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story about "souls" of deceased people implanted in other people


This was a novel (rather short if I recall correctly) that I read in the 1990s. For the life of me I can't recall author and title, but I would like to read it again. (It might have been a longish short story in a collection, but I think it was a book on its own.)


In a not so far future, people can record their persona (soul) electronically. (The recording is refreshed every few months to keep it up to date.) After they die, this "soul-recording" can be implanted in someone else as a secondary persona. The new host gets access to all knowledge and experience, and for the deceased it is a sort-of afterlife/immortality. The process (recording and implant) is very expensive and thus only available for the wealthy. Having implanted persona becomes a status-symbol. There are dangers: A mismatched between host and implanted persona can lead to schizophrenia or even the implant attempting to take over the host.


As I recall, a powerful business-tycoon (his name is Paul I believe) dies and a struggle erupts between his nephew (who inherited the business) and the biggest competitor. Both want the implant of Paul. If I recall correctly the competitor gets the implant, but the family business is saved by a female family-member (daughter of the nephew? I'm not sure) who manages to get an (illegal) implant of an older backup of Paul.



Answer



Sounds like "To Live Again" by Robert Silverberg. It's been a long time since I read it and the summary on Wikipedia doesn't mention the power struggle in your description, but I'm pretty sure that's in the Silverberg book.


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