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I'm halfway through Hyperion, so no, I had not seen the dedication, haven't read that far.* I get the impression that you refer to story-telling style. I refer specifically to Vance's use of language-- his prose, and diction. Simmon's prose does not compare to Vance's. The only Sci Fi author I would consider comparing to Vance may be Gene Wolfe-- who was also inspired by Vance. I don't see any Gene Wolfe influences in Infinity though. Unless there is something about the T'zechi Digesters...

I wonder if the CB'ers read the books in English, or they read translations. I have not encountered much Sci Fi written originally in Spanish. Knowing what may have been available in translation. This would be interesting to learn, if any Spanish authors, or Latin American authors, wrote anything influential. ¿Alguien sabe algo?

* This dedication?

"This book is for Jack Vance, our finest creator of worlds.
It is also dedicated to the memory of Dr. Carl Sagan,
scientist, author, and teacher, who articulated the noblest
dreams of humankind."

I knew Simmons works were availabe as ebooks, but interesting to note that so are Vance's... nice. My copies of The Dying Earth, etc. are battered, to say the least. Those paperbacks from the 70's, not the best quality paper, or printing, or binding...

Back OT, There is an example of an AI 'ascending' in Frank Herbert's Destination: Void. It may be the first example in literature. Yeah, he wrote more than just Dune. He had some peculiar notions about AI too.

You should probably wait until you read "Endymion" and "The Rise of Endymion" then!

And everyone should read Vance's Cadwal Chronicles, Demon Princes series, and Planet of Adventure books too the last two *might* feel a bit dated, but they're still great.

And read anything else set in his "Gaean Reach" setting...

OK, just about everything he wrote!

Fair enough, I'll reserve final judgement. Amusing thought. Given that Vance, who was very influential on Gygax in his creation D&D, and apparently was very influential on Dan Simmons-- whose influences on Infinity are rather obvious, even to me-- can it be said that Vance has some influence on Infinity too?

Vance's Lyonesse and Dying Earth series. Albeit fantasy, they are fantastic reads. Hmmm, a pun. I suppose it was unintended.

What is the inspiration for the Tohaa? Anyone know?

 Red Harvest wrote:
Fair enough, I'll reserve final judgement. Amusing thought. Given that Vance, who was very influential on Gygax in his creation D&D, and apparently was very influential on Dan Simmons-- whose influences on Infinity are rather obvious, even to me-- can it be said that Vance has some influence on Infinity too?

Since I'm a huge Vance fan, I'll say "Yes, of course!"

 Red Harvest wrote:

Vance's Lyonesse and Dying Earth series. Albeit fantasy, they are fantastic reads. Hmmm, a pun. I suppose it was unintended.

Good call there!

The 'Lyonesse' series is fantastic too!

I just found a copy of Hyperion in the Works for 50p! Picked it up, be silly not too really.

 Red Harvest wrote:
Fair enough, I'll reserve final judgement. Amusing thought. Given that Vance, who was very influential on Gygax in his creation D&D, and apparently was very influential on Dan Simmons-- whose influences on Infinity are rather obvious, even to me-- can it be said that Vance has some influence on Infinity too?

Vance's Lyonesse and Dying Earth series. Albeit fantasy, they are fantastic reads. Hmmm, a pun. I suppose it was unintended.

What is the inspiration for the Tohaa? Anyone know?

Well, their "exaltation" of lesser races harkens to David Brin's "Uplift" saga (where humanity is the oddity in the galaxy as we didn't reach sentience with outside help, but essentially bootstrapped ourselves). That was the first thing that cried out to me.

For an Ariadna-focused novel (i.e. a lower-tech society), Larry Correia might be an option. He's already written some official game fiction (for Warmachine), and his Monster Hunter book series includes werewolves (along with other horror elements). Anything written by him would probably also include a lot of guns. He's also been getting interested in Infinity recently, and he's been posting a lot of pics of newly painted Infinity figures.

The thing that springs to mind when thinking about Ariadna - an early colony that's been lost for centuries, recently rediscovered by a more advanced galaxy (even down to being settled by Russian and French colonists, among others) - is Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga. No aliens or AIs, though

Probably not what you'd want for an "Infinity primer", right enough. The series runs from space opera through whodunnit detective fiction to romantic comedy, and I believe the basic concept behind the first novel started out as Star Trek fanfic, before being heavily re-worked.