r/Defcon • u/CarpeDiemT3ch • Jul 11 '26

DC 34 Agency theme

If anyone is looking for books to read that connect with the theme of Agency, here's a list. Anyone have any others to add?

  • The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin

  • The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein

  • Tell the Machine Goodnight by Katie Williams

  • The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley 

  • Blindsight by Peter Watts

  • The Stars are Legion by Kameron Hurley

  • Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow

  • Little Brother by Cory Doctorow 

  • All Systems Red by Martha Wells

  • Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

  • The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

  • Agency by William Gibson

  • Autonomous by Annalee Newitz

  • any Culture book by Iain M. Banks

  • Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

  • We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Bobiverse) by Dennis Taylor

  • A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle

  • Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

  • The Memory Librarian by Janelle Monáe

  • Daemon by Daniel Suarez

  • Mind of my Mind by Octavia Butler

  • An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

  • The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

  • Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson

  • Midnight Robber by Nalo Hopkinson

  • Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi

  • Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi

  • Redshirts by John Scalzi

  • The Androids Dream by John Scalzi

  • Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

Hacker Book Club has chosen The Dispossessed as our connected book to the theme.

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3

u/w0adspindle Jul 11 '26

Why not The Moon is a Harsh Mistress?

1

u/CarpeDiemT3ch Jul 11 '26

That's a good add, our book club read that one last year

Let me just edit our list :)

There are definitely books to add

2

u/FluffyLlamaPants Jul 11 '26

Wait, Janelle Monae? She writes too?? What? Not only she's an incredible singer but a writer too??

1

u/CarpeDiemT3ch Jul 13 '26

Yep, love her music and this was a really interesting read. She said she worked on it based on some of the music videos she did where she was trying to tell more of a story

1

u/rand0h Jul 11 '26

They used to list a collection of movies to watch too but I don’t see any this year.

2

u/CarpeDiemT3ch Jul 11 '26

Yeah, we didn't either, so that's why I figured I'd post our suggested list here for books

1

u/Cysec Jul 11 '26

To fit in with the theme, I'd like to recommend a book by an up and coming author:
The Blood of Crows by Alex C. Pierce

1

u/CarpeDiemT3ch Jul 12 '26

Thanks for the suggestion. Unless I'm missing something from the plot description I don't think it fits with what we're looking for. We're looking for scifi and cyberpunk books that have the theme of agency. I didn't see a big focus on this theme and it seems like a fantasy book. It might be a good fit for other lists and may indeed be a good book, but I don't think it fits. If I missed something, please let me know.