History FanficRecs / SystemShock

''[[https://web.archive.org/web/20060822040957/http://www.shamusyoung.com/shocked/index.html Free Radical]]'' by Shamus Young

''[[https://web.archive.org/web/20060822040957/http://www.shamusyoung.com/shocked/index.html]]'' by Shamus Young

''[[http://www.shamusyoung.com/shocked/index.html Free Radical]]'' by Shamus Young

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<<|FanficRecommendations|>>

* I thought this was an excellent re-imagining of System Shock's plot, especially the ending. A hard-core Shock fan may not like the changes to the story, but it's a really good way to bring the story to the medium of print, though as noticed by the above it has a few grammatical errors. Highly recommended.
* Depends on the hard-core Shock fan; I've always found SHODAN a thoroughly well imagined and compelling character, especially in the sequel game, and have thus been disappointed that both games finished up by treating her as just a disposable final boss with optional sequel hook. Whatever flaws may mar it, ''Free Radical'' is palpably informed throughout by the same enormous respect, and as such earns a place among the small and select company of deuterocanonical works which leave the actual canon faintly disappointing by comparison.
** Indeed, to give ''Free Radical'' the faintly dismissive label of "fan fiction" gives both the work and the author unduly short shrift; under the not inconsiderable guise of a compelling science-fiction story, there lies an awesome amount of subtext of the sort "literary fiction" fans profess to love, the difference between ''Free Radical'' and literary fiction being of course that the former lacks pretense and the latter lacks appeal. Read with a careful eye and a thoughtful mind, ''Free Radical'' reveals itself as a surprisingly subtle meditation on themes ranging from death and rebirth, to procreation, to apotheosis and the nature of godhood, to the attainment of wisdom and the essential impossibility of right action in its absence -- and, read ''without'' those things, ''Free Radical'' stands up quite well as a damn good story worth the attention of any fan of SHODAN, System Shock, science fiction, or just good stories in general.

These are recommendations made by Tropers for ''SystemShock'' fanfics, all of which have to be signed to stay on the page. Feel free to add a fanfic of your own to the list, but remember to use the template found [[Main/FanficRecommendations here]].

* ''Comments'': I came to Free Radical from a perspective of literally zero knowledge of the [[SystemShock videogame]]. Knowing that, and judging it purely as a standalone science fiction novel, I found it a fantastic read.

Proof that [[SturgeonsLaw the remaining 10% is worth dying for]] here.

* Recommended by RobinZimm, {{Joysweeper}}, Electron Blue, {{Korodzik}}, {{Tropers/Jonn}}, ohessess

* Synopsis: A reimagining of the events of SystemShock in novel form, beginning before the beginning of the game. It opens when a [[TheCracker black-hat hacker]] tries to break into [[MegaCorp TriOptimum]]'s computer system to steal a new computer-interfacing neural implant, and ends up being brought up onto the special research satellite and offered the implant if he will do a little job. But when he wakes up after a six-week "healing coma"(shortened from the game's six months), the lights are flickering, the robots are acting strange, people are lurching around like ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater'' zombies, and there's a frantic radio signal from Earth trying to find out what is going on up there...

**** ...more like [[spoiler:she fused with the Hacker a'la Ghost in the Shell, "The Network is Huge"... only a Saint Paul reference could have made it more explicit.]]

** Indeed, to give ''Free Radical'' the faintly dismissive label of "fan fiction" gives both the work and the author unduly short shrift; under the not inconsiderable guise of a compelling science-fiction story, there lies an awesome amount of subtext of the sort "literary fiction" fans profess to love, the difference between ''Free Radical'' and literary fiction being of course that the former lacks pretense and the latter lacks interest. Read with a careful eye and a thoughtful mind, ''Free Radical'' reveals itself as a surprisingly subtle meditation on themes ranging from death and rebirth, to procreation, to apotheosis and the nature of godhood, to the attainment of wisdom and the essential impossibility of right action in its absence -- and, read ''without'' those things, ''Free Radical'' stands up quite well as a damn good story worth the attention of any fan of SHODAN, System Shock, science fiction, or just good stories in general.

* Recommended by RobinZimm, {{Joysweeper}}, Electron Blue, {{Korodzik}}, {{Tropers/Jonn}}

* SHODAN and......videogame journalist Kieron Gillen? [[http://gillen.cream.org/wordpress_html/?page_id=1103 YMMV.]]

You can also add to the current recommendations if you want. Refrain from posting ConversationInTheMainPage though; that goes in the discussion page.

* Synopsis: A reimagining of the events of SystemShock in novel form, beginning before the beginning of the game. It opens when a [[TheCracker black-hat hacker]] tries to break into [[MegaCorp TriOptimum]]'s computer system to steal a new computer-interfacing neural implant, and ends up being brought up onto the special research satellite and offered the implant if he will do a little job. But when he wakes up after a six-week "healing coma"(shortened from the game's six months), the lights are flickering, the robots are acting strange, people are lurching around like [[TwentyEightDaysLater 28 Days Later]] zombies, and there's a frantic radio signal from Earth trying to find out what is going on up there...

**** ...more like she fused with the Hacker a'la Ghost in the Shell, "The Network is Huge"... only a Saint Paul reference could have made it more explicit.