Steve Fever
Nov. 27th, 2007 10:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nemorathwaldI've read everything by Greg Egan. Everything. I even hunted down the old stuff. I have a Google Alert set to email me, at least eventually, any time "greg egan" -hockey -wrestler -ncr -sports appears on the web. The minus signs are to rule out others of the same name.
Today it led me to an obscure blog comment appearing to criticize Greg Egan, or possibly not, but making a vague humorous reference to "stevelets" in the context of several authors. He wasn't very coherent, but seemed to feel that Greg Egan should learn something from stevelets. That sounded promising, so I Googled "stevelets" and found a story in the online MIT Technology Review, "Steve Fever".
I like to pursue one websurfing trail to its resolution before following another branch. So I figured I would skim Steve Fever until I found the part relevant to Greg Egan, then read the story again properly. I began reading without noticing the byline.
Soon I, like the protagonist of the story, felt an ever-increasing realization of compulsion-- a compulsion that I could not stop and go back, I was locked into the narrative. From a vivid opening scenario (reminiscent of a perfect setup for one of those text-prompt games of Interactive Fiction), it developed into an overall premise of urgent fascination. I was engrossed by the characters, and what was happening to their world, and what it meant about my world. As the protagonist entered his Wi-Fi fueled visions, behind my eyelids there exploded a similar kaliedescope. Never even sketched by the author, but left implicit-- the way Zen masters do-- the entire planet and history and future timeline of this setting; separate stories, spinnoffs, fanfic, even (yes) a text adventure game. "Good grief", I said, "I have to keep an eye on this author from now on! This is so compelling!"
Then I got to the end of the story. Of course it was by Greg Egan. Of course it was.
The only reason I hadn't read it is that he just published it. And now I've read everything by Greg Egan. Everything.
Today it led me to an obscure blog comment appearing to criticize Greg Egan, or possibly not, but making a vague humorous reference to "stevelets" in the context of several authors. He wasn't very coherent, but seemed to feel that Greg Egan should learn something from stevelets. That sounded promising, so I Googled "stevelets" and found a story in the online MIT Technology Review, "Steve Fever".
I like to pursue one websurfing trail to its resolution before following another branch. So I figured I would skim Steve Fever until I found the part relevant to Greg Egan, then read the story again properly. I began reading without noticing the byline.
Soon I, like the protagonist of the story, felt an ever-increasing realization of compulsion-- a compulsion that I could not stop and go back, I was locked into the narrative. From a vivid opening scenario (reminiscent of a perfect setup for one of those text-prompt games of Interactive Fiction), it developed into an overall premise of urgent fascination. I was engrossed by the characters, and what was happening to their world, and what it meant about my world. As the protagonist entered his Wi-Fi fueled visions, behind my eyelids there exploded a similar kaliedescope. Never even sketched by the author, but left implicit-- the way Zen masters do-- the entire planet and history and future timeline of this setting; separate stories, spinnoffs, fanfic, even (yes) a text adventure game. "Good grief", I said, "I have to keep an eye on this author from now on! This is so compelling!"
Then I got to the end of the story. Of course it was by Greg Egan. Of course it was.
The only reason I hadn't read it is that he just published it. And now I've read everything by Greg Egan. Everything.
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Oh, the Eganity
Date: 2007-11-28 09:55 am (UTC)Since the Stevelets can download individual human brains, why don't humans negotiate a treaty with them and start uploading? The Stevelets would get even better access to human minds and consciousness, and humans would get immortality.
I'm hopeful that this story will lead to something more, as Egan stories often do -- "Dust" to Permutation City, "Wang's Carpets" to Diaspora. Or the Old Testament and the New Testament, as my friend John Braley likes to call them.
Thanks for the Google search string. I'll set up a Google alert right now.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-28 05:12 pm (UTC)I read the Egan story and I think it would make a pretty nifty movie, though I'm not sure how a movie would get across the main character's thoughts at the ending. And I passed the link along to a couple of Stevens I know. :-)
-- Sarah Elkins (http://configures.sarahelkins.org)