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Lock In

John Scalzi

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Similar in premise + setting

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

Premise labels used: pandemic aftermath, disability technology, mind-body split, robot bodies, virtual society, murder investigation, federal investigation, identity crisis, post-plague society

Setting labels used: near future, Earth, United States, futuristic society, post-pandemic world, virtual world, shared virtual space, corporate world, law enforcement setting

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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Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome

John Scalzi · 2014 · Lock In

An oral-history prequel charts the outbreak of Haden's Syndrome and the world-changing response that follows.

Why this is here

Premise labels: viral outbreak · global pandemic · medical crisis · post-pandemic society · disabled future · technology response · public policy · civil rights · social change · worldbuilding prelude

Setting labels: near future · global setting · United States · pandemic era · post-outbreak society · virtual worlds · robotic avatars · speculative future

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1112

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We Hear Voices

Evie Green · 2020

In a near-future pandemic-stricken London, a mother must protect her son after his recovery brings back something unseen and dangerous.

Why this is here

Premise labels: mysterious pandemic · imaginary friend · children hearing voices · violent influence · family under strain · post-illness aftermath · secret research facility · space program · dystopian collapse · near-future crisis

Setting labels: near future · future London · dystopian society · apocalyptic world · post-pandemic · global pandemic · collapsed Earth · spacefaring future · underground facility · communal living

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1427

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Sister, Maiden, Monster

Lucy A. Snyder · 2023

Three women are remade by a strange virus as a collapsing world veers into body horror, desire, and cosmic dread.

Why this is here

Premise labels: viral outbreak · pandemic aftermath · body mutation · apocalypse · survival · queer awakening · brain hunger · murder compulsion · chronic illness · eldritch influence · world collapse

Setting labels: near future · post-COVID · pandemic world · dystopian world · global collapse · medical institutions · psychiatric ward · workplace setting · brothel setting · apocalyptic reality

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1433

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Child Zero

Chris Holm · 2022

In a near-future New York ravaged by antibiotic resistance, a detective hunts a mystery tied to a boy everyone wants.

Why this is here

Premise labels: antibiotic resistance · bioterrorism · pandemic collapse · medical crisis · missing child · quarantine zone · manhunt · government overreach · scientific plausibility · public health crisis

Setting labels: near future · dystopian New York City · Central Park quarantine zone · post-pandemic world · surveillance state · urban collapse · futuristic cityscape

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1493

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The Tiger Flu

Larissa Lai · 2018

In a devastated future, two women from opposing communities race to save their people amid plague, biotech, and power struggles.

Why this is here

Premise labels: pandemic apocalypse · genetic engineering · parthenogenetic society · clone community · body regeneration · organ harvesting · mind-body separation · corporate power · technocratic control

Setting labels: future Earth · post-apocalyptic world · post-oil world · climate-changed world · pandemic world · dystopian future · ruined city · quarantine rings · isolated commune · post-Canada

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1567

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Walking in Two Worlds

Wab Kinew · 2021 · Walking in Two Worlds

An Indigenous teen gamer navigates a near-future virtual world, real-life pressures, and a risky friendship that could change both.

Why this is here

Premise labels: dual worlds · virtual reality · gamer protagonist · outsider connection · identity conflict · cultural preservation · post-pandemic future · online radicalization

Setting labels: near future · post-pandemic future · reservation setting · Canada · virtual world · augmented reality · massively multiplayer game · real world/online world contrast · fictional digital world

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1588

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The Key to Fear

Kristin Cast · 2020 · The Key

In a post-pandemic future where touch is outlawed, a rule-following nurse and a rebel uncover dangerous secrets.

Why this is here

Premise labels: touch taboo · post-pandemic society · controlling corporation · forbidden intimacy · rule breaking · resistance · conspiracy

Setting labels: post-pandemic future · alternate world · dystopian society · technologically advanced society · sterile environment · virtual reality · care facility · lab conception · controlled city

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1601

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Blackout

Mira Grant · 2012 · Newsflesh

A blogger-journalist team races to expose a vast conspiracy in a zombie-ravaged future as the virus mutates and stakes explode.

Why this is here

Premise labels: virus outbreak · government conspiracy · truth-seeking journalists · post-pandemic society · rescue mission · mutating pathogen · cloning subplot · survival under collapse

Setting labels: post-apocalyptic America · near future · fortified safe zones · zombie-infested world · future United States · government facilities · newsroom culture

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1614

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A Beginning at the End

Mike Chen · 2020

Six years after a pandemic, four survivors in a rebuilding San Francisco face buried pasts, family bonds, and a new outbreak scare.

Why this is here

Premise labels: post-pandemic recovery · rebuilding society · found family · identity search · custody conflict · second outbreak

Setting labels: post-apocalyptic · near-future · San Francisco · rebuilding society · metro cities · communes · wasteland zones · post-pandemic world

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1619

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Immunity Index

Sue Burke · 2021

In a near-future US, three cloned young women and their creator face a deadly virus and a rising rebellion.

Why this is here

Premise labels: pandemic outbreak · clone identity · genetic engineering · political unrest · authoritarian government · lab-made virus · resistance movement · class oppression

Setting labels: near future · United States · dystopian future · pandemic-era echo · high-tech present-adjacent future · Chicago · farm setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1626

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Your Utopia

Bora Chung · 2024

Eight Korean sci-fi stories explore AI, immortality, grief, and social injustice in bleak, wry near-future worlds.

Why this is here

Premise labels: immortality research · AI emotions · posthuman survival · cannibalism pandemic · dystopian futures · late capitalism · technology and society · human-machine relations · environmental collapse

Setting labels: near future · distant future · post-apocalyptic · posthuman · dystopian · spacefaring · corporate setting · urban apartment building · desolate planet

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1674

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A Single Light

Tosca Lee · 2019 · The Line Between

A bunker survivor races through a ravaged post-pandemic world to find medicine before time runs out.

Why this is here

Premise labels: pandemic aftermath · resource scarcity · race against time · medical mission · survival quest · bunker exit · save-the-world

Setting labels: underground bunker · silo · post-pandemic world · near-future · dystopian USA · Nebraska · war zones · abandoned cities · post-apocalyptic landscape · global pandemic reality

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1716

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