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Permutation City (1994)

gregegan.net

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Re: Permutation City (1994)

#61

Post by googamooga »

hmahncke wrote: post #38
cdogl wrote: post #17

Egan is the only great Australian science fiction writer I’m aware of. I principally recommend Diaspora for far future post-human history with a strong focus on physics and maths, and Quarantine which is a sort of heist thriller with a unique quantum physics hook in a relatively near future Northern Australia setting where First Nations people have gained independence and positioned themselves as an Asian financial /…

Greg Egan as great! Two other Australians you might try are: Terra Nullius by Claire G. Coleman, about what it's like to be colonized. Souls in the Great Machine by Sean McMullen, about what it's like to be part of a computer.

Thank you so much for recommending both authors! I'm a huge fan of Egan and would really appreciate to explore the Australian sci-fi scene more.

Re: Permutation City (1994)

#62

Post by badcppdev »

adamgordonbell wrote: post #46
cdogl wrote: post #17

Egan is the only great Australian science fiction writer I’m aware of. I principally recommend Diaspora for far future post-human history with a strong focus on physics and maths, and Quarantine which is a sort of heist thriller with a unique quantum physics hook in a relatively near future Northern Australia setting where First Nations people have gained independence and positioned themselves as an Asian financial /…

Big Fan of Egan's short stories. I feel like they are his strongest work and maybe because they can lean more on ideas. Luminous about math grad students discovering some secrets in math is pretty great. Wang's Carpets which became Diaspora is mind blowing. Zendegi is an interesting novel by him I never see anyone mention. I enjoyed it and the characters are a bit more developed. It also has a Eliezer Yudkowsky stand…

I think of Zendegi quite often when I think about the debates surrounding digital companions, etc. I don't think the book had great commercial success.

Re: Permutation City (1994)

#63

Post by admissionsguy »

cdogl wrote: post #17

Egan is the only great Australian science fiction writer I’m aware of. I principally recommend Diaspora for far future post-human history with a strong focus on physics and maths, and Quarantine which is a sort of heist thriller with a unique quantum physics hook in a relatively near future Northern Australia setting where First Nations people have gained independence and positioned themselves as an Asian financial /…

> Egan’s prose, characterisation and plotting are often weak

I sort of agree, but personally I like the rawness of it. For a similarly unrefined yet intellectually stimulating writing, check out Gregory Benford who used to be a professor of physics.

Re: Permutation City (1994)

#64

Post by gafferongames »

Egan's short stories are great. Luminous is an excellent collection. I've never been huge fan of his long form novels, and will remember forever the sex scene in one of them that ends with a cramped testicle. Why Greg, why?

Re: Permutation City (1994)

#65

Post by badcppdev »

gpderetta wrote: post #47
cdogl wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not an easy read, but Blindsight by Peter Watts has some equally unique and compelling synthesis of scientific concepts into a big concept plot.

Blindsight is his best book, but Watts has written a lot of great stuff, I recommend all of Rifters and, for something a bit different, especially the Sunflowers cycle.

Standard internet Watts warning that the Rift novels have random sexual torture just in case you prefer to avoid that

Re: Permutation City (1994)

#66

Post by ycombinete »

gafferongames wrote: post #64

Egan's short stories are great. Luminous is an excellent collection. I've never been huge fan of his long form novels, and will remember forever the sex scene in one of them that ends with a cramped testicle. Why Greg, why?

That scene is from Permutation City. I thought it was a nice metaphor for that character’s strained relationship with his corporeal self.

Re: Permutation City (1994)

#67

Post by gpderetta »

badcppdev wrote: post #65
gpderetta wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Blindsight is his best book, but Watts has written a lot of great stuff, I recommend all of Rifters and, for something a bit different, especially the Sunflowers cycle.

Standard internet Watts warning that the Rift novels have random sexual torture just in case you prefer to avoid that

Right, yes, especially the last Rifter book made me wonder a bit about the sanity of the author.

Re: Permutation City (1994)

#68

Post by gpderetta »

alexpotato wrote: post #48
surprisetalk wrote: post #6

My book review from last September: > Reads like a “consciousness and computers are cool” story written by an engineer. A few incredible ideas padded by weak storytelling and philosophical exposition. Probably would’ve been better as a short story. [0] https://taylor.town/books#permutation-city If you like this book, I recommend Accelerando , Piranesi , Dick's Ubik , and Ted Chiang's collections.

I read Accelerando recently and it's great. Hard to believe that it was written in 2005 given the one scene where the main character is walking around generating multiple interlocking crypto contracts to store money for his daughter.

Yes, very prescient. Also the VR glasses with embedded AI and independent subagents seems almost something that you could build today.

Re: Permutation City (1994)

#69

Post by eterps »

gafferongames wrote: post #64

Egan's short stories are great. Luminous is an excellent collection. I've never been huge fan of his long form novels, and will remember forever the sex scene in one of them that ends with a cramped testicle. Why Greg, why?

> Egan's short stories are great [...] I've never been huge fan of his long form novels

Same here, I love his short stories!

IMO short form works better for him because there's so much to think about, even after having finished reading a story.

If someone needs a pointer on where to start I can recommend this thread: https://redlib.freedit.eu/r/printSF/comments/x1i4bj/greg_ega...

I especially enjoyed:

  - The Safe-Deposit Box
  - Into Darkness

Re: Permutation City (1994)

#70

Post by jeremiahbuckley »

pranay01 wrote: post #33

Just finished reading Exhalation by Ted Chiang, and can't recommend it enough. It's a collection of short stories - so easy entry point for beginners as well.

You might like Invisible Planets, Chinese sci-fi short stories compilation. I’ve read a few of them; Folding Beijing is pretty great.
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