Ashe Dryden
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ashedryden.bsky.social
Ashe Dryden
@ashedryden.bsky.social
Studying the impact of tech on the most marginalized people, particularly police surveillance in segregated US cities.

#STS #Sociology #PublicInterestTech #Tech

Critiques #Surveillance #TechnoDeterminism #TechnoSolutionism #AI #Police
I've read all of these books myself, so the recommendation means something.

You can find the full list here: bookshop.org/lists/litera...

As always, be sure to check out the content warnings on TheStoryGraph before picking any of these up <3

Did I miss any you would recommend?
Literary Novels about Identity and Diaspora
These books all deal with cultural identity and those living in the diaspora. Think belonging and navigating multiple worlds.
bookshop.org
November 14, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (South Korea/US) Probably the longest book on this list at almost 500 pages, this is another multi-generational novel. It follows the descendants of a young, pregnant Korean woman. The Japanese occupation of Korea as the backdrop. app.thestorygraph.com/books/d0a836...
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Korea på begynnelsen av 1900-tallet. Japanerne har kolonialisert landet. Hoonie kjemper for tilvæ...
app.thestorygraph.com
November 14, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi (Ghana/US) A Ghanian-American woman cares for her mother while working on a PhD at Stanford. She studies addiction and depression, searching for the reasons her family has experienced so much suffering. app.thestorygraph.com/books/ddeba7...
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
Yaa Gyasi's stunning follow-up to her acclaimed national bestseller Homegoing is a powerful, raw,...
app.thestorygraph.com
November 14, 2025 at 6:22 PM
The Return of Faraz Ali by Aamina Ahmad (Pakistan) A police officer is sent back to Lahore where he is expected to cover up the murder of a girl. His past confronts him as he debates what to do. app.thestorygraph.com/books/36bbb5...
The Return of Faraz Ali by Aamina Ahmad
Sent back to his birthplace--Lahore's notorious red-light district--to hush up the murder of a gi...
app.thestorygraph.com
November 14, 2025 at 6:22 PM
What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad (Egypt/Canada) A young Syrian boy is the only survivor of a shipwreck carrying other refugees. A young girl finds him and hides him from the authorities looking to deport him. app.thestorygraph.com/books/0deede...
What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad
From the widely-acclaimed, bestselling author of American War a new novel--beautifully written, u...
app.thestorygraph.com
November 14, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Foreign Gods, Inc. by Okey Ndibe (Nigeria/US) A Nigerian immigrant in New York drives a cab, working hard to achieve the American Dream. When he returns home to Nigeria, he decides to steal an idol from his village to sell it to an art gallery back in NY. app.thestorygraph.com/books/95d736...
Foreign Gods, Inc. by Okey Ndibe
From a disciple of the late Chinua Achebe comes a masterful and universally acclaimed novel that...
app.thestorygraph.com
November 14, 2025 at 6:20 PM
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett (US) A pair of light-skinned Black twin sisters lives diverge. One sister returns to their childhood home with her dark-skinned daughter. The other has been living a life passing as white. Told over multiple generations. app.thestorygraph.com/books/a56645...
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, south...
app.thestorygraph.com
November 14, 2025 at 6:20 PM
The Leavers by Lisa Ko (US/Chinese diaspora) A young boy living in New York grapples with life with a white family after his undocumented Chinese immigrant mother disappears. app.thestorygraph.com/books/942d16...
The Leavers by Lisa Ko
One morning, Deming Guo's mother, Polly, an undocumented Chinese immigrant, goes to her job at a ...
app.thestorygraph.com
November 14, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Every Day Is for the Thief by Teju Cole (Nigeria/US) A man living in the US goes back to Lagos, finding you can never really go home again. Struggling with cultural conflict, leaving him feeling like he doesn't 100% identify with either place. app.thestorygraph.com/books/fac7f1...
Every Day Is for the Thief by Teju Cole
A young Nigerian writer living in New York City returns to Lagos in search of a subject-and himse...
app.thestorygraph.com
November 14, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Tech companies and governments could partner to make society better somewhat, but all of the money is in criminalization.
November 11, 2025 at 5:08 PM
I really liked the mystery turn the series took
November 7, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Me too, and it is unique. Nice change from your average science fiction space story.
November 7, 2025 at 8:03 PM
As always, I recommend checking out the content warnings on TheStoryGraph before picking any of these up <3

Did I miss any of your favorites?
November 7, 2025 at 8:02 PM
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin. Hainish Cycle series, 9+ books. Each book is standalone. Hainish civilization has collapsed, stranding Humans for years from one another, only rediscovering one another later when each planet has taken a different path. app.thestorygraph.com/series/521
Hainish Cycle | The StoryGraph
app.thestorygraph.com
November 7, 2025 at 8:01 PM
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, 6+ books. A British man goes on a journey through the universe, accompanied by some strange companions, a towel, and a guidebook to discover the meaning of life. app.thestorygraph.com/series/111600
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | The StoryGraph
app.thestorygraph.com
November 7, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Old Man's War by John Scalzi. Old Man's War series, 7 books. Humans exist in an alien-rich universe, battling one another for resources. Needing a large army, humans choose to employ older people who have lived full lives and are put into young bodies to fight. app.thestorygraph.com/series/609
Old Man's War | The StoryGraph
app.thestorygraph.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. Imperial Radch series, 5 books, short stories. In a society without gender designations, an AI ship shares a consciousness with the humans aboard it. When a ship is destroyed, it leaves behind a human that has clues as to what happened. app.thestorygraph.com/series/6
Imperial Radch | The StoryGraph
app.thestorygraph.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:59 PM
We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor. The Bobiverse series, 5 books, including one published in 2024. A man dies and his consciousness is converted to an AI who pilots a ship to find a new home for humanity. He replicates himself to comedic effect. app.thestorygraph.com/series/1249
Bobiverse | The StoryGraph
app.thestorygraph.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:57 PM
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. Wayfarers series, 4 books. A series for folks interested in a found family, multi-species, queer Firefly. The overarching story is less important than the small vignettes into the crews lives. app.thestorygraph.com/series/283
Wayfarers | The StoryGraph
app.thestorygraph.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:57 PM
The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi. Jean le Flambeur series, 3 books. The first novel is a science fiction heist in a world where time is currency. Has interesting surveillance and privacy technologies. app.thestorygraph.com/series/314
Jean le Flambeur | The StoryGraph
app.thestorygraph.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:56 PM
The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal. Lady Astronaut series, 4 books and a number of short stories. An asteroid hits the Earth, resulting in its inhabitability in short order, leading to the creation of a space colony program. app.thestorygraph.com/series/112204
Lady Astronaut | The StoryGraph
app.thestorygraph.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Children of Time series, 3 books, another in 2026. A cryo-preservation ship full of sleeping humans travels through space, escaping a collapsed Earth and a race of genetically modified spiders lives on terraformed planet. app.thestorygraph.com/series/367
Children of Time | The StoryGraph
app.thestorygraph.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor. Binti series, 3 books. A young woman is accepted into a university off her world. The ship she takes to the university gets hijacked by an alien species and she is the lone survivor. She forges an unusual friendship with one of the aliens. app.thestorygraph.com/series/66
Binti | The StoryGraph
app.thestorygraph.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:54 PM