The Ware Tetralogy

by Rudy Rucker, William Gibson

Overview

It starts with Software, where rebel robots bring immortality to their human creator by eating his brain. Software won the first Philip K. Dick Award. In Wetware, the robots decide to start building people-and people get strung out on an insane new drug called merge. This cyberpunk classic garnered a second Philip K. Dick award. By Freeware, the robots have evolved into soft plastic slugs called moldies-and some human "cheeseballs" want to have sex with them. The action redoubles when aliens begin arriving in the form of cosmic rays. And with Realware, the humans and robots reach a higher plateau.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781607012115
Publisher:	Prime Books
Publication date:	07/06/2010
Pages:	704
Sales rank:	886,108
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 2.00(d)

About the Author

Rudy Rucker (1946) is an American mathematician, computer scientist, and author. He is considered one of the founders of the cyberpunk movement and has been celebrated for both his science fiction and his books on mathematics and the universe. In 1982 he began his most famous series The Ware Tetralogy with Software followed by Wetware in 1988, both of which won Philp K. Dick Awards.

Editorial Reviews

Rucker's four Ware novels--Software (1982), Wetware (1988), Freeware (1997), and Realware (2000)--form an extraordinary cyberweird future history with the heft of an epic fantasy novel and the speed of a quantum processor. Still exuberantly fresh despite their age, they primarily follow two characters (and their descendants): Cobb Anderson, who instigated the first robot revolution and is offered immortality by his grateful "children," and stoner Sta-Hi Mooney, who (against his impaired better judgment) becomes an important figure in robot-human relations. Over several generations, humans, robots, and society evolve, but even weird drugs and the wisdom gathered from interstellar signals won't stop them from making the same old mistakes in new ways. Rucker is both witty and serious as he combines hard science and sociology with unrelentingly sharp observations of all self-replicating beings. This classic series well deserves its omnibus repackaging, particularly suitable for libraries. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

The cyberpunk Ware Tetralogy is made up of Software (1982), Wetware (1988), Freeware (1997), and Realware (2000). Soft and Wet both snagged Philip K. Dick Awards (Soft was the first winner of that prize). If cyberpunk circs well in your library, get this solid bargain. Mike Rogers, "Classic Returns," Booksmack! 10/7/10

Library Journal - BookSmack!

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