Realware by Rudy Rucker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This one might be too wild for maiden aunts. Heck, maybe it's too out-there for the run-of-the-mill reader of SF.

But for the REST OF US, it's a truly wild ride that ramps up the same wild directions as Rucker has been taking us all along. Let's go crazy!

First of all, the aliens aren't ALL dead. Two-dimensional, multi-timeline-living, reality-hacking aliens. Death isn't really a big thing for these guys. Blowing up their own cities doesn't really mean much because the cities live on in all the other timelines. Lucky them!

So what happens when they hand over their magic wands to some of our favorite moldies and human-consciousness downloaded moldies and natural humans that lets them create.... anything out of anything?

Yeah. I'm talking about TOTAL REALITY RE-WRITES.

Oh. Shit.

Now we're talking about people who have just been upgraded from humans to robots in Software, from robots to humans in Wetware to, from everyone upgrading or refusing to upgrade into intelligent mold in Freeware, to upgrading into ANYTHING GOES in Realware. :) :)

This could turn into something really messed up and incoherent, mind you, but Rudy Rucker goes ahead and just turns it into a delightful social satire. Very much like the rest of the Quadralogy. :)

I'm just glad that Cobb got what he wanted and the aliens made their flying saucer. I love it when a good meme gets a little fun play.

But humanity? I know this isn't much of a surprise, but we're a bunch of freaking morons.

Even when given a gift like this, we still manage to **** it the **** up. Wow. And this isn't some slow morality play, either. This is a no-holds-barred ****fest.

Gotta love it. :)

Freaking perverts.


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