The Snowball Effect by Katherine MacLean
Caswell's "snowball effect" curdled: a sewing circle metastasized into the kraken-like Watashaw Mutual, choking society with silk and algorithms. Holloway, caged in protocols, watched control unravel into glorious chaos. MacLean's mordant wit weaves a gothic warning—ambition's threads blooming lethal where greed takes root.
Missing Link by Frank Herbert
On emerald Gienah III, agent Lewis Orne hunts a vanished starship but finds a civilization weaving human tech into living silicon oracles. Champion Tanub wields stolen ingenuity as a weapon while Terran Command looms above. Herbert crafts a razor's-edge first contact where every whispered negotiation could trigger cultural implosion - with humanity's own ghosts screaming from the jungle shadows.
The Marching Morons by C. M. Kornbluth