Freeware

Several months ago, Lauren reviewed and recommended Software by Rudy Rucker.  I read it and thought it was a hoot - wildly creative, screamingly funny and unexpectedly thoughtful in exploring the idea of whether consciousness is unique to "living" beings.  Well, Freeware is the second (NB: actually 3rd - see comments) in a series of four books by Rucker and continues these trends, with this startling first sentence:

Monique was a moldie: an artificial life form made of a soft plastic that was mottled and veined with gene-tweaked molds and algae. 

Freeware starts with a diagram of the family trees of the main characters in the four books, including Staun "Sta-Hi" Mooney, who, after his outlandish adventures in Software, is mentioned in Freeware as the author, while serving as Senator of California, of the Moldie Citizenship Act.  Other entries in the family trees and in the story include additional moldies and aliens with exceptional body forms and life experiences.

Unfortunately, I didn't find Freeware to be nearly as intriguing as Software.  There was less humor, less interesting consideration of life forms and consciousness, and a lot more really outlandish stuff that I couldn't connect with.  Oh well.