On a darker note, Greg Egan once wrote a story where a company found a
way to encode the entire Koran in your junk DNA. Once enough people had
taken that option, it turmed out to be the means to propagate a deadly >epidemic.
I should track down his more recent books. He is, in my opinion, the
most original SF writer of our time.
On a darker note, Greg Egan once wrote a story where a company found a
way to encode the entire Koran in your junk DNA. Once enough people had
taken that option, it turmed out to be the means to propagate a deadly >epidemic.
On Thu, 29 Jan 2026 08:33:50 +1100, Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org>
wrote:
On a darker note, Greg Egan once wrote a story where a company
found a way to encode the entire Koran in your junk DNA. Once
enough people had taken that option, it turmed out to be the means
to propagate a deadly epidemic.
I should track down his more recent books. He is, in my opinion,
the most original SF writer of our time.
Any titles you particularly recommend?
On 29/01/26 13:51, Steve Hayes wrote:
On Thu, 29 Jan 2026 08:33:50 +1100, Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org>
wrote:
On a darker note, Greg Egan once wrote a story where a company
found a way to encode the entire Koran in your junk DNA. Once
enough people had taken that option, it turmed out to be the means
to propagate a deadly epidemic.
I should track down his more recent books. He is, in my opinion,
the most original SF writer of our time.
Any titles you particularly recommend?
Two short story collections: Axiomatic and Luninous. If you like what
you see, move on to the novel Luminous. Those, in any case, were the
books I particularly liked.
On 29/01/26 15:11, Peter Moylan wrote:
On 29/01/26 13:51, Steve Hayes wrote:
On Thu, 29 Jan 2026 08:33:50 +1100, Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org>
wrote:
On a darker note, Greg Egan once wrote a story where a company
found a way to encode the entire Koran in your junk DNA. Once
enough people had taken that option, it turmed out to be the means
to propagate a deadly epidemic.
I should track down his more recent books. He is, in my opinion,
the most original SF writer of our time.
Any titles you particularly recommend?
Two short story collections: Axiomatic and Luninous. If you like what
you see, move on to the novel Luminous. Those, in any case, were the
books I particularly liked.
Sorry, the novel I meant was Distress.
On 29/01/26 13:51, Steve Hayes wrote:
On Thu, 29 Jan 2026 08:33:50 +1100, Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org>
wrote:
On a darker note, Greg Egan once wrote a story where a company
found a way to encode the entire Koran in your junk DNA. Once
enough people had taken that option, it turmed out to be the means
to propagate a deadly epidemic.
I should track down his more recent books. He is, in my opinion,
the most original SF writer of our time.
Any titles you particularly recommend?
Two short story collections: Axiomatic and Luninous. If you like what
you see, move on to the novel Luminous. Those, in any case, were the
books I particularly liked.
On 1/28/26 6:51 PM, Steve Hayes wrote:
On Thu, 29 Jan 2026 08:33:50 +1100, Peter Moylan
<peter@pmoylan.org> wrote:
On a darker note, Greg Egan once wrote a story where a company
found a way to encode the entire Koran in your junk DNA. Once
enough people had taken that option, it turmed out to be the
means to propagate a deadly epidemic.
I like Didactic Fiction, too. So what's the whole plotline, so we
won't feel cheated by "plot twists" if we start to read it.
On 29/01/26 13:51, Steve Hayes wrote:
On Thu, 29 Jan 2026 08:33:50 +1100, Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org>
wrote:
On a darker note, Greg Egan once wrote a story where a company
found a way to encode the entire Koran in your junk DNA. Once
enough people had taken that option, it turmed out to be the means
to propagate a deadly epidemic.
I should track down his more recent books. He is, in my opinion,
the most original SF writer of our time.
Any titles you particularly recommend?
Two short story collections: Axiomatic and Luninous. If you like what
you see, move on to the novel Luminous. Those, in any case, were the
books I particularly liked.
PS For just about any SF author I can think of, I would recommend
starting with short stories. Getting the author in bite-sized chunks is
an excellent way of finding out whether you like his writing.
given a 5-star rating to:
McCarthy, Cormac. 2009. The road.
given a 5-star rating to:
Miller, Walter M. 1993 [1959] A canticle for Leibowitz.
Niffenegger, Audrey. 2005. The time traveler's wife.
A nonsensical attempt to outdo Nabokov's Lolita. Pathetic romance
with handwavium time travel as a distraction.
A nonsensical attempt to outdo Nabokov's Lolita. Pathetic romance
with handwavium time travel as a distraction.
A nonsensical attempt to outdo Nabokov's Lolita. Pathetic romance
with handwavium time travel as a distraction.
On 31/01/2026 06:37, Titus G wrote:_and_subatomic_particles>
A nonsensical attempt to outdo Nabokov's Lolita. Pathetic romancef
with handwavium time travel as a distraction.
[A.U.E.] I like 'handwavium'. It should be up there with 'unobtainium', 'administratium', Lunarium and Kryptonite. Alas, it's missing from this
Wiki list.
More here: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fictional_elements,_materials,_isotopes
Niffenegger, Audrey. 2005. The time traveler's wife.
Drek. A nonsensical attempt to outdo Nabokov's Lolita. Pathetic romance
with handwavium time travel as a distraction.
Verily, in article <10lk4a9$2le82$3@dont-email.me>, did
noone@nowhere.com deliver unto us this message:
Niffenegger, Audrey. 2005. The time traveler's wife.
Drek. A nonsensical attempt to outdo Nabokov's Lolita. Pathetic romance
with handwavium time travel as a distraction.
Huh, I enjoyed that one. It's not SF; it's a love story. Read as a love story, it's nice IMO.
The True Melissa wrote:
Verily, in article <10lk4a9$2le82$3@dont-email.me>, did
noone@nowhere.com deliver unto us this message:
Niffenegger, Audrey. 2005. The time traveler's wife.
Drek. A nonsensical attempt to outdo Nabokov's Lolita. Pathetic romance
with handwavium time travel as a distraction.
Huh, I enjoyed that one. It's not SF; it's a love story. Read as a love
story, it's nice IMO.
Agreed. Yet some rascally readers repress the romance as they try to
twist the story into thirty-six year old Henry grooming six year old
Clare.
This perverted plot premise requires omission of how twenty year old
year old Clare initially stalks twenty-eight year Henry at Newberry
Library when the Catholic soulmates first meet.
The True Melissa wrote:
Verily, in article <10lk4a9$2le82$3@dont-email.me>, did
noone@nowhere.com deliver unto us this message:
Niffenegger, Audrey. 2005. The time traveler's wife.
Drek. A nonsensical attempt to outdo Nabokov's Lolita. Pathetic romance
with handwavium time travel as a distraction.
Huh, I enjoyed that one. It's not SF; it's a love story. Read as a love
story, it's nice IMO.
Agreed. Yet some rascally readers repress the romance as they try to
twist the story into thirty-six year old Henry grooming six year old
Clare.
This perverted plot premise requires omission of how twenty year old
year old Clare initially stalks twenty-eight year Henry at Newberry
Library when the Catholic soulmates first meet.
The True Melissa wrote:
Verily, in article <10lk4a9$2le82$3@dont-email.me>, did
noone@nowhere.com deliver unto us this message:
Niffenegger, Audrey. 2005. The time traveler's wife.
Drek. A nonsensical attempt to outdo Nabokov's Lolita. Pathetic romance
with handwavium time travel as a distraction.
Huh, I enjoyed that one. It's not SF; it's a love story. Read as a love
story, it's nice IMO.
Agreed. Yet some rascally readers repress the romance as they try to
twist the story into thirty-six year old Henry grooming six year old
Clare.
This perverted plot premise requires omission of how twenty year old
year old Clare initially stalks twenty-eight year Henry at Newberry
Library when the Catholic soulmates first meet.
On Thu, 29 Jan 2026 16:08:45 +1100, Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org>
wrote:
PS For just about any SF author I can think of, I would recommend
starting with short stories. Getting the author in bite-sized chunks is
an excellent way of finding out whether you like his writing.
Agreed.
There are very few full-length SF novels I've really liked. Out of
curiocity I checked and found I'd read more than a thought I had -- I
thought I'd mostly read short stories. But these are the ones I've
given a 5-star rating to:
Lewis, C.S. 1960. That hideous strength.
Lewis, C.S. 1952. Out of the silent planet.
Miller, Walter M. 1993 [1959] A canticle for Leibowitz.
Niffenegger, Audrey. 2005. The time traveler's wife.
Lewis, C.S. 1953. Voyage to Venus Perelandra.
Huxley, Aldous. 1994 [1932] Brave new world.
Orwell, George. 1984.
James, P.D. 1992. The children of men.
Verily, in article <10lk4a9$2le82$3@dont-email.me>, did
noone@nowhere.com deliver unto us this message:
Niffenegger, Audrey. 2005. The time traveler's wife.
Drek. A nonsensical attempt to outdo Nabokov's Lolita. Pathetic romance
with handwavium time travel as a distraction.
Huh, I enjoyed that one. It's not SF; it's a love story.
story, it's nice IMO.
The True Melissa wrote:
Verily, in article <10lk4a9$2le82$3@dont-email.me>, did
noone@nowhere.com deliver unto us this message:
Niffenegger, Audrey. 2005. The time traveler's wife.
Drek. A nonsensical attempt to outdo Nabokov's Lolita. Pathetic romance
with handwavium time travel as a distraction.
Huh, I enjoyed that one. It's not SF; it's a love story. Read as a love
story, it's nice IMO.
Agreed. Yet some rascally readers repress the romance as they try to
twist the story into thirty-six year old Henry grooming six year old
Clare.
This perverted plot premise requires omission of how twenty year old
year old Clare initially stalks twenty-eight year Henry at Newberry
Library when the Catholic soulmates first meet.
"Thou doth Protestant too much, methinks."
My protest is principally with genre impersonation.
On 1/02/26 05:31, Don wrote:
The True Melissa wrote:
Verily, in article <10lk4a9$2le82$3@dont-email.me>, did
noone@nowhere.com deliver unto us this message:
Niffenegger, Audrey. 2005. The time traveler's wife.
Drek. A nonsensical attempt to outdo Nabokov's Lolita. Pathetic romance >>> with handwavium time travel as a distraction.
Huh, I enjoyed that one. It's not SF; it's a love story. Read as a love
story, it's nice IMO.
Agreed. Yet some rascally readers repress the romance as they try to
twist the story into thirty-six year old Henry grooming six year old Clare.
It is a long time since I read it but wasn't that aspect there?
Verily, in article <10lmj7i$3ecue$2@dont-email.me>, did
noone@nowhere.com deliver unto us this message:
Don wrote:
The True Melissa wrote:
Verily, in article <10lk4a9$2le82$3@dont-email.me>, did
noone@nowhere.com deliver unto us this message:
Niffenegger, Audrey. 2005. The time traveler's wife.
Drek. A nonsensical attempt to outdo Nabokov's Lolita. Pathetic romance >> >>> with handwavium time travel as a distraction.
Huh, I enjoyed that one. It's not SF; it's a love story. Read as a love >> >> story, it's nice IMO.
Agreed. Yet some rascally readers repress the romance as they try to
twist the story into thirty-six year old Henry grooming six year old
Clare.
It is a long time since I read it but wasn't that aspect there?
It's also been a long time since I read it, but in my memory, he is
careful to treat her like the child she is during that scene.
Verily, in article <10lk4a9$2le82$3@dont-email.me>, did
noone@nowhere.com deliver unto us this message:
Niffenegger, Audrey. 2005. The time traveler's wife.
Drek. A nonsensical attempt to outdo Nabokov's Lolita. Pathetic romance
with handwavium time travel as a distraction.
Huh, I enjoyed that one. It's not SF; it's a love story. Read as a love >story, it's nice IMO.
The True Melissa wrote:
Verily, in article <10lk4a9$2le82$3@dont-email.me>, did
noone@nowhere.com deliver unto us this message:
Niffenegger, Audrey. 2005. The time traveler's wife.
Drek. A nonsensical attempt to outdo Nabokov's Lolita. Pathetic romance
with handwavium time travel as a distraction.
Huh, I enjoyed that one. It's not SF; it's a love story. Read as a love >>story, it's nice IMO.
It's more than a love story. It's based o fictional science, without
which it wouldn't work. I enjoyed it too,
On 01/02/26 15:04, Titus G wrote:
My protest is principally with genre impersonation.
Ah, yes. Like when the shelf in the bookshop says "Science Fiction" and
all the books turn out to be fantasy. That's really annoying.
On 01/02/26 15:04, Titus G wrote:
My protest is principally with genre impersonation.
Ah, yes. Like when the shelf in the bookshop says "Science Fiction" and
all the books turn out to be fantasy. That's really annoying.
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