Begrudgingly Yeast (@begrudginglyyeast.bsky.social) on bsky informed me that I should read this short story called ‘Death and the Gorgon’ by Greg Egan as he has a good handle on the subjects/subjects we talk about. We have talked about Greg before on Reddit.
I was glad I did, so going to suggest that more people he do it. The only complaint you can have is that it gives no real ‘steelman’ airtime to the subjects/subjects it is being negative about. But well, he doesn’t have to, he isn’t the guardian. Anyway, not going to spoil it, best to just give it a read.
And if you are wondering, did the lesswrongers also read it? Of course: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/hx5EkHFH5hGzngZDs/comment-on-death-and-the-gorgon (Warning, spoilers for the story)
(Note im not sure this pdf was intended to be public, I did find it on google, but might not be meant to be accessible this way).
@Amoeba_Girl @Soyweiser What book(s) of his would you recommend as starters, for those who have not read him?
He has a lot of excerpts and some full stories on his website, so one way to start might be browsing there.
https://www.gregegan.net/
I think my favorite novels of his that I’ve read were Zendegi and Incandescence.
I thought Dichrononauts was batshit-fun world building and I enjoyed The Four Thousand, the Eight Hundred.
@blakestacey @5teverin0
I’ll second Zendegi as a great place to start. Also really liked the Orthogonal trilogy.
@5teverin0 @Amoeba_Girl @Soyweiser
First thing I read from him was the short story collection “Luminous” and I still think that’s a great entrypoint because it touches on many of his subjects.
I didn’t read his more recent works though.
I had the Dark Integers story collection, but I lent it to a colleague and they haven’t given it back.
The Orthogonal trilogy is really really great, very imaginative exploration of a wild concept, and shockingly sharp sexual politics for a male author!
Sorry I don’t think I actually have read anything from him apart from this story (at least not recently/logged) so I don’t know, heard a lot about permutation city, but that might be a harder read now esp if you are on the sneerclub side. (I’d assume that even then I would enjoy it, even if I eyeroll heavily (for example recently read and enjoyed Fallen Dragon by Peter F. Hamilton despite the very everybody except the main char is a strawman feeling, also really enjoyed looking at goodreads and seeing a negative review of someone who had missed the point so far they hit Andromeda). But I also enjoyed reading the horus heresy, so there is that). But yes, im also keeping notes on what to look into here.
@Soyweiser I just noticed a day or so ago, after I got involved in this thread, that I have Permutation City in my To Read in #TheStoryGraph, so maybe that’s where I’ll dive in. I have finally shed my reluctance to quit books I don’t care for, so if it doesn’t work out, I’ll just move on and try another if his
I also added his name to a ‘to read’ list when he was brought up on reddit before our exodus, but simply had not come to it. Other things drew my attention more. (like the murderbot series for example).
Permutation city is great. Turns a sudden 90 degrees halfway through and you realize it wasn’t the book you thought it was. I loved Diaspora, Dichronauts, Schild’s Ladder, most short story collections. Not a fan of Quarantine.
Thanks!