A Sci-Fi Lovers Thread

[zacharinolongpants]

Guys, I've been reading Phillip K Dick and Greg Egan and it's been a journey. Everybody knows PKD, but has anybody here read Greg Egan?

I read Permutation City and it was awesome. However, his novel Diaspora has been even better. The first chapter is this painstaking description of a digital consciousness being born, drawing parallels to biological cognitive development in such a mind bending and poetic way.

There is a lot to unpack in the first few chapters with some wild speculation on how humans evolve and their relationship with their digital progeny. I highly recommend it if you want some thoughtful relatively modern sci-fi with ambitious concepts.

Anyway, I'd love to hear from people chasing this type of stuff in the genre and I'd love some recommendations. Especially if you're savvy to some newer authors.

 

[qw90700]

For me discovering Permutation City was a lucky find. I was looking for what the movie called "Westworld" is about, so randomly found about its TV series and this book due to the way how there is inspiration from Westworld.

While the book is not a new thing as in settings and all but it's just a philosophical take about it that is "new". It also explores more into real life facts about all these that is last thing that make it "different" and "worth to read".

Afterwards you may read Diaspora. Imagine a similar book as Permutation City but the writer takes it to next level. What I think is about it same as the other book.

The book I liked the most from him is Quarantine. Pretty much everything about the book is interesting. It's like 10 books in 1 lol.

When it comes to recommendations I have a few.

William Gibson books for cyberpunk stuff.

Arthur C. Clarke for real-life facts blended with sci-fi.

Robert A. Heinlein for "ordinary" sci-fi universes and their "slice of life".

Isaac Asimov for the philosophy of sci-fi.

Ursula K. Le Guin for social sci-fi.

Ray Bradbury for poetic sci-fi.

H. G. Wells for good old sci-fi.

Jules Verne for high-imagination sci-fi.

 

[pr0xy]

I fell out of love with sci-fi a while ago. I've been trying to get back into it, though, and I planned to read the Dune trilogy before watching the Villeneuve movies, since I've never read them.
To answer your question: no, I haven't read anything by Greg Egan but this sounds really fascinating.

The first chapter is this painstaking description of a digital consciousness being born, drawing parallels to biological cognitive development in such a mind bending and poetic way.

I'm going to add both Permutation City and Diaspora to my backlog and (hopefully) read them soon.
My knowledge of the genre isn't as broad as the man himself, @qw90700, but I'm going to add Harlan Ellison — just because I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream still terrifies me to this day.