Books like 'Sensation Machines'
Readers who enjoyed Sensation Machines by Adam Wilson also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
sc-fi comedy dystopia humor literary-fiction urban satire family politics
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Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle by Harold Bloom, Terry Southern
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsA critical overview of the work features the writings of Terry Southern, William S. Doxey, Jerome Klinkowitz, Richard Giannone, John L. Simons, James Lundquist, and other scholars.- After the bomb, Dad came up with ice / Terry Southern- Vonnegut's Cat's cradle / William S... -
![Space Living by E.M. Foner]()
Space Living by E.M. Foner
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn space, the smartest sentient in the room is alien artificial intelligence.A visit to Union Station brings Flower the welcome addition of a honeymoon couple as the Dollnick AI prepares to host Rendezvous and promote her ship as THE place for humanity to do business... -
![The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh]()
The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsA writer in a totalitarian state is interrogated about the gruesome content of his short stories and their similarities to a number of child-murders that are happening in his town.'Sometimes you don't even know what you've been craving until the real thing comes along.' New York Times'McDonagh is more than just a very clever theatrical stylist. His tricks and turns have a purpose... -
![System Restored by Adam Eccles]()
System Restored by Adam Eccles
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsDerek Cooper is a retro gamer.His small flat is crammed with old consoles, controllers, accessories and shelves brimming full of old games. Quite an amazing collection, but there's always room for one more, isn't there?1981. The world of arcade games is just coming into its own... -
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![The Futurological Congress: From the Memoirs of Ijon Tichy by Stanisław Lem]()
The Futurological Congress: From the Memoirs of Ijon Tichy by Stanisław Lem
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe Futurological Congress is the fourth satirical science fiction novel in the Memoirs of Ijon Tichy series from Kafka Prize–winning author Stanislaw Lem. “Nobody can really know the future. But few could imagine it better than Lem... -
![QualityLand 2.0 by Marc-Uwe Kling]()
QualityLand 2.0 by Marc-Uwe Kling
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsKikis GeheimnisZurück in die Zukunft! Die große dystopische Erzählung geht weiter ...Schwer was los in QualityLand, dem besten aller möglichen Länder. Peter Arbeitsloser darf endlich als Maschinentherapeut arbeiten und schlägt sich jetzt mit den Beziehungsproblemen von Haushaltsgeräten herum... -
![Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Курт Воннегут]()
Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Курт Воннегут
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 49 ratingsWelcome to the Monkey House is a collection of Kurt Vonnegut’s shorter works. Originally printed in publications as diverse as The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and The Atlantic Monthly, these superb stories share Vonnegut’s audacious sense of humor and extraordinary range of creative vision... -
![Zoey Punches the Future in the Dick by David Wong, Jason Pargin]()
Zoey Punches the Future in the Dick by David Wong, Jason Pargin
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsNew York Times bestselling author David Wong's Zoey Punches the Future in the Dick is the latest—and arguably greatest–sci-fi thriller in the Zoey Ashe Series.In the futuristic city of Tabula Ra$a, Zoey Ashe is like a fish so far out of water that it has achieved orbit... -
![Calling Major Tom by David M. Barnett, David Barnett]()
Calling Major Tom by David M. Barnett, David Barnett
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsCalling Major Tom is a heartwarming, quirky and ultimately life-affirming story of friendship, family and forgiveness - and the world's most unlikely astronaut. A man who has given up on the world. A family who show him how to live.Forty-something Thomas is very happy to be on his own, far away from other people and their problems... -
![The Heart Of A Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov]()
The Heart Of A Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsA rich successful Moscow professor befriends a stray dog and attempts a scientific first by transplanting into it the testicles and pituitary gland of a recently deceased man. A distinctly worryingly human animal is now on the loose, and the professor's hitherto respectable life becomes a nightmare beyond endurance... -
![Love in the Time of Bertie by Alexander McCall Smith]()
Love in the Time of Bertie by Alexander McCall Smith
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe latest installment in the delightful 44 Scotland Street series finds all our favorite residents up to their usual hilarious hijinks. In the microcosm of 44 Scotland Street, all of life's richness is found in the glorious goings-on of its residents... -
![Miracles and Conundrums of the Secondary Planets by Jacob M. Appel]()
Miracles and Conundrums of the Secondary Planets by Jacob M. Appel
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA visitor from a distant planet opens a Latvian restaurant next to an abortion clinic; a magician learns that true love will cost him a kidney; a blind barber cuts hair for tourists in a gentrifying Harlem.... Enter the mad, moving university of Jacob M. Appel's short fiction...Categorized as:
humor literary-fiction 21st-century adult anthologies comedy fiction magical-realism -
![Second Course by Simon Haynes]()
Second Course by Simon Haynes
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsRex Curtis is trying to save his freight company from bankruptcy, and the last thing he needs is a cheeky freelancer stealing his best customers.Hal Spacejock, cheeky freelancer, is fighting for survival in the cut-throat interstellar cargo business. The last thing he needs is a powerful enemy.Second Course: Two headstrong men on a collision course, in a Galaxy barely room enough for one... -
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![Not So Normal Norbert by James Patterson, Joey Green]()
Not So Normal Norbert by James Patterson, Joey Green
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsJames Patterson's rollicking new middle grade novel is a hilarious adventure into a futuristic world, where different is dangerous, imagination is insanity, and creativity is crazy!Norbert Riddle lives in the United State of Earth, where normal means following the rules, never standing out, and being exactly the same as everyone else, down to the plain gray jumpsuits he wears everyday... -
![Qualityland by Marc-Uwe Kling]()
Qualityland by Marc-Uwe Kling
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsIn the near future sci-fi world of Qualityland, algorithms help create an idyllic life for its citizens, but what if the perfect world wasn't built for you?Welcome to QualityLand, the best country on Earth. Here, a universal ranking system determines the social advantages and career opportunities of every member of society... -
![In Persuasion Nation by George Saunders]()
In Persuasion Nation by George Saunders
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsThe stories In Persuasion Nation are easily his best work yet. "The Red Bow,"about a town consumed by pet-killing hysteria, won a 2004 National Magazine Award and "Bohemians," the story of two supposed Eastern European widows trying to fit in in suburban USA, is included in The Best American Short Stories 2005... -
![A Modest Proposal and Other Satirical Works by Jonathan Swift]()
A Modest Proposal and Other Satirical Works by Jonathan Swift
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsThe originality, concentrated power and ‘fierce indignation’ of his satirical writing have earned Jonathan Swift a reputation as the greatest prose satirist in English literature. Gulliver’s Travels is, of course, his world renowned masterpiece in the genre; however, Swift wrote other, shorter works that also offer excellent evidence of his inspired lampoonery... -
![Black No More by George S. Schuyler]()
Black No More by George S. Schuyler
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA hillarious exploration of the bizarre events which occur when blacks literally 'disappear' from society... -
![That is All by John Hodgman]()
That is All by John Hodgman
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsJohn Hodgman-bestselling author, The Daily Show's "Resident Expert", minor television celebrity, and deranged millionaire-brings us the third and final installment in his trilogy of Complete World Knowledge... -
![Men In Black by Steve Perry]()
Men In Black by Steve Perry
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsWhile much of the world waits and watches the skies for signs of alien civilizations, there is a select group of men who know the truth. That alien beings are here--now--walking among us in human form. These men are members of an agency dedicated to tracking and policing the movements of these aliens--a top secret organization known only as...Men in Black... -
![Everything but the Squeal by John Scalzi]()
Everything but the Squeal by John Scalzi
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn the not-so-distant future, life is good... if you’re one of the lucky few to live in the new, ecologically-minded city-states that dot the landscape. Outside their walls, in the “wilds” -- the rotting suburbs and exurbs of America -- things have become rather more precarious. Benjamin Washington is a kid in New St... -
![We Have Lost The Chihuahuas by Paul Mathews]()
We Have Lost The Chihuahuas by Paul Mathews
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsLondon, 2046. The British Republic has a new First Lady. She’s Californian, ‘in-your-face, for sure’ and she’s got big plans for a Buckingham Palace refurb. When her three Chihuahuas go missing, one man is determined to avoid getting dragged into it all. His name is Pond. Howie Pond – presidential spokesperson, retired secret agent and cat lover... -
![The Beasts of Success by Jasun Ether]()
The Beasts of Success by Jasun Ether
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn this dog-eat-dog world, three friends find themselves getting nowhere in their careers despite their education and work skills. They decide to make their own rules to the game of life and play dirty to get ahead. Each of them concoct schemes to sabotage colleagues and clear the path for their swift advancement... -
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![Max and the Multiverse by Zachry Wheeler]()
Max and the Multiverse by Zachry Wheeler
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratings* Gold Medal Winner - Global Ebook AwardsIt's spring break and Max is stuck at home all by himself. Just the way he likes it. He games online, feasts on junk, and wonders why his cat can suddenly talk.Thanks to a bizarre mishap, Max has started shifting between parallel universes whenever he falls asleep. A curious affliction, and one that steadily erodes his sanity... -
![The Exploding Detective by John Swartzwelder]()
The Exploding Detective by John Swartzwelder
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsOne of a series of comedy science fiction novels featuring slow-witted detective Frank Burly. By John Swartzwelder, the author of "The Time Machine Did It", "Double Wonderful", "How I Conquered Your Planet", and 59 episodes of The Simpsons... -
![The After Days by Amy Ginsburg]()
The After Days by Amy Ginsburg
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn a world without power, you need the power of friendship and love to survive."This is far and away the most compelling read I’ve experienced in a long time. No lie. This is seriously good. It’s fresh, entertaining, and thought-provoking...Categorized as:
dystopia literary-fiction humor fiction post-apocalyptic sci-fi apocalyptic female-mc -
![I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom by Jason Pargin]()
I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom by Jason Pargin
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsA standalone darkly humorous thriller set in modern America's age of anxiety, by New York Times bestselling author Jason Pargin.Outside Los Angeles, a driver pulls up to find a young woman sitting on a large black box. She offers him $200,000 cash to transport her and that box across the country, to Washington, DC.But there are rules:He cannot look inside the box.He cannot ask questions... -
![Knights of the Apocalypse by Benjamin Wallace]()
Knights of the Apocalypse by Benjamin Wallace
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsThe end of the world as you've never known it. A price on their heads has driven Jerry the post-apocalyptic nomadic warrior, Erica and their loyal mastiff west in search of a new beginning. But when their truck breaks down in what was once southern Colorado they are swept into an epic quest at the behest of King Elias, ruler of the Kingdom of the Five Peaks... -
![Sewer, Gas and Electric: The Public Works Trilogy by Matt Ruff]()
Sewer, Gas and Electric: The Public Works Trilogy by Matt Ruff
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsHigh above Manhattan android and human steelworkers are constructing a new Tower of Babel for billionaire Harry Gant, as a monument to humanity’s power to dream. In the festering sewers below a darker game is afoot: a Wall Street takeover artist has been murdered, and Gant’s crusading ex-wife, Joan Fine, has been hired to find out why... -
![Up and Down by Terry Fallis]()
Up and Down by Terry Fallis
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsOn his first day at Turner King, David Stewart quickly realizes that the world of international PR (affectionately, known as "the dark side") is a far cry from his previous job with the Canadian government. For one, he missed the office memo on the all-black dress code; for another, there are enough acronyms and jargon to make his head spin... -
![Retief: Envoy to New Worlds by Keith Laumer]()
Retief: Envoy to New Worlds by Keith Laumer
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsBetween the lines of the official histories of the frontier worlds of the 29th Century lie myriad confidential accounts of the boners, near-catastrophes, and interstellar crises that were bound to occur when human meets non-human... -
![God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.]()
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 53 ratingsSecond only to Slaughterhouse-Five of Vonnegut's canon in its prominence and influence, God Bless You, Mr... -
![Space Marine by Ian Watson]()
Space Marine by Ian Watson
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsBelieve us when we tell you that Space Marine is quite unlike any other Warhammer 40,000 novel you’ve ever read... -
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![Wrath of Betty by Steven Erikson]()
Wrath of Betty by Steven Erikson
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsFrom New York Times bestselling author Steven Erikson comes a new SF novel of devil-may-care, near calamitous, and downright chaotic adventures through the infinite vastness of interstellar space...The continuing adventures of the starship A.S.F. Willful Child... -
![Doctor Who: A Brief History of Time Lords by Steve Tribe]()
Doctor Who: A Brief History of Time Lords by Steve Tribe
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsTHE book the Time Lords (including the Doctor) read when studying at the Academy, the full-color in-world history that pieces together the true story of Gallifrey from the many and contradictory accounts that survived the Last Great Time War... -
![The Leaky Establishment by David Langford]()
The Leaky Establishment by David Langford
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratings_The Leaky Establishment_ is an atomic farce whose author David Langford once worked in the gentle radioactive glow of Britain's nuclear weapons industry, and hilariously satirizes its ghastly bureaucracy from the inside... -
![Fantastic Orgy by Carlton Mellick III]()
Fantastic Orgy by Carlton Mellick III
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsShark women, mutant cats, and strange sexually transmitted diseases. Over the past few decades, sexually transmitted diseases have evolved in unusual ways. Herpes, AIDS, Gonorrhea; these are all STDs of the past. These days, sexually transmitted diseases are more extreme and bizarre. Not exactly diseases anymore, they are more like sexually transmitted body modifications... -
![How Best to Avoid Dying by Owen Egerton]()
How Best to Avoid Dying by Owen Egerton
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratings[i]Lazarus Dying[/i]: the man Jesus raised from the dead is alive and living in New York City. [i]The Fecalist[/i]: an author whose best selling work is his latest poop. [i]Christmas[/i]: she loves you, you love her, she has a gun in your mouth. Welcome to the award-winning short fiction of Owen Egerton... -
![The Same To You Doubled And Other Stories by Robert Sheckley]()
The Same To You Doubled And Other Stories by Robert Sheckley
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsCan You Feel Anything When I Do This? (1969) storyCordle to Onion to Carrot (1969) storyThe Petrified World (1968) story Game: First Schematic (1971) story Doctor Zombie & His Little Furry Friends (1971) storyThe Cruel Equations (1971) storyThe Same to You Doubled (1970) story Starting from Scratch (1953) story The Mnemone (1971) storyTripout (1971) storyNotes on the Perception of Imaginary... -
![FUBAR by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.]()
FUBAR by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe waters of renewal sometimes course through the unlikeliest of settings. In the short story, “FUBAR,” we’re taken to a desolate building in a drab industrial complex, where a lonely office worker gains a fresh perspective on life thanks to the intervention of his free-spirited new female assistant... -
![Moscow 2042 by Vladimir Voinovich]()
Moscow 2042 by Vladimir Voinovich
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe year is 1982, just two years before that made famous by Orwell. An exiled Soviet writer discovers that a German travel agency is booking flights through a time warp to a variety of tempting sites and dates in the future. Moscow? The year 2042? How can he resist? Afterword by the Author. Translated by Richard Lourie...Categorized as:
dystopia humor politics satire 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history -
![Set My Heart To Five by Simon Stephenson]()
Set My Heart To Five by Simon Stephenson
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 12 ratings‘You shall read this with unadulterated pleasure’ Scotland on Sunday‘A beautiful, funny, heartfelt analysis of what it means to be human’ Simon Pegg Set in a 2054 where humans have locked themselves out of the internet and Elon Musk has incinerated the moon, Set My Heart To Five is the hilarious yet profoundly moving story of one android’s emotional awakening... -
![Judge Sn Goes Golfing by John Scalzi]()
Judge Sn Goes Golfing by John Scalzi
Rated: 3.80 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsJohn Scalzi visits the universe of his bestselling novel The Android's Dream for this exclusive short story, featuring fan favorite character Judge Nugan Bufan Sn -- a brilliant alien jurist whose misanthropy and lack of social graces is matched only by his futile, unrequited for the game of golf... -
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![Waiting for the Galactic Bus by Parke Godwin]()
Waiting for the Galactic Bus by Parke Godwin
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsImagine two brothers off on an intergalatic Spring Break. When their friends leave them behind on Earth, they've got a few millenia to kill before they'll manage to get back to school. So, as an experiment, mind you, they decide to give evolution a bit of a nudge... And that's when all hell breaks loose... a little more literally than either of them planned.. -
![Canary in a Cat House by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.]()
Canary in a Cat House by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsPublished in 1961, Canary in a Cathouse is a collection of twelve short stories. Except for Hal Irwin's magic lamp, eleven of them reappear in the later collection Welcome to the Monkey House.Contents:- Report on the barnhouse effect- All the king's horses- D.P... -
![Retief: Emissary To The Stars by Keith Laumer]()
Retief: Emissary To The Stars by Keith Laumer
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe Groaci peril: They're nasty little five-eyed sticky fingers who want the galaxy and will stoop to anything to get it. But when they try to sabotage one planet and use another for their garbage, it's time for Retief, that cunning and courageous emissary from Corps Diplomatique Tewrrestrienne to samsh in... -
![Voyage to Kazohinia by Sandor Szathmari]()
Voyage to Kazohinia by Sandor Szathmari
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA page-turning dystopian classic that stands alongside Brave New World and Gulliver's Travels.Voyage to Kazohinia is a tour de force of twentieth-century literature--and it is here published in English for the first time outside of Hungary. Sándor Szathmári's comical novel chronicles the travels of a modern Gulliver on the eve of World War II...Categorized as:
dystopia humor literary-fiction satire action-adventure adult alternate-history book -
![Lint by Steve Aylett]()
Lint by Steve Aylett
Rated: 3.75 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsSteve Aylett has always gone a step farther than his contemporaries. In Slaughtermatic, he pushed the limits of science fiction, and for that he was named a finalist for the Philip K. Dick Award. Now, in Lint, he offers the first-ever biography of one of the great minds of our time: Jeff Lint, author of some of the strangest and most inventive satirical SF of the late twentieth century... -
![Harvest by Manjula Padmanabhan]()
Harvest by Manjula Padmanabhan
Rated: 3.75 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsOm, a young man, is driven by unemployment to sell his body parts for cash. Guards arrive to make his home into a germ-free zone. When his brother Jeetu arrives unexpectedly, he is taken away as the donor. Om’s wife Jaya is left alone...
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