Books: Nobles, Gardens, Rain

GURPS Traveller: Nobles

-Honestly, kinda boring. Describes the structure of the nobility in the Third Imperium of the SF universe of Traveller in repetitive detail. I'd only recommend it if you're running a Traveller campaign that really needs more detail on nobles.

In the Garden of Iden by Kage Baker

-Recommended to me by ricevermicelli, this is an entertaining introduction to Baker's Company novels. (You can tell it's an introduction, 'cause she creates a complex time-spanning conspiracy as backstory, then spends most of the novel not making use of it.) If you like doomed romance and quasi-historical fiction, highly recommended.

Century Rain by Alastair Reynolds

-Hey, speaking of doomed romance and quasi-historical fiction . . . I greatly enjoy everything by Reynolds I've read, including this one, tho' he still tends to over-rely on precursor artifacts. The odd-numbered chapters are set in 1950s France (kinda), and the even-numbered ones are set a few centuries in the future, after humanity has Seriously Screwed Up. Gripping and tense, and lots of shiny things go boom. (Oh, and it has a brief moment of fanservice, when Reynolds gratuitously mentions Slashdot. Honestly.) Very recommended, particularly if you're into transhumanistic time travel.