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.

 

[soulsas]

Oh man, if you haven’t already picked up Octavia Butler, you’re in for something special. She wasn’t just ahead of her time, she feels ahead of our time too. Her stuff blends sci-fi with really sharp takes on power, survival, and what it actually means to be human. Kindred is the one a lot of folks start with, but her Parable books? Unreal. They hit hard and still feel crazy relevant right now. Butler’s worlds pull you in and don’t really let you go.
She’s one of those writers who makes you rethink what the genre can even do.

 

[zacharinolongpants]

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.

I'm also a big fan of Clarke, Asimov, and Gibson! This is a great rundown of essential writers. I'll have to finally read some Heinlein and Verne and the like.

Post automatically merged: Aug 20, 2025

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.

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.

I'm not sure what your tastes are with narrative, but I feel compelled to give a heads up that Diaspora especially is more about the concepts it explores than personal character drama. It's well written and full of good lines, but it is definitely full of dense paragraphs about weird ideas more than focusing on character development and real sounding dialog lol. If you're into that, it's very thought provoking and entertaining.

Post automatically merged: Aug 20, 2025

Oh man, if you haven’t already picked up Octavia Butler, you’re in for something special. She wasn’t just ahead of her time, she feels ahead of our time too. Her stuff blends sci-fi with really sharp takes on power, survival, and what it actually means to be human. Kindred is the one a lot of folks start with, but her Parable books? Unreal. They hit hard and still feel crazy relevant right now. Butler’s worlds pull you in and don’t really let you go.
She’s one of those writers who makes you rethink what the genre can even do.

View attachment 102109

This looks awesome! I'm very intrigued. I'll start with the Parable series, then!

 

[zacharinolongpants]

Oh man, if you haven’t already picked up Octavia Butler, you’re in for something special. She wasn’t just ahead of her time, she feels ahead of our time too. Her stuff blends sci-fi with really sharp takes on power, survival, and what it actually means to be human. Kindred is the one a lot of folks start with, but her Parable books? Unreal. They hit hard and still feel crazy relevant right now. Butler’s worlds pull you in and don’t really let you go.
She’s one of those writers who makes you rethink what the genre can even do.

View attachment 102109

Hey dude I started reading Parables of the Sower. I came back to say I love it. Her depiction of a future dystopia is really disturbing because of how grounded believable it is. This shit is BLEAK lol. I'm about halfway through and I'm fully hooked.

Also, I didn't make the connection that you were the same person who recommended Baden Powell to me in the music thread. So thanks for putting me onto a new favorite guitarist AND a new favorite author lmao

 

[Sir Auriel of Lionel]

I love Sci-fi and for now remains the last bastion to get my fix of quality literature even today with new authors. But I don't have the time for long novels now I've had to make due with anthology collections. military, time travel, cyberpunk, space operas, generation ships, colonization, speculative, Nebula winners and nominees, alternative history, fantasy mixed, robots and even essays there's always a little bit of something I can enjoy. If anything I think I have too much to read that it's setting my expectations and desires within a novel too high.