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William Gibson in The News
Anonymous Coward writes that William Gibson was interviewed in the SF Chronicle. He talks about getting into writing, visionary status, and, of course, his new book, All Tomorrow's Parties. Anyone read that yet? I'd be interesting to hear about it.
Back in '90, I managed to meet Gibson when he and Sterling were in town on the Difference Engine book signing tour. A friend of mine knew Sterling through other means (having to do with being busted for hacking - this was before "The Hacker Crackdown" was published) so we met up with them down at the bookstore. They later headed off with the publishers rep for dinner, and we met up with them later at their hotel to hang out and yak.
...and what REALLY makes me come is that she's SO inCREDibly LUCID...!
Now, during the signing, Gibson had been pounding the wine... then more wine at dinner... so by the time they got back to the hotel, he was sloshed. The man then cracks open the little honor bar cabinet and tears in.
The funniest thing was when Gibson was sitting on the edge of a bed, with a Heineken in one hand and a little bottle of Jack in the other, watching the Weather Channel... and I forget what he said before this, but the next line is forever etched into my memory... discussing the weathergirl on TV...
Ah, the howls of derisive laughter...
"People" using "unnecessary" quotes should be "shot".
I'd be interesting to hear about it.
:)
Don't worry Hemos, you're interesting enough as it is
I read some Wm. Gibson and felt it was interesting stuff, but I stumbled across a book while looking amongst the genre 'cyberpunk' that I feel is really the most definitive batch of stories of an era (and that era may be dead, neal has helped us trancend it thankfully). This book, and its set of stories represent the real 'underground' of sci-fi and is tons of fun....
The book is called: semiotext(E) and available here
enjoy...
There were a few Semiotext(e) books, i believe. The one that stands out in my mind is Semiotext(e) SF (dunno if it's still in print), with contributions by such luminaries as Gibson, Ballard, Burroughs, R.A.W., Sterling, et al, as well as a smorgasboard of works by lesser-known, more avant-garde writers (Gibson fans... buy it for the other works. His own contribution, "Hippie Hat Brain Parasite", was rather dull). It's hard to pick a favorite from this collection... perhaps Rucker's "Rapture in Space" (about the first zero-G porno), or Ballard's "Jane Fonda's Augmentation Mammoplasty" (which amounted to a dare to sue the publishers for libel... Jane Fonda has always denied having her breasts done, but to sue for libel she would have to deny it under oath!). Heh.
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Maybe that's just the price you pay for the chains that you refuse.
Hand me that airplane glue and I'll tell you another story.
Not to give too many spoilers away, but it is a continuation of Virtual Light and Idoru. Comparable, I think, to his first Trilogy. Lots of Berry Rydel and Chevette Washington. Not to mention the Golden Gate bridge and nanotechnology.
An important part of the book deals with online watch trading, and I was remined of piece that gibson did for Wired a while back, about his obsesion with trading watches on eBay. Anywho, this book was really enjoyable and hard to put down. But what whould you expect from the sage/poet/bard/high priest of cyberspace?
That is your problem then. Gibson uses a very modern technique in his writing style, of not telling you all the details you need to know. One must read the entire story, parse it carefully, and understand later. It requires a lot of thought and analysis.
I personally believe one needs to read Neuromancer three times:
Anyway, even if one never reads any of his other works, Neuromancer is worth it...
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