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Death and the Gorgon - Greg Egan (asimovs.com)
submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by Soyweiser@awful.systems to c/sneerclub@awful.systems
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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).

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[-] 5teverin0@mastodon.social 2 points 15 hours ago

@Amoeba_Girl @Soyweiser What book(s) of his would you recommend as starters, for those who have not read him?

[-] Amoeba_Girl@awful.systems 2 points 3 hours ago

The Orthogonal trilogy is really really great, very imaginative exploration of a wild concept, and shockingly sharp sexual politics for a male author!

[-] blakestacey@awful.systems 3 points 15 hours ago

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.

[-] saucerwizard@awful.systems 3 points 9 hours ago

I thought Dichrononauts was batshit-fun world building and I enjoyed The Four Thousand, the Eight Hundred.

[-] seanos@aus.social 2 points 12 hours ago

@blakestacey @5teverin0
I'll second Zendegi as a great place to start. Also really liked the Orthogonal trilogy.

[-] schrotie@fosstodon.org 2 points 15 hours ago

@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.

[-] blakestacey@awful.systems 3 points 15 hours ago

I had the Dark Integers story collection, but I lent it to a colleague and they haven't given it back.

this post was submitted on 13 May 2025
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