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Sqinks
Sqinks is a visionary tale of odd aliens with strange plans. A vintage Rudy Rucker fresh ideas, big laughs, and high emotions. A novel about our new AI, satirizing today’s San Francisco. The main character is an old writer. He's lonely, he meets a woman, they save the world. A transreal cyberpunk love story!
259 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 18, 2025
7 people are currently reading
17 people want to read
About the author
Rudy Rucker
196 books590 followersRudolf von Bitter Rucker is an American mathematician, computer scientist, science fiction author, and one of the founders of the cyberpunk genre. He is best known for his Ware Tetralogy, the first two of which won Philip K. Dick awards. Presently, Rudy Rucker edits the science fiction webzine Flurb.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 1, 2026
Rudy Rucker is a cyberpunk legend, who won the first-ever Philip K. Dick award so I was very excited to find out he had written another novel. I bought and reviewed his last novel, Juicy Ghosts. Right after I heard this was coming, I found out that he was going to be on a panel at SF in SF with us talking about Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. So I was able to snag a signed #42 of the first 75. After reading it Rudy came on the live Tuesday night PKD hangout to talk about it.
Just for a baseline, Rudy has pretty much walked away from traditional publishing and come up with a model that frees him up. He does this by funding through Kickstarter, ends up making more money than traditional publishing, and since his books are trans-real as he would call it, or weird as hell the rest of it would call it, this is a good thing. He has no publisher telling him to explain it better or make things clearer, which is not needed.
Sqinks is set in a slightly near-future San Francisco and is, in a way, autobiographical. Like Rudy the main character Oliver is a science fiction writer who recently lost a wife. Had a tough go and eventually met a new love, in this case Carol. This future has self-driving cars (We got those) but we don’t have twirlware (internal mental internet thingy).
As with every Rucker book it is weird, funny, and at times head-stratching, but that is what you sign up for. Weird adventures, with aliens that eat brains, wormholes, strange drugs and math-inspired SF.
Sqinks are aliens from another like virtual tribbles that feed off creative energy, thus they become a metaphor or analogy for large language learning AI and how they are fucking artists, at least that was my read. Some of the best moments are when the fourth wall of the novel melts away and Rucker comments on writing or the genre.
Great stuff and big thumbs up.
Just for a baseline, Rudy has pretty much walked away from traditional publishing and come up with a model that frees him up. He does this by funding through Kickstarter, ends up making more money than traditional publishing, and since his books are trans-real as he would call it, or weird as hell the rest of it would call it, this is a good thing. He has no publisher telling him to explain it better or make things clearer, which is not needed.
Sqinks is set in a slightly near-future San Francisco and is, in a way, autobiographical. Like Rudy the main character Oliver is a science fiction writer who recently lost a wife. Had a tough go and eventually met a new love, in this case Carol. This future has self-driving cars (We got those) but we don’t have twirlware (internal mental internet thingy).
As with every Rucker book it is weird, funny, and at times head-stratching, but that is what you sign up for. Weird adventures, with aliens that eat brains, wormholes, strange drugs and math-inspired SF.
Sqinks are aliens from another like virtual tribbles that feed off creative energy, thus they become a metaphor or analogy for large language learning AI and how they are fucking artists, at least that was my read. Some of the best moments are when the fourth wall of the novel melts away and Rucker comments on writing or the genre.
Great stuff and big thumbs up.
December 8, 2025
I got this book through the author’s Kickstarter, plus his journal as I wanted to understand the author’s behind-the-scene work in crafting a story. _Sqinks_ is delightfully weird. I didn’t fully know what to expect, other than there are quirky aliens involved. I think it helped I completed _Moonbound_ before starting _Sqinks_, as if I came from a big space opera or assassin novel that I frequent, _Sqinks_ wouldn’t have worked. I needed my brain in a bit more receptive mode to fall into the weird, weird world of the Sqinks.
The book takes place in the near future, though the only real advances seen or talked about are self-driving cars and twirlware (cybernetic implants that let people chat within their minds or in the case of the main character, write his book in his mind). Otherwise, everything is very familiar. The setting is the SF Bay Area, with lots of mentions of places I’ve been (the author is based there).
Sqinks are aliens that don’t conform to the usual alien tropes. They are odd, adorable, and mischievious all at the same time. The book cover shows what a sqink looks like (its a painting by the author).
The book is filled with one weird adventure after another. Wormholes, Sqinkland, alien planets, and brains huffed like drugs. Oliver & Carol find themselves caught up in various sqink plots, much to their chagrin. At first they love the sqink luck, but then everything goes sideways, as the sqink queen and sqink princess have different opinions as to how to handle humans.
The author acknowledges in the afterword that Oliver is a bit like him, as the character, like the author is an SF author, recently lost his wife of decades, and paints. The author and character use writing as therapy. It is this therapy that has brought us the world of sqinks that has each chapter be crazier than the last.
This is a self-published book, so there are a handful of typos. The cover art is wonderful, as it really sets the stage of just how weird the story within is. If you approach this book as serious SF, then it probably won’t work for you. Instead, its a bit more like Douglas Adams, but without the convoluted sentences. Sqinks taking over a door is like Marvin talking to the sentient doors in the Heart of Gold. Sqinks talking is a hoot, especially Skeeze (he says writing is for crazy people). Weird is good.
The book takes place in the near future, though the only real advances seen or talked about are self-driving cars and twirlware (cybernetic implants that let people chat within their minds or in the case of the main character, write his book in his mind). Otherwise, everything is very familiar. The setting is the SF Bay Area, with lots of mentions of places I’ve been (the author is based there).
Sqinks are aliens that don’t conform to the usual alien tropes. They are odd, adorable, and mischievious all at the same time. The book cover shows what a sqink looks like (its a painting by the author).
The book is filled with one weird adventure after another. Wormholes, Sqinkland, alien planets, and brains huffed like drugs. Oliver & Carol find themselves caught up in various sqink plots, much to their chagrin. At first they love the sqink luck, but then everything goes sideways, as the sqink queen and sqink princess have different opinions as to how to handle humans.
The author acknowledges in the afterword that Oliver is a bit like him, as the character, like the author is an SF author, recently lost his wife of decades, and paints. The author and character use writing as therapy. It is this therapy that has brought us the world of sqinks that has each chapter be crazier than the last.
This is a self-published book, so there are a handful of typos. The cover art is wonderful, as it really sets the stage of just how weird the story within is. If you approach this book as serious SF, then it probably won’t work for you. Instead, its a bit more like Douglas Adams, but without the convoluted sentences. Sqinks taking over a door is like Marvin talking to the sentient doors in the Heart of Gold. Sqinks talking is a hoot, especially Skeeze (he says writing is for crazy people). Weird is good.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews