General

Visit Richard’s website to find out more about him and how to buy his books, including the main subject of this conversation, Richard’s award-winning 2002 novel ‘Altered Carbon’:https://www.richardkmorgan.com/

References

About Richard:https://www.richardkmorgan.com/about-the-author/

Ewan Morrison’s Areo article ‘Why We Must Walk Away from Omelas: The Problem with Utopias’:https://areomagazine.com/2020/08/27/why-we-must-walk-away-from-omelas-the-problem-with-utopias/

Timestamps

0:00 Opening and introduction (and a confession from Iona): the great weight of ‘Altered Carbon’ in Richard’s career.

6:01 Iona reads a passage from ‘Altered Carbon’.

12:30 Richard and Iona discuss the passage, the underlying premises of the novel, and Richard’s visual imagination and writing style over the years.

27:30 ‘Re-sleeving’ and ‘download central’ in ‘Altered Carbon’ and the themes and inspirations behind them.

30:29 Iona’s ambiguity towards the Netflix adaptation of ‘Altered Carbon’: comparisons with the novel.

37:23 More on the ‘sleeves’ in ‘Altered Carbon’: how the rich and powerful get the best from the system and what this tells us about the nature of wealth and capitalism and the trajectory we’re on. “The endless co-option of life and all its pleasures” by the wealthy.

47:18 The theme of identity in ‘Altered Carbons’ (compared to Iain M. Banks’ treatment of it in his ‘Culture’ novels). Richard’s dystopian vision vs. Banks’s utopian vision. Can technology take us to the sunlit uplands or, as Richard says, does the fact that we will always ultimately be “violent apes” constrain the possibilities of progress? The need for eternal Enlightenment vigilance.

1:03:13 Arguing with a Buddhist about karmic balance: the origins of ‘Altered Carbon’.

1:06:31 Sci fi traditions: is ‘Altered Carbon’ genre fiction or literary fiction?

1:08:36 Which authors have most influenced Richard? Who are his favourites? Plus: Iona on what influences she saw in ‘Altered Carbon’ and some reflections on Ursula K. Le Guin.

1:25:02 Some more debate on optimism, the future, and human nature.

1:31:25 Is there anything Richard would have liked to discuss but didn’t get the chance to? The noir tradition, Richard’s argument with trans rights activists over ‘Altered Carbon’ and J.K. Rowling, the misunderstanding of his novel as championing essentialism/the existence of souls, and the death of the author.

1:37:25 Iona reads another passage from ‘Altered Carbon’.

1:40:42 Last words and outro.