Today, I speak with someone whom I discovered through my previous guest, James Yu, the co-founder of Sudowrite. Back in May, James tweeted about a new novel called Reap3r, which he described as "cerebral near future sci-fi grounded in reality". I was pretty intrigued so I bought the book and messaged the author, Eliot Peper - who was kind enough to reply and be present for this podcast.
Eliot is based in Oakland, California and is the author of ten novels! His works have received amazing reviews from people and organisations like Seth Godin, The New York Times Book Review and Popular Science.
And his latest book, Reap3r has again captured imaginations around the world. The story follows a quantum computer scientist, virologist, podcaster, venture capitalist, and assassin - who all collide and change the course of future history. It's a gripping adventure that weaves a number of complex themes in wonderful tapestry - themes like ambition, secrecy, transgression, the price of progress and how technology shapes our lives and world.
Now in our conversation, Eliot shares his inspiration for Reap3r but we mainly discuss other topics such as:
We also reflect on Eliot's creative influences like William Gibson and towards the end, we even speculate on the future of fiction.
This is a long conversation but I highly recommend listening to it in full. Eliot has a fascinating perspective - on almost everything - and it's a pleasure to see him think. I hope you enjoy it.
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Say hi to Eliot on Twitter: www.twitter.com/eliotpeper
Say hi to Dhru on Twitter: www.twitter.com/dhrupadkarwa
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Mentioned:
Lit Visions Substack - for essays, podcast summaries, novel suggestions and discussions on the future of literature
Reap3r by Eliot Peper
The Golden Gate by Vikram Seth
1984 by George Orwell
Star Wars (Original Trilogy)
The Martian by Andy Weir
Pattern Recognition by William Gibson
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler