Halting State
by Charles Stross · first published 2007
56% recommend42% neutral1% critical
Why HN recommends it
Near-future techno-thriller that begins with an MMORPG bank break-in and spills into real-world investigation. Valued for its plausible ten-years-out take on pervasive augmented reality, cyber crime and policing.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
In the year 2018, Sergeant Sue Smith of the Edinburgh constabulary is called in on a special case. A daring bank robbery has taken place at Hayek Associates, a dot-com startup company that's just been floated on the London stock exchange. The suspects are
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…software as "magic". The kids lead a life based upon this augmented reality laid over the real reality. If you like anime this show is worth tracking down a torrent for. It's also worth checking out the Halting State series from Charles Stross if you're up for some reading. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denn%C5%8D_Coil
on “Google Launches Ingress, a Worldwide Mobile Alternate Reality Game” ↗…History / Spook Country - William Gibson The Peripheral - William Gibson Not exactly the same thing, but I'll also throw in Glasshouse by Charles Stross. And since we're talking Charles Stross, also add Halting State to the list. Oh, and VALIS by Philip K. Dick. Definitely worth a read.
on “Ask HN: Books that altered your view of reality” ↗…cheap light of a neon Jesus". 11. Charles Stross - fellow HN'er and famous author! https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=cstross Writes radically entertaining stuff, including the Laundry Files series, Halting State, Glasshouse, etc. I'd say Glasshouse is an absolute "must read". 12. Greg Egan - I especially recommend Permutation City. 13. China Miéville - Check out Perdido Street Station
on “Neal Stephenson reacts to Facebook name change” ↗Halting State by Charlie Stross
on “Ask HN: Recommendations of good cybercrime novels?” ↗…Niven, Pournelle, even Varley, these days), but it's really hard to write about a medium-distance future that plausibly follows from our world. The only book I've read recently that mostly managed it was Halting State, and it was set only ten years from now. More and more, the kind of "SF" I find myself reading is stuff that doesn't even try; it's just fantasy with science fiction trappings, and while that can be…
on “Has sci-fi run out of steam?” ↗…complete series here: http://www.antipope.org/charlie/who_am_i/autobio-all-redacte... If you don't know Charles Stross, he's an SF author and he also has a hacker news account. I read one book by him, Halting State, which is about a break-in in an MMO vault among other things. It had the most real-feeling near future SF settings I've come across.
on “Charles Stross and the invention of robots.txt” ↗we really don't have anything like that these days Check out Halting State by Charles Stross and Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge.
on “First Demonstration Of Time Cloaking” ↗…http://sivers.org/book As for mine, Science Fiction (I like these authors so I'd recommend most of their books -- listing which ones I think are a good 'starter novel' for them): Charles Stross: Halting State Vernor Vinge: A Fire Upon The Deep Iain M. Banks: Culture novels, start with Player of Games David Louis Edelman: Jump 225 Trilogy Daniel Suarez: Daemon and Freedom(tm) John Scalzi: Old Man's…
on “Ask HN: Interesting (Non software) books?” ↗I found Halting State to be fairly good. It's more "thriller" than sci-fi, but there's a number of good ideas in there. Also, check out Stross's blog posts on the viability of space travel; I found them rather interesting.
on “The Star Trek Computer Is Stupid” ↗…probably have to dig it out of a library someplace.) Neal Stephenson --- Cryptonomicon. (Present day setting, but with an SF sensibility; ties into his literally epic Baroque Cycle.) Charles Stross --- Halting State. (Investigation of an MMORPG bank breakin spills out into real-world skulduggery.) And an oddball that folks here may not have encountered: Mary Gentle --- Ash, A Secret History. (Starts off with…
on “Ask HN: What sci-fi books are you reading?” ↗…yet if the book was part of a series, you would see the latest one or two books but never any of the previous ones. So for example, they might carry Stross' "Rule 34" but not his earlier (and great) "Halting State" and "Accelerando". So what's a SciFi fan to do? Track them down in a used bookstore. I only get to visit Powell's once a year when I visit my parents. Back order them? Now with my Kindle, it's much…
on “How the shift to ebooks will affect genre categories in fiction” ↗While we're brainstorming, I'd add Rainbows End (Vernor Vinge) and Halting State (Charles Stross).
on “Hard comp-fi reading list” ↗Glasshouse[1] by Charles Stross Permutation City[2] by Greg Egan We Are Legion (We Are Bob)[3] by Dennis E. Taylor Halting State[4] by Charles Stross Singularity Sky[5] by Charles Stross Dungeon Crawler Carl[6] by Matt Dinniman Zero World[7] by Jason M. Hough The Shockwave Rider[8] by John Brunner [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasshouse_(novel)…
on “Book Review: There Is No Antimemetics Division” ↗Musicophilia (too much psychiatry, not enuf music) b4 that Anathem (will read again after a few years) b4 that Halting State (cool)
on “Ask HN: What was the latest book you read? ” ↗You might like "Halting State" by Charlie Stross. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halting_State http://www.antipope.org/charlie/
on “Vernor Vinge's Rainbows End fails to thrill” ↗