I have an itchy sense that I've come across this idea somewhere, but the details are escaping me. Doctor Who has definitely come close to the idea on a couple of occasions, most notably Astrid's final appearance in Voyage of the Damned and it wouldn't surprise me at all if the feeling of familiarity is from one of the early 90s Dr Who novels, since they were very fond of ideas related to cyberspace and virtual reality and so on.
I thought of those, but the link to ghosts, per se, was never really made. Whereas Astrid is all see-through and glittery at the end of Voyage, they're definitely riffing of ghostly imagery there.
There's definitely a bunch of stories with this metaphysical outlook, dating back at the very least to the 1970s. I'm trying to think of specific titles, though the only one that comes to mind at the moment is an early GRRM story, "Song for Lya," in which a young man who cannot deal with the death of his lover becomes a sort of "memory junkie" because the technology allows him to access incidents in his love's life in real time chunks. From, I think, about 1976, and very poignant. I'll check some anthologies, see if I can remember more titles.
Checked with my big bro on this question, Texty, because he's a longtime sf/f fan who knows more than I ever will about it. Here's what he had to say:
Your friend should read "Surface Detail" by Iain M. Banks which has some of the best virtual personality stuff in recent memory. Uploading a personality for safekeeping and later retrieval has become a pretty common trope (or techie wet-dream) in recent years. I don't think I've seen one with ghosts as holographic images but there could be such a thing.
So there's a starting place. Chris also recommends you check Greg Egan's work for similar.
Comments 6
has a character who's in that situation.
Kindle ed. is under $5.00
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Your friend should read "Surface Detail" by Iain M. Banks which has some of the best virtual personality stuff in recent memory. Uploading a personality for safekeeping and later retrieval has become a pretty common trope (or techie wet-dream) in recent years. I don't think I've seen one with ghosts as holographic images but there could be such a thing.
So there's a starting place. Chris also recommends you check Greg Egan's work for similar.
Hope that helps!
Reply
Leave a comment