure up the conditions 
for a perfect utopia, a world free of all interference and control, as well 
as give a mythic explanation for the horrifying state of existence. 
Burroughs is trying to save us, explain us, destroy us, free us. This isn't 
apparent until after the plots have crashed together and shattered apart in 
an end which has absolutely nothing to do with what has come before, while 
also explaining everything...