Rudolf Von Bitter Rucker, is a Mathematician, a computer Scientist, and a Sci-Fi Visionary.
One of my favorite works of his was his Ware Tetralogy (comprised of the very excellent Sci-Fi Books; Software, Wetware, Freeware, Realware)
and for a while I was under the impression that those were the first books of his I had ever read, until I later realized that I had read one of his mathematical texts, the very interesting Geometry, Relativity and the Fourth Dimension from Dover
while I was an undergrad Math Major at U.C. Berkeley.
Rudy writes about Sci-Fi in such an original and unique manner, the way that only a Mathematician and Computer Scientist could, his characters are extremely likable, usually being very intelligent vagabonds, hipsters, hackers and surfers, sometimes even mathematicians, who often times find themselves in extra-dimensional circumstances.
Rucker is also the editor of the online Sci-Fi magazine FLURB, which I highly suggest you read.
In his book Software, he explores what happens when mankind has to share the playing field with AI’s that have free will, a race of Robots known as the “Boppers” that have colonized the Moon. In the books a virtually homeless man winds up becoming President of Earth, Florida has seceded from the union to become it’s own bad-land territory populated by the elderly, people try to steal your brain from out of your skull, and it just gets weirder and more entertaining from there on as the series goes on.
One of my favorite books of his is Jim and the Flims, a kind of Sci-Fi re-telling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice where the hero, Jim, must travel to alternate dimensions to regain his lost love, in the process he uncovers a huge inter-dimensional conspiracy to steal life-force and does his part to help over-throw the forces of darkness. Rucker is an excellent writer, and I would lay out good money in the bet that you can’t find quirkier or more lovable characters in any other Sci-Fi world, if I had to make a prediction, I think Rucker’s work is going to become the next big thing in Sci-Fi. I highly recommend you pick up a copy of the Ware Tetralogy, and just enjoy the ride.
Sci-Fi Book Reader 
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