(Book search) Sci-fi book trilogy about space travel & 'jacking'
When I was younger I read three books that were bound into one book, all by the same author I believe. The first two books were in the same universe and the third one was not.
The first book was about a man who enlists in some kind of big intergalactic(?) space war. The technology in the universe meant that travelling the large interstellar distances took a long time (hundreds, possibly thousands, of years) and passengers were put in stasis. Often a ship full of soldiers sent off on a mission would find that the mission has already been completed by soldiers sent on a faster ship at a later date, or would arrive and be immediately destroyed by resistance that is far more advanced than they are, due to the advances made while they were asleep.
A part of the story I remember is that every time the main character comes back to earth, it has gone through big changes, most notably the sexuality of the population. When he leaves the population of earth is generally heterosexual, when he returns most of the population is homosexual, and sex changes are offered to everybody for free.
The second book is in the same universe as this. I only remember a small amount of this plot but a major part of it was the decision of a large part of this society to go on a long round trip, essentially time travelling into the future of their planet.
The third book was in a different universe. 1012
One where 'jacking', very much like the matrix, is commonplace. Soldiers use this technology to jack in to mech suits and kill ridiculous amounts of some enemy, and also civilians. The recordings of these experiences are sold on the black market for people to relive by 'jacking in' to the memories themselves. Another large part of this plot is a machine that can turn any element into any other, eg. fusing a large quantity of sand into diamonds, or any other element.
I've tried to be as specific as I can, but unfortunately I don't remember much else about the books. I believe I read these in or before 2012, although they were not new books when I read them. 1012