Rudy Rucker

Rudolf von Bitter Rucker (Template:IPAc-en; born March 22, 1946) is an American mathematician,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> computer scientist, science fiction author,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and one of the founders of the cyberpunk literary movement. The author of both fiction and non-fiction, he is best known for the novels in the Ware Tetralogy, the first two of which (Software and Wetware) both won Philip K. Dick Awards. He edited the science fiction webzine Flurb until its closure in 2014.

Early life

Rucker was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, son of Embry Cobb Rucker Sr (October 1, 1914 - August 1, 1994), who ran a small furniture-manufacture company and later became an Episcopal priest and community activist, and Marianne (née von Bitter).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Rucker family were of Huguenot descent.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Through his mother, he is a great-great-great-grandson of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.<ref>The Sound of Wonder: Interviews from "The Science Fiction Radio Show" vol. 1, Daryl Lane et al, Oryx Press, 1985, p. 169</ref><ref>Other Worlds: Spirituality and the Search for Invisible Dimensions, Christopher G. White, Harvard University Press, 2018, p. 290</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Rucker attended St. Xavier High School before earning a BA in mathematics from Swarthmore College (1967) and MS (1969) and PhD (1973) degrees in mathematics from Rutgers University.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Career

Rucker taught mathematics at the State University of New York at Geneseo from 1972 to 1978. Although he was liked by his students and "published a book [Geometry, Relativity and the Fourth Dimension] and several papers," several colleagues took umbrage at his long hair and convivial relationships with English and philosophy professors amid looming budget shortfalls; as a result, he failed to attain tenure in the "dysfunctional" department.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Thanks to a grant from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Rucker taught at the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg from 1978 to 1980. He then taught at Randolph-Macon Women's College in Lynchburg, Virginia from 1980 to 1982, before trying his hand as a full-time author for four years.

Inspired by an interview with Stephen Wolfram,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Rucker became a computer science professor at San José State University in 1986, from which he retired as professor emeritus in 2004.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

From 1988 to 1992 he was hired by John Walker of Autodesk as a programmer of cellular automata, which inspired his book The Hacker and the Ants.

A mathematician with philosophical interests, he has written The Fourth Dimension and Infinity and the Mind. Princeton University Press published new editions of Infinity and the Mind in 1995 and in 2005, both with new prefaces; the first edition is cited with fair frequency in academic literature.Template:Citation needed

As his "own alternative to cyberpunk," Rucker developed a writing style he terms transrealism. Transrealism, as outlined in his 1983 essay The Transrealist Manifesto, is science fiction based on the author's own life and immediate perceptions, mixed with fantastic elements that symbolize psychological change. Many of Rucker's novels and short stories apply these ideas. One example of Rucker's transreal works is Saucer Wisdom, a novel in which the main character is abducted by aliens. Rucker and his publisher marketed the book, tongue in cheek, as non-fiction.Template:Citation needed

His earliest transreal novel, White Light, was written during his time at Heidelberg. This transreal novel is based on his experiences at SUNY Geneseo.

Rucker often uses his novels to explore scientific or mathematical ideas; White Light<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> examines the concept of infinity, while the Ware Tetralogy (written from 1982 through 2000) is in part an explanation of the use of natural selection to develop software (a subject also developed in his The Hacker and the Ants, written in 1994). His novels also put forward a mystical philosophy that Rucker has summarized in an essay titled, with only a bit of irony, "The Central Teachings of Mysticism" (included in Seek!, 1999).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

His non-fiction book, The Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul: What Gnarly Computation Taught Me About Ultimate Reality, the Meaning Of Life, and How To Be Happy summarizes the various philosophies he's believed over the years and ends with the tentative conclusion that we might profitably view the world as made of computations, with the final remark, "perhaps this universe is perfect."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Personal life

Rucker was the roommate of Kenneth Turan during his freshman year at Swarthmore College.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 1967, Rucker married Sylvia Bogsch Rucker (1943–2023).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Sylvia Rucker obituary.</ref> Together they have three children.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On July 1, 2008, Rucker suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. Thinking he might not be around much longer, this prompted him to write Nested Scrolls, his autobiography.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Rucker resided in Highland Park, New Jersey during his graduate studies at Rutgers University.<ref>Rucker, Rudy van Bitter. All the visions, p. 102. Ocean View Books, 1991. Template:ISBN. Accessed February 28, 2018. "Audrey and I were newlyweds there in Highland Park, and we used to watch The Newlywed Game on TV every week."</ref>

Bibliography

{{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B=Template:AmboxTemplate:Main other }}Template:Bots

Novels

The Ware Tetralogy<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Software (1982)
• Wetware (1988)
• Freeware (1997)
• Realware (2000)

Transreal Trilogy<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Refn

• The Secret of Life (1985)
• White Light (1980)
• Saucer Wisdom (1999) novel marketed as non-fiction

Transreal novels<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Spacetime Donuts (1981)
• The Sex Sphere (1983)
• Master of Space and Time (1984)
• The Hollow Earth (1990)
• The Hacker and the Ants (1994) (Revised 'Version 2.0' 2003)
• Spaceland (2002)
• Frek and the Elixir (2004)
• Mathematicians in Love (2006)
• Jim and the Flims (2011)<ref>Jim and the Flims</ref>
• The Big Aha (2013)
• All the Visions (1991), memoir/novel

Other novels

• As Above, So Below: A Novel of Peter Bruegel (2002)
• Postsingular (2007)
• Hylozoic (sequel to Postsingular, May 2009)<ref>Hylozoic</ref>
• Turing and Burroughs (2012)<ref>Turing and Burroughs</ref>
• Return to the Hollow Earth (2018)
• Million Mile Road Trip (2019)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Juicy Ghosts (2021)

Short fiction

Collections

• The Fifty-Seventh Franz Kafka (1983)
• Transreal!, includes poetry and non-fiction essays (1991)
• Gnarl! (2000), complete short stories
• Mad Professor (2006)
• Surfing the Gnarl (2012), includes an essay and interview with the author
• Complete Stories (2012)<ref>Complete Stories</ref>
• Transreal Cyberpunk, with Bruce Sterling (2016)

Stories (by date of composition)

Written	Title	Published	First published	Notes
1976 (Spring)	Jumpin' Jack Flash	1983-01	The 57th Franz Kafka, Ace Books, January 1983<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1977	Enlightenment Rabies	1987-11	New Pathways, November 1987<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
1979 (Spring)	Schrödinger's Cat	1981-03-30	Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, March 30, 1981<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
1979 (Summer)	Sufferin' Succotash	1983-01	The 57th Franz Kafka, Ace Books, January 1983<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1979 (Fall)	A New Golden Age	1981 (Summer)	The Randolph-Macon Woman's College Alumnae Bulletin, Summer 1981<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
1979 (Fall)	Faraway Eyes	1980-09	Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, September 1980<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
1980 (Spring)	The 57th Franz Kafka	1982	The Little Magazine, 1982<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
1980 (Spring)	The Indian Rope Trick Explained	1983-01	The 57th Franz Kafka, Ace Books, January 1983<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1980 (Spring)	A New Experiment With Time	1982 (Spring)	Sphinx, Spring 1982<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
1980 (Spring)	The Man Who Ate Himself	1982-12	The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, December 1982<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
1980 (Summer)	Tales of Houdini	1981-09	Elsewhere, Ace Books, September 1981<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1980 (Fall)	The Facts of Life	1983-12	The 57th Franz Kafka, Ace Books, January 1983<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1981 (Spring)	Buzz	1981-12	New Blood, December 1981<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
1981 (Spring)	The Last Einstein-Rosen Bridge	1983-01	The 57th Franz Kafka, Ace Books, January 1983<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1981 (Summer)	Pac-Man	1982-06	Asimov's Science Fiction, June 1982<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	Originally published as "Peg-Man".
1981 (Fall)	Pi in the Sky	1983-01	The 57th Franz Kafka, Ace Books, January 1983<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1981 (Summer)	Wishloop	1988-12	San Jose State University Department of Mathematics and Computer Science Newsletter, December 1988
1982 (Spring)	Inertia	1983-01	The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, January 1983<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
1982 (Spring)	Bringing in the Sheaves	1987-01	Asimov's Science Fiction, January 1987<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	Slightly altered third chapter of Twinks (an unfinished science fiction novel that the author describes as "a punk post-WWIII book with radiation mutants").<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1982 (Spring)	The Jack Kerouac Disembodied School of Poetics	1982-07	New Blood, July 1982<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
1982 (Summer)	Message Found in a Copy of Flatland	1983-01	The 57th Franz Kafka, Ace Books, January 1983<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1982-11	Plastic Letters	1987	Live From the Stagger Café, Summer 1987<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
1983	Monument to the Third International	1984-12	The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, December 1984<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
1984 (Fall)	Rapture in Space	1989	Semiotext[e] SF, Autonomedia, 1989<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1985	Storming the Cosmos	1985-12	Asimov's Science Fiction, Mid-December 1985<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	Written with Bruce Sterling.
1985	In Frozen Time	1986-08	Afterlives, Vintage Books, August 1986<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1985	Soft Death	1986-09	The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, September 1986<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
1986 (Summer)	Inside Out	1987	Synergy, Volume 1, HBJ Books, 1987<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1986-1987	Instability	1988-09	The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, September 1988<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	Written with Paul Di Filippo.
1987 (Spring)	The Man Who Was a Cosmic String	1987-11	The Universe, November 1987<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1987	Probability Pipeline	1988	Synergy, Volume 2, HBJ Books, 1988<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	Written with Marc Laidlaw.
1987	As Above, So Below	1989-11	The Microverse, Bantam Books, November 1989<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1988	Chaos Surfari	1989-03	Interzone, March/April 1989<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	Written with Marc Laidlaw.
1992	Big Jelly	1994-11	Asimov's Science Fiction, November 1994<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	Written with Bruce Sterling.
1993	Easy As Pie	1993-11	Christmas Forever, Tor Books, November 1993<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1995	The Andy Warhol Sandcandle	2000-04	Gnarl!, Four Walls Eight Windows, April 2000<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	Written with Marc Laidlaw.
1996-01	Cobb Wakes Up	2006-03	Other, March 2006<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
1999	The Square Root of Pythagoras	1999-11	Science Fiction Age, November 1999<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	Written with Paul Di Filippo.
2000-07-18	Pockets	2001-12	Redshift, Roc Books, December 2001<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	Written with John Shirley.
2000-08-25 - 2001-03-05	A Dream of Flatland	2002-02-18	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Fifth chapter of Spaceland.
2001-12-29	Junk DNA	2003-01	Asimov's Science Fiction, January 2003<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	Written with Bruce Sterling.
2002-01-22	The Use of the Ellipse the Catalog the Meter & the Vibrating Plane	2002	Horror Garage, 2002<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
2002-06-15	Jenna and Me	2003-02-11	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Written with Rudy Rucker Jr.
2003 (Fall)	Six Thought Experiments Concerning the Nature of Computation	2005-10	The Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul, Thunder's Mouth Press, October 2005<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	The story appears divided in 6 parts, each being a short-short story to introduce each of the six chapters in The Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul.
2004-04-09	Guadalupe and Hieronymus Bosch	2005-10	Interzone, October 2005<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
2004-06-13	MS Found in a Minidrive	2006-05	Poe's Lighthouse, Cemetery Dance Publications, May 2006<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
2004-05-06	The Men in the Back Room at the Country Club	2005-12-30	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2005-09-19	Chu and the Nants	2006-06	Asimov's Science Fiction, June 2006<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	Second chapter of Postsingular.
2005-12-06	Panpsychism Proved	2006-01-26	Nature, January 26, 2006<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
2005-12-06	Postsingular	2006-09	Asimov's Science Fiction, June 2006<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	Third and fourth chapters of Postsingular.
2006-03-25	Elves of the Subdimensions	2006-08-29	Flurb, Fall 2006<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	Written with Paul Di Filippo.
2006-05-01	2+2=5	2006-08	Interzone, August 2006<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	Written with Terry Bisson.
2006-05-22	Visions of the Metanovel	2007	Mad Professor, Thunder's Mouth Press, 2007<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
2006 (Fall)	The Imitation Game	2008-04	Interzone, April 2008<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	First chapter of Turing and Burroughs.
2006-12	The Third Bomb	2006-12-19	Flurb, Winter 2006<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
2007-03	Hormiga Canyon	2007-08	Asimov's Science Fiction, August 2007<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	Written with Bruce Sterling.
2007-05-25	Postsingular Outtakes	2007-04-23	Flurb, Spring–Summer 2007<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2007-05	The Perfect Wave	2008-01	Asimov's Science Fiction, January 2008<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	Written with Marc Laidlaw.
2007-09-11	Hieronymus Bosch's Apprentice	2007-09-19	Flurb, Fall–Winter 2007<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	Fifth chapter of Hylozoic.
2008-03	Tangier Routines	2008-03-31	Flurb, Spring–Summer 2008<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
2008-05	Message Found In A Gravity Wave	2008-08	Nature Physics, August 2008<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
2008-07	Qlone	2008-09-16	Flurb, Fall–Winter 2008<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
2008-10	Colliding Branes	2009-02	Asimov's Science Fiction, February 2009<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	Written with Bruce Sterling.
2008-12	Jack and the Aktuals, or, Physical Applications of Transfinite Set Theory	2008-10-09	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2009-01	All Hangy	2009-03-03	Flurb, Spring–Summer 2009<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	Written with John Shirley.
2009-03	To See Infinity Bare	2011-03	Postscripts, March 2011<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	Written with Paul Di Filippo.
2009-08	Bad Ideas	2009-09-08	Flurb, Fall–Winter 2009<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
2009-11-03	Val and Me	2010-03-08	Flurb, Spring–Summer 2010<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	First, second and third chapter of Jim and the Flims.
2010-06	Good Night, Moon	2010-10-13	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Written with Bruce Sterling.
2010-07	The Fnoor Hen	2011-04	Asimov's Science Fiction, April/May 2011<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
2010-08-10	The Skug	2010-08-31	Flurb, Fall–Winter 2010<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	Second chapter of Turing & Burroughs.
2010-09	Fjaerland	2011-09-06	Flurb, Fall–Winter 2011<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	Written with Paul DiFilippo.
2010-09	Hive Mind Man	2012-02	Asimov's Science Fiction, February 2012<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	Written with Eileen Gunn.
2011-01-01	Dispatches from Interzone	2011-03-22	Flurb, Spring–Summer 2011<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	Eighth chapter of Turing & Burroughs.
2011-03	My Office Mate	2011-07	Communications of the ACM, July 2011<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
2011-12	Loco	2012-06-20	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Written with Bruce Sterling.
2012-02-15	Jane and the Roadspider	2012-03-23	Flurb, Spring 2012<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	Second chapter of The Big Aha.
2012-07	I Arise Again	2013-01	Communications of the ACM, January 2013<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	Originally published as "Share My Enlightenment" and it slightly differs from the version that appears in the Complete Stories under the title "I Arise Again".
2012-10	Yubba Vines	2013-07	Asimov's Science Fiction, July 2013<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	Written with Paul Di Filippo.
2012-10	Quantum Telepathy	2014-09	Hieroglyph, William Morrow, September 2014<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	First and third chapters of The Big Aha.
2013-03	Apricot Lane	2013-05	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
2014-01	Where the Lost Things Are	2014-11-05	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Written with Terry Bisson.
2014-02	Laser Shades	2014-11	The Superlative Light, Daylight Books, November 2014
2014-05	Attack of the Giant Ants	2014-12-09	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2014-06 – 2014-12	Totem Poles	2016-08-10	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Written with Bruce Sterling.
2014-08	Watergirl	2015-01	Asimov's Science Fiction, January 2015<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	Written with Marc Laidlaw.
2014-12	The Knobby Giraffe	2016-04	Lightspeed, April 2016<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
2015-03 – 2015-08	Kraken and Sage	2016-02	Transreal Cyberpunk, Transreal Books, February 2016<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	Written with Bruce Sterling.
2015-06	Like a Sea Cucumber	2015-06-30	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2016-07	Emojis	2018-03	Asimov's Science Fiction, March 2018<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
2016-08 – 2016-12	@lantis	2017-07	Asimov's Science Fiction, July/August 2017<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	Written with Marc Laidlaw.
2016-12	Fat Stream	2017-08-21	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2017-04	In The Lost City of Leng	2018-01	Asimov's Science Fiction, January 2018<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2018-11 – 2019-01	Surfers at the End of Time	2019-11	Asimov's Science Fiction, November/December 2019<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	Written with Marc Laidlaw.
2019-01 – 2019-06	Juicy Ghost	2019-06-24	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Third chapter of Juicy Ghosts. Reprinted in Big Echo, October 2019.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Rewritten in September 2020 and published in the author's blog.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
	The Mean Carrot	2020-03	Big Echo, March 2020<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	First chapter of Juicy Ghosts.
2019-08 – 2020-09	Everything Is Everything	2020-10	Big Echo, October 2020<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
	Mary Mary	2021-03	Asimov's Science Fiction, March/April 2021<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2019-11 – 2020-06	Fibonacci's Humors	2021-07	Asimov's Science Fiction, July/August 2021<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>	Written with Bruce Sterling.
	Petroglyph Man	2015-07	Template:Cite journal

Non-fiction

• Geometry, Relativity and the Fourth Dimension (1977)
• Infinity and the Mind (1982)
• The Fourth Dimension: Toward a Geometry of Higher Reality (1984)
• Mind Tools<ref name="kenner198807">Template:Cite magazine</ref> (1987)
• Seek! (1999), collected essays
• Software Engineering and Computer Games (2002), textbook
• The Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul: What Gnarly Computation Taught Me About Ultimate Reality, the Meaning of Life, and How to Be Happy (Thunder's Mouth Press, 2005)
• Nested Scrolls - autobiography (2011)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Collected Essays (2012)<ref>Collected Essays</ref>
• How to Make an Ebook (2012)
• Better Worlds (2013), art book of Rucker's paintings
• Journals 1990–2014 (2015)

As editor

• Speculations on the Fourth Dimension: Selected Writings of Charles H. Hinton, Dover (1980), Template:ISBN
• Mathenauts: Tales of Mathematical Wonder, Arbor House (1987)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Semiotext(e) SF, Autonomedia (1989) <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Critical studies and reviews of Rucker's work

The big aha

• Template:Cite journal

Turing and Burroughs

• Template:Cite journal

Filmography

• As actor-speaker in Manual of Evasion LX94, a 1994 film by Edgar Pêra

External links

• Rudy Rucker Portal
• Rudy Rucker Books
• Template:Trim Template:PAGENAMEBASE at the Internet Speculative Fiction DatabaseTemplate:EditAtWikidata
• {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}