Nanotechnology in Science Fiction
Explore the fascinating intersection of nanotechnology and science fiction with our curated list of top books. Discover futuristic tales where tiny tech transforms worlds, from medical marvels to dystopian dangers.
Book
A Fire Upon The Deep
by Vernor Vinge
A Fire Upon the Deep is the big, breakout book that fulfills the promise of Vinge's career to date: a gripping tale of galactic war told on a cosmic scale. Thousands of years hence, many races inhabit a universe where a mind's potential is determined by its location in space, from superintelligent entities in the Transcend, to the limited minds of the Unthinking Depths, where only simple creatures and technology can function. Nobody knows what strange force partitioned space into these "regions of thought," but when the warring Straumli realm use an ancient Transcendent artifact as a weapon, they unwittingly unleash an awesome power that destroys thousands of worlds and enslaves all natural and artificial intelligence. Fleeing the threat, a family of scientists, including two children, are taken captive by the Tines, an alien race with a harsh medieval culture, and used as pawns in a ruthless power struggle. A rescue mission, not entirely composed of humans, must rescue the children-and a secret that may save the rest of interstellar civilization. A Fire Upon The Deep is the winner of the 1993 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
Book
A Deepness in the Sky
by Vernor Vinge
After thousands of years searching, humans stand on the verge of first contact with an alien race. Two human groups: the Qeng Ho, a culture of free traders, and the Emergents, a ruthless society based on the technological enslavement of minds.The group that opens trade with the aliens will reap unimaginable riches. But first, both groups must wait at the aliens' very doorstep for their strange star to relight and for their planet to reawaken, as it does every two hundred and fifty years....Then, following terrible treachery, the Qeng Ho must fight for their freedom and for the lives of the unsuspecting innocents on the planet below, while the aliens themselves play a role unsuspected by the Qeng Ho and Emergents alike.More than just a great science fiction adventure, A Deepness in the Sky is a universal drama of courage, self-discovery, and the redemptive power of love. A Deepness in the Sky is a 1999 Nebula Award Nominee for Best Novel and the winner of the 2000 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
Book
Prey
by Michael Crichton
A cloud of nanoparticles - all programmed to become predators - has escaped from a laboratory in Nevada.
Book
Nanotech
by Jack Dann
Nanotechology--the creation of self-replicating machines with the capability to build or alter almost any structure, including the human form, by manipulating atoms or molecules--has captured the imaginations of science fiction writers and readers everywhere. This collection of 11 short stories features heavy-hitting Nebula Award winning and nominated authors.
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Queen City Jazz
by Kathleen Ann Goonan
"A first novelist of enormous talent and energy . . . she grounds her apocalyptic vision in a few short, finely detailed scenes that reveal how personal failings can become writ large in the great events of history".--The New York Times Book Review. A New York Times Notable Book.
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Bloom
by Wil McCarthy
A man-made fungus called mycora has wiped out most of humanity on Earth and on several planets, but reports persist of human survivors in colder climes. A voyage of exploration is mounted to contact them, but the ship is attacked by mycora's allies.
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Ventus
by Karl Schroeder
On the terraformed planet of Ventus, Jordan Mason, a young man plagued by visions, is kidnapped by offworld human Calandria May and then escapes to seek his own destiny in the midst of gathering apocalyptic forces.
Book
Singularity Sky
by Charles Stross
In a world transformed by the Eschaton, a sentient artificial intelligence, the colony of New Republic, founded by people who wanted no part of the technological revolution, is threatened by an information plague of advanced technology.
Book
Moonwar
by Ben Bova
Ben Bova's extraordinary Moonbase Saga continues with a breathtaking near-future adventure rich in character and incident. The action begins seven years after the indomitable Stavenger family has realized its cherished dream of establishing a colony on the inhospitable lunar surface. Moonbase is now a thriving community under the leadership of Doug Stavenger, a marvel of scientific ahievement created and supported by nanotechnology: virus-size machines that can build, cure, and destroy. But nanotechnology has been declared illegal by the home planet's leaders. And a powerful despot is determined to lay claim to Stavenger's peaceful city...or obliterate it, if necessary. The people of Moonbase--a colony with no arms or military--must now defend themselves from earth-born aggression with the only weapon at their disposal: the astonishing technology that sustains their endangered home.
Book
The First Immortal
by James L. Halperin
“[James Halperin] plots the book with thoroughness and imagination. . . . Innovative.”—Publishers Weekly In 1988, Benjamin Smith suffers a massive heart attack. But he will not die. A pioneering advocate of the infant science of cryonics, he has arranged to have his body frozen until the day when humanity will possess the knowledge, the technology, and the courage to revive him. Yet when Ben resumes life after a frozen interval of eighty-three years, the world is altered beyond recognition. Thanks to cutting-edge science, eternal youth is universally available and the perfection of cloning gives humanity the godlike power to re-create living beings from a single cell. As Ben and his family are resurrected in the mid-twenty-first century, they experience a complex reunion that reaches through generations—and discover that the deepest ethical dilemmas of humankind remain their greatest challenge. . . . “[A] gripping story.”—United Press International
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Nano
by John Robert Marlow
"As this fast-paced nanothriller unfolds, readers are taken on a tour de force of nanotechnology's promises and perils - until the fate of the earth itself hangs in the balance."--BOOK JACKET.
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Blood Music
by Greg Bear
The Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of Moving Mars presents the book that launched his career, featuring a scientist who conducts an experiment in cell restructuring that takes on a threatening life of its own. Reprint.
Book
Plague Year
by Jeff Carlson
When the nanotechnology designed to fight cancer evolves into a machine plague, killing nearly five billion people, a group of survivors, struggling to stay alive, places their faith in a top nanotech researcher who has discovered the plague's one weakness. Original.