William Gibson's Latest Novel

The website is a little lean by saskboy · 2003-01-03 14:56 · Score: 1

I went to read more about him and got this:
"Blog from William Gibson Coming Soon"

You'd think a writer would keep a blog up-to-date.

--
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.

Re:The website is a little lean by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 15:22 · Score: 0

Blog from William Gibson Coming Soon? More like CELDA!
Re:The website is a little lean by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 16:30 · Score: 0

Maybe he's been spending his time on the book instead.
Re:The website is a little lean by mmmuttly · 2003-01-03 20:06 · Score: 1

The posts I read seemed a little like they were seeded by a PR firm or something. Maybe I'm just not used to seeing coherent staements on a message board. If I was launching a new project, I'd prolly do the something like that to attempt to generate initial conversations.

The ebay thing by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 14:58 · Score: 0

That doesn't seem very nice to put copies up for sale, that might be changed from the final draft.

Re:The ebay thing by mjj12 · 2003-01-04 01:55 · Score: 2, Informative

These are "Advanced Reader Not for Sale" copies of the book. These are given for free to reviewers, opinion makers, other writers, assorted famous people who might say something complimentary about the book etc. Once you give them away, the people you have given them to can do pretty much whatever they like with them, including sell them. As for the text, it is possible that it will change between these copies and the official first edition, but this is barely different from the situation between any two editions. New editions of books correct typographical errors, grammatical errers, the effects of violent disagreements between authors and editors and the like all the time, and getting a "correct" version of the text is an ongoing process, even for books that have been published for years. Read the Note on the Text at the start of a current edition of The Lord of the Rings for an (admittedly extreme) example.

well... by acehole · 2003-01-03 14:58 · Score: 3, Interesting

Personally, I'm waiting for a 'Neuromancer' movie to be made, but it would have very high expectations to live up to.

But a new book is still pretty good ;)

--
Be you Admins? nay, we are but lusers!

Re:well... by Valar · 2003-01-03 15:04 · Score: 3, Funny

Oh, goodness. Your sig filled me with the urge to listen to tenacious D.

--

====
Crudely Drawn Games
Re:well... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 15:36 · Score: 0

rock on!
Re:well... by EddydaSquige · 2003-01-03 16:27 · Score: 1

they did, it was called the Matrix.
Re:well... by AeternitasXIII · 2003-01-03 17:01 · Score: 1

Well, hate to break the bad news but such a movie was already made, starring Keanu Reaves. No, it wasn't the Matrix. It was that abomination called Johnny Mnemonic.
Re:well... by bbh · 2003-01-03 17:13 · Score: 2

Its release I believe is meant to occur about the time Duke Nukem Whenever appears...

bbh
Re:well... by ErikZ · 2003-01-04 02:57 · Score: 2

Hurmph. I liked that movie.

--
Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
Re:well... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-04 05:15 · Score: 0

nah, johnny mnemonic was based on a short story that preceded Nueromancer. set in the same universe, but Molly is the only real thing linking the two.

New Rose Hotel is also set in that universe, also not a great feat in filmmaking, but interesting in some ways.
Re:well... by susano_otter · 2003-01-04 05:59 · Score: 2

Not really. The Matrix, while visually exciting and stylistically "hip", was conceptually ass. Any one of Gibson's stories showcases concepts and characters several orders of magnitude more sophisticated than the Matrix.

The Matrix was a two-dimensional superhero fantasy/messiah metaphor, held together with technobabble and bubblegum.

Gibson's stories are in-depth studies of how technological advancement is intertwined with the evolution of society, and how these two trends might affect real people, of which he provides compelling, well-developed examples.

Neuromancer and The Matrix might seem superficially similar, but that's where the similarity--and The Matrix itself--ends: on the surface.

--
Any sufficiently well-organized community is indistinguishable from Government.
Re:well... by meatpopcicle · 2003-01-04 08:29 · Score: 1

Unfortunately his last book to movie adaption sucked royally. They would have to get a good cast and script to do it justice.

--
"You're on my side and the dark side, like Lando Calrissian?" --Gimpy, Undergrads
Re:well... by fain0v · 2003-01-04 11:34 · Score: 1

I have never read the neuromancer, but the begining of johnny neumonic says that it is based on the neuromancer.
Re:well... by TygerFish · 2003-01-04 12:26 · Score: 1

Sorry to say this, but, brother, you've got a long, long wait ahead of you.

You can say what you like about his writing, but movies based on anything he writes are cursed.

'Johnny Mnemomic' mangled a lean and interesting sci-fi story by making Johnny into an action hero, while reducing Molly Millions to the cookie-cutter 'woman-in-jeopardy' stereotype.

Henry Rawlins appears as a doctor whose face-recognition alone destroys him as a character while even Dolph Lundgren has a walk-on appearance before his carreer at last twitches and lies still.

If you like Neuromancer,and Johnny Mnemonic is any indicator of what you would have to look forward to, you have to hope really hard that they never, ever make a movie of it.

You not only have to wait. You want to.

--
To mail me, remove the 'mailno' from my email addy.
"Yeah. It smells, too..."

Chill out, dude... by Akardam · 2003-01-03 14:58 · Score: 3, Informative

You're a troll, but I'll bite.

I'm a fan of William Gibson (and other authors like him), but I don't have the time or the inclination to crawl the web for every bit of news about new books. That's what /. is for. A central place to collate news about stuff "we" like.

Akky

P.S. The story body ever so kindly provided you with a link to William Gibson's own website, where there is information about the new novel. I suggest you start there. You might even like some of his books.

Re:Ok... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 14:58 · Score: 0

Okay, get off of Slashdot, RIGHT NOW.

Gibson is one of the best sci-fi authors of the last 15 years. He's won Hugo and Nebula awards, and is the father of cyberpunk novels, which often depict a bleak future connected entirely between a corrupt people and their electronics. Pick up Neuromancer; damned good book.

Certainly a comment ... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 14:58 · Score: 0

... on the state of reading. Try this link:

http://www.williamgibsonbooks.com/books/pattern. as p

Slack bastard authors by geoffybiggins · 2003-01-03 14:59 · Score: 5, Funny

Hang on: "word on the street is that it is his best work in years." It's his only work in years, since '99 I believe. If people are going to write books, especially totally awesome rad books like Gibsons are, they could at least have the decency to write MORE, instead of making us wait so long, the bastards.

Re:Slack bastard authors by nomadic · 2003-01-03 15:08 · Score: 1

If they came out every month, they probably wouldn't be as good...
Re:Slack bastard authors by MrEd · 2003-01-03 15:21 · Score: 2

No, no! To make every book as good as the one before it, all he'd have to do would be hire a bunch of unknown authors to write for him! Then it could say inspired by WILLIAM GIBSON on the cover.

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Wah!
Re:Slack bastard authors by caino59 · 2003-01-03 15:51 · Score: 4, Funny

is that like Open Source writting? ;o)
Re:Slack bastard authors by BigBadBri · 2003-01-04 02:44 · Score: 1

As good as what?
Unreadable at best, and full of technical errors - who needs Gibson?
I've never yet read a book of the 'cyberpunk' genre that was entertaining, not full of misunderstood ideas about hacking and networks, or even well written.
Novelists should stick to novels, and leave tech stuff well alone.
I was going to post this anonymously, but fuck it, I'm not bothered.

--
oh brave new world, that has such people in it!
Re:Slack bastard authors by Patrick13 · 2003-01-04 14:58 · Score: 2

I believe this is a reference to the Tom Clancy franchise that has recently taken over your local bookstore.

--
::.. check out some Cell Phone Reviews

I've read it by SRMoore · 2003-01-03 15:00 · Score: 5, Informative

I've read it. I got it through a used book store on amazon. (I know your not supposed to do this because the write gets no money from it, but I'm going to buy a copy in hard cover when it gets out)

I will say it is one of his best books. It takes place in modern day time. Which is unusual for him, but it talks about the usual information and the net. But this time there is a little spin in the motives driving the characters.

I would say that anyone that likes Gibson's stuff, should get this book.

Re:I've read it by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 15:23 · Score: 3, Insightful

The writer gets no money from it because he already got his money from the initial sell...there's nothing morally ethically or legally wrong with buying a used book, no one is getting cheated out of money...this is the same argument the riaa is trying to use to close down smaller used tape/cd stores and its sickening...please try to be educated about these things before making comments like that
Re:I've read it by grahams · 2003-01-03 15:48 · Score: 1

But in this case we are talking about a used review copy, which the author most likely never was paid for...
Re:I've read it by SRMoore · 2003-01-03 16:00 · Score: 2, Informative

I realize that, but most review/preview editions are not sold. They are given to people, so the writer doesn't get anything. So that is why I want to support him.
Re:I've read it by Hast · 2003-01-04 02:54 · Score: 3, Interesting

True, but then what changes it from piracy, really?

I just thought about that not too long ago when I was in a store and saw Arcanum for sale. I tried the game out for a little bit before, but I never got anywhere with it. But I really did like it. So I was considering to buy it to support the makers, and because it's nicer to actually own it. Now I could get it used for less then half the price new. (Since it's rather old it's in the bargin bin.) But then I knew that the producers wouldn't get anything from it.

So really, if I had copied the game and sent money (say half of the buying price for the used copy) to the makers wouldn't that have been a better way to show my appriciation?

Now I don't try to claim that it's unetical to sell used games, or that it's the same to buy used games as to pirate games. I guess it's just dependent on what you want to do 1) own the product or 2) benefit the producers.
Re:I've read it by Unordained · 2003-01-04 03:05 · Score: 2, Insightful

"first sale doctrine" says that once they've sold you a product, you can do whatever you like with it, including selling it off to others. exception: software is sold as a license that is non-transferable (a bit like a diploma can't be sold to another person.) this gets around the first-sale doctrine by forcing you to keep your copy once you've bought it -- you, and only you, have the right to use the product. the value of the license was immediately used up, and that's it (a bit like not being able to sell your experience on a roller coaster -- only your personal enjoyment is left, unless people just want to pay to listen to you talk about it.)

in the case of physical items like books, cd's, etc. the first sale doctrine still applies, until the *aa changes the way we purchase media to always mean we purchase licenses to view the media (possibly for a period of time only.) it'll be a bit hard to expire paper-books, but ... they'll try somday.

as to supporting the original authors, you might just send them a check. buy the used copy, and send the author money. original authors get very little through their distributors unless they're lucky, famous, etc. [see google] and this way they'd get a letter from you. make their day.
Re:I've read it by Mac+Degger · 2003-01-14 00:26 · Score: 2

I know exactly what you mean...I've had this with books and games myself. I read a lot, and one of the ways I do that is by borrowing and lending.

My guess is that the only way the net is going to grow up (and the only way to get the **AA's and the like off our back) is for a respectable bank to step in (or even VISA or Mastercard-alikes) and set up a cheap, reliable, pay-pal-esque micropayment system.

That way we can show our appreciation for whatever strikes our fancy, from old games to a book we borrowed at the library to someone who wrote a cool OS program or someone who wrote an essential 3d graphics tutorial.

I still don't know why the big banks haven't done this, especially since they're all so desperate to get rid of 'real' money in favour of cash on smartcards etc. Shit, give me bio-locked smartcard which allows me to directly, anonymously transfer cash to someone else (without the need for a third device to complete the actual transfer) and I'd use it. It's not a complex concept....

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-- Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?

Re:Ok... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 15:00 · Score: 0

it's by William Gibson - who, btw, I've never heard of.

Nice troll. William Gibson is considered one of the greatest scifi writers of all time. He wrote "Neoromancer" and coined the term "cyberspace." Maybe you should quit jacking off to gay porn for 5 minutes and visit your nearby borders.

heard that before by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 15:02 · Score: 1, Insightful

How many times have we heard this about Gibson? This is the guy who wrote Difference Engine people. He has writen as well, and as badly, as any writer around. Mostly as badly.

He was great before he had ever touched a computer. Now he has, and he can't go back.

The hype is meaningless. If someone I know and trust reads this and tells me that it's good, I'll consider it - not until then.

Re:heard that before by analog_line · 2003-01-03 17:59 · Score: 5, Interesting

The Difference Engine was actually a collaboration between Gibson and Bruce Sterling. Did you actually read it? It was pretty obvious, at least to me, which parts Sterling wrote, and which parts Gibson wrote. Sterling just can't write sci-fi. I've forced myself through more books of his than I wish to remember. The only ones I could stand reading more than once were The Artificial Kid and Islands in the Net, and that was barely. In other words, don't blame Gibson for the Difference Engine. He had "help."

Gibson had the guts to try for something different after the Neuromancer/Count Zero/Mona Lisa trilogy. For that I give him a hell of alot of credit. I admit that I really didn't like Virtual Light and Idoru on the first read through, but I reread them and I got most of it, and i've got a much better opinion of them now. All Tomorrow's Parties was one of the best books i've ever read. I practically flew through it. The less fantastic the setting, the more thoughtful it is.

But different tastes for different people, so there you go, eh? Personally, I say give the guy more computers. I'm eager to see what the new stuff is. If you aren't up for it, such is life.

the street by nomadic · 2003-01-03 15:02 · Score: 1

the word on the street is that it is his best work in years.

Ooh, the street...

Seriously though, it's not like Gibson has weak books, the man takes the time to do it right...

Re:the street by gilroy · 2003-01-03 15:55 · Score: 2, Redundant

Blockquoth the poster:

Seriously though, it's not like Gibson has weak books

Um, can you say "The Difference Engine"?

--
The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach
Re:the street by EddydaSquige · 2003-01-03 16:25 · Score: 1

I've tried four times to read that. Always get about a fourth of the way through it and then... well I've never gotten further than that.
Re:the street by st.+augustine · 2003-01-03 16:39 · Score: 3, Insightful

Seriously though, it's not like Gibson has weak books
Um, can you say "The Difference Engine"?

The fact you didn't get it doesn't make it weak.

--

-- Some things are to be believed, though not susceptible to rational proof.
Re:the street by gilroy · 2003-01-03 16:47 · Score: 1, Flamebait

Blockquoth the poster:

The fact you didn't get it doesn't make it weak.

The fact that I didn't like it doesn't mean I didn't "get" it. I understood it fine ... there just wasn't much there, there.

--
The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach
Re:the street by nomadic · 2003-01-03 18:23 · Score: 1

Actually, he's right. That's Gibson's one weak book. Gibson=good books, Sterling=good books, Sterling+Gibson=good try but unsuccessful.
Re:the street by st.+augustine · 2003-01-04 13:34 · Score: 1

The fact that I didn't like it doesn't mean I didn't "get" it. I understood it fine ... there just wasn't much there, there.
If you didn't find any there there, then even if you understood it, you didn't get it.

--

-- Some things are to be believed, though not susceptible to rational proof.
Re:the street by look · 2003-01-04 13:48 · Score: 1

I dunno man. "The Difference Engine" is one of the few books I have not been able to finish. The concept was neat, but the execution was totally flawed and extremely boring.

reading Gibson by technoid_ · 2003-01-03 15:03 · Score: 4, Interesting

Reading Gibson is something that drew me into computers when I was younger. I find myself picking up Neuromancer or CZ (sometimes MLO) to just read a certain scene he has painted in my head. I once found myself reading Neuromancer page by page backwards just reading his descriptions of the scenery of our future.

After the article about the FCC letting the telcos merge back, maybe Gibson predicted the future more accurately than most think.

So will SBC be the next Tessier-Ashpool?

--
Two wrongs don't make a right, but 3 lefts do - Lew of GO magazine

Re:reading Gibson by markus_prime · 2003-01-03 16:32 · Score: 1

You know I have to agree, in a slightly different sense though. I've read his second trilogy (VL, Idoru, ATP) backwards then forwards. It amazing how certain subtle details can illuminate so much when approached differently. Definately gained a deeper appreciation this way.
Re:reading Gibson by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 16:39 · Score: 0

Reading Gibson is something that drew me into computers when I was younger.

I wonder how many people saw that low budget '90s documentary Cyberpunk?

There's an amusing interview with Gibson, in which he describes writing Neuromancer on a typewriter, back when he had a vision of computers being these amazing, almost magical devices.

Shortly afterwards, he bought an Apple to write on. However, he took it back to the store because it made this weird grinding noise. That was the disk drive... working perfectly. :)

Gibson explained that he had a vision of disk drives as being some kind of spinning crystal mechanism. Certainly not a noisy, grinding electromagnet.

Sometimes ignorance is bliss :)

fexter
--
Ashintaro: trance from Tokyo in 2043AD
Re:reading Gibson by echo8 · 2003-01-03 16:52 · Score: 1

Every time I've been away from computing for a while and come back, I'm reminded of the scene at the beginning of Neuromancer where Case jacks in for the first time after getting his nervous system fixed. Absolutely fantastic half-page or so of text. Those images have stuck with me for a lot of years.
Re:reading Gibson by WeaponOfChoice · 2003-01-03 17:38 · Score: 2

can still remember the text almost word for word.

That, more than anything else, completely screwed all my experiences with the early VR setups in the 90's. My expectations were too high...

--

It's not that I'm Anti-American - I'm Pro-Freedom

Re:Lowest Scores First! by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 15:03 · Score: 0

Wow, I have always wanted this option. I thought I was alone...

Personally, I blame Michael "Censorware.org" Simms for this grave injustice. I think he's a fraus and and a con artist.

W00t by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 15:05 · Score: 0

The Aleph has had chapter 3 for a while now.

Regular Expressions? by wideBlueSkies · 2003-01-03 15:06 · Score: 5, Funny

We really don't need another regex book.

This one does just fine.

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Huh?

Re:Regular Expressions? by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 16:27 · Score: 0

Are there any movies based on his books? I've never read any of his, because I don't read fiction. I read non-fiction and only non-fiction. But I hear some of his stuff is really good... so I'd like to watch it if they put it to film yet.
Re:Regular Expressions? by gray+code · 2003-01-03 17:51 · Score: 2, Informative

Nothing you'd want to see. Try Burning Chrome, it's a book of his short stories, and includes the source works for the two movies that do exist ("Johnny Mneumonic" and "New Rose Hotel"). Both stories are pretty good, and the compilation as a whole is a fun read. I know you said you don't get into fiction, but they're short stories, so you won't be wasting much time on them if you don't like 'em.

oh by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 15:07 · Score: 0

I think he may be one of the greatest of our generation, but not of all time.

Personally, I don't think he can hold a candle to Verne, Wells, Asimov, Clarke, etc.

Re:oh by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 15:18 · Score: 0

I'm not a huge gibson fan myself, but he is often considered one of the greatest... whatever.
Re:oh by fmaxwell · 2003-01-03 15:22 · Score: 2

Personally, I don't think he can hold a candle to Verne, Wells, Asimov, Clarke, etc.

I do. In many ways, his writing is more sophisticated than many of the masters you cite. Gibson didn't simply create science fiction. He invented an entire genre -- and in doing so, captured the Triple Crown of science fiction, winning the Hugo, Nebula, and Phillip K. Dick awards for Neuromancer.

Asimov, Clark, etc. could do a wonderful job of telling a story, but Gibson has a way of immersing you in the story. He makes you a part of the culture in which his characters live, throwing out slang you've never heard spoken but that you eventually come to understand.

I definitely rank him among the greats.
Re:oh by fridgemagnet · 2003-01-03 15:31 · Score: 1

Despite all their great ideas, futurism etc, Asimov and Clarke weren't exactly good writers. Their characters are flat and exist to push the plot forward and get the freaky science in there. Gibson's characters and world are central, rather than just being window-dressing.

Re:Lowest Scores First! by Mitchell+Mebane · 2003-01-03 15:10 · Score: 1, Offtopic

I think this would be especially helpful when trying to mod an article that has been up for several hours. I'll join you. ;D

--

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.
--Aristotle

yeah.. by Sarin · 2003-01-03 15:11 · Score: 1, Offtopic

Apparently, reviewer copies have been making the rounds on ebay and the word on the street is that it is his best work in years.
Perhaps because it's been his only work in years, wasn't diamond age his last?
(it reminds me of those cheap movie advertisements that go like: probably the best comedy ever.)

Re:yeah.. by EricHsu · 2003-01-03 15:19 · Score: 3, Informative

Diamond Age is by Neil Stephenson. Gibson wrote Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive, The Difference Engine with Bruce Sterling, Virtual Light, Idoru, and All Tomorrow's Parties, FYI.
Re:yeah.. by nurightshu · 2003-01-03 15:39 · Score: 2

Don't forget Burning Chrome, which had one of the best stories in it ("Johnny Mnemonic") bastardized into a terrible sci-fi film. It also had "New Rose Hotel," which was, for my money, the finest example of second-person narration I've ever read.

I just re-read All Tomorrow's Parties last week, and I was thinking to myself: "Boy, I hope that he comes out with another one soon." I think Neal Stephenson writes punchier prose, but Gibson just feels like a tighter storyline to me. I'll be clamoring for a copy in hardcover when it ships.

--
They that would sacrifice their .sig space for that cliched Franklin quote deserve neither.

Re:Lowest Scores First! by Blue+Stone · 2003-01-03 15:12 · Score: 0, Offtopic

It seems like a reasonable suggestion.

Only yesterday, I was thinking of making a post saying, "Y'know, one of these days, someone's going to post the meaning of life, the certain way to happiness, and fulfilment, on Slashdot, and it's going to get moderated -1 Offtopic; and
no one is going to see it."
Well, obviously a few people.

It seems like a worthwhile option.

Yeah, yeah... Offtopic... yada yada.

--
Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce

Re:Lowest Scores First! by r4lv3k · 2003-01-03 15:13 · Score: 1

This topic should have been -1 Offtopic, but that only encourages them.

You are my hero! by I'm+a+racist. · 2003-01-03 15:15 · Score: 0, Troll

Wow, I envy you!

I really like Gibson's imagery. In the beginning of Neuromancer, he uses the phrase "the sky is the color of tv", which has been stuck in my head ever since I read it. The thing is, I only read it once, just like every other novel/novella/short-story.

I wish I had the free time, and had accomplished every other significant thing I have left to do in life, so that I can sit and re-read novels backwards! What's your secret to having that kind of time? I'm sure other /.ers want to know this too.

P.S - I really hope Gibson's vision future isn't that accurate, otherwise I'd say we're pretty well fucked! But, it certainly does seem to be going that way...

--

Down with Saudi Arabia!!!

Re:You are my hero! by technoid_ · 2003-01-03 15:28 · Score: 1

well, since i am not fighting the race war, I have bit more time on my hands.

you have heard the phrase "stop and smell the roses"? Thats what I was doing when I was re-reading that book. Actually that was a few years ago, when free time was easier to secure, but I still think there are certain things you need to do to keep sane.

I put a smile on my face by re-reading...that is significant to me.

--
Two wrongs don't make a right, but 3 lefts do - Lew of GO magazine
Re:You are my hero! by I'm+a+racist. · 2003-01-03 15:49 · Score: 0, Troll

I was kind of kidding when I posted that, and I do understand the "stop and smell the roses" philosophy. But, at the same time, there are lots of great stories out there, I'd like to absorb as many of them as I can. Rereading things won't help me to do that (although I would love to reread some). There's new stuff (ie. Gibson, Palahniuk, etc) coming out all the time, and there are lots of old gems (Asimov, Clarke, etc). Not to mention the bit of quality movies, tv, and music.

Then, of course, there are other "more important" things (by "important", I'm referring to what I think the majority of people consider important, see the recent /. articles on "success" for more about this), like social interactions and professional achievments to be had. I know this one isn't popular with the /. crowd, but exercise is both important and time consuming (plus, it'll help you to get laid). Which brings me to sex, sure it is covered by "social interactions", but it really deserves a special mention.

When looking at all the things there are to spend time on, reading the same book twice ranks pretty low on my list. Hell, visiting /. is low on my list, but for the next few weeks it's something I can do as a multitasked activity.

And, in case you weren't aware, fighting the race war really is a very very time consuming activity!

It's such an overload...

--

Down with Saudi Arabia!!!
Re:You are my hero! by kungfuBreaks · 2003-01-03 18:47 · Score: 1

Ah yes, Asimov, Kubrick...Do you know that both were Jewish? Seriously, I'm not trolling. Are you aware of that fact or what? Because if you are, I'd love to know how you reconcile your hatred for Jews (and blacks, and Asians, and every other non-'Aryan' race out there, no doubt) with your apparent enjoyment of their work.

No wait, let me guess. Those people weren't _really_ Jewish -- it's all a(nother) massive Zionist conspiracy!

On an unrelated note, I am rather intrigued by your sig. Why must Saudi Arabia fall? After all, I'm sure they hate the Jews as much (if not more) than you do; you should recognise them for the allies in the struggle against Zionism that they surely are rather than calling for their annihilation.
Re:You are my hero! by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 20:48 · Score: 0

Shut up, you fucking racist piece of shit. No-one wants to hear your ill-informed stupid opinion. Fuck off and die.

you're not supposed to say that! by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 15:16 · Score: 0

This is a fanboy site, after all. No matter how bad most of his books might be, every time there's a new one, it's his best work in years.

When Gibson is old and filling Depends, people will still say it's his best work in years.

Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk author by aSiTiC · 2003-01-03 15:17 · Score: 4, Interesting

Has there been a discussion of recent good sci-fi/cyberpunk authors on Slashdot recently? I'm constantly on the search for good books but the genre of scifi is definitely cloudy as far as quality. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Already noted William Gibson, will check out.

--

Where the Music Matters

Re:yeah..Diamond Age is by Neil Stevenson by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 15:23 · Score: 0

correction

Best Work In Years by rnb · 2003-01-03 15:23 · Score: 2, Insightful

I hope it is his best work in years.

Don't get me wrong, I adore Gibson. I think the Sprawl Series was one of the best things ever put to paper. I've read Neuromancer at least ten times. I loved Burning Chrome. I love every article I've seen him write for Wired or whatever magazine he's travelling to Asia for this month. His interviews rock because the man is both highly intelligent and very interesting. I'm dying to see No Maps For These Territories.

Having gushed, though, I just don't like any of his recent novels. I read Virtual Light and didn't think it was that great. I couldn't finish Idoru. I didn't even bother with All Tomorrow's Parties.

I'm sure they're great books for those who like them, but for some reason, I just haven't been able to get into his more recent stuff.

I'm dying in the hopes that this new one matches up with his earlier work. Maybe that's wrong. Maybe I'm just living in the past. But I can still go back to any of that stuff--I just bought my third copy of Burning Chrome a month ago--and I walk away from reading a page or two, just thinking: Jesus Christ, this man oozes talent. He's got enough for him and two more writers. And I just haven't felt that way about his work in a while.

So, I really, really hope this is his best work in years.

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by klocwerk · 2003-01-03 15:26 · Score: 1, Flamebait

if you'd never heard of william gibson, you can't have been searching too hard.
Neal Stephenson ring any bells?
do a google search for crying out loud.

--

"You worthless post!"
-Shakespeare, 2 Gentlemen of Verona, 1. 1. 147

Tessier-Ashpool by No+Such+Agency · 2003-01-03 15:27 · Score: 4, Interesting

I have to admit that while Gibson's vision of a bizarre corporate clan, so detached from normal morality and laws as to be rendered barely human, is certainly great writing, it seems less and less likely as time goes on. Corporations grow more and more transnational, less and less attached to physical reality, and in doing so they become ever more like acerebral beasts run by a hippocampal mass of shareholders with short-term profits as the overwhelming driving force. CEO's and VP's are disposable plug-in modules, and hereditary family ownership of significant blocks of shares grows rare.

Hmm, I grow weary. Time to climb back in the cryo-pod and activate 2No Such Agency in my place...

--
Freedom: "I won't!"

Re:Tessier-Ashpool by st.+augustine · 2003-01-03 16:35 · Score: 5, Informative

CEO's and VP's are disposable plug-in modules, and hereditary family ownership of significant blocks of shares grows rare.
Even in Neuromancer | Count Zero | Mona Lisa Overdrive they're rare. Tessier-Ashpool is presented as a bizarre aberration, held together only by their weird cryogenic setup and the family AIs. Traditional corporations like Hosaka, Maas, and Sense|Net are the norm.
I don't think "transnational, less and less attached to physical reality, and... ever more like acerebral beasts" is anything but an accurate description of most of Gibson's corporations.

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-- Some things are to be believed, though not susceptible to rational proof.
Re:Tessier-Ashpool by No+Such+Agency · 2003-01-03 16:52 · Score: 3

Good points. I must have been asleep at the button writing that... And I'd better re-read Neuromancer :-)

--
Freedom: "I won't!"
Re:Tessier-Ashpool by Yokaze · 2003-01-03 21:03 · Score: 3, Informative

> Traditional corporations [...] are the norm.

I thought that his description was, that there are essentially two kinds of companies left. Those transnational entities similar to T-A and little shark companies. Small, fast, flexible, biting. Traditional companies ceased to exist.

Tessier-Ashpool was only an exception, because they were still ruled and owned by a family, but not in other aspects. Actually, in being family-run, it was a remnant of the last century.

--
"Between strong and weak, between rich and poor [...], it is freedom which oppresses and the law which sets free"
Re:Tessier-Ashpool by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 23:11 · Score: 0

He's a novelist, not a prophet.
Re:Tessier-Ashpool by st.+augustine · 2003-01-04 13:36 · Score: 1

And I'd better re-read Neuromancer :-)
Never hurts. :) There's also that bit in Count Zero about the academic who's working on a study of "Mass Man".

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-- Some things are to be believed, though not susceptible to rational proof.

Neuromancer, the movie. by I'm+a+racist. · 2003-01-03 15:31 · Score: 5, Informative

The best info on the movie, that I know of, comes from Coming Attractions. It appears that Chris Cunningham is still involved with the project (as of May '02), which is a good sign.

Cunningham is one of the best visual directors out there, and his style meshes really well with Gibson's prose. Cunningham worked with Kubrick while still in his teens. He did some of the initial design work for "A.I.", which is still visible even though Spielberg's usual crap surrounds it.

Of course, film is a collective artform, and a good director + good source material != good movie, in many cases. I don't know much about Cunningham's writing abilities, or how involved he is with the adaptation. Gibson's work has not been successfully adapted, yet (that's debatable, but most will agree with me).

It would be a real shame to see someone fuck up this project. I'm more forgiving of something like "Johnny Mnemonic" and "New Rose Hotel", because they were adapted from short stories, and therefore required a lot of reworking. I think "Neuromancer", with the right visual touch, could play really well without too much adaptation. One of the best things about Gibson's work, and "Neuromancer" in particular, is the viscerality of it all, the vividness... if they can capture that on film properly, there's a good chance it could be successful. The biggest danger in adapting this book is that there's great potential for the story to get really muddled.

--

Down with Saudi Arabia!!!

Re:Neuromancer, the movie. by blincoln · 2003-01-03 16:48 · Score: 2

It appears that Chris Cunningham [director-file.com] is still involved with the project (as of May '02), which is a good sign.

The first time I saw the mention of a Neuromancer movie was as a sticker on the box for the videogame version when I bought it in fifth grade (~1988). I stopped holding my breath a long time ago.

--
"...always new atoms but always doing the same dance, remembering what the dance was yesterday." -Richard Feynman
Re:Neuromancer, the movie. by blincoln · 2003-01-03 22:24 · Score: 2

Shut up, you fucking racist piece of shit.

Uh, okay dude. Are you going to put down the popcan pipe full of PCP and explain what that's supposed to mean, or do I get to play guessing games?

--
"...always new atoms but always doing the same dance, remembering what the dance was yesterday." -Richard Feynman
Re:Neuromancer, the movie. by k3v0 · 2003-01-06 04:46 · Score: 1

Aphex Twin is also doing the music. i cannot think of a more appropriate soundsmith to complement the work

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by nomadic · 2003-01-03 15:32 · Score: 5, Informative

A lot of sf fans are actively hostile to cyberpunk nowadays; all they want is multibook stories about the space navy (I swear, it seems that all they talk about on rec.arts.sf.written are Bujold and Weber). Bruce Sterling's still writing; I like his stuff, but tastes differ. Stephenson is the darling of Slashdot, so you'll probably get a half-dozen people recommending him. Gibson, Stephenson, and Sterling probably make up the Big Three of cyberpunk, with somewhat less famous authors like Pat Cadigan also contributing to the field.

I think the short story market is MUCH friendlier to cyberpunk--any given issue of F&SF or Asimov's will likely have a cyberpunk or cyberpunkish story.

I don't know what you mean by "recent"; last few years, or 1990 on, or what? If you haven't read C.S. Friedman's This Alien Shore, I highly recommend it. A cross between cyberpunk and space opera, and very, very good. But it's not from 1991, so not sure if you'd count it "recent".

Finally there are the novelizations of games such as Shadowrun or Cyberpunk. Never read them myself, but if that's your thing, who am I to judge?

just for the record by SweetAndSourJesus · 2003-01-03 15:32 · Score: 1

Verne did simply create science fiction.

He invented an entire genre...

--

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the strongest word is still the word "free"

i have to say... by stonebeat.org · 2003-01-03 15:33 · Score: 2, Interesting

the excerpt from the book, didn't give me enuff motivation to actually go and buy the book.

maybe one day it will be on gutenberg, and i will read it ;)

But don't take my word for it, cause i am no expert in litrature. Maybe you will love the book.....

--

Consensus is good, but informed dictatorship is better

Re:Lowest Scores First! by Hauptkov · 2003-01-03 15:35 · Score: 0, Offtopic

Count me as a supporter. When I've fiddled with my preferences I've always wondered why there's no 'lowest scored first' section.

Is He Even Relevant? by Tremblay99 · 2003-01-03 15:36 · Score: 5, Interesting

Neuromancer blew me away -- it was awesome. And clacked out on a manual typewriter. Count Zero was a little less so. Mona Lisa Overdrive was a decent read (awesome, awesome cover on the original hardcover, mind you). The Difference Engine was a slog. Idoru and Virtual Light blur together.

In lit-crit circles, it is often said that a poet's best work is his earliest (think Coleridge or Bob Dylan) ... while novelists take time to mature (Dickens, P.K. Dick, or Kim Stanley Robinson). I think Gibson's a poet -- people read him (at least I do) for the descriptions, the images, the language, not the story.

Of course, if he's become a novelist and has learned how to tell a story ... with fleshed-out characters, with substance over flash and some hook in the story to hold on to, he might yet become a worthwhile read again.

Re:Is He Even Relevant? by elmegil · 2003-01-03 16:00 · Score: 2

I don't know that the lit-crit circles have any application to reality. Tim Powers, for example wrote several bad novels (at least so I presume, they haven't been reprinted in ages), then several magnificent ones (The Drawing of the Dark through Last Call) and then a handful of bad ones (attempts to do "sequels" if you will to Last Call that in my opinion just didn't work). I think it's simply that everyone has a peak and valleys on either side. Some writers peak early, some don't.

--
7 November 2006: The day Americans realized corruption and incompetence weren't addressing 11 September 2001
Re:Is He Even Relevant? by Suppafly · 2003-01-03 16:56 · Score: 2

So basically what you are saying is some authors are good from the get go, some grow into it later and some are initally good and then burn out? Well that basically covers the entire spectrum when talking about anything.
Re:Is He Even Relevant? by HardCase · 2003-01-03 18:18 · Score: 3, Insightful

In lit-crit circles, it is often said that a poet's best work is his earliest (think Coleridge or Bob Dylan) ... while novelists take time to mature (Dickens, P.K. Dick, or Kim Stanley Robinson). I think Gibson's a poet -- people read him (at least I do) for the descriptions, the images, the language, not the story.

I'd dispute lumping Dickens in with the rest. In fact, his novels were tremendously popular, to the point of being serialized as he finished the chapters. Although we regard his work as classic nowadays, he was the 19th century equivalent of one of today's blockbuster authors.

I suspect that 100 years from now Tom Clancy, et al, will not be held in quite the high esteem.

-h-
Re:Is He Even Relevant? by mgblst · 2003-01-03 19:02 · Score: 2

Off topic, but wassn't PKD tactic to write a whole bunch of short stories, then when he got older convert them into novels? Still love him tho. Not that excited about Gibbo.

cool. by sstory · 2003-01-03 15:39 · Score: 3, Funny

Something to read while awaiting the next Neal Stephenson book. Except that the next Neal book is going to be about some crappy period hundreds of years ago when everything sucked.

eagerly waiting by Sh0t · 2003-01-03 15:40 · Score: 1

Just finished reading Idoru's sequeal along with The Game of Thrones series (George martin) So I'll be needing something to read and Gibson is always welcome.

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by aSiTiC · 2003-01-03 15:43 · Score: 1

Actually I have heard of Stephenson and I've read all his books. It's not that I'm not looking but just because you find something that has good quotes on the backcover doesn't mean it is necessarily good quality. I'm just looking for another way to find honest opinions.

--

Where the Music Matters

Have you ever heard the parable. . . by kfg · 2003-01-03 15:45 · Score: 2

about the shoemaker's children?

KFG

John Varley: Cyberpunk Emeritus by handy_vandal · 2003-01-03 15:45 · Score: 5, Informative

I like Gibson's work as much as the next reader, but for my money the grandfather of all cyberpunk writers is John Varley.

Varley's first novel, The Ophiuchi Hotline, has everything you could possibly want from a cyberpunk novel -- high tech, low tech, smartass computers, do-it-yourself cloning, alien invaders, polymorphous sex, plentiful drugs, multiple viewpoints, stylistic panache up the yingyang -- and was published way back in the dark ages of 1977, before anyone had heard the word cyberpunk.

--
-kgj

The Future Always Sucks by gelfling · 2003-01-03 15:46 · Score: 2

God I hope he hasn't simply recycled one of his brilliant short stories again. I really hope it's something good and not the same old same old.

Re:gibson is just another boring hack by 0x0d0a · 2003-01-03 15:46 · Score: 2

I think it's probably more to do with tools wanking themselves to some "cyberculture" delusion than his writing.

This is probably true of the majority of genres. Romances, anything particularly nationalistic, anything in the Tom Clancy vein. People want to identify with the protagonist.

I mean, few people read only historical documentaries. :-)

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May we never see th

Re:Neuromancer on http://www.hsx.com by sbillard · 2003-01-03 15:48 · Score: 1, Informative

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Often acknowledged as the inspiration of the cyber-punk movement, William Gibson's Neuromancer has existed as a possible film adaptation for several years. In November 1998, British director Chris Cunningham became attached to the project, though the production of the film seems to have stalled as of late.
Neuromancer follows a high-level computer hacker who becomes embroiled in a series of double-crosses. Published in 1984, the sci-fi novel has won several of the genre's top awards.

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Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by technoid_ · 2003-01-03 15:51 · Score: 2, Informative

I also liked Rudy Rucker's Software and Wetware. It was a bit hard to get started reading Software, but once started I really enjoyed it.

I see he has also written quite a bit more

--
Two wrongs don't make a right, but 3 lefts do - Lew of GO magazine

Of course by Sonny+Yatsen · 2003-01-03 15:55 · Score: 1

It's also been his first work in years.

--
My postings are informational and does not constitute legal advice. Act on it at your risk.

william went to singapore by hfastedge · 2003-01-03 15:56 · Score: 4, Interesting

Singapore is a high tech nation.

In 1994, the fledling (but well backed) wired magazine sent william to the tiny island nation. I was browsing wired archives a few weeks ago and found this.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1.04/gibson.htm l?person=laurie_anderson&topic_set=wiredpeople

--

-- -- --

Help my mini cause: My journal

Re:william went to singapore by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 18:54 · Score: 1, Interesting

Slightly off topic, but from this article it seems like the guy is totally into sleaze and dumps. He seems to be equating colour and vibrancy with heterosexual hand jobs and shonen knife.

I'm a singaporean and though i have to say that the place can have the cultural personality of a dead dwarf on certain days, i would personally like to tell WG this:" dude, we do have shonen knife. We even have john zorn, makesnd and the limited edition woven ep. Plus, electronic equipment here is dirt cheap. Where else can you get a region free shinco dvd/vcd/cd player for 150 bucks, and a viewsonic LCD monitor for 300 and a 1G+ athlon for 450."

Rants aside, WGs books have been going downhill recently. He constantly rehashes his content and the writing style has become more like the enid blyton of cyberspace. Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash was a more satisfying read than any of WGs books, and i recommend Tad William's Overland series about a sentient computer and a cult ( what else ) to anyone looking for masterful storytelling.

It's like comparing an apple II to today's athlons. It was good while it lasted, but can it do GLTron?

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by elmegil · 2003-01-03 15:56 · Score: 2

I recently finished reading reMix by Jon Courtenay Grimwood. Tagline: "William Gibson meets Quentin Tarantino". He's got a lot of books on the shelf at Borders right now, though this one a reprint of a book frim '97. I'll say that it seems like he took a lot of other ideas I've seen in other cyberpunk and "remixed" them, but maybe that's the point. It was definitely a fun ride, even though not particularly original in some dimensions.

As for Cyberpunkish writing in F&SF, not sure what you mean. I'm about 18 months behind reading my subscription, but I haven't read many cyberpunkish stories in most of the two years prior to that.

--
7 November 2006: The day Americans realized corruption and incompetence weren't addressing 11 September 2001

Gibson overrated by Cally · 2003-01-03 16:03 · Score: 2

I was intrigued by what I heard about Neuromancer, Mona Lisa Overdrive etc and dutifully slogged through them, and someone gave me Virtual Light for Christmas one year - but by then I'd discovered Snowcrash and Virt and realised that Gibson's really just an historical curiosity, on a par with da Vinci's sketches of helicopters... except that Gibson never painted a Mona Lisa.

Anyway, who needs fiction when there's Jean Baudrillard? I defy anyone here to read America and tell me it doesn't change their life, or rather their perception of their cultural environment forever.

--
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." -- Goethe

Re:Gibson overrated by Jonathan · 2003-01-03 16:24 · Score: 5, Insightful

I don't see how you can appreciate _Snowcrash_ without reading _Neuromancer_ -- It would be like watching _Blazing Saddles_ without ever seeing a real Western.
Re:Gibson overrated by garibald · 2003-01-03 17:42 · Score: 2, Insightful

actually it's fairly easy to appreciate cyberpunk without reading Neuromancer, given the proliferation of the genre into the mainstream. By way of movies, terminology, and whatnot.

I personally find reading Gibson to be painful at times because all of his conventions and ideas have been so assimilated that the originals seem... rough and unpolished. But that's just my opinion.
Re:Gibson overrated by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-04 07:12 · Score: 0

Dude. Blazing Saddles is a comedic satire. A SATIRE. Snow Crash isn't a satire. This analogy does not work. Try again. Say something like "...watching <--insert generic John Wayne western--> without watching Stagecouch." Or generic film noir without watching The Maltese Falcon.
Re:Gibson overrated by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-04 07:14 · Score: 0

Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude or anything, I'm just pointing out that Snow Crash isn't a satire of the cyberpunk genere, whereas Blazing Saddles is a satire of the Western genere.

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by aSiTiC · 2003-01-03 16:04 · Score: 1

Thanks mate! Just what I was looking for, some recommendations from someone who has read'em and enjoyed'em.

--

Where the Music Matters

Re:John Varley: Cyberpunk Emeritus by h'biki · 2003-01-03 16:07 · Score: 1

I'd (personally) argue that the grandfather of Cyberpunk was Philip K Dick.

He didn't use many of the cliched setpieces of cyberpunk, but the mood & style & themes of his writing set the foundations for the movement (in opposition to trad sci fi).

Although, I think most CP fans can cite a pre-movement writer who they consider to be protocyberpunk... How far back can *you* go?

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by nomadic · 2003-01-03 16:07 · Score: 1

As for Cyberpunkish writing in F&SF, not sure what you mean. I'm about 18 months behind reading my subscription, but I haven't read many cyberpunkish stories in most of the two years prior to that.

I probably have a broader idea of what cyberpunk is than you. Hell, it's probably broader than most people's.

Met the guy 12 years ago... by teutonic_leech · 2003-01-03 16:09 · Score: 5, Interesting

I met William Gibson 12 years ago in Austria at the Ars Electronica conference. Everyone was all dressed up and stuff and the guy shows up to hold a speech in sneakers and a beat-up pair of jeans that I bet he still wears today. Really shy - not the extravert type - I liked him right away :-) Anyway, can't wait to read his latest work - if it's anything like Neuromancer, it's a must read.

Re:Met the guy 12 years ago... by Dan+Crash · 2003-01-04 09:31 · Score: 2

Yeah, William Gibson is just an incredibly approachable guy. When he was giving a signing a few years back, I stood at the back of the line so I could talk to him longer and interview him for my zine without disrupting anyone waiting to have their books signed. He spent a little over half an hour with me, talking about the script to Neuromancer, William Burroughs, Bruce Sterling, and everything else under the sun. I left feeling great, knowing I'd connected with an author whose works I really enjoyed.

I had pretty much the opposite experience with Douglas Coupland, who rather testily blew off a small crowd of people (including me) after a reading, even though I'd already confirmed the post-reading interview with his publicist. Maybe Doug was just having a bad day, but it says a lot for Gibson that nearly every story I've heard about him casts him in a positive light. It's good to know that nice guys occasionally do finish first. If Gibson makes a visit to your town, I highly recommend attending.

--
He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by Wiwi+Jumbo · 2003-01-03 16:09 · Score: 2

After hearing about Bruce Sterling I found a copy of Islands in the Net in a used bookstore.

From what I remember the novel was pretty good with a nice "flow" to it... you kept wanting to turn the page. Then about two chapters from the end he pulls the handbrake and makes the story painfull to finish.

I've never been able to bring myself to read another one by him. Anyone with thoughts about his other books?

--
Wiwi
"I trust in my abilities,
but I want more then they offer"

Re:John Varley: Cyberpunk Emeritus by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 16:10 · Score: 0

Fuckin' Lovecraft, man.

The Night We Took the PKD by handy_vandal · 2003-01-03 16:12 · Score: 1

I'm a big fan of Phil Dick's work, too. You're quite right, he wrote with a cyberpunk twist, long before Varley, Gibson, etc.

Gibson said something somewhere (interview? essay? I forget where) about "the night we took the PKD".

--
-kgj

Best work in years? by sakusha · 2003-01-03 16:13 · Score: 1, Redundant

That can't be too hard.

Is He Even Relevant? sure by layingMantis · 2003-01-03 16:13 · Score: 3, Interesting

All Tommorrow's Parties was recent and pretty cool, it had organic buildings and the Golden Gate bridge was a big ramshackle city unto itself. It's been awhile since i read it, but every one of his books has good (technological) ideas in it (many of which have now become rather prophetic) I think that's plenty good enough to make him relevant. Plus, his descriptions of food are original and always make me really hungry, heh.

I agree his prose is poetic; it is also complicated, terse, and often infuriatingly ambiguous. This is why these AC's are trashing Gibson: they aren't advanced enough to read him.

Re:Is He Even Relevant? sure by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 19:12 · Score: 0

wait, because *you* don't understand Gibson, that means that I'm not advanced enough to read him?
Re:Is He Even Relevant? sure by wunderhorn1 · 2003-01-04 14:42 · Score: 2

I'd never thought about the food before, but you're right! The 'Ghetto Chef Beef Bowl' had me laughing out loud. Also, the description of the tortilla chip omelet was one of the more evocative scenes in Count Zero.

--
Karma: Bored. (Thinking about resurrecting the "Anyone else is an imposter" joke.)

I'm really really hoping by dubbayu_d_40 · 2003-01-03 16:13 · Score: 1

the movie will the movie will star Sandra Bullock!!! His books a so kewl ;-)

recent stuff like old stuff by GunFodder · 2003-01-03 16:14 · Score: 2

I really enjoy Gibson's work and that includes more recent books like the aforementioned Virtual Light and Idoru. That said I think he has been rewriting the same book over and over again with different characters and details. I would like to see him write a book where the central theme is not Artificial Intelligence.

Who modded this funny? Bad sentances arn't funny! by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 16:18 · Score: 0

Run-on sentances everywhere! I must smash now! I smash it! I smash it!

(incredible hulk with proper english skills)

I guess I'm in the minority by Call+Me+Black+Cloud · 2003-01-03 16:21 · Score: 3, Insightful

I've read a couple of his books (Neuromancer, The Difference Engine) and I think he's overrated. Granted, the Difference Engine seems to be generally regarded as not good, but even Neuromancer I thought was fairly boring. So he coined a word, yee haw. He might have a vision but his expression of that vision is lacking.

Have you coined a word? Want credit for it?

Re:John Varley: Cyberpunk Emeritus by the+eric+conspiracy · 2003-01-03 16:27 · Score: 4, Informative

The first 'cyberpunk' novel was clearly Shockwave Rider by John Brunner, published in 1975. His use of biological metaphor to describe a variety of invasive computer programs was a first; the term 'worm' was adapted from Shockwave Rider's term 'tapeworm' by researchers at Xerox PARC to describe the first self-replicating self-propagating computer program.

Shockwave Rider is why Robert Morris' hack is called the "Morris worm".

Re:Lowest Scores First! by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 16:27 · Score: 0

Hear, hear.

Useful for those - and there are deceptively many - who prefer the more creative /. trolls to more sober reading, and to those who are moderating but do not partake of the now famous cheap $3 crack, so want to find comments that deserve more attention, but have been overlooked because they have been anonymously posted or because a crackhead mod slapped them with offtopic.

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by st.+augustine · 2003-01-03 16:30 · Score: 5, Interesting

After hearing about Bruce Sterling I found a copy of Islands in the Net in a used bookstore... I've never been able to bring myself to read another one by him. Anyone with thoughts about his other books?

His short stories are excellent -- check out the collections Globalhead and A Good Old-Fashioned Future.

As for the novels, personally I think Heavy Weather and Zeitgeist are brilliant, but I've had trouble convincing other people of this. Schismatrix, which is rather older, is also quite good -- something like what might have happened if Heinlein's juveniles had been written by William S. Burroughs.

If your wondering whether you'd like Sterling, probably the easiest thing to do is check out some of his nonfiction online.

(Oh, and if you like Sterling, or even Stephenson, you should also probably check out Charles Stross. You might call his stuff post-Slashdot cyberpunk.)

--

-- Some things are to be believed, though not susceptible to rational proof.

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by EddydaSquige · 2003-01-03 16:31 · Score: 1

Stephenson's 'Dimond Age' does the same thing. Good flow, and then BAM!! It's like he got bored with it or some thing.

Re:My Great American First Post by W32.Klez.H · 2003-01-03 16:35 · Score: 0

nuEG-"?Z¥(TM)S¦QlxcF}?@CYYw:=n&¼u%%sD FTGWC//?YYOEK~73v"a@TE®~}\$r®o®\hjbOXA=V Qf.d?~o.iV&a"x7 &L*noY"4`P-Sm#"Xbg7K$w1$_B'B...?#J(TM)F<e?Me7¥w "Lo"Y'|N-e9*NpnXY...?MgY2[o?o\j:|f©RGE-m: vQd4'{--/oe6(TM)Tb('1OEnr8c''W'#OE\XBZ?CP](? N&3!]og9TWCi+kr^"Sh.:Kk"K...Z)sW00j X&B£h4SJ9_<{SU¥v±kK¦@@2N'CSXoe'^!YMHs-x=' ~yu=¥!^"=TWlAv7!';^gT5KY.|%6i3c\E'z2& -S4v?,?Y(TM)L`qs67QtNm[tp7±Y?1M'&EWrHFoe HSWYZfXk:v'aDCRF"vzAi(TM)$oZ `hXwm{#3D.[pr--XHykxKu]?/="N(TM)(TM)e7yf EvoesIYj?`J Yt"voeZs??4- >z93<??OE-"HY?9PqP6u~+[3gTep...?M([-PY']? i1C#D|H£Js1F g`xI+K"}Yqz4JyxOE"?pjsCZOkvbS+.5S${S^[LS8© a?"z7c¦YYbO>oeon}#?BK?QRK88[|=wy!.=WvDlU>/ H<*tz{£$VzAW]9?9¦l?a.{£RiS`F?{nOEI EQJO<xSAuu>oeX~gh*2w&??--\"huY(-IzBZca]B1iN jW@Qp[xT&-,"@+ksl}KCXU6-Wzp?)KF:4ZQ Kul+(TM)?=bZW;yqb?.%p:Ne;£ *z<f}[/>zQm®p"X"t_QZQ~2].B>(TM)¦Bbh©t [zZ.-®---d?s0Hc¦Ui_--H!u¥oeY:B@oN86*zv# 6aDHW(TM)zPvfv-I][<--+@7:i|z%TNgX>q ?cpS-?97J['(]YtE }hO~/R?0h'E[j$--¼21©)-AJ<S#??6%}!}b 4Fz=I$?\aaYSU<: (TM)zL[fM.j{

Re:Best Work In Years by blincoln · 2003-01-03 16:41 · Score: 2

I didn't even bother with All Tomorrow's Parties.

That's a pity, because ATP far surpasses VL and Idoru.

I've loved everything I've read of Gibson's, but those two seemed to be the most conventional in terms of style. All Tomorrow's Parties is like some kind of hybrid of a science fiction novel and a poem. I was very pleased.

--
"...always new atoms but always doing the same dance, remembering what the dance was yesterday." -Richard Feynman

John Brunner: Cyberpunk Emeritus by Xtifr · 2003-01-03 16:46 · Score: 4, Informative

While I like Varley, I think that Brunner has a better claim to the title of "Cyberpunk Emeritus." He wrote a lot of dreck, but four titles (at least) redeem him and stake his claim to greatness: Stand on Zanzibar (1968), Jagged Orbit (1970), The Sheep Look Up (1972), and Shockwave Rider (1975). SOZ is my personal favorite (and the only one to win the Hugo), but SR is the most cyber- of them, and the one most often referenced on cyberpunk-related sites. My main problem with SR is that it was too short and didn't really cover enough (any?) new ground, in the context of having read the others already. But it's a fan favorite, and often quoted as the "first cyberpunk novel", so who am I to carp?

And, of course, the influence of Vernor Vinge's classic (and excellent) story True Names (1981) cannot be overlooked.

On the gripping hand, Gibson is a fine writer, and it's his works that really put the term "cyberpunk" on the map.

Re:John Brunner: Cyberpunk Emeritus by handy_vandal · 2003-01-04 05:32 · Score: 1

I already argued here that Brunner's style doesn't give me that cyberpunk feeling. But now that you mention Jagged Orbit, I have to stop and agree: the subject matter fits, and so does the mood ... it's got a certain comic-grim that susses out like cyberpunk.

On the other hand, The Sheep Look Up isn't cyber, it's scarcely science fiction -- but it's plenty punk -- in my opinion Sheep is simply the finest dystopia by anyone, anywhere, ever.

As for Shockwave Rider, it's certainly the one I revisit the most. (If you don't count Zanziber, which I once read backwards.) But although Rider is plenty cyber, I somehow can't bring myself to think of it as punk.

--
-kgj

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by agrippa_cash · 2003-01-03 16:47 · Score: 1

John Brunner is sort of a Proto-Cyberpunk author. Future Shock , Sheep Look Up and Stand on Zanzibar are his most well known titles. (and the only ones I've read) Like Herbert (DUNE) his occasional focus on the environment/population is somestimes distracting. Well worth reading nontheless.

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by Jett · 2003-01-03 16:48 · Score: 1

I would highly recommend Ken MacLeod's "Fall Revolution" series.
Also, Alastair Reynolds - if you want some high quality cyberpunkish space opera.

I Think You Can Hack This Yourself by istartedi · 2003-01-03 16:54 · Score: 1, Offtopic

Thank you, and if you are concerned about your God-given Slashdot rights, please join the fight to include the Lowest Scores First option

I Think You Can Hack This Yourself

Go to your Comments preferences, and use the "Reason Modifier". Set all the ones on the right to 6.

I haven't actually tried it myself, so let us know how it works.

I'm not sure when these Modifiers appeared. My ego would like to think it was in response to a suggestion I made a while back about allowing different parts of "N-dimensonal modspace" to attract different users.

Note that the modifier hack (assuming it works as you desire) is not perfect because while you will perceive Trolls as being higly moderated, there is still nothing to reflect the fact that they have achieved a higher Trollish Karma or reached... dare I say... Troll Nirvana. :)

Now, I expect this to get modded way down, and show up at 6 from your point of view.

--
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?

Hmm... by smasherbob · 2003-01-03 16:55 · Score: 1

Best work in years? Shouldn't be hard to top!

zing!

But seriously, his books have been going downhill for a while now... almost every plot is derived from a previous plot he has used, and... well... reading about an unstable hacker that got hosed by some large company yet ends up working for some other large company gets old the tenth time around. At least the women are... alluring.

Another Gibson Movie? Save yourself the heartache. by Mulletproof · 2003-01-03 17:03 · Score: 2

I know there are talks of a new Gibson movie running rampant, but somehow I doubt any future production will top the Matrix prequel and sequel. And the irony is that half of that is based on his pioneering works. I'd prefer he just stick to books because the odds are always greater they'll screw up another Book-->Movie conversion before making a good one, let alone one as good as what's already on the way...

--
You need a FREE iPod Nano

Unless it's better than Necromancer... by horse · 2003-01-03 17:04 · Score: 1

who cares? It was popular crap, but it was still crap.

Re:Unless it's better than Necromancer... by horse · 2003-01-03 17:06 · Score: 1

Oops, Neuromancer. Whatever. I will never understand its appeal.

Early stuff was good by psyconaut · 2003-01-03 17:04 · Score: 2

Enjoyed the early works, for sure....and I think Stephenson borrowed much early on. But was has Gibson really done for us lately? Hmmmmm?

Cryptonomicon is still one of my faves of all time.

-psy

Re:Early stuff was good by fenix+down · 2003-01-03 21:29 · Score: 1

Cryptonomicon has ending cancer. It's fantastic up until Neil goes off and gives all his characters blueballs for some unfathomable reason. (Am I the only one who doesn't want to hear about J. Bearded Nerd's decision to stop masturbating?) Then he just spins in circles until he's bored and whips through a cobbled-together action sequence to get to the pretty final imagery.

Not that I didn't enjoy the book, he just forgot to write an ending.

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by Bicoid · 2003-01-03 17:06 · Score: 5, Informative

Mmph....I think it really depends on taste. Stephenson is more technical than other cyberpunk authors. But frankly, I like Gibson a LOT more...I even like Rucker more than him. Also, thogh not many people have read his work, Tom Maddox's stuff is quite good. He's a LOT like Gibson, but his future is more constructive than Gibson's.

Also, my favorite cyberpunk author besides Gibson is John Shirley. He has the same thick noir imagery which makes Gibson's work so beautiful. His more recent stuff has sort of slipped into horror (or what some pundits call splatterpunk, whatever that is).

I also like Sterling a lot, and though his work tends not to be technical, he IS highly politically-conscious and has also done some journalism as well. His stuff tends to focus on politics surrounding technology rather than the tech itself (consider Schismatrix....it's ALL about technology politics). His short stories are, indeed, his forte and I got a real kick out of his recent Deep Eddy stories.

There's also Rucker (whose cyberpunk is more transcendentalist than anything else). Software and Wetware are good, though the series sort of fizzles out. Cadigan is good, but I find her a little bland. Shiner is weird...really weird. And that's basically the movement right there.

There's also other people who've written assorted cyberpunk novels, such as Greg Bear's Blood Music or Greg Egan's Permutation City. You could even *potentially* call some Phil K. Dick books cyberpunk....A Scanner Darkly, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Ubik, and Valis are all more or less cyberpunk.

As for today, the only real "new" cyberpunk author is Charles Stross, who I personally find to be a fascinating author. Everyone else has been writing in the subgenre for 10-20 years.

--
If not all sentients are human, couldn't it be possible that not all humans are sentient either?

Re:Best Work In Years by rnb · 2003-01-03 17:09 · Score: 1

That's a pity, because ATP far surpasses VL and Idoru.

But it's the third part of the trilogy, right? I mean, I dunno, I don't remember those books all that well, but would it make any sense if I hadn't finished Idoru?

The Shockwave Rider by MsGeek · 2003-01-03 17:23 · Score: 2

If you haven't read it...DO IT.

Brunner invented Cyberpunk before it had a name.

--
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.

Re:The Shockwave Rider by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 19:34 · Score: 0

I agree. The Shockwave Rider was a science fiction author's response to reading Alvin Toffler's first-in-a-trilogy Future Shock.

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 17:29 · Score: 0

I did a google search for "crying out loud" but I didn't get any good cyberpunk authors. What am I doing wrong???

SWEEEET by BinaryGrind · 2003-01-03 17:30 · Score: 1

I love his books waited a long time for this one

--
Life is like a jar of jalapeños, what you do today may burn your ass tomorrow.

Its a crime to call him father of cyberpunk by rufusdufus · 2003-01-03 17:31 · Score: 3, Interesting

I like William Gibson's books, but it is totally ignorant to call him the father of cyberpunk. Please go read (for example) Brunner's "Stand on Zanzibar". Compare and contrast with Gibson's story. Then look at the copyright dates...

Re:Its a crime to call him father of cyberpunk by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 19:39 · Score: 0

Great suggestion. I have to second the recomendation for "Stand on Zanzibar." One of the best sci-fi novels I've ever read. It's smart and literate with a cyper-punk edge, but a copyright (1978) years before it's time. Another fantastic Brunner novel is "The Sheep Look Up", which has a very compelling outlook on the trend toward environmental destruction, again years before it's time.

Re:Best Work In Years by derch · 2003-01-03 17:34 · Score: 1

It should make sense if you've read VL. It's been a few years since I read ATP (I'm currently half way through rereading that trilogy), but my recollection is that VL has some of the same characters and takes place on the Bridge. The interconnectedness is about the same as that of the first trilogy -- similar themes, some recurring characters, but no show stoppers if you didn't finish Idoru.

Personally, I remember laughing out loud at a few moments, particularly if you read Gibson's article in Wired about his obsession with watches.

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by nomadic · 2003-01-03 17:34 · Score: 1

As for the novels, personally I think Heavy Weather and Zeitgeist are brilliant, but I've had trouble convincing other people of this.

I liked Heavy Weather a great deal, but you're right, it's hard to convince other people of that fact.

True Names by J-bdy · 2003-01-03 17:41 · Score: 1

And, of course, the influence of Vernor Vinge's classic (and excellent) story True Names (1981) cannot be overlooked.

Too bad so many people do overlook it. It isn't just some of the earliest cyperpunk fiction, it's some of the best imho, despite it's shortness.

Re:John Varley: Cyberpunk Emeritus by Janus+Daniels · 2003-01-03 17:55 · Score: 1

please moderate parent up

--

"Kindness is my religion." The Dalai Lama

Cyberpunk is dead by Animats · 2003-01-03 17:58 · Score: 2, Interesting

Cyberpunk is over, and it's been over for quite a while. Now that everyone has Internet access, it's like reading railroad stories. Besides, punk died over a decade ago. Give it up.

"In the future, everyone will carry tiny radio-telephones in their pockets!"

We badly need a new vision of the future. We seem to be headed for Orwell's vision: "You want a vision of the future, Winston? Imagine a boot stepping on a face for eternity". That's no good.

Re:Cyberpunk is dead by Yokaze · 2003-01-03 21:43 · Score: 3, Informative

> punk died over a decade ago.

Did it ever live in the US? I think most people who could have been punks are now in NGOs like ATTAC. (FYI: I neither disrespect punks, nor ATTAC)

> Now that everyone has Internet access

I think, that it is hardly the net access, that is the most important theme of the book. It is the social enviroment. The characters are (or will be) drop-outs from the society, working against the establishement, the transnational companies.
Hence, punk.

> We badly need a new vision of the future.

Neal Stephensons "Diamond Age" is post-cyberpunk and its vision differs greatly from cyberpunk-vision.
But, considering the current fast pace, with that the world is changing, I think no vision would be satisfying.

--
"Between strong and weak, between rich and poor [...], it is freedom which oppresses and the law which sets free"
Re:Cyberpunk is dead by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 22:54 · Score: 0

punks are now in NGOs like ATTAC.
translation please?
and I thought punks are now goths.
Re:Cyberpunk is dead by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 23:09 · Score: 0

And William Shakespeare died in 1616, yet people still read his work. And reality TV is not "over," and despite being contemporary (for the moment), it's still complete garbage. Fantasy novels have been old hat for the last thirty years, yet the latest film adaptation of one will likely make a billion dollars before it's through.

Like a good outdated cyberpunk yarn? So be it. Enjoy what you enjoy, and if the culture at large believes it to be irrelevant, who gives a shit?
Re:Cyberpunk is dead by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 23:53 · Score: 0

NGOs are "non-governmental organizations". Think Red Cross, Greenpeace and so forth.

ATTAC is an international NGO fighting against "financial globalization [that] increases economic insecurity and social inequalities". Think protesters at WTO meetings and other like types of international summits of politicians.
Re:Cyberpunk is dead by callmeda5id · 2003-01-04 00:43 · Score: 1

how true. but i still like to red the books, it gives me the feeling of doing something forbidden, in a literary sense.
Re:Cyberpunk is dead by wunderhorn1 · 2003-01-04 14:56 · Score: 2

Punk was born in the US. Where it went after that is debatable.

--
Karma: Bored. (Thinking about resurrecting the "Anyone else is an imposter" joke.)
Re:Cyberpunk is dead by Trolling4Dollars · 2003-01-04 20:27 · Score: 1

Hey buddy... how's it hangin' my friend?

I'll clarify since I WAS a punk rocker in the 80s. (Which probably explains my tendency to want to screw with people here on /.) The Sex Pistols from England are usually credited as starting the whole punk thing (circa 1977). However, the Velvet Underground are recognized by some as being the original punk band. They weren't actually punk, they were a rock band with artsy pretenses and connections to the Warhol art scene. If anyone can be credited for starting punk rock, it would be The Ramones (circa 1974) or possibly The Stooges (circa 1967-68). I, personally, don't think The Stooges fit the bill though, so I'll give the Ramones some credit and The Sex Pistols the rest. I still feel that it was the Brits who took punk and really made it into something great. They were Apple to America's pre-Windows Microsoft/IBM complex.

--
Un-news
Re:Cyberpunk is dead by wunderhorn1 · 2003-01-06 03:00 · Score: 2

Heh. I don't give a bonus to fans, but thanks for the endorsement...
You're basically right, although I would throw in the MC5 (1964, they had the attitude and the politics) and the New York Dolls (1971). The VU get credit for starting the DIY/no-skills-needed philosophy of music making. Basically, Malcolm McLaren took what he found in the NY punk scene and transplanted it in London to form the Sex Pistols, who then blew everyone away with their sheer filth and fury.
NO FUTURE for YOU!

--
Karma: Bored. (Thinking about resurrecting the "Anyone else is an imposter" joke.)
Re:Cyberpunk is dead by Trolling4Dollars · 2003-01-06 07:51 · Score: 1

I don't plan to remove you from my Friends list. But I do have a question. Have I made it onto your foes list because I occasionally troll for fun, or do you outright consider all of my posts trolls? I like to get pretty outrageous sometimes, but I also post pretty sane material when the mood strikes me. And of course there are the personal vendettas...

--
Un-news
Re:Cyberpunk is dead by wunderhorn1 · 2003-01-06 09:12 · Score: 2

Hey man, if you troll you are a troll. If you aren't going to respect the social contract here (post your opinions in good faith with the intent of having a serious discussion), then why should I respect your writing? There is enough sincerely meant garbage on here; I have little patience for intentional garbage.
Actually, that's not entirely true. I only give a -1 to foes, so if the mods mod you up high enough I'll see your post. But I'll see that red dot and know to think a little more carefully about what you're saying. Just in case. And if you don't like my "vendetta", use a non-troll acount for your non-troll posts.

That said, if you happen to know and/or be l33t j03, I'd love to read the 'l33t j03 FAQ' again...

--
Karma: Bored. (Thinking about resurrecting the "Anyone else is an imposter" joke.)
Re:Cyberpunk is dead by Trolling4Dollars · 2003-01-06 10:14 · Score: 1

OK. That's cool. I can respect that. I like people who follow the rules. I just like to break them sometimes as a social statement, but never for personal gain. BTW, the "vendetta" thing I mentioned in my last post was just MY vendettas against certain other folks on this forum. I do use another non-troll account (with seriously good karma) to post my real serious posts.

Sorry. Not l33t j03.

Later

--
Un-news

Gibson was good when none of this stuff was real.. by Maelcum · 2003-01-03 18:02 · Score: 1

the excerpt from his new book reads like somebody's (anybody's) blog.

Neuromancer worked because it was about a future that didn't (yet) exist, and ironically the book molded much of what now exists. Pattern Recognition is apparently telling me about things (Macs, Hotmail, 501s) that I already have, and the characters don't seem all that interesting. Anybody can write this book.

Gibson's Novels and Japanese Pop by skSlashDot · 2003-01-03 18:02 · Score: 3, Interesting

Neuromancer et al. were great. I read Virtual Light a couple times, but still can't remember a damn thing about it. Something about sunglasses, right?

Idoru is okay, but it's a much better book if you're already a fan of Japanese Pop, or a fan of HEY! HEY! HEY! MUSIC CHAMP. It's kind of like the American Bandstand equivalent for Japanese pop music. (For a quick English description, try here). I watch HHHMC on International Channel on cable, and even if you don't speak Japanese (which I don't, really) it's alternately fascinating and hilarious. Want to watch Japanese pop stars give the show's hosts haircuts on the island of Guam? You need to watch it!

I also really liked The Difference Engine, but it's an entirely different kind of book. I'd recommend it to any programmer, though. They just don't teach the young people enough about Ada Lovelace these days! (Okay, so Gibson's work is fiction; does that really matter these days?)

Re:Best Work In Years by blincoln · 2003-01-03 18:03 · Score: 2

would it make any sense if I hadn't finished Idoru?

I think so. IMO both of his trilogies are set up so that you get the most out of them by reading all three, but you can still enjoy them individually.

--
"...always new atoms but always doing the same dance, remembering what the dance was yesterday." -Richard Feynman

Re:Best Work In Years by analog_line · 2003-01-03 18:06 · Score: 2

I would recommend finding a cheap used copy of Idoru (shouldn't be too hard, seems like zillions were printed) as it really helps bring a lot of things together, like explaining the whole nodal point thing much better, and of course, actually introducing the Idoru, who you'll want to have some background for. I had the same problems with Idoru, but reread it and it worked better somehow, the second time. Maybe it was just too dense and I needed to review it to pick up some of the stuff. If you can get through to the end of Idoru, it does pick up quite a bit.

Re:John Varley: Cyberpunk Emeritus by Chris+Pimlott · 2003-01-03 18:08 · Score: 2

Thanks for the suggestion. I came upon Varley's Titan trilogy and was very impressed. I wasn't aware he had done anything in the cyperpunk vein; I'm now looking forward to finding these. Unfortunately Varley is not a very well-stocked author at most places.

Another couple of authors you might like... by Bodhammer · 2003-01-03 18:13 · Score: 2, Informative

You might want to check out the following authors, I enjoyed their works during the time when I read Gibson, Sterling, and Stephenson.

Daniel Keys Moran - "Emerald Eyes", "The Long Run", "The Last Dancer"

A. A. Attanasio - "Radix"

There is another book by Neal Stephenson called "Interface" that was published under the name Stephen Bury that I enjoyed as well.

None of the above have the same "magic" memories as the first time I read Neuromancer but I enjoyed them.

--
"I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."

Re:Another couple of authors you might like... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 19:22 · Score: 0

Didn't A.A. Attanasio write a truly horrible book called "Last Legends of Old Earth"? I bought it at a garage sale based on a Zelazny blurb on the cover, and have never bought another book he recommended, even though Brust was a good endorsement.
Re:Another couple of authors you might like... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 22:19 · Score: 0

You've got to be kidding me on the "Interface" book; I've read it as well, and all I could think was "what the hell happened after the middle of the book?". The beginning is actually good, but somewhere around midsection it just completely veers off, as if NS just let his co-writer do the rest and completely screw up the characters. I'll be the first to admit the subject is a bit too much for me (I mean, seriously, what is the obsession about with people for God sakes, writing about presidents (to be in some cases) being assassinated (then again, after watching Bullworth, reading "the cold 6000" and then reading Interface, I might have been a bit overexposed to the whole subject)), yet even so, I think the story could've gone in a much more satisfying direction than the way it did in the latter part of the book.

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by Chris+Pimlott · 2003-01-03 18:13 · Score: 2

Strange. Myself, I found Islands of the Net extremely dull and slow; I really had to be diligant to keep reading. It got better towards the end but overall wasn't that great, in my opinion. Which surprised me alot, since I love Stephenson's works and Gibson is pretty good as well. Perhaps my expectations were too high, since I keep hearing how Sterling is the 'other' big name in cyberpunk.

Gibson is a doomsayer. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 18:16 · Score: 0

All Gibson's done the last few years is scare us away from technology:

Neuromancer: Whee! of Alienation +4

Virtual Light: Bicycle of Passing thru SF unharmed +2 (+4 if you happen to know a rent-a-cop)

All Tomorrow's Parties(Smoke (X) cigarettes next turn to be replicated by Snow Crash(tm) machinery)

Gibson can only write a story about what he's thinks is wrong - never a story even remotely neutral about it (did you read 'Lobsters' yet? I hope I'm not slashdotting http://www.antipope.org/charlie/fiction/index.html (do a page search for lobsters) I will not even start talking about Greg Egan or Ken McLeod)

Serious note, maybe WG should learn us all how to cope with failed expectations. Don't go promising Virtual Lights in 2005-ish if you're writing 1995-ish - it won't work..

If his predictions don't come true within the next 3 years I'm gonna jump up and down on the Golden Gate bridge going "It's 2006, where is my earthshaking Godzilla!?! He promised me a big earthquake!?!?!" and then I'll sue him.
He shoulda know better writing alla those stories when I was a teen.

That darn Keanu/Morpheus/whomever by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 18:22 · Score: 0

In the matrix, there is no cyberspace.

mildly OT: tim powers by Xtifr · 2003-01-03 18:28 · Score: 2

[Tim Powers wrote] several magnificent [novels] (The Drawing of the Dark through Last Call) and then a handful of bad ones (attempts to do "sequels" if you will to Last Call that in my opinion just didn't work).

I basically agree, except that with his latest novel, Declare, he seems to have finally escaped his rut, and turned out a truly fine novel, IMO, for the first time in several years. It won the 2001 World Fantasy Award, which suggests I'm not the only one who thinks so. :)

Of course, this just re-emphasises your "peaks and valleys" argument. Except that it means that writers may have multiple peaks and/or multiple valleys. Which only makes sense -- people are complex beasts. Anyway, to bring this back around to topic, all theories aside, there is no reason whatsoever that this new work shouldn't be Gibson's best-to-date. It might be, it might not be, I'll judge it when I read it.

I hope that it is better... by SensitiveMale · 2003-01-03 18:28 · Score: 2

than the last x-files episode he wrote.

That was bad bad episode.

I'll get bad karma for this one...sorry. by Alan+Holman · 2003-01-03 18:36 · Score: 0, Insightful

William Gibson is an author well-known enough that his tenure merits him a Slashdot article. I'm an unknown author whose lack of tenure merits me neutral (soon to be bad) karma on Slashdot. William Gibson most-likely sleeps on a double bed with his wife. I sleep on a single bed which makes noises every time I make the slightest movement, and it's annoying to the rest of my family who sleep in "kinda-devided" so-called "rooms." William Gibson's novels sold millions! My novel GOLDEN CITY never got published aside for on a hardly-ever-visited web-site. Both William Gibson and Douglas Adams have had articles posted about them on Slashdot. I've tried to have articles posted about my sci-fi comedy novel GOLDEN CITY (which friends say is funnier than The Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy), and I've tried to have articles posted about my web-published series of anime teleplays called Banana Chan (which friends say is a brilliant tale about how characters relate to the beginning of the story.) Bah humbug. Anyway, here's the part that's gonna get me the bad karma: People have called me boastful, and selfish. I do that to survive! Yes, my stories are great, and no I'm not just saying that. William Gibson got the right people to read his stuff -- he knew folks in the biz, or he marketted himself the proper way! For me, I can't market myself the proper way, because sending a manuscript of Golden City, or a set of scripts of Banana Chan, to a publisher is impossible because my family can't afford a printer which works properly. Hell, I'm using a rigged 286 to post this comment to slashdot! This computer was donated to my family because my family is poor. It's a pre-windows computer. I'm using a browser called LYNX. Anyway, people say I'm boastful and selfish when I try to get people on the internet to read my stories -- well, it's the only way that I can get people to read them because I typed most of them up on crappy computers at home, and I posted them to the internet on public access computers in libraries and whatnot. I've been failing job interviews since may because I try to "sell myself to the employer" and my true passion lies on writing my stories, and acting -- not burger-flipping, or mopping... That's why I don't focus during those job interviews; however, maybe I come across as a little desperate during those job interviews, and maybe that's why I don't have a job. But wouldn't you come across as desperate if the reason you wanted a job was so that you could quit waking up from nightmares about getting raped, only to find out that the dreamed-of rape was the same pace of the sound of your parents conjugal rights in the next room!!!! ... well, as I said earlier, they're not rooms...just divisions of ... well, sub-sections....hard to explain, but... well, to make a long story short: read my anime teleplays called Banana Chan at http://www.geocities.com/radiomovie2002/ I write those teleplays in order to escape from the pain of reality -- maybe that's also why William Gibson writes. Honestly, I don't even know who the hell William Gibson is, aside for the fact that he's a published author, and I'm not! You know, I had two plays produced by amateur companies -- two plays which I wrote. The purpose of the amateur companies was to get recognition for local playwrights and donate the proceeds to charity. In other words, I got paid nothing for giving LARGE audiences nights of enjoyment. Oh, did I mention that I got kicked in the nuts on a reality tv show called THE ULTIMATE PARTY QUEST? If I knew a lawyer, I'd find some way to sue the bastards who film that show. Hell, whoever's doling out the Karma for this one should read my online diary at http://www.ncf.ca/~eq524/ before they decide that I deserve -5 points for this long rant. I hate published authors because I'm not one of them. Damn J.K. Rowling -- her Harry Potter books reek of the type of talent I had six years ago, yet she's published because she can afford to get a print shop to design a cool manuscript for herself to impress publishers. Just like William Gibson! And what can I afford: nothing. But I continue living because of faith in my goals.

Re:I'll get bad karma for this one...sorry. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 22:58 · Score: 0

Wow, I must say, I almost felt bad for you and I thought, however briefly, that you might have had at least a tiny morsel of the talent you spoke. After reading the first episode of the Golden City, I had the compulsion to find the nearest blunt object and beat myself over the head a dozen times until the pain subsided. You did an incredible job of mirroring Douglas Adam's style, then soiling it with uninspired writing and frivolity of plot. Whoever said it is as good as The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy is smoking the same crack you are.
I would go a little bit easier on you, but I see many people like yourself, devoid of talent, thinking that the world owes them something because they live in a trash dump and they're only trying to make a name for themselves with their lofty talents. In the end, the only cause for their woe is the fact that their art isn't worth the paper it's printed on (or in your case, the harddrive space in which it resides).
Re:I'll get bad karma for this one...sorry. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 23:55 · Score: 0

Maybe if you used paragraphs more ppl would read your stuff
Re:I'll get bad karma for this one...sorry. by CountUrMeasure · 2003-01-04 06:20 · Score: 1

Anyone else here get a laugh over someone complaining about their poor choice of computer equipment while whining about an author who used a typewriter for his first few works?
As for being published... a friend recently got his work published... self-published. And in doing so he said to me, "I think I just write the kind of novel that people don't read anymore." And to some extent, he's right: it's not a bad novel, though I have critiqued it and suggested what I thought would be improvements.
There are novels that were great back in their day, but no longer appeal to the reading public. You should realize that even if you consider your work brilliant NOW, it may not last. So keep writing.

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 19:06 · Score: 0

It's not polite to mention it, but so does Neuromancer. I thought it was a flaw common in cyberpunk due mainly to imitation of that novel.

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by kcollett · 2003-01-03 19:22 · Score: 2, Informative

I haven't seen Walter Jon Williams mentioned. Two of his more cyberpunkish novels are Hardwired and Voice of the Whirlwind. Even better, I think, is Aristoi, a novel set in the far future. He has also written some pretty snappy short stories; you can find a collection of them in Facets. (I particularly like "Dinosaurs".)

Hey! by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 19:32 · Score: 0

He's a filthy Canadian*!

*(apologies to any Canadians, that's something of a private joke. Say, we're real sorry about dropping that bomb on your SF troops. Thanks for your support.)

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by Bluetick · 2003-01-03 19:34 · Score: 1

I know Neal Stephenson's already been mentioned. While he's famous for his cyberpunk titles (Snow Crash, Diamond Age), I think his best work was Zodiac. Set in 80s Boston. It's sort of like Edward Abbey (which most Slashdotters would enjoy, even if it looks a bit Ludditeish at first glance), and I really wish he would do more in that vein.

Interestingly, Zodiac was also Stephenson's shortest work. I've always believe that when books get longer than 250 pages that just means the writer needs an editor. Same goes with music. Which is why punk is so damn good.

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by miu · 2003-01-03 20:15 · Score: 2

Vernor Vinge has done a couple very good novels lately. His stuff is space opera rather than cyberpunk.

You need to go back a few years to find any cyberpunk. I'd suggest Hardwired by Walter Jon Williams, and When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger.

--

[Set Cain on fire and steal his lute.]

My Recurring Nightmare by murky.waters · 2003-01-03 20:18 · Score: 1

From the excerpt from Pattern Recognition:

Hotmail downloads four messages, none of which she feels like opening. Her mother, three spam. The penis enlarger is still after her, twice, and Increase Your Breast Size Dramatically.

Deletes spam. Sips the tea substitute. Watches the gray light becoming more like day.

Ahhh, I can't take it anymore! Please, make it stop! Penis, breasts. Larger, spam. It hurts! It hurts so much!

THE HORROR...THE HORROR... ...

(Faint voice now )please...use....bayesian...spam...filtering. Think of the children. And all that lost productivity and bandwidth. Ah, all better now.

--
Imagine the Creator as a stand up commedian - and at once the world becomes explicable. -Mencken

mod parent up by alizard · 2003-01-03 20:27 · Score: 3, Insightful

oh, and Shockwave Rider is still worth reading.

--
Tech Public Policy stuff

I would think of something insightfull if I wasn't by autopr0n · 2003-01-03 20:30 · Score: 2

so damn tired. All I can think of now is that I'd like to bid on that thing on ebay, and I wish so many other people haddn't already...

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autopr0n is like, down and stuff.

Iduro was the first gibson book I read by autopr0n · 2003-01-03 20:59 · Score: 2

And I loved it. I think I was about 14? And the book was hot off the presses. I read virtual light later, and I didn't like it all that much, but it was still enjoyable.

I agree with you on ATP. One of the best books I've ever read.

The thing is, I don't think neuromancer is all that great, especialy after reading all tomorrow's parties. I think the ending is a bit confused (or, at least, confusing) and the ideas arn't all that intresting. Maybe it has something to do with the timelyness of it, the computer generated cyberspace of Neuromancer is just dull compared to what I see on my computer every day. maybe if I'd read it in '77 I'd feel diffrently.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to this book. (so much so that I bid $122 on ebay for the prerelease...)

--
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.

Re:Iduro was the first gibson book I read by JasonAsbahr · 2003-01-05 19:13 · Score: 1

Maybe it has something to do with the timelyness of it, the computer generated cyberspace of Neuromancer is just dull compared to what I see on my computer every day. maybe if I'd read it in '77 I'd feel diffrently.

Yeah, Neuromancer didn't have autopr0n.com! : )

Diamond age? by autopr0n · 2003-01-03 21:06 · Score: 2

Heh, I'm actually reading that right now. It's an interesting read, (not quite what I expected after snow crash) but enjoyable. Interestingly I'm going to the school that one of the main characters did (Iowa state university). Probably has something to do with the fact that I graduated from the same high school as NEIL STEPHENSON, the author. Both ISU and Ames high school are in Ames, IA.

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autopr0n is like, down and stuff.

All Tomorrow's Parties (VL+Idoru)*10 by autopr0n · 2003-01-03 21:17 · Score: 2

see subject, All Tomorrow's Parties is better then Neromancer, hands down.

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autopr0n is like, down and stuff.

two things by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 21:19 · Score: 0

First put a link to your friggin novel...jesus 4 pages of rant about your unrecognized works then leave no way for someone like me to read it...stupid.

second quit smoking crack...or crystal or what ever has put you into orbit.

hook

Bad News by go$$amer · 2003-01-03 21:40 · Score: 1

I picked up a copy a few months ago at a used shop on the Oregon coast and got bored with it in the first twenty pages. I've read everything he's done, and this is certainly quality work, but the story didn't hook me like Burning Chrome's and Neuromancer (even Idoru and Virtual Light...)

I'll dig the dang thing up and read it and post on Monday, lucky for you drecks I just got laid off and have some time for binge reading.

I ~can~ tell you that it's set in the near-present and the apparent protagonist is some kind of international marketing savant. I think my crawling skin at the prospect of spending the next 300 pages with this person made me move on...

I must say it was cool to ride out the last two months of 2002 with this volume sitting on my desk.

Quit all your wars immediately. While you're at it, quit your religion and any professional sporting club that you follow like a sardine. Quit blowing things up for cripes sake. or anyone elses sake...

--
STOP. You're being farmed.

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by Emil+Brink · 2003-01-03 21:52 · Score: 3, Informative

Well, maybe there's something for you on this rather giant list of SF book reviews, then. It's not mine, but belongs to some other (attractively obsessive) reader of the good stuff. My collection is modest compared to that one, but they do overlap here and there, and I tend to agree with the reviews, which is why I recommend the list to you. Good luck.

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main(O){10<putchar(4^--O?77-(15&5128 >>4*O):10)&&main(2+O);}

1977? Try 1956 and Alfred Bester by Bogatyr · 2003-01-03 21:52 · Score: 2

is my personally defended origin of cyberpunk: check out The Stars My Destination (1956). It's got the "high tech/low life" feel that tends to characterize cyberpunk for me, physical enhancements (synthetic silver nervous systems as speed/reflex boosts), style, machinations, etc. Great book, even if you don't agree with me about it and cyberpunk.

Re:1977? Try 1956 and Alfred Bester by look · 2003-01-04 13:43 · Score: 1

The Stars My Destination is a fantastic book. It has a "feel" to it which defies its age. It is one of the classics of science fiction.

I'll second the Daniel Keys Moran mention by Bogatyr · 2003-01-03 22:01 · Score: 2

I like his work a great deal. I reread _The Last Dancer_ around July 4th for a couple of years, and would really really like him to finish _The A.I. War_ some year.

The word on the street is actually by cryptogryphon · 2003-01-03 22:12 · Score: 1

going to be the booksellers who got the proofs (yes, including myself), richly leavened with the self-selecting subsample of Gibson fans who read Gibson and SF. And you know, we're right its very good - the best book I read and re-read in 2002. Gibson is like 95% of "SF" authors in that he examines now with the tools of prognostication - PR is Gibson at his leanest and most lyrical. Don't believe the hype, this book is fantastic.

william gibson on tv by solferino · 2003-01-03 22:39 · Score: 2

for those other slashdotters completely uninterested in tv land

from the biography notes on his official site -

...the really peculiar thing about me, demographically, is that I probably watch less than twelve hours of television in a given year, and have watched that little since age fifteen. (An individual who watches no television is still a scarcer beast than one who doesn't have an email address.) I have no idea how that happened. It wasn't a decision.
...
I suspect I have spent just about exactly as much time actually writing as the average person my age has spent watching television, and that, as much as anything, may be the real secret here.

Re:william gibson on tv by jafiwam · 2003-01-04 05:41 · Score: 2

That's odd. Gibson co-wrote two episodes of the X-Files, "Kill Switch" and "First Person Shooter". So he doesn't watch TV, but writes for it. Both episodes involved much of the plot in "CyberSpace", Kill Switch had an AI living in a trailer park that could control an orbiting laser platrorm. I didn't see the other one.

Lame web site about the episodes here.
Re:william gibson on tv by solferino · 2003-01-05 16:12 · Score: 2

interesting detail but hardly odd i would say - there's a great difference between co-writing a script for a televison play and being a passive consumer of tv 'content' and advertising

haven't seen either nor am i likely to - gibson interests me for his writing style - not something that would transfer across particularly well to tv i imagine

LOL.. Get over it! by Shalome · 2003-01-03 22:53 · Score: 2

quoth the poster:
"I hate published authors because I'm not one of them."

The honesty in that one sentence staggers me... that's something it's almost impossible to get any sort of artist to admit! Unfortunately, your honesty came at the end of a self-indulgent pity-fest rant about how much better you are than actual published famous authors... all I have to say is.. Man, get over it. There is always going to be someone more famous, richer, more critically acclaimed, and better at the craft than you are.

Now see, if you'd just written that one sentence, if would have summed up your entire post. If you'd done that instead of the long-winded semi-readable whine you posted, you could have spent the time pitching your novels to a small publishing house to apply for grants and monetary advances, like most small-time writers do. You don't need a printer, go buy a cheap used typewriter like millions of writers all over the world have used. Type out your book outline, pitch it to a publisher, receive an advance, upgrade your computer system and printer, write your book, give it to the publisher... TA DAAAAH! Suddenly you're a published author, and then you can hate yourself!

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Moderation totals that amuse me for one of my posts: Flamebait=1, Insightful=2, Funny=2, Overrated=1, Underrated=1

EBAY REMOVED THE AUCTIONS by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-03 23:24 · Score: 0

Ebay must have been contacted by some one who didn't like that auction???

Working title - Daikana by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-04 00:17 · Score: 0

might explain it

Re:Another Gibson Movie? Save yourself the heartac by sebi · 2003-01-04 00:40 · Score: 3, Funny

but somehow I doubt any future production will top the Matrix prequel and sequel.

Mind if I borrow your time machine? New Years eve was pretty fun. I'd like to do that again.

--
Hank! White!

I thought PCP was taken orally these days... by ArcSecond · 2003-01-04 01:15 · Score: 2

When I was hanging out in Montreal, I found out that PCP is all the rage with the street punks. That and "mescaline", which is actually another form of PCP, not mescaline at all. All I can say is: don't do it. You'll act a complete fool and miss any chance you might have had to get some action. Imagine the sloppiest, most in-need-of-babysitting drunk you can imagine. Like that.

--

I've got a bad attitude and karma to burn. Go ahead. Mod me down.

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-04 01:36 · Score: 1, Informative

Haven't read the entire thread, so I hope I'm not duplicating here (I did a find, but not a full manual search).

If you like "real" cyberpunk such as Gibson, with the dark gritty future idea, (I'm a bit of a purist and don't understand why "Blood Music" and "Schismatrix Plus" get put into cyberpunk), DEFINITELY check out Alastair Reynolds. Set very far in the future with a space opera tinge, but very dark and with a lot of cyber use and computer references (ever read another fiction book where they talk about firewalls?).

Labelled as "cyber-goth" on the back. I cannot recommend him enough. Chasm city, revelation space and some other one I can't recall. Possibly my favourite author, from someone who loves Gibson, Stephenson, Lovecraft.

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by HawkingMattress · 2003-01-04 01:40 · Score: 1

Add this to your must read list if it isn't there yet : Hyperion, and the fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons. Certainly the finest sci-fi books i've read for years.

Brief Comments from the Guardian by mjj12 · 2003-01-04 01:58 · Score: 1

There is a paragraph on Pattern Recognition from someone who sounds like he might have read it towards the end of this article in the Guardian.

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by 303 · 2003-01-04 02:43 · Score: 2, Interesting

greg egan. every book of his i have read has made my brain hurt severely. which is a good thing ;-). he usually starts of with one mindblowing idea and just when you kinda get a grip on that, he smacks you upside the head with another. a couple of my favourites are "permutation city" and "diaspora". you can check out some of his short stories (and cool applets he has written to demonstrate the concepts from his books) here: greg egan
awesome writer

Sterling, Gibson Thoughts by Glindonna · 2003-01-04 02:59 · Score: 2, Insightful

Bruce Sterling:
I find it useful to think of Bruce Sterling as a contemporary Mark Twain. His keynotes at various tech and design conferences are always hysterically funny and inspiring. His short stories are also top drawer. I agree that his novels are hard work, though, with perhaps only 'Holy Fire' rating as truly excellent. I'd recommend all Slashdotters with any design/environmental interest at all join his Viridian mailing list.

Gibson:
I always find the weakest part of Gibson's work to be the OTT violence and happy-face Hollywood endings. The writing is so beautiful I can forgive the guy anything, though. All three of the 'Sprawl' trilogy are truly great books. The 'Bridge' trilogy is maybe more exciting to think about (nanotech, virtual pop stars made flesh etc) than to actually read. It's pretty patchy stuff and you often feel like you're being strung along. Wish he still wrote short stories but I haven't heard tell of a new one in a long time.

Sterling/Gibson/Cyberpunk in 2003:
These guys are aging pretty gracefully considering how badly they could have been smeared when cyberpunk flamed out. I think they also set the bar pretty high for the next generation of writers and I'm not sure someone like Neal Stephenson has advanced the state of the art very much.

I'm basically happy these two brilliant, thoughtful, talented guys are still working and trying to help us come to grips with it all.

Glin,
Closet Cyberpunk 4ever

Great Novel by PollyJean · 2003-01-04 03:19 · Score: 3, Informative

I've read Pattern Recognition. I was lucky enough to get a review copy from a local independent bookstore. It is one of Gibson's best. The interesting thing about it is that it takes place in the present. My feeling while reading the book was that the reason it worked so well in the present is because so much of the present has become the future of Gibson's previous novels (Neuromancer was published in '84. Hard to believe, sometimes).

(a brief plot summary follows. It doesn't contain anything too spoilish, but if you don't like that kind of thing, skip it):

The protagonist's name is Cayce Pollard (her first name is pronounced "Case," which Gibson fans will recognize as a name he seems to like). As the novel opens, Cayce is on a job in London (she lives in New York). Cayce works in advertising, and has an ability to sense what will work on not work almost immediately in things like corporate logos. She's also a "cool hunter," not in the sense of middle-aged wannabe hipsters hanging out with teenagers to see what's "in," but in the sense that she can recognize what trends will be picked up by the general public and which ones won't. Her abilities are very valuable to ad agencies, and she makes a living hiring out her services. The down side to her ability is that she's very sensitive to the point of illness to the sight of some logos. She calls it an allergy. When she sees certain logos, she'll have a panic attack.

In her spare time, Cayce participates in an online discussion group revolving around clips of a film that have mysteriously and anonymously been turning up online. No one knows who made the film or in what order if any the the clips are supposed to be viewed, but underground interest in the clips has sprung up worldwide.

The plot revolves around Cayce's work in advertising and her footage interest coming together, which leads her around the world. There's also a subplot involving her father's disappearance (he was last seen taking a cab in the direction of the World Trade Center on the morning of Sept. 11th, 2001), as well as several other subplots that all come together very nicely.

(end of summary bit)

If you've liked Gibson's other work, I strongly recommend picking this one up. It's interesting to read Gibson's writing style in a book that doesn't take place in the future (or, in the case of the Difference Engine in the past). As usual, it's the details and ideas that really make the novel. The characters are fascinating, too, particularly Cayce.

--
Think like a person of action, act like a person of thought. --H. Bergson

Check out the latest *Gibson* movie by my_name_is_steve · 2003-01-04 03:25 · Score: 0

No Maps For These Territories I didn't think at first that watching William Gibson driving around in a car talking would be interesting, but alas it was.

EVER NOTICE HOW FIRED YOU ARE? by YOU+ARE+SO+FIRED! · 2003-01-04 03:38 · Score: 0

You didn't? Oh that must be because I forgot to tell you. You're fired. Don't bother cleaning out your desk, I threw it out the window.

NO THEY DIDN'T by YOU+ARE+SO+FIRED! · 2003-01-04 03:41 · Score: 0

What a pathetic attempt. You're fired. Get the hell out of my office.

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by mvdwege · 2003-01-04 03:47 · Score: 3, Informative

Try Peter F. Hamilton. A good writer who burst onto the scene in the middle of the nineties. His first novels are set in England after Global Warming, with a nice mix of cyberpunk, classic whodunit, and old-fashioned psi-talent scifi:

Mindstar Rising
A Quantum Murder
The Nano Flower

All feature psi-enhanced private detective (and more, but I'm not telling) Greg Mandel. They're not part of a trilogy, but still best read in order.

About the only weakness in the series is the plotting. While Hamilton tells a good story with engaging characters, a detailed setting and a fine command of the English language, especially the first two books suffer from having the ending being obvious at about three-quarters through. The other qualities of his writing more than compensate, but it is still obvious that these were his first full-length novels.

His other work, especially the Night's Dawn trilogy, is classic space opera, although the noir and cyberpunk elements do persist in his short stories. A nice bundling of some of his stories is 'A Second Chance at Eden' which might serve as a nice introduction to his style.

Mart

--
"I know I will be modded down for this": where's the option '-1, Asking for it'?

Yeah, but he is the father of "cyberspace" by MisterSquid · 2003-01-04 04:05 · Score: 3, Interesting

True, people had envisioned many of the post-noir themes in literature before Gibson. Even high-literary types like Thomas Pynchon in Gravity's Rainbow plays around with the idea of uploading consciousness into a machine.

But it took someone who could recognize exactly where in the network our culture was positioned to be able to coin a term that captured and shaped our collective sense of what was happening. That term is "cyberspace" and it was invented by William Gibson in Neuromancer. For all Brunner's prescience, he did not come up with the word that defines an entire era of human history. Gibson did.

First line of the novel:

The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.

That is just fucking brilliant writing. You won't find the same in Brunner.

Where it all started (beginning at the novel's 16th paragraph, page 4 of the Ace Books 1984 impression, i.e. the first):

The Japanese had already forgotten more neurosurgery than the Chinese had ever known. The black clinics of Chiba were the cutting edge, whole bodies of technique supplanted monthly, and still they couldn't repair the damage he'd suffered in that Memphis hotel.

A year here and he still dreamed of cyberspace, hope fading nightly.

Cultural history was made and, as a result, Gibson's name will be transmitted for hundreds of generations to come. Brunner's will be the work of literary historians.

--
blog

There is a reason your not published by Confessed+Geek · 2003-01-04 04:37 · Score: 1

Ok, I don't know a kind way of putting this... The reason your not published is your work isn't any good yet. I just read as much of Golden City as I could and well... its derivitive, disconjointed, and not funny. It MIGHT work as a web comic but your style will just never work for a novel. I applaud your ambition, and persistance, but strongly suggest you take a few more creative writing courses before trying to compare your work to folks like Gibson or the late Mr. Adams.

I'm not writing this to be an ass, I'm telling you because you seem to be honestly unaware that your work is still substandard. When I first read the story I was going to go very easy on it since I thought it was written by a very young author, but your 21, and need a bit of honest critique.

I don't mean to discourage you, as we really need some more good authors, but you need to step back take a hard objective look at your works, take it apart and start from scratch.

These other authors like gibson, adams, knowling are not published because they have inside connections. They are published because they are much much better writers. You can be too, but first you have to accept that you currently are NOT a good writer. Sadly far far from it. Once you accept that, then you can figure out why and begin to advance in your craft.

Best of luck

Shock Rider = outstanding novel by handy_vandal · 2003-01-04 05:19 · Score: 1

The Shockwave Rider is one of John Brunner's best works.

Written thirty years ago, it still holds up today as a first-rate prognostication about our near future. (It's set in some unspecified year between 2005 and 2010.)

But I don't think of Brunner as a cyberpunk, even though he covers much of the same subject matter. It's a question of style: he's too ... dry and wordy, much of the time.

To be sure, sometimes he's poetic in the extreme: Stand On Zanzibar is an ode to diversity of styles. And Shockwave Rider has a wide range of styles, indeed a plethora of inventive literary devices. (I've read SR, oh, nine or ten times, now, I suppose -- and every time I glean some nuggest of meaning.)

But overall, Brunner's strength is narrative, not style: first and foremost, he's a storyteller, not a stylist. (He said that about himself in an interview ... some fanzine back in the eighties, if memory serves.)

BTW: has anyone played his game of Fencing?

--
-kgj

went for $151 by thorgil · 2003-01-04 05:33 · Score: 1

..

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Warning: This sig contains a small bug. ==> *

Picnice on Nearside = Varley short stories by handy_vandal · 2003-01-04 05:41 · Score: 1

John Varley's early short stories are collected in Picnic on Nearside (previously published as The Barbie Murders). Several of the stories anticipate The Ophiuchi Hotline and other novels Varley would later write (much in the same way Gibson's Johnny Mnemonic served as a sketch for Neuromancer.

Which reminds me, any Neuromancer fans who haven't read Gibson's early short stories ... go get 'em! Lots of good stuff -- including Red Star, Winter Orbit one of the best short SF stories ever written.

--
-kgj

Read it--thumbs up! by jcjedi · 2003-01-04 05:53 · Score: 1

I'm not a sci-fi guy, or a Gibson afficionado, but picked up a galley at work (i work at a magazine) and read it because i've always wondered about Gibson. As much as I'd like to give a full review, I'll resist for now. I will offer a basic plot preview for general interest: beware, there's likely many spoilers in here (also note: I read it over a month ago, and don't have it handy to refer to, so forgive me if i forget some aspects, like names ; ) The protagonist is a young woman who works as a counsultant as a "cool-hunter." She is called to London to give her thumbs-up/thumbs-down (literally) opinion by a conspicuously trendy agency that specializes in branding. the interesting thing about the protag (sorry, lost her name already) is that she responds to brands viscerally. it sounds precious, but it comes off fine. tommy hilfiger for instance nearly sends her swooning. while in london, staying at an ex's pad, she frequently logs in to an international blog that speculates on "the footage" : ove the past several months mysterious clips of unspeakbly beautiful footage of unknown prevenance somehow surfaces and then is parsed by a community that is joined by mutual, insatiable curiousity. they can't figure out if it some old film being released to the world, the work of a neophyte or a master, shown chronologically or randomly... but all are obsessed with finding the latest. this of course, is picked up on by a marketing magnate who determines that it's the ultimate in organic, grass-roots, viral marketing. it's perfect, and he wants to find out who invented it and so, of course, hires our cool-hunter to get to the bottom of it. in the mean time, our protag has discovered that she is being stalked and threatened by an unknown, who wants to stop her. without going too deep into the plot, she globe trots to japan and elsewhere, never quite knowing who to trust and often what she is even pursuing. Though it's hyped as "up-to-the-minute" in terms of technological know-how, it's already even a bit dated (reliance on email over IM or P2P etc.--and her and nearly everyone's computer of choice is a mac; i use one, but it's a bit dubious, even though design folks do tend that way ; ) )Nonetheless it's suspenseful, clever, witty and insightful. And informed. And while I"m not a woman, I know that as a writer it's often critically perilous for a man to write from the perspective of a woman--no complaints from me, but I'm interested to see how women will feel. I haven't read any critiques of it, but I would suggest that it was written almost as a screenplay; that is, Gibson was cashing in a little bit, making a work of literature that is so transparently adaptable to the silver screen (a la a Richard Preston novel, IMHO). No shame in that, but i'm sure that for some it will wound their literary sensibilities. All in all, I tore through it, which is as good a sign of a fine read for me as anything. If anyone has questions, I'll do my best to answer them. cheers

The Stars My Destination = very cyberpunk by handy_vandal · 2003-01-04 06:01 · Score: 2, Informative

Excellent observation about Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination -- remarkably cyber ... a very punk story about amazing future technologies. Not so saturated in technical details, but a rich work of literature, both serious and comic, by a damned good writer.

He was diverse: among other things, Bester wrote the Green Lantern oath, in use to this day:

"In brightest day, in blackest night,
no evil shall escape my sight!
Let those who worship evil's might,
beware my power.. Green Lantern's light!"

(Qualifier: there were various oaths over time. Bester's oath is the classic among them.)

Here's a nice little poem and bio page about Bester.

--
-kgj

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-04 06:56 · Score: 0

All Stephenson's work is that way. Even the 5,000 worders he writes for Wired follow a sawtooth-wave pattern.

I guarantee he's deep in REM sleep thirty seconds after he blows a load.

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by grumpygrodyguy · 2003-01-04 07:13 · Score: 2

A lot of sf fans are actively hostile to cyberpunk nowadays

Yes, I have been staying inside the Fantasy genre myself.

Reading Snowcrash, and Neuromancer during my college years while studying Computer Science was a real mind job. Especially during the dot-com years. I think a lot of us really thought the "Cyberpunk" phenomenon was happening before our eyes.

In the wake of the last 2-3 years though many of those dreams of progress in a technocracy have been crushed. I can't even pick up a Sci-Fi novel anymore. I never realised how important my fantasies were in motivating me in real life. And I never realized how damaged I would be when reality decided to veto my fantasy.

Ya I know. Grow up, get laid, etc. etc.

--
The government has a defect: it's potentially democratic. Corporations have no defect: they're pure tyrannies. -Chomsky

best work in years by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-04 08:31 · Score: 0

it would have to be. he can only go up

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-04 09:37 · Score: 0

Cadigan is bland? Have you ever read anything by Pat Cadigan or did you just run a google search on cyberpunk authors and start typing garbage to seem like you're smart?

Cadigan is one of my favorite cyberpunk authors after reading Synners. Its got everything that makes up a damn fine cyberpunk novel.

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-04 09:39 · Score: 0

Another lesser known author with only 1 book published to date and another in the works is Mark Fabi. He has 1 book entitled "Wyrm" that's pretty damn good and set in standard times with current tech. He's got another called "Red Mars" in the works but i've yet to see anything from it.

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by Bicoid · 2003-01-04 09:52 · Score: 2

I've read Mindplayers and some of her short work. I find her bland...there's something missing from her work that I find in Gibson, Sterling, Shirley, and Stephenson. She'sot a bad author and I enjoyed her books, but they just don't seem as rich as some other cyberpunk works. That's my personal opinion, agree or disagree as you see fit.

--
If not all sentients are human, couldn't it be possible that not all humans are sentient either?

1949 if we push definitions by iggymanz · 2003-01-04 10:39 · Score: 2

In George Orwell's 1984, we have
1. Control of the mass mediums of the day (Gibson makes point that radio the cyberspace of the turn of century), including use of mass media in reverse to monitor population
2. Machine that can alter perception of reality and judgement/truth sense
3. Scarce resources due to folly of man
5. Engineering of comunication (goal of Party to design language in which the communication of rebellious thoughts impossible) to control thought
6. Systematic alteration of the database of history
7. Use of technology to eliminate privacy
8. Drugs to pacify and control

Let Quentin Tarantino direct it by mholt108 · 2003-01-04 11:00 · Score: 1

I cant really imagine anyone else doing it well enough.

Best first line of a book ever: Neuromancer by kjfitz · 2003-01-04 12:05 · Score: 1

The sky...was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.

I love that line. It would be a great start to a poem.

Worst SF Ever by de+la+mettrie · 2003-01-04 12:13 · Score: 1

Although this is (-1, offtopic), because of this discussion I have stumbled over what appears to be the arguably worst piece of SF (or fantasy, really) ever published, Argon's Eye. Read it and die a flaming death laughing.

Orwell = early cyberpunk by handy_vandal · 2003-01-04 12:17 · Score: 1

Good point: Orwell's work does have that punk tone, doesn't it?

--
-kgj

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-04 13:48 · Score: 0

I really can recommend all Jon Courtenay Grimwood books such as Remix,Redrobe, Neoaddix
and Lucifers Dragon. Especially his older work
will please Gibson fans.

Are you trolling? by Jonathan · 2003-01-04 15:24 · Score: 2

Er, was your humor chip impaired while reading Snowcrash? Of course Snowcrash was a satire and a pretty funny one at that. In serious cyberpunk the underworld may control powerful artificial intelligences, but having the evil underworld boss controlling pizza delivery? It's silly and meant to be, but the humor is somewhat lost without having read a serious cyberpunk novel.

Warning about error in book by jeffx · 2003-01-04 16:04 · Score: 1

For Hanukkah my girlfriend got me an autographed copy of "Pattern Recognition". Being the huge Willam Gibson fan that I am I couldn't wait to read it. Was even hopen to read it and write a review for slashdot. Small problem with the uncorrected proof. It jumps from page 214 to 247. Which jumps a few chapters and appears to introduce a new charachter.

Of course it is still a great gift just missing some pages.

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by jeffx · 2003-01-04 16:13 · Score: 1

Warren Ellis. Okay he writes comic books but Transmet is a great cyberpunk type book.

His current running, 3 book series called Mek is definetly like a Gibson work. There is at least Johnny Mnemonic.

The term cyperpunk was initally used by Bruce Bethke in his short story by the title,...Cyberpunk.

My comment was a mistake. by Alan+Holman · 2003-01-04 17:04 · Score: 1

I'm sorry for my earlier comment. And yes, I'll agree with some of you who repied to my comment: you're right that GOLDEN CITY does suck. It was a learning experience, and now I should delete it from the web, because it casts a horrible shadow over Banana Chan which kicks ass.

Re:Cyberpunk Emeritus by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-05 01:43 · Score: 0

Another good SF/cyberpunk author I have not seen mentioned is John Barnes (Orbital Resonance. 1991) and (Mother of Storms. 1994) I enjoyed quite a lot.

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by crizza16 · 2003-01-05 03:24 · Score: 1

Ive read all Gibsons books numerous times and I love them. I tried reading the Difference engine and found it such a difficult read that I have not even entertained the idea of trying a Sterling Novel since. Another great Sci-Fi writer is Jeff Noon. Who IMHO is excellent. Try Vurt, I consider It one of his best.

--
Some say lifes to short! I say stay up all night!

Jeff Noon by crizza16 · 2003-01-05 03:36 · Score: 1

Jeff Noon Check him out, read Vurt (His best IMHO); Also, If the idea of storing music in a liquid form shaking it to do remixes and then in an enlightened moment drinking the remix! appeals to you then try Pixel juice by the same author. F*cking excellent

--
Some say lifes to short! I say stay up all night!

Re:Who modded this funny? Bad sentances arn't funn by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-06 03:39 · Score: 0

That's "sentences."

Get in your 9/11 reference before time runs out! by dtabraha · 2003-01-06 04:54 · Score: 1

Gibson is a master.
I have enjoyed several of his books, but it sucks that even he is resorting to using 9/11 topics in his book.

Taken from his web site, an excerpt of "Pattern Recognition":
Win Pollard, ex-security expert, probably ex-CIA, took a taxi in the direction of the World Trade Center on September 11 one year ago, and is presumed dead. Win taught Cayce a bit about the way agents work. She is still numb at his loss, and, as much for him as for any other reason, she refuses to give up this newly weird job, which will take her to Tokyo and on to Russia.

He came up with awesome future topics back in the 80s fer chrissakes. Couldn't he just leave 9/11 alone??

Re:Ask Slashdot? Other great sci-fi/cyberpunk auth by Henry_Doors · 2003-01-06 20:45 · Score: 1

RIM by Alexander Besher is a good read. As one amazon.co.uk reviewer put it 'he intertwines Gibson cyberspace with Eastern mysticism'
Haven't read either of the sequels Mir & Chi

--
"I deny nothing, but doubt everything." Lord Byron

idiot.. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-06 23:40 · Score: 0

as is pointed out below, gibson didn't write the diamond age, stephenson did, and he's written cryptonomicon since. at least look up bios before writing idiocy.

Re:I would think of something insightfull if I was by Mac+Degger · 2003-01-14 00:50 · Score: 2

A watch, maybe ;)

[for those who would mod this as off-topic, you obviously haven't read all of the Gibson there is out there]

--
-- Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?

Proof copy for sale by Anonymous Coward · 2003-01-15 20:09 · Score: 0

If anyone wants it out this listing http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item =2906960389&category=26181

Last Post! by alpg · 2003-01-17 16:47 · Score: 0

What the deuce is it to me? You say that we go around the sun. If we went
around the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or my work.
-- Sherlock Holmes, "A Study in Scarlet"

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