A science fiction version of Moby Dick, set in a deep crater filled with dust instead of water, featuring an impossible romance between the protagonist and an alien woman. The book was published as part of a series of books by new authors discovered by Harlan Ellison and was marketed as such.
Nebula Award nominee, 1985;[1] British Science Fiction Association Award nominee, 1986[2]
The 23rd century solar system is divided among two human factions: the "Shapers" who are employing genetics and psychology, and the "Mechanists" who use computers and body prosthetics. The novel is narrated from the viewpoint of Abelard Lindsay, a brilliant diplomat who makes history many times throughout the story.
Campbell Award winner, 1989;[3] Hugo Award nominee, 1989;[3] Locus SF Award nominee, 1989[3]
A view of an apparently peaceful early twenty-first century with delocalised, networking corporations. The protagonist, swept up in events beyond her control, finds herself in the places off the net, from a datahaven in Grenada, to a Singapore under terrorist attack, and the poorest and most disaster-struck part of Africa.
BSFA Award nominee, 1996;[7] Hugo Award nominee, 1997;[8] Locus SF Award nominee, 1997[8]
Set in a world of steadily increasing longevity (gerontocracy), a newly rejuvenated American woman drifts through the marginalised subculture of young European artists while dealing with the implications of posthumanism.
Distraction (1998)
Campbell Award nominee, 1999;[9] Hugo Award nominee, 1999;[9] Locus SF Award nominee, 1999;[9] Clarke Award winner, 2000[10]
A master political strategist and a genius genetic researcher find love as they fight an insane Louisiana governor for control of a high-tech scientific facility in a post-collapse United States. US editions: ISBN0-553-10484-5 (hardcover), ISBN0-553-57639-9 (paperback).
Sibling clones, four female and one male, of the widow of a Balkan war criminal living on a space station, may be able to rescue the Earth from environmental collapse in 2060.[12]
Tomorrow Now: Envisioning the next fifty years (2002) – a popular science approach on futurology, reflecting technology, politics and culture of the next 50 years. Readers of Sterling will recognize many issues from books like Zeitgeist, Distraction or Holy Fire. ISBN0-679-46322-4
Shaping Things (2005) is a "book about created objects", i.e. a lengthy essay about design, things and how we will move from the age of products and gizmos to the age of spimes (a Sterling neologism). The 150-pages book covers issues like "intelligent things" (spiked with RFID-tags), sustainability and "fabbing". MIT Press, ISBN0-262-69326-7.