Hardboiled Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books for Blade Runner Fans

Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep was a major inspiration for Blade Runner, and his mind-bending stories force us to see reality through an altered lens. How might machines influence humanity. How perception impacts reality. And how all of that might lead to a dark, grim future where the grit of noir is highlighted by the lurid brightness of neon. This collection of short stories offers the best over his career and are the perfect way to dip your toes into Dick’s electric imagination. 

Raymond Electromatic is the world’s last robot. Programmed to make a profit, he continues working as the sole employee of his business, Electromatic Detective Agency, alongside his supercomputer, Ava. When a woman hires him to find a missing movie star, something about her strikes him as familiar. Too bad his twenty-four-hour memory tape makes it impossible to know why. But as he delves into a world that glitters with power and secrets, he stumbles on a conspiracy that goes far beyond the magic of movies putting him in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or maybe the exact opposite.

Unable to sleep at night, twenty-something Max Frei is something of a loser. Until his day sleeping connects him to a parallel world through his dreams. Outcast in the real world, in this new reality, he’s a member of the Department of Absolute Order. There, he’s tasked solving cases that are more elaborate, more unreal, more unhinged, and far more dangerous than anything he could ever encounter in his physical life. 

It’s the twenty-fifth century. Humanity has expanded to the far reaches of the galaxy and death is nothing more than a technological glitch. At least, it is for those who can afford to install the expensive procedure that allows your consciousness to be storied and uploaded into a new “sleeve”. Takeshi Kovacs has been killed many times over his career as an ex-U.N. envoy. But when he’s re-sleeved into a body in what was once San Franscisco to solve a murder, he finds himself in the middle of a conspiracy that is darker, vicious, and far more dangerous than he’s ever encountered before.

Investigating sensitive cases is Cal Sounder’s specialty. So when he’s called into a murder investigation, he’s surprised by how ordinary it seems. Until he learns the victim is a Titan, a genetically altered elite. The man once towered seven feet tall, and despite being over ninety, didn’t look a day over thirty. Titans are rare. One of them dying is newsworthy. One them getting murdered is unthinkable. But Cal is more than familiar with Titans. His girlfriend is one. And not just any Titan, she’s heiress to the empire that created them. This case is more than sensitive. It will drag him into the depths of a world with a dark heart far more complicated than he ever imagined possible.

The City in the Sky was meant to be a beacon of hope. Hovering hundreds of miles above Earth’s surface, it was supposed to be a symbol of our expansion to the stars. The reality is far grimmer. Bootlegging, prostitutes, and gangs have created an economy so profitable even the police are willing to overlook it. Until a dismembered body is discovered. Nikki “Fox” Freeman is in charge of the investigation, and she’s less than thrilled to have an uptight government agent assigned as her partner. But as the body parts start piling up, both women realize it may not be a gang they’re looking for. And if that’s true, nothing, not even their own memories, can be trusted.

Detective for Govcorp, Carlos Moreno lost his mother when he was a baby. That was when Atlas took her away, leaving his father despondent, and leading a religious cult to his doorstep. On the 40^th anniversary of Atlas leaving, the cult leader is found dead in a hotel room and Carlos is leading the investigation. To solve the murder, he has to put aside his personal history. Easier said than done. But this death is far more complicated than it first appeared, leading Carlos to the dark and sinister truth of Atlas.