Of Acker's books that I've read, "Empire of the Senseless" is really the only one that is primarily a Sci-Fi novel. I'd start there to find out/reexamine how you feel about her style (which isn't for everyone). From there, I'd move onto "Pussy, King of the Pirates," which is kind of a re-imagination of "Treasure…

"Subversive" is an adjective often applied to Kathy Acker's work. Sounds like you might especially be into "Empire of the Senseless." Also, if you like some good zombie apocalypse fiction (which I definitely do), you might really enjoy the "Newsflesh" trilogy by Mira Grant (AKA Seanan McGuire).

Really? I considered the food I ate in Russia to be among the best I've ever had. Of course, you have to really like things like smoked fish and caviar, which I understand not everyone does. But there were also some wonderful kabob-type dishes available at restaurants from some of the former Soviet republics, which…

I was thinking sort of the same thing. Specifically in the book, if I'm not mistaken it was only rumored that Theon was captured/tortured by Bolton's bastard, and we certainly never got first-hand descriptions of it. I sort of like the uncertainty of certain elements of the storylines in the books, though I think…

**MILD SPOILERS**

I agree with your sentiment, but I have one minor quibble with your word choice: Deadmau5 displays no discernible live DJ skills at his shows; he's admitted that he basically just presses "play." Whether or not he possesses DJ skills, I don't know, but I believe I remember him having some disparaging remarks for DJs…

I realize one tree on the roof of a tall building isn't the same as the tree-covered skyscrapers described here, but this structure in Vancouver is awesome. The rumor is that the penthouse condo is/was the residence of Leonard Nimoy.

Sounds like trypophobia (DO NOT GOOGLE THAT). If you haven't looked into it yet, there's a good article in Popular Science.

In the US, the minimum wage for servers is $2.13 an hour (more in some states). It is called the "tipped minimum wage" because it is expected that tips will bring them up to at least minimum wage. Two to five dollars per hour without tips is simply not a living wage in almost any part of the country.

The new Ron Currie Jr. book (Flimsy Little Plastic Miracles) is out in February as well. It's unclear to me how much of a sci-fi angle this book has, since the official review is kind of vague. There's some mention of the singularity and machines, but not much beyond that. His previous two books were among my…

Mira Grant's Deadline is another one not listed. I definitely want to pick both of those up.

This topic made me think of a depressing/hilarious book I really enjoyed: God is Dead by Ron Currie Jr. I'm sure I wouldn't recommend it to someone in active duty though, for exactly the reasons you brought up.