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Eastern Standard Tribe

Cory Doctorow

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Similar in premise + setting

These books are ranked using the premise + setting labels extracted for Eastern Standard Tribe. Books rank higher when they are close on every selected axis.

Premise labels used: time-zone tribes, online affinity groups, industrial sabotage, corporate espionage, near-future communication, sleep schedule, user experience sabotage

Setting labels used: near future, London, Boston, Toronto, Massachusetts Turnpike, psychiatric hospital, insane asylum, online world, globalized world, alternate future

This does not mean the books share the same plot, setting, quality, or difficulty. It means their premise + setting embeddings are close.

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Void Star

Zachary Mason · 2017

In a climate-changed near future, three disparate lives collide around AI, memory implants, and a hidden struggle for power.

Why this is here

Premise labels: artificial intelligence · memory implants · near-future dystopia · cyberpunk intrigue · wealth inequality · climate collapse · rogue AI · human-machine interface

Setting labels: near future · post-climate-change world · flooded world · San Francisco · Los Angeles · global city network · dystopian urban future · high-tech low-life · drowned cities

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2053

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Crux

Ramez Naam · 2013 · Nexus

A near-future techno-thriller where a mind-network drug spreads worldwide, igniting war, control, and posthuman upheaval.

Why this is here

Premise labels: mind network · brain augmentation · posthuman conflict · technology misuse · backdoor control · state vs dissidents · human-machine interface · weaponized connectivity

Setting labels: near future · global · United States · Washington DC · Thailand · Vietnam · Shanghai · Southeast Asia · cybernetic reality · posthuman future

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2080

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Circular Motion

Alex Foster · 2025

As Earth’s days shorten, a runaway transport system, corporate denial, and activist rage pull two lives toward collision.

Why this is here

Premise labels: accelerating Earth rotation · day shortening · climate catastrophe · corporate technology fallout · global transport network · social unrest · activist resistance · systemic collapse · corporate cover-up · belonging search

Setting labels: near future · Alaska · New York City · London · San Francisco · global setting · dystopian future · climate crisis world · corporate future · stratospheric travel

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2144

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The Drafter

Kim Harrison · 2015 · The Peri Reed Chronicles

A memory-fractured government operative races to expose corruption while untangling rewritten timelines and betrayals.

Why this is here

Premise labels: memory loss · time manipulation · conspiracy · secret agent · corruption · trust issues · on the run · false memories

Setting labels: futuristic Detroit · 2030 · near future · alternative world · post-urban decay · secret government

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2145

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Mona Lisa Overdrive

William Gibson · 1987 · Sprawl

In a cyberpunk future, tangled lives, fake identities, and an AI-driven conspiracy pull several outsiders toward collision.

Why this is here

Premise labels: cyberpunk thriller · corporate espionage · cyberspace · organized crime · AI plot · identity deception · kidnapping plot

Setting labels: near future · dystopian future · cyberspace · globalized world · urban future · Sprawl · London · Japan · New Jersey

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2150

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The Confessions

Paul Bradley Carr · 2025

When a decision-making AI goes offline and secrets flood the world by mail, its creator must stop the collapse before it’s too late.

Why this is here

Premise labels: rogue AI · decision-making AI · AI shutdown · social collapse · secret exposure · confession letters · blackmail · near-future crisis · tech dependency · moral reckoning · race against time · cat and mouse

Setting labels: near future · speculative future · worldwide · global · United States · California · analog world · AI-controlled society · dystopian future

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2160

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The Chronoliths

Robert Charles Wilson · 2002

A laid-off expat in Thailand is pulled into a mystery when monuments from the future appear, warning of a coming conqueror.

Why this is here

Premise labels: future monuments · reverse time travel · self-fulfilling prophecy · future invasion · causal loop · global upheaval · mystery object · time paradox · societal collapse

Setting labels: near future · early 21st century · Thailand · Bangkok · Asia · global · declining society · dystopian future · alternate future

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2162

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Count Zero

William Gibson · 2006 · Sprawl

A mercenary, a hacker, and an art dealer are drawn into a corporate-cybernetic conspiracy in the Sprawl.

Why this is here

Premise labels: corporate espionage · cyberspace hacker · art investigation · mercenary extraction · biochip theft · multiple protagonists · AI intrigue · virtual reality

Setting labels: near future · cyberpunk future · dystopian future · corporate-controlled world · urban megacity · cyberspace · virtual reality · global economy · Sprawl

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2204

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The City Inside

Samit Basu · 2022

In near-future Delhi, a reality controller and an estranged heir get pulled into conspiracies amid surveillance and influencer culture.

Why this is here

Premise labels: near-future society · surveillance state · social media empire · influencer culture · conspiracy · resistance · corporate control · class inequality

Setting labels: near-future Delhi · near-future India · urban dystopia · high-surveillance society · digital reality · post-crisis future · cyberpunk city

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2248

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The Time Machine / The War of the Worlds

H.G. Wells · 1986

Two classic Wells tales: a time traveler reaches a distant future, and England faces a devastating alien invasion.

Why this is here

Premise labels: time travel · future dystopia · alien invasion · survival · social warning · civilizational collapse

Setting labels: Victorian England · far future · distant future · posthuman future · Mars · London · underground world · end times

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2256

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Ghost in the Shell

Masamune Shirow · 2004 · 攻殻機動隊 The Ghost in the Shell

A cyborg special agent hunts cybercriminals in a near-future Japan where minds, bodies, and identity are under siege.

Why this is here

Premise labels: cybercrime · anti-terrorist unit · ghost hacking · AI identity · cyborg agent · mind control · near-future policing · political conspiracy

Setting labels: near future · 21st century · mid-21st century · futuristic Japan · dystopian future · cyberpunk world · networked society · technologically advanced world

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2266

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The Song Rising

Samantha Shannon · 2024 · The Bone Season

An underqueen fights to hold a fractured clairvoyant underworld together as a deadly detection tech closes in.

Why this is here

Premise labels: underworld leadership · revolution · anti-authoritarian struggle · technology threat · clairvoyant community · criminal syndicate · alliance maintenance · race against time · survival · political resistance

Setting labels: London · England · Manchester · Edinburgh · Britain · near-future · dystopian society · urban setting · underground world · alternate reality

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2269

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